Web 2.0
blog entry
Critical thinking
Zuletzt aktualisiert Monday, 14. May 2012, 21:19
The content on the web is growing exponentially and students are exposed to increasing amounts of erroneous material and false research. As a consequence students need to acquire more and more the important skill of critical thinking. How can teachers address this issue?
Students need to acquire the following abilities:
- to distinguish the good from the bad content
- to question everything they hear, read or see for developing their critical thinking abilities
- to practice defending or attacking a theory
- to exercise their evaluation skills
In general without a doubt the web is a very fertile place to learn, but we all need to develop our critical awareness of what content is good and what is to be avoided.
A good example:
There is a professor who deliberately lied once each lesson, and challenged his students to detect the lie. As the lies became more subtle, the students began to struggle to detect the falsehood, until eventually they were at the point where they were deeply scrutinising everything that was presented in the lesson, and going beyond the content to make sure they had discovered the lie. They had to discuss extensively to put themselves in a position where they knew what was correct and what was incorrect.
On this website you’ll find more suggestions, how to train for critical thinking skills:
http://www.ehow.com/how_7189707_train-critical-thinking-skills.html
I want to point out that well developed critical thinking skills help to prepare students for life by showing them how to effectively use problem solving and rational thinking to make decisions. Furthermore it is important to give them useful instructions how to handle this information overload. Here are some personal examples from my classroom-practice:
- Define keywords! A lot of students have problems to type in the correct words for searching. Before starting to surf the internet, talk about the keywords.
- Limit the searching-area by providing trustworthy websites! Create a list with pages you know as a teacher and which you have approved.
- Give searching instructions for Google! (see the image below)
Sources:
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/#!/2012/04/lies-damned-lies-and-internet.html, 14.5.2012
http://www.ehow.com/how_7189707_train-critical-thinking-skills.html, 14.5.2012
My personal method to improve my pronunciation
Zuletzt aktualisiert 28. December 2012, 21:53
For improving my language skills in English, I came back to a good old method, which worked very well in the past:
During my “radio-station times” I tried to improve my pronunciation in German. My language teacher gave me good advices and after a while I found the best method to get a better pronunciation. I love fairy tales and why not reading something I like? I bought a fairy-tale book with a CD, where the storyteller reads the fairy tale in a very nice way and correct way.
It was hard work; I read the book – together with the storyteller – again and again and again. After some weeks of training my pronunciation and intonation, I tried to imitate the news speakers in the radios. Every full hour I listened very intensively the news. After a few months my pronunciation improved that better, that my colleagues and many listeners asked me what happened with my voice, intonation and mainly my pronunciation.
Now I try to do the same with my pronunciation and intonation in English. I got a fairytale book - including a CD with a nice storyteller - for x-mas. I’m very excited because it’s fun to read the book. In my opinion the secret is to read the story out loud and it’s important to set aims. I thought about the following steps:
1st step: I choose a text/book I like very much and read out loud the text to get a feeling for the voice of the storyteller and the content of the text.
2nd step: I read the text again and stop after each paragraph and make notes which words are “troublemakers” for me, I will repeat this again and again. It would help to record myself and listen to my pronunciation in particular.
3rd step: I stand up and hold the book in the height of my face and try to have a straight position, it should look like I'm holding a speech. In general it isn’t very recommendable to read out loud when you are sitting and looking down into your book. The intonation will improve and the voice will get fuller automatically when you are standing (remember this for your classroom teaching).
Then, I try to read with turning the attention to the correct pronunciation.
It’s isn’t possible to change my pronunciation and intonation within a day or a week. This method works only with a lot of patience and hard training. It isn’t that easy to motivate myself every day – you know - but in my case it is very helpful to read a book/text I like.
I want to mention that I already started to read my fairy-tales, I will tell you my progress soon.
New learning technology tool
One tab is not enough!
Zuletzt aktualisiert Tuesday, 28. May 2013, 10:56
This year the easter rabbit was very kind and gave me a very nice present: a tablet! I was very excited because I never have worked before with a tool like this. The first time was nice, everything went perfect. A few weeks later I had – in my imagination – a great idea. Why not planning a challenging game with two groups in class? The kids love to work with the tablet and I wanted to give each of them the possibility to try out that tool. So I prepared some learningapps at home with content they have already learned.
On the following Wednesday I split the class into 2 groups, 13 persons each group. Team 1 started with the first exercises on learningapps. In this case they had to find the correct pairs. Team 2 had to do the same. The teams worked in turns. Then the exercises got more and more difficult. I counted the points for each team.
The first reaction of the kids was great. They had fun and enjoyed the game. After a few minutes I recognized that things go wrong. Only 3 or 4 player were involved in the game. The rest standing behind them got more and more bored, because they didn’t see what was going on in the first line. I prepared this game for 30 minutes and this could be a very long time when you recognize that things go wrong.
The main problem was that the group was too big and the internet connection was to slow. Kids don’t want to wait and they began to complain. The next problem was that I didn’t thought about the rules very carefully. What happens if the other group makes a mistake? Could the other group correct them and get the point, the students asked me. I had no suitable answer. Then the students began to fight.
In the end I had to count the points and obviously forgot to count 1 point in team 2. You can image the reaction of the kids. It was horrible, but it was my fault.
This was the first time I have tried out such kind of game, combined with a tablet. I highly recommend to use more than one tablet or pc-station if you have a bigger class. One for 27 kids is definitely not enough.
In general I’m convinced that the usage of a tool like a tablet supports you in teaching and the kids will like it, but it’s important to take care that each child gets a turn.
a thought a day
Very positive!
Zuletzt aktualisiert Monday, 02. June 2014, 17:53
Today was a very positive day! It was our first time we cooked with children. The day before I was very nervous and to be honest, I cooked every recipes at home before to be sure I will know every step very well. And everything went perfect! The kids were very calm and listened carefully to my advices. The result was a perfect meal without difficulties.
a material a day
a link a day
Human rights - short film
Zuletzt aktualisiert Friday, 30. May 2014, 00:07
Past Tense vs. Present Perfect - Quiz
Zuletzt aktualisiert Friday, 30. May 2014, 00:06