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veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

End of year cynicism is not just the situation of the teachers in the ME Kuber... Cool

By the end of August, you will be ready to give it another try!!

VS

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Zola6666 · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 34 Location: Erewhon

When students from last year visit, it is amazing to hear their spoken English! Yes, despite all the problems, many students do learn.

When teaching writing this semester, I worked hard with all the pre-writing, etc. stuff and FINALLY at the end of the semester, the students understood how to write a paragraph: one idea, three examples, with details.

Of course, 95% of the writing was done in class.

And yes, around the world, including in the USA, when peer review is used, hardly any student will honestly grade a poor paper low (in the beginning of using peer review - not at the end when students are confident about their own abilities). When peer review is used consistently in a class (in the USA), with the same group members, this was an obvious help for the students. Students built emotional bonds while helping each other to write better. Students also learned that writing was not just writing for the teacher as an audience of one, but also for their group members.

It's wonderful to actually see students learn! It's hard work, for teachers and students alike.

kuberkat · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Posts: 358 Location: Oman

Thanks for your support, bje and VS. We're a little low on the teacher autonomy round here nowadays!

Hope springs eternal, and we can hope to play a part in a growing trend of self-determination in students' work. We all know that students who take charge of their own learning progress more than they ever could in class.

Learner autonomy will never happen at (proverbial) gunpoint. The question remains: how does it happen?