Bad vs. Good……Teachers ??!!

Teaching as a career is one of the most complicated jobs of all times. A teacher needs to be psychologist, historian, sociologist and geography teacher. S/he has also to have broad knowledge about the subject, curriculum, standards, and students, as well.  Being a teacher further means being the friend, the mother, the father, the advisor, and the teacher. All are compiled in one package—the TEACHER.  So, what makes a teacher great and what makes him/her flunk their mission.  The following lines will touch upon good and bad teachers as well as reflecting on my experience as a teacher. 

While I was in my first steps in teaching career, I met many burned out and unmotivated teachers who, firstly, piqued my interest and motivation towards teaching.  The first thing they uttered on my first day at school was: “Why did you become a teacher. It did not worth it when you earned little compared to the amount of work you would be doing.”  Saying this gave me the impression that they were “bad teachers” although I believed and still do that there are no bad teachers because every teacher have had something to give in their unique way to their students. Yet, and with time, I didn’t find them bad teachers because they were really good and knew what their students needed and knew their material very well. After all, I did not, and still do not, believe that there are “bad teachers” because the moment you are enrolled in education, you are a good teacher who will contribute to the educational system and students learning.

Aside from this and my reflection upon my experience with previously mentioned incident, who is a “bad teacher”?

In my opinion, a bad teacher is the one who has no control of the classroom where there are discipline problems and bullying among students. Another type of bad teacher examples is the one who is not familiar with his/her teaching material and has difficulty answering questions, or being effectively  involved in a class discussion. Adding to this is the teacher who teaches the class as a whole and does not pay attention to individual needs.   By this, s/he eliminates individualism, creativity, and uniqueness in the classroom where individuality is supposed to flourish.  Another important issue is the fact that some teachers choose to be bad due to logistic matters. This type loses enthusiasm and motivation towards teaching and students. They wander off topics easily and waste the teaching time in irrelevant issues, as a way of protesting against the system.  Yet, I still believe that there is no bad teacher as long as s/he tried to cope with all circumstances that hinder or delay the teaching involvement.

Knowing so far that there is no bad teacher, one needs to ask:  who is a good teacher? Well, a good teacher is simply the opposite of the previously mentioned examples of a bad teacher and more.  A good teacher is the one who is already prepared to teach the classroom with enthusiasm.  It is also important to not stereotype learners and undermine them for any reason.  Instead, a good teacher should have high expectations for all students and no one is left behind without giving up on any student. Good relationships are another key issue of the teacher success in the classroom. Students nowadays learn in collaborative atmosphere, where they become partners in the learning-teaching process.  Involving students in their learning gives them opportunity to shape their learning process and final product.

 

Looking back at teaching as a productive career, teachers have the potential to use different methods in their teaching.  Methods may come from adopting, sharing, exchanging and inventing ways of teaching that suit different students.  In this case, creative teachers can only bring out creative ideas that keep students motivated while using a variety of methods and approaches.  It always happens that my ideas came through negotiating learning issues with my students and colleagues. One idea will give sparks and fireworks for another and so on. For this, teachers have to be aware of every possible idea that can bring new learning experiences.

Technology nowadays becomes one of the motivated tools for the classroom because more students, compared to teachers, are going deeply into technology and online tools.  A good teacher, in this situation, is the one who takes advantage of what students like and uses it for their learning when students are engaged into their learning process and working teams. From my experience, using technological tools in the classroom provided students with alternative and available tools to enhance learning.  In particular, learning disabilities (LD), pupils having difficulties (PHD) and even special education students are mostly advanced because of integrating technological tools in the classroom. A good example is while teaching deaf-mute students who have had  no qualified teachers to communicate with them using sign language for preparing them for their Bagrut English examination. I volunteered to work with them, of course with my minimum sign language I know. The only way to communicate with them is via computers and chat options that the English Language Center (ELC) has.  I successfully managed to train them for their examinations by providing them with tips of how to deal with the exams.

Thus, when a teacher decides to obtain teaching as a career,  s/he has to take responsibility towards their students because they are the future generation who will make changes for a better life.

A Week of Facebook Gaming

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Day One

Sitting in front of my table watching the view outside while the yellow leaves are falling from the trees with every breeze, I decided to start my farm.  Hold on! I have not bought a farm. It is only my virtual farm, my Farmville. Now you know what it is; a game that I kept avoiding and ignored all my friends’ requests claiming that this will distract me.  Avoiding them does not work when I have to do an assignment for my technology and literacy class. So here we go!

The idea is to play a game two hours for a week. Sounds a very cool assignment I would say. So, instead of playing one game, as usual, I have to add my touches. I decided to play a game every day and, by this, I would be exposed to different games that I would not have the time to play them in the coming few months or years. This decision would give me the chance to see what types my students would like more and will provide them with more learning opportunities through gaming; something they would love in the English class. 

Well, now, the dilemma is how to play a game on my Facebook where many of my colleges are there watching and following my daily actions. What would they say when they see me playing and not studying. What a Ph.D candidate who is playing instead of doing her academic work. To avoid such thing, I decided to use my other email account and, of course, open another Facebook account. And from here, I should start.

My first game is Treasure Hunt. At the beginning I thought that I would be Jim Hawkins and ride the ship with Captain John Silver searching for gold on The Treasure Island. I was disappointed to find that, metaphorically, I had to help my imaginary Captain John Silver finding his stuff in his room in the Inn first.

The idea of the game is that there are different stuff in an office, different levels, and vocabulary that keeps coming down with relaxing background music. The goal is to find the items whenever a name comes down announcing which item to click on and get points. For this game, the player has to have an eagle eye that picks items as fast as possible otherwise he/she will lose the game. The moment the player click on the demanded items, the score becomes high.

My first experience with this games started by reading the hints for the game and how to play it. My first level went slowly and the danger alarm went out several times before finding the item and saving myself from being thrown out of Captain John’s ship. However, with each level I finish, I became faster in spotting the items.  Surprisingly, I have to stop twice in order to find the meaning of two words; Katana and chalice, which I found difficulty in spotting the item that I knew with different name. I continued playing until level seven when I got 910 points and rewarded with 200 Token.

My first impression of this game; Treasure Hunt, is very positive for many reasons. First, gaming in the ESL/EFL classroom is a strategy that many students would love and would motivate them and promote their learning. Second, the game teaches vocabulary and this is better than memorizing words and meanings by heart. The game provides written words and visual items and this helps students to remember the item and connect it with its correct name. Third, the game keeps repeating some words from each level and this gives players the opportunity to rehearse the words repeatedly every time it appears. Fourth, the game enhances using the dictionary to find meanings and develop dictionary skills whether online-dictionary or hard copy.  This Finally, the game suits the classroom environment because each level has a short time. This gives the players to finish several levels at the same class period.

I still wonder after playing this Facebook game if the tea hers in the classroom can create their own Treasure hunt using the same game. How would the learning environment change? Would students be motivated to come and enjoy the English class? Many questions and many assumptions, but the bottom line is that technology is invading our classrooms and there is no escape but to integrate them in our teaching.

Day Two

Guess what? I forgot the password for my new account when I tried to log in playing another game. This is a bad sign and a sour taste. But I decided to add some sweetness to my unfortunate start. I chose Candy Crush Saga because, first and mostly, I adore candy and makes me feel better when I feel a little bit down.  Let’s try the sweetest Facebook game, which seems childish, but who cares? Let me wake up the child inside me.

The game directly take the player to “play” and till not I have not found a hint for how to play. The moment I clicked the candy bar play button a lovely music played on and a hand pointed to me to follow the instruction and start moving candy to their correct place. The idea is to make a line of the same kind of candy and each time the player makes a move, s/he gets points. I finished the first level with sugar crush and 3240 score. This takes me to level two and I have to share and start my adventure. To get more scores and move to more levels. Every time , I get a higher score, praising comments like “sweet,” “tasty” and, “sugar crush” are provided with an encouraging voice. The  idea is to keep moving on a railway through the Candy Town. Each level has different demands and limited.

Game Over! I managed to reach level 8 and get 20,000 points when I failed to removes all the jellies. I was disappointed because I finished all my moves and only one jelly ended my game. Frankly speaking, I felt bored from doing the same thing repeatedly.  Yet, I wanted to see what would happen when I reach the end of the railway through the Candy Town. Would I get a huge mountain of candy? Would I have a reward? Who knows? For sure I don’t know because I never reached the end. Still, I might go back again when I have more time.

This games; Candy Crush Saga suits beginners. It does not teach much vocabulary and it doesn’t suit the English class environment. However, it can be a great reward for fast learners, who finish their tasks before others.  So, to avoid having discipline problems while other students are still working on their tasks, fast learners can play a little because the game needs no effort. Just for fun.  

From Day Three to Day Five

I always wanted to have a farm of my own, a real one, but since I am still dreaming of having a real farm, I turn to virtual farm. I will practice being a farmer on the computer screen by playing a game called FarmVille2.

When I decided to play this game, Nathan Lindberg sent me an invitation to start my own. I smiled when I saw in my newsfeed that Nathan was feeding a red goat and in seconds he started his harvest. I said to myself, “Oh ya! Nathan and the red goat! I should start my farm too.”

FarmVille2, which seems an extended game of FarmVille1, starts with a welcoming letter and introducing me to my old friend, Marie, who will help me in the farm.  As a farmer, I am directed to do several things to the tomato, the goat, the chicken, etc. The player has to follow instructions of how to move around and farm that crops, sell them, and feed the animals. The game also brings happiness and fun when I see my accomplishments and some progress in the farm while feeding the hungry chicken and the red goat and getting eggs and milk to sell and earn bucks. FarmVille2 is full of life that the player have fun expanding the farm and sharing rewards with friends.

On the next day, I decided to go back to the farm.  Coming back to my farm, I find my hungry chickens and goats. I have to feed them and make food. This time I become more anxious about how to increase the income of the farm. The more I plant, feed the animals, and sell the products and get more income. This helps in releasing some other products and unlocks some. By this, I can plant more products.

I reached higher level, but I need more friends to help in decorating and building my big house. But, I have chosen to stop at this point in order to not get addicted to the game forgetting that I have other academic papers to write.

The idea of the game is build on individual work, peer work, and group work. It is a sort of community work where everyone is helping everyone else in their farms. Not only this, but also sending gifts and sharing rewards. This kind of games enhances group and community spirit among learners. It trains learners in the classroom to work with each other and exchange information.

This type of gaming would be definitely useful in the classroom where a different type of instruction has to be followed in order to move to a different level. It is a challenge in itself for the students to share and talk about their farms. This enthusiasm moves with the learners beyond the classroom and creates an atmosphere of exchanging information about strategies and ways of working their farms out.

Day Six

After building my farm, I decided to move to a city. But this city is not like any other city. It is the Dragon City. The title attracted me and I thought that there would be an adventure to safe some princes from a vicious dragon who throw fire. But, what I found it totally different and not what I expected.

Dragon City is based on raising dragons. Like the previous games, it has instructions of what to do to expand the Dragon City. As a player, I have to take care of the hatched dragon egg and feed it until it grows and joins the elder ones. So, the whole game is about breeding, feeding, collecting dragons, and selling them for gold.  Also, I have to build and plant for the dragons to eat. Like the FarmVille2, I can visit other dragon cities and share and invite others to my city, too.

 The issue about this game, like FarmVille2, if I need a thing, I have to buy it online with real money. I didn’t like this because it will not work in the ESL classroom. Yet, there is an alternative. The more you get dragons and sell them, the more you will get gold. By getting more gold, the player can unlock some options and expand the city.

Personally,  I felt bored while playing it and definitely I would not use it in my language classes. The instructions are little and don’t add much to the students’ linguistic skills.   

  End of Facebook Gaming

I have always been avoiding online games because I have more important things to do. The only online game that I used to play is chess in www.chesscorner.net where I played with players from all over the world. 

However, I played for a whole week Facebook gaming as part of my Technology and Literacy course by Dr. Gian Pugnucci at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The task was to play for two hours on a daily bases for a week. At the beginning, I thought to myself, playing two hours will be a waste of time. But when I started playing, it took me sometimes more than two hours without having any sense of time. The game challenged me to keep playing because I wanted to reach higher levels and got more fortunes and gold.  

Thinking of Facebook gaming for the classroom turns out to be not a bad idea. There are many reasons that I liked it. First, it provides students with a real life situation where they can develop their skills. At the same time, they learn how to follow instructions and accordingly accomplish their progress in the game. Second, the aim of collaboration among learners is pointed out because players have to share with other players, who will be in this case their friends and classmates. Third, learners will acquire cohesive and organization while playing because the game is built on stages or repeated actions that the players have to follow in order to move to upper levels. Finally and the most important is having fun and enjoying their times in doing educational and productive tasks.

 Facebook List of Games:  http://apps.facebook.com/silvergames

 

My early experience with technology goes back to an early age while learning how to ride a bicycle, which I still lose balance and I need supporting wheels.  I still remember that the boys in my neighborhood were teasing me about being unable to ride a bicycle. They challenged me to ride one and the nasty boys gave me a really huge bike that was meant for grown ups. I managed to climb it while they were holding it before releasing it.  In fact, I mangaed to ride it for a short distance before falling down and cutting my knee. This experience always put me in a challenge with any type of invention as I was growing up. I become good in using the sewing machine, fixing cables, and many other things. TV and toys with screens attracted my attention all the time. Looking at this box with a screen, where life seemed  to be real, made me love it.  We used to have a black and white TV screen around which all siblings, cousins, and sometimes neighbors sitting silently watching cartoons with tears in their eyes when there is emotional moments. I also remember that as kids we used to cover the screen with a colored pieces of cloth to change the color. So, sometimes we had red screen and other times it turned to blue when my mother didn't caught us using her head scarf. As kids, we also used to invent our own TV which was made out of blocks and someone would pretend to be news broadcaster. Radios were another story.  

As I grow up, I became more passionate about other types of technology that suited my purposes and interests. But, I always loved playing with buttons and loved having toys that had buttons to press. I always wanted to click buttons for some reason. My journey with buttons and technology started earlier when I wanted to learn how to play the piano. But since I didn’t learn the piano, I turned to an alternative tool; computer.

 I am totally dependent on computers for all my daily life. Reflecting about technology and literacy,  my first experience with computers was when I had to type my assignment papers . But at that time, I had not gotten any computer or in any place nearby. Still, I always wanted to use computers and type. This chance came to me during my  first years of teaching when I started preparing exams for my students. It happened that at the staff room there was only one computer that nearly no one was using becuase  many teachers were not enthusiastic about using it. Well, who cares? I liked it and I used to clean it from the dust it had. Of course, you know why. But, it seemed  that the initial sparks started from there, not from cleaning the dusty computer, but with having a screen and buttons, who would stop me? Recognizing the importance of technology for ESL/EFL classroom encourages me to use it in my teaching. At the beginning of my career, I used to have a hand written exams that I had to make several drafts whenever I changed my mind about a certain question. When I started using computers, I spent less time writing and editing exams as well as making my exams neat and well organized. My students, in turn, found it easy to deal with exams when they were typed and I faced no problems of explaining or complaining because the written exams was not clear. 

 My passionate about computers continued to grow up especially while studying for my master degree where I had to use computers all the time for searching, writing, and of course for chatting. Chatting was the first that taught me how to type fastly. Using technology also connected me to the world where I met many people from several countires that had and still have no peace agreement with Israel. From that time, I educated myself to do everything by depending on technology for my daily life. I become very expert in many issues concerning the machine and everyone else was amazed from how much I knew about computers and internet thinking that I had a degree in computer science or was in some kind of enrichment courses. Which neither is true!
 

 

My Journey Into Literacy

September 11, 2012

 

Literacy used to be writing and reading. But throughout the time and with the development of technology, literacy is not any more writing and reading. It becomes transliteracy that moved to using other types of tools. It is not anymore the pen and the paper, the simplest type of tools, but exceed it to computers and digital tools that serves as advances equipment to smooth and promote literacy.

Thinking about my literacy in this way is taking me back  into a journey to a very early age. Literacy through this journey has two dimensions: literacy at home and another at school. My first literacy is learning to speak the mother tongue through listening, imitating, and repeating what other people around me are saying and then using it for my needs. So, this type of literacy came naturally without any need for schooling.

However, my school literacy is very different and it has its own purposes as well. I remembered that even my childhood games were around teaching and learning. I remember that I was always the schoolteacher that I liked because it shaped my career and my affection for teaching.  Acquiring literacy at home is very different from school.

I remember my first experience with schooling is not that bright and normal like any other kid because my situation as a kid to Palestinian mother and an Israeli father affected my life from the beginning. I am not saying that it is bad, on the contrary, I liked it a lot and it shaped my life later on. When I reached the suitable age to enter school, I was not allowed. Not like any kid, who experienced and lived the first day of going to school to grow up and tell how it was. Holding an Israeli identity in a Palestinian school made this delay because my parents had to get permission from authorities to let me enter the school.

Imagine how it was to miss all the wonderful things that kids of my age experienced to overcome their fear of school. But, I had to face it alone. After two months or so, I attended a female school because there were no mixed boys and girls schools according to the Jordanian educational system which was used in the occupied Palestinian schools. For this, I had no option but to go to a female school. So complicated! Imagine that! A holder of Israeli identity card started her education within a Jordanian system in a Palestinian school. This whole complication made even more complicated when I introduce myself. “Am I Israeli? Am I Palestinian? Am I both? Who am I?” questions kept digging in my head. But in fact I had the privilege to introduce myself the way I wanted and the way my listen preferred it. Sometimes, I used as a strategy to get rid of annoying people if I introduced myself in this way or that way.  “I am an Arab Muslim Bedouin Palestinian Israeli girl” was my identities and I was free to choose whatever I want from them.  So complicated and so weird  in this way saying them in this way! But this is what I am. My identities, my literacies, and my existence are connected to all these elements.  Sometimes it was for good and sometimes it was for bad. 

This experience gave me the determination to learn more languages. My passionate about literacy made me teach myself Hebrew. Amazing how a young girl took her own self-education of another language without any need to do so, and I took it seriously. But, I always had this precognition into the future. Thinking about tomorrow, and not stuck in the present moment, created other perspectives and more opportunities for me. I taught myself to read, write and speak without attending classes.

For me, my father taught me my first letters and brought me books. My first Hebrew book was written in Hebrew letters but the words sounded Arabic. How funny it was to read Arabic in Hebrew letters about Abu Sami and Cohen.  It was my first experience with learning languages and it happened that both Hebrew and Arabic were similar in starting from the right side and had many words in common.

At the beginning, I used to write names of the people around me and read words without knowing their meanings. I liked it. At school, my teacher once assigned me to write the names of  the troublemakers in the class, as it was a role to assign one each week to control noises. I wrote the names in Hebrew and my classmates got curious about it.

 

Strange how kids think and behave when they learn something new. Following my Hebrew self- tutoring, I learned a lot from watching Egyptian movies with Hebrew translation on every Friday night on the Israeli channel one on TV. I also watched Israeli movies a lot and listened to news which helped me connect between Arabic and Hebrew news when both reported the same event. This first experience with language happened before learning English. It was interesting how home schooling with the Hebrew language was equivalent to learning classical Arabic at school.

My journey with English is a different story. After learning two languages from the right side, I had to take my journey to the other side. It was all about drawing circles and lines from the left side. I liked it. It was fun and I liked drawing in which I was skilled as still is. I acquired this talent from my mother who was artistic in embroidery and inventing shapes that women used for their traditional clothes, pictures, table cloths, and many other items. It seemed that I got this side from my mother, who taught me all skills and helped me to embroider my life with my languages later on.

Very soon, it is not fun anymore. The serious work started and I have to acquire the language. I was happy with it at the beginning till I got punished by my English teacher for not knowing some vocabulary. I even forgot what the word was. But I remember that it was painful. Not physically, but emotionally and left a scar deeply inside.  But, frankly speaking, I deserved it. Yes. I deserved it. I could call it now “The Awakening Slap.” The best thing that happened to me came from physical punishment. Ya! Bad things were the cause for good things. It hurted me deeply because the best kid in class was the worst in English. Life was so strange. It directed us to the unknown and shaped us in the way it wanted, sometimes for bad and other times for good. The smartest was the one who could seize the moment to choose the best. And this slap directed me to my future career. From that moment I decided to be an English teacher. Just to tease my teacher and show her that I would be the best in English and I did it. I finished high school with high scores that could send me to medicine. But I just wanted to be an English teacher. I challenged myself and I succeeded as a student and as a teacher.  

My literacy didn’t stop by learning languages. With the development of technology, I taught myself how to use technology and I bought my first computer. The funny thing was that, I didn’t know anything about computers and I had to follow the instructions to even turn on the computer. So, my first literacy started from chat rooms with people from different places around the globe.  I remember that my first use of the keyboard I have to spend long time just trying to find the letter on the keyboard. Imagine three different languages on the same keyboard. How complicated is it? At this point, I was learning to use my computer, but at the same time learning to sue three languages at the same time and remembering where each letter is located and what finger goes with which button. I ended up typing by my two forefingers. From the moment I touched my keyboard, I became attached to it until today.  

Looking back at the journey of my literacy, I can see tat many people affected my it, starting from my family, moving to my school, and ending with technology. All the stage  happened for a purpose to suit different contexts.