Week 7- WE REALLY THRIVE AND STILL SURVIVE

At the beginning of each week I wonder what other interesting articles on the  topics presented we are going to deal with. And the surprises never stop to appear, since we find out new and interesting things or just clarify others.

This week’s articles ,”What Is Learner Autonomy and How Can It Be Fostered?”by Dimitrios Thanasoulas and ”Learner Autonomy: Bird-in-the-hand or Bird-in-the-bush?” by Samuel Sheu,presented the topic of autonomous learners which society nowadays seems to promote more and more almost everywhere. Teachers encourage the aspect of learner autonomy by helping learners to assume greater control over their own learning. The student –centred system, which seems to flourish, will insist on the fact that the autonomous learner is an active agent of his own learning process.To become autonomous means to follow a path, you don’t have to concentrate just on the end of it where you find the person who is able to use the language in the best way possible. Students should  be guided by a teacher,but they  have to undersatand that much depends on themselves.

Becoming or not an autonomous learner depends a lot on the attitude students have and also on the motivation, whether they have an external one, insisting on what is concrete and what immediate advantages they may take,  or internal which energises the whole personality to acquire the foreign language no matter what efforts have to be done. Learner autonomy is best achieved when, among other things, the teacher acts as a facilitator of learning, a counsellor, and as a resource (Voller).

First and foremost, teachers have to help students understand what an autonomous learner is. In order to become one, they have to actively involve thermselves in a process and take some risks- a process very much alike with life itself.

The article”How to Thrive - Not Just Survive - in a One-Computer Classroom”  has a very relevant title since with just one modern thing we can open endless possibilities to our students. The computer may here be compared with an open window which stirs both the teacher’s imagination concerning how to use it the most effectively and the students’ as well to accomplish the tasks in the best way possible. A  strategy which I consider very effective is to create "stations" or multiple activities, using the computer as only one of the tools necessary to complete assignments. But everybody should consider that in a one-computer classroom, it is imperative to plan carefully everything and be extremely organized.

Both on the former thread of discussion and on the latter one we were asked to think at possible solutions and activities to be implemented in the given context , thing which I really appreciate since it makes us connect theory with practice, information with real life. If we look at the previous weeks we can see that we really are autonomous teachers and that one computer in the classroom makes us thrive, usually in a context where we are let just survive.