Gokhan+BOZKURT+reflection+on+Yüce+COLLEGE

GÖKHAN BOZKURT ** REFLECTION FOR YÜCE SCHOOLS’ CONFERENCE ** The Conference was held in/by Yüce College in on 17th March 2012. Especially I will reflect my opinions about first session by Dr. Anna Maria Pinter. I believed that she is very good at her field. It was very important that programme was organized very professionally. Normally many of the conferences were very boring for me, but this programme wasn’t it so. First of all, Dr. Anna Maria Pinter gave a general idea about how the type of applying of activities affects the class and also how it differentiated learning. As example, Dr. Anna showed some interesting activities and we could see that how attractive and enjoyable they were. Also, the poetry activity part could hold the spectators’ attention effectively. The aim of the Dr. Anna Maria Pinter is to inform us about differentiated learning, learner strategies and learner autonomy in her own view.Also, she involved speaking and writing through very practical activities that can be easily applied in ESL classrooms. The other important thing was that Dr. Pinter gave the term ‘Autonomy Cycle’ and she explained it’s starting with choice and choice precedes commitment(motivation), reflection better understanding of both the self and the learning process, desire to improve and doing it again, in order. This autonomy cycle has a very important place in learning because it gives learners different tasks starting with the choice. However, I think most important point is that it can be applied for all languages and levels. The third speaker Meghan Beler talked about how we could make our classroom environment more dynamic. She applied some activities to us and her activities were very attractive and I thought that they would be very helpful for students. I think that the conference is very beneficial for me, because we have several activities that we haven’t applied so far and we have many different and effective ideas related to classroom environment and classroom activities that can be applied to students in too different strategies. These things are very helpful for me both for now and both for my future. Because of the fact that I will become a teacher in future, I will be really in need of these strategies. Also, the things I have learned provide me much easiness in classroom and I will feel self confidence in my area. GÖKHAN BOZKURT I agree that the speaker provides us with a wide range of knowledge about differentiated learning through different activities such as writing cinquain which can entertain the learners so increase their commitment to carry out the task. Differentiated learning is a social process applying different strategies to teaching and learning process regarding students with different level of competence, interests, needs, personalities and learning styles and this learning style overlaps with the Multiple Intelligence we have learned Methodology courses so we can easily transfer this knowledge provided by the speaker to our own class. Also, I agree that autonomy cycle has a very important place in learning and making their own choices increases their level of success because when the students make their own choices, they are more motivated to learn and improve themselves so motivation and improvement go hand in hand. Also, giving students a chance to make their own choices increases their commitment to perform the task again and again. I did not like the way the speaker presents the topic even if I believe that she is very good at her field. It would be better, if the speaker leads her conference on the stage, not behind the desk. During the lesson, the teacher can give a chance to lead, control their own learning and by this way, the teacher make the students more motivated to learn. For example, the students can select the topic and the teacher can use the text related to this topic as a context for vocabulary teaching. He would give one example activity from the conference, which makes the reflection more detailed and comprehensive. ** Comment by Hasan ACAR ** ==== Actually firstly I want to say that different activities in the lessons provide more useful teaching process and it is very important to provide lots of activities in the lessons for students' motivation and concentration. The conference that we attended provided us lots of helpful knowledge about differentiated learning through different activities. Differentiated learning is lğike a socia network system. I mean it is a social process with different level of comperence. The teachers should use different strategies while teaching foreign language and I there are lots of different strategies an d aCtivities in thew courses, the styudents could understand the topics and important poıints related to the lesson. Other thing is about providing students their own choice in the lessons. For instance, the teachers bring some materials or writings for the topic. If the teachers bring different writings or texts, the students can choose one of them. So the lesson will not be bıoring and more attractive. Actually it is clear that the teacher should be careful about this process. The writings or text should be in the same level and same content. All the texts that the teacher brings should provide important points and knowledge for the topic. Unfotunately I didn't like the presenters' lecture style. If they are more energetic and active, the conference would be more successful and attractive. ====
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