A Viable Approach to (mandatory) Yearly Projects in Turkey

The Ministry of Education in Turkey (MEB) provides schools with state curricula and standards. One of the more exciting parts of that curriculum is the Yearly Project (Dönem Ödevi). I choose to use 'exciting', since it introduces students to genuine project work, creative thinking practices, research techniques and a whole host of academic skills that they can take with them throughout their educational lives.  For us, as English teachers, it further complements our project-based work and syllabus to give more credence and 'props' to our program as a whole.

We have found that by extending and including more parts to the whole, students give more importance to the project, and they can also grow as they learn and complete each stage with  more enthusiasm.  I will now describe each stage of the year-long project, and expectations therein.

Since we use ICT as a powerful support tool with our students, we decided to use electronic materials and platforms to develop each stage, which is based on close-reading and academic skills process writing to realize the project.

STAGE ONE
Students are given a list of e-readers from which they choose one title to read and work on for the next six months.  This reading is completely independent of the day-to-day reading materials they have to work on in and out of class.  We chose the readers from genres, such as thriller and escapist, because generally young ESL/EFL teens tend to baulk at period drama or historical 'literature classics'(dare I say it as an English teacher: on many levels, THEY ARE RIGHT!!).

Once they have chosen their title, it is downloaded to their mac, ipad and/or smart device, and it is then their responsibility to read the book in their free time. In addition to close-reading the book, the students are required to make a 250 word summary.  This summary requirement is possible because the students have already been taught how to summarize large texts in their preparatory school course. The SUMMARY PROCESS is in 

your eye-line now on the left, and a document we use is HERE. The students are given TWO MONTHS for the first part as they are also expected to take very detailed highlights and make annotations, which also correspond to another skill they are taught in the first quarter of the year in our Preparatory year.

STAGE TWO

The students have to make a list of the characters and write a brief description of their role, and what they get up to throughout the narrative. This task, for which the students are given a month, is an easy one you may think. However, it gives further evidence that they have actually read the book.  It shows how much they can identify with each character, and it also gives great process writing practice to each student.

STAGE THREE

Now the students, again with a deadline of a month, have to write about their favorite chapter, and why. This is to consolidate their Opinion-Writing Skill, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the second month of the year.  Here, we and the students, can see if they have fully grasped how to organise their ideas and opinions in English.  It also gives us further evidence to show they have proficient close-reading skills.

STAGE FOUR

Since our high school requires its students to have proficient literary reading and writing skills, we also teach our Preparatory students how to analyse texts and make a written commentary.  This is a highly technical skill, and it is the reason it falls into the penultimate month of the project-calendar.  I have written a blog-post about the detailed process and methodology we apply in our classes, S.C.A.S.I. , and it can be seen HERE.  We really like this approach to such a difficult task in literay analysis, and it is also completely valid for speakers of any language, and the language of literature they are being faced with.  The students find it extremely useful because it breaks down the task into five smaller sections, which undoubtedly helps them complete this part of the yearly project.

STAGE FIVE

The final stage is for the students to complete a presentation and share it with us and their class peers. To complete the collaborative nature of the yearly projct with our primary syllabus content, the students are expected to show each stage in a powerpoint by displaying quality content, but even more excitingly, the presentation skills they have become masters of over six months.  We have our students present each month one mini project to build self-confidence, self-awareness and show their 'semi-professional' presentation skills.

YEARLY PROJECT on A BLENDSPACE TUTORIAL

We know that this is a really comprehensive approach to the yearly project, but we believe by approaching the dönem ödevi in this way, the students get much more out of the experience than they do from completing an essay, a composition or a poster on the last weekend of April.  It teaches them responsibilty, time-management, academic process writing, close reading, note-taking, highlighting of important information, reflection, vocabulary building, character and narrative timeline awareness plus a sense of genuine self-achievement over a sustained time-period of six months.

A CLASS-MANIFESTO HELPS TURN IT AROUND...

The old showbusiness adage, "Never work with animals or children", rings true for teaching, well at least the animals part.  However, many long days into the semester, you cannot help but thinking how difficult teenagers can be to work with.  They have the habit of pushing the frustration, disappointment, sadness, irritation and irrational buttons of themselves, their peers and of course us, as their teachers.  It takes many "counts of ten", "deep breaths" and "time-outs", in order to get through the week. But, that is our profession, and it is what we all signed up for, right?  

What do we do to overcome such feelings? Well, experience does allow you to work through those emotions with some semblance of sanity, but it isn't easy for anyone.  So, with eighteen years under my teaching belt, I am still looking for ways to make an impact on my students to keep them inspired, motivated and willing to follow through on the promises they make to themselves (and us) at the beginning of the year.  My latest addition to my teacher-bag of tricks and tips is 

The Class MANIFESTO.

The details and expectations of the Manifesto are all part of what the students know already.  With continuous reminders on Monday mornings, when they have forgotten why they are learning, the students have switched off to the warnings, cajoling and, dare I say it, threats from my colleague and myself, we reached a point when we were facing apathy, disengenuous (positive) and rather impartial attitudes from every student.  The winning factor, as to why the new strategy has initiated a new face of our prep. class students, is that we didn't force it upon them as something they had to sign up to.  We gave them the choice of following the Manifesto and adhering to it.  This meant they gave, or didn't, their important signature.  You can see how much a teenager's signature means to them when you ask them to commit.  We made it work for us, and last week was a huge turnaround.  It was an exciting and fulfulling week. Were we tired? Of course! But it was more physical than mental. This was the difference, and I would rather have that type of tiredness any weekend day of the week.

The students were given the option to sign it or not (their version has a blank box for name and signature on the bottom left). Fortunately for us, they all signed up, and here are some examples of what the students think of the new Manifesto and Student' commitment.

“When we think about the Manifesto, it is a new start for us with new rules, and we are happy.”  Emre

“The Manifesto isn’t just about splitting the class level.  It is also about doing homework on time, and with full concentration.”   Talya

“The students who chose not to sign the Manifesto will have less chances to improve in the new activities.”  Sinan

“The Manifesto makes us push to speak and use English more.”  Rüzgar

“The best point of the Manifesto is it tells us we shouldn’t think only about points, and take more risks when we are learning.”  Oğüzhan

“Some of us stopped doing anything properly.  It will change our attitude to lessons.”  Gözde

“Last week, something outstanding happened in our class.  The Manifesto is a huge advantage for us.”  Kaan

“I hope when we finish this year we will all have a higher level of English.”  Lalmina

“This Manifesto should help us to push ourselves to do better homework.” Melis

If you would like the template, email me at hisarhazirlik@gmail.com

Improve Reading Engagement with Kahoot!

Last week, while perusing Scoop.It! (which, along with Twitter, is my favorite place to find new teaching resources and apps), I came across an article highlighting a new online quiz-making website called Kahoot.  As you are probably well-aware, there are tons of websites that can do the same thing.  So, what makes Kahoot so different, you might be asking yourself?  In short, Kahoot takes student engagement to a whole new level by turning a normal multiple-choices quiz into a whole-class trivia game against the clock!  On top of that, Kahoot has gone the extra mile by making these fun quiz games accessible from any device, be it a laptop, tablet or mobile phone! Let me explain how it works...

Steps to Set Up a Quiz Game

1. To get started, all you have to do is go to the Kahoot website, and sign up for free.  

2. Once there, you get the option of creating a quiz, discussion or survey.  Click the quiz button, give it a name, and then fill in the questions and answers as you would normally do with an online quiz.  However, if you wish, you can make your quiz even more engaging for students by including an image for each question by inserting a picture.

3. After completing the questions and answers, click the Next: settings button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.  There you can adjust the amount of points given for each correct answer, the time given for each question, and other basic information about your quiz.   

4. Then, after clicking Next again, you can include a cover image for your quiz, and click Done.  Now, your quiz is ready to play with the class!

5. When you are ready to play, connect your computer to a smartboard or projector.  You must have either one to play because your students will see the questions and answer-choices from there.  

6. Next, log in to Kahoot, and go to your profile page by clicking Me in the top left-hand corner.  There, you will be able to see all of the quizzes that you have created and saved.  

7. Click Play, then Launch, and Kahoot will show a game pin number on the screen, as pictured below.  

8. Your students simply then connect to the internet from any device, type in kahoot.it into the URL, and then enter the game pin.  

9. Once there, they can enter their names, and wait for everyone to join.  As they enter their names, you will see them on the screen.  

10. When ready, click Start now, and let the fun begin!

For sure, there are many different ways you could use this brilliant website.  You could use it to review for exams, review vocabulary items, or even as a fun way to teach grammar.  What we did, this week, however, was to use it as a way to get our students more engaged in their reading.  We told them that before we went down to the library to read around 20 pages of our current story, that they had to read extra-carefully because we were going to play a game when we returned to class.  We made the Kahoot quiz about the story, ranging from easy to very difficult questions from those 20 pages.  Once we started playing, we couldn't believe the look on their faces.  The students were so engaged and competitive with each other to see who could get the highest score.  (As a side note, the faster the students answer the questions, the more points they receive for correct answers.)  Just take a look for yourselves of our class in action below... 



The most amazing part for us as teachers was that a student in our class, who normally has a difficult time reading, was so enthralled in the game that she came in third place!  This was such a major confidence boost for her because it helped her realize that she does understand the main points of the story.  Now, many of our students have already been asking when is the next time we are going to play because they want to beat the first winner of the game, Kaan, but more importantly, they know that they have to read more carefully in order to do so!

A Peek at the Week with Touchcast

For the past year or so, the term 'Flipped Classroom' has become all the rage in educational circles, particularly in the field of ESL.  Just in case you are unfamiliar with the term, it is the idea that teachers can record their lectures or lessons and upload them to the web, so that students can follow them at home.  This way, teachers and students have more time at school for practicing and applying the subject they are currently working on, rather than the teacher spending most of his or her time instructing from the board.

  

To be up front, this post is not about whether or not the 'Flipped Classroom' educational model should completely replace the more traditional one we have now, but simply that, if you are excited about using technology in and out of the classroom, it is a wonderful time to be a teacher.  Almost weekly, it seems that there are new 'Flipped Classroom' apps being developed and launched, and already there are some favorites among teachers, such as Ask3, Educreations and Knowmia.  

While these are indeed great apps, Touchcast has recently become my absolute personal favorite, as it allows the user to include so many different real-time apps and effects as you are recording a video.  In other words, you can interact with anything on the web in real-time while making your video tutorial. For example, lets say that you are making a video for a writing assignment where you want your students to use a certain website for research.  While giving the directions for the assignment, you could also show your students where and how to use a website in real-time. 

This is only a simple example of what you could do with Touchcast.  The possibilities are endless.  Just to give you a sense of what I mean, check out the following introductory video for the app made by one of its founders...

Our First Touchcast Project

After my colleague and I discovered and began playing around with Touchcast, making a few videos of our own in the process, we decided that we wanted to again 'flip the classroom' in a sense.  Instead of us, the teachers, making all the videos, we wanted to get our students involved straightaway.  With 23 lessons with the same students per week, it is understandable that they get tired of seeing our faces.  So, we thought it would be even more engaging if the students could see a different one of their peers in a video each week.

What we decided to do is to make a news-like video each Friday to tell the students about the program and activities for the upcoming week, something we call 'A Peek at the Week'.  We write out a short script for a student to read, and include some pictures of the upcoming activities.  Then, Touchcast allows us to make it look and feel like a real newscast.  We can include a 'Breaking News' title across the bottom of the screen.  In addition, we can make the pictures pop-up on one side of the screen as the student talks about it. We can even add audio effects like laughter and applause.  

Finally, after making the recording on a Friday afternoon, we get the video ready to show all our our students first thing Monday morning.  It gives them an engaging way to learn about the activities of the week.  Furthermore, it gives the student being recorded a wonderful opportunity to practise his/her speaking, as well as help build his/her self-confidence in English.

To wrap it all up, have a look at this week's video featuring Kaan, and check out Touchcast for the Ipad...

HOW to MAKE A PREPOSITIONS ROLE-PLAY (with a cloze-listening exercise)

The meta-language associated with grammar instruction can be rather ineffective with many students.  However, if students have been subjected to acquisition practices for years, and they still don't get it, why not try to use the meta-language as an alternative method of instruction.  We introduce it as such, but we don't labour the point once it has been used as such.  Of course, we still refer to it as articles, prepositions and conditionals, but we make an extra effort to get the students using each compartmentalized language function in context and relatively authentically.  That said, the activity I wish to explain today does involve the terminology, but only at the beginning of the role-play we did with our teenage students.

Having done the preposition Presentation we then did some drills to accustomize all our students, with varying levels of English, of the need for using prepositions, and even more importantly, the correct prepositions. This takes time, but it is my experience that with the vast majority of EFL students (in Turkey at least) accurate grammar acquisition simply does not happen.  A more focused approach is required over several brain-wrenching years. But that topic is for another post. Today is all about role-playing after a listening exercise as the starting-point.

STEP ONE

Put students into groups of 3/4 depending on the size and number of your class.  If you don't have the fourth student, you can have another student enter for effect towards the end to assist in completing the role-play.

STEP TWO

Have the students choose one "listener & recorder" from their group. That student will listen to the narrated story from the teacher, and record the prepositions in the spaces provided throughout the text. (a section of the  document is below)

STEP THREE

After you have finished dictating the story, at normal speech-pace, the students go back to their groups to start the role-play.  They get three minutes to run through the acting/miming themselves, also friends can help add missed prepositions while they practise.

STEP FOUR

The students, now ready to perform in front of their peers, are asked to gather together at the back of the class, while each group steps up to perform the role-play. 

A video of the only group to complete the role-play is below.  The groups were allowed THREE PREPOSITION MISTAKES before being asked to sit down.

The take-away for the students was by asking them why doing such an activity can benefit their understanding and show that prepositions are necessary for both speaking and writing, if what is being read or said is to be understood by the reader or listener.

MAKING EQs (ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS) Work Even Better...

Last year I wrote a post based on my belief in UbD, the curriculum model, created by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe :

(Understanding by Design)

Now two years after using the template, I can firmly state that it works, and works very well.  It takes time to convince colleagues, but once they are in, they are well and truly locked in.  One of the many benefits the model suggests is the use of EQs (Essential Questions).  These questions are the springboards to better understanding for the subject matter your students are investigating, knowing and hopefully buying into as information they can take with them through their lives.  Since my colleague and believe in ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS as the primary intitative & starting point, for both teachers and students to make the lessons more engaging, interesting and effective, I thought it would be nice to share with you how we, in fact, use and implement them into our weekly programs.

We have 23 periods of English a week with our teenage students, aged 13-15.  The program we have written includes language-in-use, literature (readers and novels), ICT, Writing-for-Academic-Purposes, literary analysis and Life-Skills (although not necessarily in that order).  Because we have so many contact hours the program needs to be comprehensive and full on.  That is why we emerge with 8 EQs, each week, that are shared with the students every Monday.  Although you can find much more extensive information from Wiggins & McTighe's own literature, basically an EQ is a question that goes beyond the surface of the topic being studied, learned etc.  

For example, when discussing events in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, instead of asking students, 

"What does Bruno see when he looks out of his bedroom window?" 

(a typical surface comprehension question)

You could/should ask an EQ like: 

"Why is Bruno so shocked when he looks out his bedroom window?"

(a typical enduring understanding for students to question the reasons behind people's shock and abhorrence at the sighting of incarcerated prisoners at Auschwitz).

So, I am highlighting these examples to let you know how we approach our lessons. Therefore, the EQS that we ask of our students, for better understanding of last week's learning, can be shown like this:

1.What are the obstacles and hurdles students with little self-confidence have to face every day?

(part of life skills)

2.How much has my writing improved after two months?

(reflection on Academic Writing development)

3. What do I think is the main idea of the Time Capsule? Why?

(students' opinion of the current reader's theme) 

4. What are the benefits of making an IMovie trailer for a reader?

(ICT- a new skill shown & taught this week)

Why should I transfer the academic skills I learn in English to the other subjects in HH?  Why am I not doing it?

(cross-curricular project work is suffering as a result of this issue)

Which of the readers in HH has been my favourite thus far? Why?

(asking students to choose favorite readers to remind them reading can be fun)

Why am I not taking more advantage of 24/7 learning?

(ICT and how even with 24/7 support, many students simply baulk at the idea)

Which of the five stages have I experienced so far, and which of them am I in now? 

(This relates to my own theory of the FIVE STAGES of LEARNING) 

Now, I want to explain how these are used with the students.  The students choose at random, on Friday, by using TRIPTICO for student order. They then get EQ that corresponds to the random number and they write about on PENZUCLASSROOM at the weekend.

They are expected to submit the EQ response by 6pm on Sunday to the digital classroom. Once submitted, I read them over and give back colour-coded feedback.  I also take a snippet of the feedback and writing and print it off at school.  The students are then given time on Monday, in class, to read, edit and amend their original responses through the Writing Process.

FINALLY!!!  I have got to the point of today's post (thanks for hanging in here :-)).

Brentson, my colleague, called me and asked if we could do something more with the EQs. We brainstormed and came up with this new extension activity. It worked a treat.

STEP ONE
Students get into pairs with the corresponding student with the same EQ from the weekend (although the same EQ is done, they are totally independent responses).

STEP TWO
The pairs discuss their answers that they wrote on penzuclassroom for only TWO minutes.

STEP THREE
After the 2 mins. is up they find new a new pair and discuss different EQs for a further two minutes.

STEP FOUR
Once each pair has discussed with all the pairs, you now hopefully have a class of students who have extended their understanding of each EQ and formulated even more ideas, opinions and knowledge.  Now a class discussion is entered into and each pair displays their understanding of a host of things taught & learned the previous week.

STEP FIVE
The students go onto EDMODO and write a response to the "SPEED EQ" activity they have just been doing as a whole class. Here is a snip of the posted thread this am:

This activity is awesome! It was great to watch the students walking around in pairs speaking English about what they had understood from last week.  We made it a no-Turkish activity, so that we could see them express their own understanding of the weeks learning experience from week 10 using L2.  

Areas of practice were:


1. EQ Understandings
2. Listening
3. Speaking
4. Pair & group work
5. Reflection
6. Self-confidence

Here are a few student responses to the activity:

"We both think that this is a brilliant idea. It helps us to improve our speaking. Also the ones whose don't speak or shy to speak in class has a chance to build up some self confidence to themselves. It was enjoyable, we learned our classmates ideas too. Brilliant activity." (Kaan & Sinan)

"In my opinion it was really intresting and funny activity. In this activity we can share our ideas with our friends. Also we can take our friends opinions and make our writing more strong and meaningful. Another positive way of this activity is it improves our speaking skills and builds up our self confidance." Oğüzhan & Niyazi

"I think the activity is very good for me because I can talk my friends and I explain my stress problem. We talk each other and we listen to other people. This activity is very good for us." Selin & Sima