DESCRIPTION OF MY COURSE

This is my online reading and writing course link: https://classroom.google.com/c/NjI2NzM0NTA0MTQz?cjc=6bgyxg5

        As an ESL teacher at university, I have been teaching students reading and writing modules for several months, at the same time I am studying at Westminster International University. During this academic year, I took an innovative learning and teaching module, and my course leader inspired me to use creative technology, developing a blog and a course for my students. So I decided to create an online reading and writing course for my students, and they will be able to improve their skills by completing my course at home after class. Jared noted  (2010) that A certain level of interaction occurs between students, content, and technology when courses are delivered online. There are three categories for tasks: administrative, emotional, and cognitive (Coppola et al., 2002). Creating activities for blended learning is very important to be able to help all kinds of learners. It's also really important for the learning environment to consider the needs of every student. This is a big part of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL understands that each student has their own way of learning, things they're interested in, and what they need to learn. This means that the lessons and tests should be flexible for both teachers and students. According to the founders of UDL, Anne Meyer and David Rose, fair learning experiences should connect with how a student's brain works in terms of thinking and emotions, and should consider the what, how, and why of learning.

         Everyone knows that being able to read and write well is very important for doing well in school and also for growing as a person. A reading and writing class for students is meant to help them get better at these two skills by using a detailed and organized program. This class is created to help students improve their abilities to understand and think about what they read, as well as express their ideas clearly in writing. The class wants to give students more practice so they can understand and remember what they learn outside of regular classes, and also to involve them in the learning process through different activities. To make the class more interesting, I used platforms like Padlet, Bamboozle, Kahoot, Twee, Word wall, Quiz, Proprof quizzes, Jeopardylab, and Genially to interact with the students and make the class more enjoyable for them.

      

      In this class, students will explore a wide range of different kinds of reading topics. This is to help them become better at thinking about what they read and understanding different types of writing. They'll also learn how to express their thoughts and ideas in different writing styles like essays, reports, and creative pieces. The class will be interesting and will help students get better at writing and reading, so they feel more confident and are better at communicating. Students will learn different ways to improve how well they understand what they read, learn new words, use grammar correctly, and write more fluently. The class will be split into six sections, each with exercises to practice reading and writing. 

        By the end of the course, students will have a stronger appreciation for reading and writing. They will also have the skills to critically analyze and combine information from various sources, and feel more confident in their writing abilities. This course will help students succeed in their academic and personal or professional goals. The students will be able to do the following:

- writing a coherent paragraph, 

-writing a letter, 

- doing reading tasks, 

-using passive voice in writing, 

- writing an essay.

      This course aims to make reading and writing an engaging and effective experience by incorporating different learning theories. One of the theories used is constructivism, which focuses on active learning and participation through collaborative tasks and activities. Various platforms like Padlet, Bamboozle, Kahoot, Twee, Word wall, Quiz, and Genially are used to encourage students to take charge of their learning and build their knowledge through interactive exercises. Additionally, I have created a teamwork activity on jeopardlabs.com to review letter writing rules, allowing students to feel comfortable and unafraid of making mistakes. This approach gives learners the opportunity to explore knowledge independently, rather than being under the teacher's control. As per George Siemens, Connectivism integrates ideas from chaos, network, complexity theories, and self-organization theories, suggesting that learning occurs in a continually changing environment with elements not entirely under individual control.

       Furthermore, this course includes social learning theory, which shows how important it is to work together and learn from each other. By using Padlet and Genially, students can share their ideas and create knowledge as a group.

In the "Culture" part of the reading practice, students will talk about strange customs from different countries using Padlet. They can read each other's ideas and write comments, which makes learning more interesting and encourages everyone to join in.

According to some researchers like England and Ellis, using Padlet makes learning better and helps students when they talk together and share ideas. When children try to understand new things, they can make new knowledge. So, using Padlet is good for learning and makes students want to be more involved and motivated. I believe that using Padlet can help us reach our goals in many different ways. Siemens (2005) argued that Children generate knowledge as they attempt to make sense of their experiences. Students not only use Padlet to practice their understanding of the topic, but also it encourages motivation and interaction. Carrington (2016) identifies motivation as a critical factor for achieving the best learning outcomes. 

      Furthermore, the course also integrates aspects of cognitive learning theory, which focuses on developing students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The activities and tasks provided in the course are designed to challenge students' thinking and require them to apply their knowledge in real-life contexts, thus promoting deeper learning and higher-order thinking skills. In the task students have to change active sentences into passive.

    Also, I created a quiz with multiple-choice questions using a platform called ProProfs Quizzes to review what we have learned before. According to Ishihara and Cohen (2010), this kind of evaluation helps to see how students reacted to a certain situation by answering questions or choosing from different options. Multiple-choice questions are also easier to grade than open-ended questions, so I chose to use them to test my students' learning. In the next assignment, you can check how well the students understand similar situations.

    I made a game called "Vocabulary Fryer" in Baamboozle to teach words related to the topic "Travelling." This game encourages students to work together and interact in different ways, like on their own, in pairs, and in small groups. According to Johnson (2007), working in small groups helps students start conversations, give presentations, and have longer discussions. Besides learning and reviewing new words, students can also talk to each other and get better at solving problems. Fitzgerald (2013) said that when students are more involved, they do better in their learning, so using games like this can be successful in helping students learn.

In my class, I created a jigsaw reading activity. This helps students use reading strategies like skimming and scanning. As Brown and Lee (2014) explain, skimming helps readers predict the main idea or message of a passage and some of its supporting ideas. When teaching a reading strategy, it's important for students to understand why they are doing the reading task. This is why exercises are designed to help students complete their reading task effectively, before, during, and after. Grabe (2004) emphasizes using different reading techniques together. Day and Bamford (1998), Elley (2001), and Grame and Stoller (2014) all agree that extensive reading is important for improving students' reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and writing skills, especially for academic purposes ( cited in Brown and Lee 2014).

In addition, when planning the activities, I made sure that each activity would benefit all students by helping them improve their language and skills for real communication. Before the main part of the class, I aim to create a English language atmosphere by starting with a warm-up activity, like watching a movie about everyday life in English. This helps students focus on the lesson and activate what they already know, as suggested by Graves (2000).

In my class, I included several videos from YouTube to provide information about the topic. According to Wong (2020), students find it helpful to learn from videos, especially for understanding the topic and making it more interesting. However, there are some drawbacks to using videos in online classes, such as the lack of teacher involvement. Teachers can make video learning more engaging by pausing, asking questions, and replaying important parts of the videos, as mentioned by Bell and Bull (2010).

 

In general, this reading and writing class is based on the ideas of constructivist, social, and cognitive learning theories. This means that students will have a complete and active learning experience to help them improve their reading and writing abilities.

References:

1. Adams, N. E. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 103(3), 152-153. http://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.103.3.010 5. Moore, J. (2011). Behaviourism. The Psychological record. DOI: 10.1007/BF03395771

2. Brown, H.D. and Lee, H. (2014). Teaching by Principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy, 4th ed. London: Pearson.

3.       Fitzgerald, D. (2013). Employing think-pair-share in associate degree nursing curriculum. Teaching and Learning in Nursing. 

4. George Siemens “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age “ 2005. http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm.

5.    Graves, K., (2000). Designing language courses: a guide for teachers. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Thompson learning.

6.   Ishihara. N, Andrew. D, Cohen (2010). Teaching and Learning Pragmatics. First edition published in Great Britain.

7. Johnson, D., Johnson, R. (1999). Making Cooperative Learning Work: Theory into Practice, 38 Parlindungan Pardede Integrated Skills Approach in EFL Classrooms: A Literature Review 1. Universitas Kristen Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia 2017. (2), 67-73. 

8. Jared K. ( 2010) “Towards Best Practices in Online Learning and Teaching in Higher Education”. 

9. https://www.gettingsmart.com/2019/10/24/universal-design-for-learning-as-a-framework-for-digital-equity/