Using Moodle for Teaching Writing to Prep Students

Using Moodle for Teaching Writing to Prep StudentsInst. Emsal Ate zdemirT School of Foreign Languageswww.emsalates.comemsalates@gmail.com

Process approach

Product approach

Two approaches for teaching writing

Prewriting (selecting a topic and planning what to say)Drafting Peer / teacher responseRevision Editing

If you are following these steps...Emphasizes prewriting, drafting, revising and editing, and regards writing as a thinking process (Brown, 1994)The activities involved in the process approach create the pathway by which students complete their assignments (Calkins, 1994)Process approach Good writing does not just happen. The best writers spend a great deal of time thinking, planning, rewriting, and editing." Elizabeth West

Setting assignmentsFollowing the SS process Little time for peer reviewLittle time for individual meetings with SS (after checking the assignments)Carrying lots of assignments in folders homeSpending a lot of time editing the papers and giving feedback

Challenges for the teacher

Tired ??

The Crow and the Pitcher

A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and tried, but at last had to give up in despair.

Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life. (Aesop, 1912)

The crow and the Pitcher

What can be the connection between Aesops fable and the presentation?So?

Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment

a course management system (CMS) - a free, open source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities (http://moodle.org/)

For teaching all coursesMoodle

Moodle is the name of a program that allows the classroom to extend onto the web (Riordan, M. 2003)

In short..

Create online learning spaces called courses for your students.Each course has its own set of resources and activities that can be customized in terms of appearance and organizationOnce you have set up a course, you can fill it with activities and texts (documents), including audio and video.

What can you do with Moodle?

Enhance your teaching by designing activities that are tailor-made for your course and students

Provide students with links to websites that are relevant to your course

Ask students to reflect on their learning through a blog Work in teams to co-author a glossary or a document using a wiki

And...My moodle writing course at first look

What about using Moodle for a Writing Course?

Assignment (upload a single file) (Advanced uploading of files) (online text)

Moodle modules for writing

Giving feedback for the assignment

Keeping the files

SS may use the Moodle blog for creative writing. Real audienceCan comment on each others writing.This blog is only for the use of the participants of this course, it is not seen on the web.

BlogWhat news have you read recently that caught your attention? Find a story you like and you think your friends might find interesting and tell us about it here. Dont just copy the story, tell it in your own words. Try answering these questions:Whats the news about?When did it happen?Why is it interesting? (Stanford, 2009)Sample activity (blog)SS write good personal profiles as others will read.Personal Profile

Writing encyclopedia entries (descriptive writing)A topic: famous people towns in your country historical events musiciansSee the link for other educational uses. http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/06/moodle-glossary-tips-free-xml-converter.html GlossarySample glossary entry

Wiki is an editable web page or set of web pages. Any course member can edit any page on a wiki.

Collaborative wikindividual wikiWikiStudents work on one big project. For ex, they describe their university to the Erasmus students who will come to study with them.Each person will write about a different aspect of the universityStudent SubjectJohnLibraryMattSports FacilitiesDanThe teachersMariafood (Stanford, 2009 )Sample activity (wiki)(Each person posts one discussion)Our tripsWhere did you go in the last summer holidays?Choose some of your favourite photos and post them in a forum. Next to the images write a commentary. Tell us whats going on and what you thought about it.(Stanford, 2009)ForumWho dares to teach must never cease to learn.~ John Cotton Dana

Brown, H. D.(1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice Hall Regents.Stanford,J. (2009). Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques for Teaching English.Packt Publishing.Zhao, Y. (2003). Introduction: What Teachers Need to know about Technology? Framing the question. In Zhao, Y. (ed). What Should Teachers Know about Technology: Perspectives and Practices. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Referencese-mail : emsalates@gmail.comPresentation link: www.emsalates.com

Thank you!

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