Module D: Contemporary Pedagogical Methods

For this learning journal mind map, I tried to link the new ideas generated during the process to language learning and teaching. With language learning in mind, I reflected on what the purpose of education is, what learning is, what my role as a teacher is, and how I can use the different methods introduced during the module. 

A lot of resources showed that the purpose of education nowadays is related to lifelong learning. Hence, the importance of an autonomous learner, learning to learn is highlighted. Learning, also has several aspects. It involves informative and transformative changes. Although the former sounds less than the latter, we cannot neglect either of them. Learning is also social. I was thinking if anyone can learn anything only by themselves, since even reading books is an interaction with the author. Does it count when someone figures something out merely by themselves? I am not sure in other fields, but at least in language learning, community of practice and communication are very essential. Finally, learning is about being and becoming. Learners learn to reach their potentials. For example, language learning can be empowering and can influence one's identity.  

We had one discussion about how we would call ourselves, teacher, facilitator, educator, coach or something else. It was interesting to listen to different teacher-to-be's answers. For me, it depends on which level we are talking about and currently, I am more identified with being a teacher. Later when I was rethink about it perhaps a "designer" would be a nice one too. Maybe I am also someone who designs a learning environment that promotes learning, with materials, content, support, and teaching methods. I like this role because creativity is involved and a designer also tries to solve some problems. It reminds me of an interview I did with a teacher previously. Her students thought she was their "mom" at school, and she identified with this role. She was caring, not only about the subject but also about students' life. 

While discussing methods, I realized I was not very interested in gaming that is related to technology. It was a surprise to me because usually I embrace everything new or related to technology. I was a little worried: Am I getting "old-fashioned" and scared of new changes? After hearing Nigel's similar response, I felt a bit more relaxed. I also would prefer something that I can use right away in a classroom. I understand that many students like to play computer games and some even pick up the language from them. This is similar to incidental learning, but of course learning happens only when the students realize they are learning something new from the games and reinforce the realization. If teachers make computer games part of the school work, somehow I think it takes away the fun of it! But when learning is gamified, it adds extra bonus to it.  

Finally, a thought on group work: 

We had one group assignment in this module where we had to pick two methods/ models for presentation. I remember thinking that if there are four of us and we pick two models, two of us will work on one and the other two the other one. What is the point to work in a group of four? Later during the presentation, collaborative and cooperative learning were mentioned. I think as advanced learners we would have learned more if we had worked collaboratively rather than cooperatively. Compared to one previous group assignment where we had to answer the "big question," the discussions we had then were so interesting and I felt really motivated in solving the problem. Maybe the instructions for group work have an impact on how students will proceed, whether collaboratively or cooperatively. This is something to keep in mind when I design group work later in the future!

Mentoring Program: Learning Diary

The mentoring program has been a combination of group meeting and individual meetings with the mentor. I learned different communication skills in the group meetings. I have even "borrowed" some of the activities to my own teaching practice, which was really enjoyable. Although my mentor is not in the field I wish to work in, he was able to find different resources and give suggestions to me. Our communication was rather flexible and open. He is really friendly and welcoming.  In the individual meetings with my mentor, we have explored different options in the job market. My mentor listened to my expectations and we worked on them together. Sometimes, however, things did not turn out as we wished. For example, my mentor wrote a reference letter for me to apply a teaching practice position in his previous school. I did not get the place unfortunately, but it led to opportunities to observe the lessons in that school. For me, the mentoring process was like a journey in a forest. You know roughly your destination, but you can never expect what things you might encounter on the way. The forest is so dense that sometimes it becomes an obstacle and you lose direction, but slowly everything will accumulate and contribute to your goal.

Before the mentoring program, I was really anxious about my working possibilities in Finland. During the process, I have gradually changed my mindset and come to understand what I need to do at this stage. In this regard, I do think the program has been really helpful and I have reached most of my personal goals in the program. I needed a clarification and direction for myself, and now I have both. Thanks to my mentor and the organizers!
 

Module C: Inspiring Teaching and Learning

Module C went a bit differently than the previous two modules. First of all, the teacher changed, and secondly, the teaching practice started at the same time. I felt a little distracted when doing both things at the same time, as my focus switched to the teaching practice more and more in the course of Module C. I missed some contact days because of teaching practice and personal reasons. It was until then I noticed the importance of contact days with the nature of this program. We had individual tasks when we were apart, but contact days kept everything together and more logical. Missing contact days felt like missing some logic.  

At the beginning of Module C, we were asked to write down our three learning objectives. Mine are: 

1. How to deal with diversity of students
2. How to plan in a way that students will learn what we hope they'll learn (the alignment of "learning outcomes--> learning activities--> assessment")
3. Classroom management 

For the first and third objectives, I read two books on the topics. 

• Waterman, S. S. (2013). Handbook on differentiated instruction for middle and high schools. New York, New York ; London, [England]: Routledge.
• Hue, M., & Li, W. (2008). Classroom management: creating a positive learning environment. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tampere/detail.action?docID=677299

And for the second one, the concept of constructively aligned designed was discussed extensively throughout the module. Our PBL (Problem-based learning) task had also touched upon this topic. Unfortunately, I did not participate the discussion session of PBL, but I went through the summaries of our fellow classmates and found some similarities and different angles of the topic. Some of our classmates questioned the learning task/question we came up with. It reminded me of my PBL observations earlier when the students were trying to decide the question for their task. I could see that the teacher tried very hard not to interrupt the discussion but in the end she had to interfere and lead them to the right direction. In spite of using the student-centered approach, as a facilitator in the PBL sessions, she not only had the expertise in the field but also the understanding of the students' capacity and learning trajectory. 

We also did a micro-teaching session where we needed to make our own multi-media materials. I hadn't heard of Powtoon before but I was interested in testing it, so I decided to make one for the micro-teaching session, and it was really powerful! It requires some time to get familiar with the functions but it could be a nice tool for pretasks or self-learning materials.

https://www.powtoon.com/c/bmjEyqFIAkz/1/m

To reflect on the five competences from the assessment table in Module C, I made the reflection into the mind map below and tried to connect the different tasks we had during the process. I found it the easiest with "Assessment and evaluation competences" and  "Cultural competences." The others were somehow difficult to map into my learning, although I still found some connections.  

Assessment: Five questions 
To answer these questions, I consulted Alberto's very clear presentation for his reading club. The literature of the presentation was based on the following book:
Berry, R. (2008). Assessment for learning (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.

Why to assess?
According to the book, there are three types of assessments and they are for different reasons: Assessment OF Learning, Assessment FOR Learning, Assessment AS Learning. 
Assessment OF learning: Related to behaviorism, the goal is to see if the students have learned what was set to be learned. It is the assessment of the product of learning.  
Assessment FOR learning: Related to constructivism, the purpose of the assessment is FOR learning, meaning that the assessment results can help understand the students' learning and enhance their further learning by making adjustments, etc. It is the assessment of the learning process.
Assessment AS learning: Students are the assessors in this case. They learn to monitor their own learning and thus become more autonomous. Assessment IS part of their learning.

Depending on the learning objectives, there might be different reasons and types of assessments. The important idea is to align the learning objectives to the assessments.  

What to assess?
The assessment should be aligned with the learning objectives. They should be aligned at the same level. The content and criteria of the assessment should also be transparent and clear to the students so they know what to expect and what to aim for. 


When to assess?
Again, depending on the purposes, assessments can be done before, during and after the learning activities. It can be in class or out of class. A diagnostic assessment can be done before the new learning activity to understand the students' current status; a formative assessment can be done during the process to improve their learning; and a summative assessment can be used at the end of the learning process. 

How to assess?
There are many types of assessment. Of course there are the traditional assessment with multiple choice items, true or false, short answers, essays, etc. There are also alternative assessments such as portfolios, learning journals, projects, interviews, etc. In order to align with the learning objectives, the nature of the types of assessment should be considered when planning. 


Who to do the assessing? 
Teachers and students. Traditionally, assessment mostly involves teachers' effort, especially from a teacher-centered approach perspective. Since students should take responsibility in their own learning, self-assessment and peer-assessment are considered beneficial as well. 

Module B: Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century

Module B went really fast. Without even noticing, it is already the end of the year! Most of the time was spent on preparing for the mini-lecture that will answer the BIG question: What is a good learning environment? In addition to the new information gained from different groups regarding the topic, what I have learned the most is probably the process of working with my group.

I had a really amazing group to work with and it completely changed my mind on group work. All the discussions and Skype meetings we had were so fruitful and efficient. I have heard and read so much emphasis on having more collaborative learning/ group work/ team projects in our teaching. Personally as a learner, I have never not found it as beneficial as it would be, but still I have tried to incorporate different collaborative learning activities for my previous students without really experiencing the benefit myself. 

From this group work experience, I have learned that:

1. The nature of the task should be big and challenging enough to be a group work. Working alone, I would not have come up with so many ideas for this difficult question as I did with my group. 
2. The task should be meaningful for the students. What is the outcome for the group work? In our case, this task is meaningful for us because we want to create a good learning environment for our students and we want to find out the answer. 
3. The personality and atmosphere of your group influences a lot. When you see how hard your fellow group mates are working, you get motivated and you learn from them. If your group mates are lazy, you often wonder why you should make any more effort. But how do we make sure all students will be motivated and responsible? I found it helpful when during this task, we were given guidance such as reading resources, facilitation from the teacher, and a few meetings with the teacher. Group work does not mean the teacher does not do anything, but he/she should assist along the process. 

Another thought that came up during Module B is that my identity as an immigrant teacher could be an asset rather an inferior status. In Culturally Responsive Learning, one of the important values is to consider students' diverse cultural backgrounds as assets instead of deficits. I think this can be applied to teachers as well. 

Although I did not have to do the observation as others, I had the chance to observe two lessons (English in a high school and Finnish as a foreign language in an adult learning institution). Both lessons showed very easy ways to cater activities to students' different levels. There was nothing fancy and miraculous in Finnish schools that most outsiders are hoping to find. Instead, there are devoted teachers, understanding the students' needs and helping them find their own way to learn with their humble and subtle strategies. For example, in one vocabulary activity for pairs, students can choose to match the definition and words or provide their own definition for the words, depending on their level. Another example is that the teacher provide different options that the students can choose from to learn the vocabulary in their free time. One more example is that before reading the actual material, the teacher offers the easy version of the same reading for those who need as an aid.

Below are two maps for the learning content of Module B. The first one is about what a good learning environment is from different aspects, and the second one is about observation.

Module A: Basic Studies in Education

During the orientation, we were told to reflect and think of our identity as an educator, what our philosophy and values are. Throughout Module A, we were able to look into different educational psychology and learning theories, and educational philosophy. In my previous teacher education training, we had one-semester-long courses respectively on those areas. The courses focused more on understanding the theories; however, in the current program, we were able to study those theories on our own, and also apply the knowledge to the reality. I do not know if it was because the program was designed very much around the core of application or I have grown older and changed my learning method. Maybe it was a combination of both. I particularly enjoy and benefit most from the process of trying to position myself in all the seemingly distant theories. Theories are not rigid texts anymore; they have a meaning in my learning and teaching. This was definitely something I have never experienced before. We were constantly reminded to reflect our teacher identity, and in what ways what we have learned could be applied. Perhaps this is how Finland trains their teachers in teacher education programs defers from other countries, which leads to higher teacher autonomy and stronger teacher agency. Teachers have a voice and their beliefs are not something they made up, but are theory-based and supported. This is why teachers are professional.

Although I resonate mostly with humanistic approach, by looking into how different learning theories might benefit different learners or areas, I learned that they all have certain functions. I also relate most with John Dewy's progressivism and pragmatist philosophy. In this every-changing world, education could empower people to live a better life. Learning by doing and by demonstrating how the learning content is used in the reality helps engage the learners and make learning meaningful to them. In foreign language teaching, connecting the language to real life purposes is not as difficult as some other disciplines. In addition to learning the basics of the language, we would provide more real-life application of the language to the students depending on their interest. For example, meeting speakers of the target language or using authentic materials are different methods. I have always known the importance of making the learning content meaningful for the students. Connecting the methods to the purpose of education, and realizing what it means to teach and learn helps me justify my teaching methods and beliefs. 

It has been very nice to learn from one another as everyone comes from such different backgrounds. I especially enjoyed being inspired and motivated by reading others' blog posts and the discussions in class. 

Below are my drawings/mindmappings of reflections and summary on Orientation, and the three themes in Module A of TAOK program. 

P.S. As I was drawing, I revisited the program curriculum as a checklist of what I have learned. However, sometimes I could not pinpoint my learning. Later in class, I remember Mark saying he had to interpret the given curriculum to design his lessons. I found it amusing that the journey from the curriculum planners to the learners is actually such a long way. 

Applying for Finnish Residence permit & Personal Identity Code 芬蘭居留證及Personal identity code申請

芬蘭移民局網站：http://www.migri.fi/studying_in_finland


先跟大家說我一直都是在台灣寫好線上申請表、預約時間，到芬蘭先用三個月的免簽時間，同時申請居留證。

Q: 甚麼時候線上申請？

A: 抵達芬蘭前一個月申請，太早申請預約時間會太早。

Residence permit 居留證申請

• 所需文件：

1. 有效護照

2. 芬蘭入學許可
3. 財力證明 (去郵局或銀行申請)
4. 保險證明 (Swisscare: 在芬蘭待兩年以內保EUR 100.000，兩年以上保 EUR 30.000)

• 費用：300歐
• 申請流程：

[台灣]
1. 準備好文件

2. 線上申請

[芬蘭]
1. 預約時間至當地Migri辦理(Tampere Migri: Itsenäisyydenkatu 11, 33500 Tampere)
2. 等待郵件，會通知到郵局領，記得攜帶護照 (Tampere郵局: Tullikatu 6, 33100 Tampere, 在Tullintori商場裡面)

Personal Identity Code申請

• 所需文件：

1. 居留證

2. 入學許可
3. 護照

• 費用：0 歐

• 親自辦理：Maistraatti

地址：Hatanpään valtatie 24, 33103 Tampere
參考資料：http://www.uta.fi/admissions/newstudents/movenotification.html

What I wish I had known before studying in Finland

讀讀我替Edunation寫的文章 :)

每天一早起床的風景

從交換，一路到碩士，現在論文和實習工作並進。芬蘭帶給我的實在太多！

如果你有到芬蘭就讀學位的打算，或者只是交換，一睹所謂的芬蘭教育而不想錯過這個學習機會，那你一定要讀讀這篇文章！

https://www.edunation.co/studyinfinland/blog/wished-known-studying-finland/