Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas.  Critical thinking has been the subject of much debate and thought since the time of early Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates and has continued to be a subject of discussion into the modern age.

In order to help their students to develop critical-thinking skills and to take critical action, teachers need to:

•Have a sound knowledge base from which to support students as they delve more deeply into content

•Remain open to challenge by students, not representing themselves as the sole source of knowledge

•Encourage students to look at the big picture by engaging them in critical-thinking processes that have relevance beyond the classroom

•Be prepared to listen to voices that originate in the classroom and to use students' personal experiences as starting points for gathering information

•Encourage students to question and challenge existing beliefs, structures, and practices

•Avoid offering 'how to do it' approaches

•Encourage students to be sensitive to the feelings of others

•Provide opportunities for inquiry by giving students time for planning, processing, and debriefing

•Structure lessons so that students can work safely and co-operatively and develop creative forms of shared responsibility

•Encourage students to take critical action. When students learn to use democratic processes inside the classroom, they can transfer these to situations outside the classroom

(The list above is based on Smyth (2000), page 507.)

The eighth International Arab Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Every year the International Arab Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education is held in an Arab university. This year LIU was chosen to be held in. IACQA is a forum of scientists, researches, and experts to present their latest research results, ideas, developments and applications on all areas of quality assurance in higher education.

Tutorials on current issues and panel sessions on the new trends related to quality assurance in higher education are organized. This conference is considered the official scientific conference for the Association of Arab Universities in the field of quality assurance in higher education.

My unit

One of the dearest to my heart projects! My Unit!! :) In Advanced Methods course we had to do a unit under a theme of our choice. The unit had to be for a particular age group and level, so I chose grade 3 and intermediate level under the theme "Magic". I designed very interesting activities in it. You can find listening, speaking, reading and writing in it, and also grammar and vocab are addressed in it. It was one of the best projects I have ever designed in my university years, I enjoyed designing it that I wished I had more time so that I can add more and more activities. I hope teachers use it in the future with their students, it would my pleasure. 

The Arab Feminist Conference

The Faculty of Education organized its first conference titled "The Arab Feminist conference a New Perspective. The conference was held under the attendance f the minister for administrative Development affairs Dr. Enaya Ezzedine. The Opening of the conference was attended by the president of the Lebanese International University Mr. Abdulrahim Murad. The Conference lasted for two days. Sixteen Researchers from different Arab regions, from Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia participated in the conference.

Senior Project "Practicum"

As a TEFL student I was required to do a senior project where it was two parts. Part I "Today I observe" I decided on this title because I haven't had the chance to teach before and only observe to gain an idea about teaching and to make some reflections on the teacher's work. I learned pretty much and it helped me a lot to do my part II "Tomorrow I Teach" where I was also required to observe in addition to 5 teachings. They were my very first teachings done!

The 5 teachings I had done made me feel how amazing teaching is, which made me feel very excited to start actually teaching and have my own pupils.  

Webinar "Early Childhood Learning Solutions"

The webinar I attended was about Early Childhood Learning Solutions.
The sessions was mainly about how you can transform aggression into conscious discipline. And it is that we are a major mind shift for our kids or students. Conscious discipline is the key word and it is not something you do to your children, it's something you develop within them!
The importance of early childhood education is clear, and educators and researchers are increasingly learning just how vital a positive early learning experience is to the future success of a child in Kindergarten and beyond. This community provides new information, resources, ideas, and a place for discussion to support early childhood educators as they positively stimulate language, cognitive, social, and emotional development of their young students. As a future teacher I learned about resources, tools and curriculum I can use to enhance my classrooms and my work with young children.

Education Day

Every year the school of education holds an "Education Day" in the campus of LIU. Education students prepare their boards and help in organizing for this day. They also get to share their experiences as learners, they share their projects and assignments. In the last education day i shared my practicum portfolio and it made me glad to have people take a look at it and give me their comments and feedback since it is something I am proud of sharing with others. Education Day gives students the chance to share their favorite projects. In addition, there is a committee that evaluates our projects and choose first, second and third winners. Winners are to have free credits depending on the place they get.