Rodrigo Telles's List: PAMOJA

• • EXPECTATIONS
    
    I would encourage my students to participate in class with the 3Cs: curiosity, communication skills and commitment to the class.
    Curiosity is important because it will keep students self motivated, interested and therefore enjoy the course of learning. I would expect students to be curious about the content of the course, ways of studying the course both during and after the class, and their teachers and peers. It is the eagerness to keep learning and improving that will help them work through the course efficiently and happily.
     
    Communication is very crucial because the less information gap there is, the more efficient the interaction will be. Also I would expect my students to experience a different way of socializing online compared to Facebook, Twitter etc. I would expect them to learn and practice the skills of personal communication in this online study setting.
     
    Commitment is also a cardinal quality I would expect my students to have or develop throughout the course. Commitment refers to their commitment to the class rules and expectations, to their time and efforts, and to contributing to a positive and interactive online classroom.
• don’t call students when you’re tired or stressed.
• This is a powerful tool if online teachers understand it and use it to the advantage of their students.  Online teachers are never frustrated.  Online teachers are never negative, sarcastic, stuffy-headed, or angry about outside issues.  Face to face teachers, however, have the distinct disadvantage of being human.  Here are some ground rules for using this powerful concept:
• Never, under any circumstances, ever, be sarcastic
• Always be positive, supportive, and enthusiastic
• In announcements, always praise how awesome the kids are and how great they’re all doing
• enagers want to fit in.  In most cases, the students in the course are spread across the state.  How they’re actually doing is irrelevant.  What you’re saying is ‘be like everyone else.’ 
• Remember, it’s not about telling on Little Johnny; it’s about helping him succeed
• Encourage them to contact you before they get so frustrated in the future, and then explain to them that being popular and getting what you want via written communication requires a positive, supportive, and enthusiastic tone
• Approach the student with the knowledge that you can make the frustration go away and you can help this student communicate better

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• 
    Break the ice:

  • What attitudes and actions should I have/do to make me successful in this course? I think this activity would work well in a wiki. The product of this activity would be a class wiki page with the agreed atitudes and actions among students and between teacher and students.
• Form learning teams:
• Interviews
• Debates
• Brainstorming
• Sessions
• Summaries
• Weekly
• choose
• Student -led
• discussions

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• • Be prepare prior to the discussion with 5 different questions that might be used or not.
    Write them down on a different word document.
• ses them as a springboard for discussion, connecting students' experiences   to the course content and raising questions for consideration. After ev
• After everyone   is comfortable, responses can become more global: instead of responding   to each message individually, you can post replies responding to issues   raised in several messages
• get to know one another.
• tudents feel as if they know you
• • Karen at Pamoja did just that by giving incentive to people to comment on each other posts and by answering to every single post in the beginning.
• Make sure all students thoroughly understand the criteria
• • Like Pamoja... lead them to the criteria of class participation and discussion
• Email is a good way to respond to individual problems or to motivate students   to participate without embarrassing them
• ting   a special discussion forum for questions or suggestions
• • You can do that by posting a Jing video.
• ry to avoid "over-facilitating." You don't need to   answer every question and settle every point!
• ait a day   or two before you address comments to give students an opportunity to   respond to one another.
• aising additional questions.
• Keep   the discussion alive
• it lets the communicator know that   someone is paying attention
• good time to refocus   the discussion by posing a new question that stems from the current conversations
• Keep the discussions on track; rein in long digressions;   push people forward on the topic. If comments drift off-topic, be creative.   Use subtle or humorous messages, or perhaps a humorous graphic or photo,   to redirect discussion. Send personal emails if necessary
• Bring   closure to each session before moving on

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• Allow time for the students to learn about   each other and gain an appreciation for the diversity they bring to   the classroom.  
   
  • Remind them how boring it would be if   we were all alike and there were no differences among us to make   each person unique.
• Implement a "zero tolerance" for anything that is   disrespectful, hurtful, or intolerant of diversity

• What is YOUR learning style? There are a few external resources  that will check it for you.
    Take this online  quiz to find out

  • It can be used by students to build awareness of their own characteristics.

• MakeBeliefsComix.com allows students to create a short comic strip. There are many characters to choose from, each featuring four different expressions. Students can add speech or thought bubbles, resize characters, add items to each frame, and e-mail their finished comics to their teacher.
• Animoto.com and JayCut.com provide for video creation and editing, respectively

• How do you ensure all of your students' intelligences are being tapped? Here is a list of activities that speak to each intelligence.

• Assessment should integrate grading, learning, and motivation for your students
• By the end of the course, I want my students to be able to…" Concrete verbs such as define, argue, solve, and create are more helpful for course planning than vague verbs such as know or understand or passive verbs such as be exposed to
• It is crucial that students understand why they are participating in a group project rather than completing the assignment on their own.
• Once you have chosen assessment methods and their general features, the next step is to combine all your tests and assignments into a bare-bones assessment "skeleton.
• Is the workload reasonable, strategically placed, and sustainable?"
• Try asking the students on the first day you meet with them what they think the purpose of the class is and what they want to learn from it. You may ask them to record their personal learning goals for the course and some strategies by which they can accomplish those goals. Alternatively, ask them to recall the most successful course they’ve had in the past. What assessment methods worked for them there? Can they use or adapt these strategies for your class? Some instructors even wait to finalize their goals and syllabus until after meeting with their students once or twice so that the students can help set the course goals.

  • Very good suggestion to use with my students in the first week at PAMOJA.

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• Setting the Context: Situational Factors
• Assessing Your Teaching Philosophy
• Setting Initial Course Learning Goals
• Selecting Feedback & Assessment
• Choosing Teaching & Learning Activities
• Evaluating Your Course

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