Monday, August 25, 2014

Mixtape

         This is a listening lesson plan.The idea has emerged spontaneously,  as a suggestion from a creative colleague (Lilia Ezzedine) on facebook .
  To think of a lesson plan , while we were rejoicing listening to Passenger's song Let her go, for the first time.This is a teacher's job. The teacher thinks of every opportunity in terms of teaching/ learning. That was months ago. I didn't forget that I promised her to think of a creative way to teach songs, not the ordinary way. I hope she and other teacher find this suggestion a different one, though I doubt it, because many would suggest this is nothing new. It's true I combined many techniques into one lesson, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We should wait and implement it in our classrooms and evaluate to what extent this suggestion worked, in terms of time management and the learners' readiness to compare two songs themes and tones.
 What's new? It's new (I think) because it is mixing two songs at once. The teacher is not going to teach one song, but two songs. The lyrics of the two songs are cut into strips and the learners are asked to order the lyrics and stick the strips on a separate blank paper.
     While listening, the learners put in order the lyrics. Afterwards, the learners enjoy the songs by focusing more on the meaning, or the message conveyed, the mood of the songs, the tones and the feelings of the singers. All of this is put into practice by comparing and contrasting the two songs' themes and the singers' feelings. Thus, learners enjoy listening to music, and recycle the comparison and contrast linkers.
     Here is the lesson plan of the two songs! Let her go, by Passenger and You're beautiful, by James Blunt.
Hope you like the idea of the mixing up of two songs. I am sure there are some points, I did not take into consideration and you think they are the bottom line of listening as a crucial skill. Let me hear of you, if you have suggestions. I'd be more than grateful.
Happy reading Wonderful teachers!


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Best online tools to edit photos

 Free online tech tools with different functions  from photo creating, editing, adding special effects, etc.. are free, abundant, and available for everyone to try some "free" magic online.

In this post, I'd like to share with you some of the free online tools, which could be of some help for everyone of us, especially teachers. How can teachers use these free tools?
Teachers can create photos, add special effects, add text, etc... All depends on how teachers are going to use these images or photos. We have a plethora of possibilities to use these online tools, while planning our lessons and creating the materials we are going to use.
Today, I've chosen three photo editing tools, which are totally free and they are user-friendly. Besides, what is effective about these three online photo editing tools, is that you can download the image file directly on your computer and more than this, you do not need to create a profile.
Here are the three free photo editing tools I have fun using and I'd like to invite you to peek and plan a more focused visit later, so that you have more time to think about some creative ways to use photos, images in your lessons.
1-Phixr (www.phixr.com)



2-Photocat (www.photocat.com)



3-Picadilo (www.picadilo.com)




Hope you will explore these online tools and more importantly ponder over some effective ways to use them while planning our lessons. This could inspire us and our learners in a multitude of ways.

Happy exploration!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Top Ten Questions




   I have started this post ,as well as many other posts , and here I am resuming it  after being totally taken by some family responsibilities and summer joys. The end-of-year is always as hard for some teachers as the beginning of the year.
   Working with kids for a whole year, giving them much of oneself and helping them to be active, positive and inventive critical thinkers is not painless..Leaving them is like one is keeping a part of his soul and heart cleft in equal pieces, much or less, among all the kids we have taught.
More importantly, the end-of-year is likely to be highly stressful and depressive ... Personally, I do feel like I'm in a state of agony and I start judging myself severely.. This could be profitable as well as harmful ...Let you decide .. Is it fine to give such a blind eye to all the good one has achieved along the whole year ? Much of the strain I endure is correlated with my concern of how much I  have achieved of my goals ...
   Hence, this post uncovers my top ten questions, at the end of a schooling year and the near start of a new one..Certainly, each one of us can add or subtract to this list ...

1- Did I do my best with everyone of my pupils? Did I care for each of them more or less equally?
2-Did I teach everyone of them some basic life skills such as respect, cooperation, tolerance, confidence, critical thinking?
3-Did I make a difference for those who needed me? Did I help them envision their goals?
4-Did I teach them in a creative way? Did I teach them to see differently? Did I provoke their thoughts?
5-Did I touch their minds as well as their inner depths?
6-Were my strategies effective and in congruence with my learners' needs?
7-Will my pupils remember me as a dedicated, passionate teacher? What is the image my learners have for teachers?
8-Did most of my learners grow autonomous or semi-autonomous learners? Or did I make of most of them robots, dependent  learners who are unable to go their ways , seemingly, so confident?
9-What kind of effects did I have on them? Would this help them in their learning process?
10-To what extent did I affect them positively?