I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog recently, not so much due to the recent festive season or holidays (I wish!) but due to being incredibly busy with work and study. During a free lesson today, I decided I’d had enough of lesson prep and marking projects and, as nobody else was in the room and my laptop was already on, I recorded a quick video post to compensate for the fact I didn’t have enough time to write anything! My comments were not planned but I ended up laying down a challenge (I know how much we ELT bloggers love ‘em)! Well, two actually: your first challenge is to get that far in the video; your second is to respond!
I’m going to call it:
Note to self: remember YouTube can choose random snapshots from any point in the video!
I’m going to call it:
Dave’s ‘When The Wheels Fell Off’ Blog Challenge
Come on - Do your worst!
Good idea to focus on what DIDN'T go well, Dave. I have a post which will be guested by one of my DELTA trainees on his first Dogme venture and I thought the lessons learn from that not very successful lesson produced an outstanding assignment and reflection - going to share this soon.
ReplyDeleteHave more good things happen to you in 2011 and have fun while teaching, too.
Marisa
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteWell, you know my thing with challenges ;-) but despite that I agree with Marisa in thinking this is a fabulous idea Dave, we learn much more from what doesn't work, and sharing that through blog posts we can get people's ideas on how we could've handled what didn't work.
I also have to admit I loved the video idea... Might copy you on that, it just seeems it would be fun (not to mention quicker!).
Cheers! And let the challenge (and the new blogging year) begin!!!!
Cecilia
Hi Marisa.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and I'm looking forward to that post!
You've highlighted an important issue concerning this challenge - sometimes (or quite often even) the first time we try something new it can flop (whether it's a disaster or simply a 'flat' lesson) and it's very easy to then dismiss the idea and nver try it again. However, by reflecting on what went wrong and why, we can make sure a second attempt works better and hopefully encourage who have had similar difficult experiences in the process.
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Hi Cecilia! I somehow knew you'd find your way to a post with the word 'challenge' in the title. ;) I'm looking forward to your contribution (allowing for the fact that you need to have a lesson that doesn't go to plan first!)
The video certainly was a time saver - 5 minutes to record (1 take), 5 minutes to play with it in Movie Maker (optional of course) and then hit 'upload' (in fact that was the longest part of the process!)
So another challenge for you - make a video post for your blog!
There's lots to choose from for this challenge! ;) Will easily participate.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
A great idea for a challenge. We all know we learn best from thinking about mistakes and such. I do spend time thinking about things that have gone wrong, need to do it more though. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
ReplyDelete