Reflections Week 1

On reading different comments on rubrics, I learned that it is the best way to assess students’ work objectively, especially in writing and students can assess their own work. Actually, in grading they are mostly influenced by their previous performances or names. Mostly in writing, marks are subjective. It happens to us before reading a student’s paper, it can be the best or the less good, we say to ourselves that it’s needless to read the paper. With clear rubrics, teachers avoid misjudgements.

Another point to be mentioned is that negotiating with students, it is a key issue for a successful class. Students are partners, resources. Students can bring materials that teachers need in his/her class. Mostly, when they are involved in making decisions and they feel that they exist, they realize that nothing is imposed. Classroom realities are not different from what we live in real life. It is democracy versus dictatorship. In a dictatorship class, students are afraid of participating, making mistakes, and they resort to plagiarism to please the teacher’s demands in terms of accuracy. Democracy is synonymous with flexibility, teachers welcome students’ proposals without frustrating them. Making mistakes is part of language learning and even failing students deserve encouragements; at least they have actively taken part in the classroom.

With our present project, Children’s Situation in Kolda, students will need to search issues on Child Labour and Childrens’ Rights. So, providing them with good searching engines will help them find resources. As I said in the discussions, learning can happen outside classes.