Ben McMurry

It's been almost 2 weeks since I attended the TESOL 2010 convention. I have been swamped with work, but wanted to include some notes about the sessions I attended. I went to a panel on qualitative research. I was expecting more from it. I liked David Freeman's presentation. I'm not sure what he said about research, but it was good. The next speaker was really good and animated. I really liked what she talked about with active research and qualitative research. I really need to write more and so some self-study. Really this hasn't talked a lot about qualitative research. Monrage brought up some good points about how it is difficult for English teachers to teach if they themselves have low english proficiency. It really isn't discussing qualitative research, but using materials that could be used in qualitative work. I like that they published a book. That is really cool. Another presentation that I went to was on the use of video with pre-service teachers.The...

I didn't go to that many sessions this year, but I would like to talk about a few. VoiceThread - I went to a great presentation on VoiceThread. VoiceThread is a web app that allows for group conversations around images, documents and videos. It seems like it might be a great tool for use with language learning. Audacity - This is a recording tool I have used before. I really didn't like it. I thought I would go to the presentation and see if my mind would change. It did. Audacity seems to be a program with hidden tools! I may use it again . . . or stick with garage band. Past, Present and Future of CALL - This was an interesting 'presentation.' It was done by a panel of past chairs of the CALL-IS. They each talked about CALL. Some talked about the past and others about the present. Many of them said that it is hard to envision the future. Most dreamed of practical technologies are here. I, however, thing that I can. What will we see is the unification of technology...

I really enjoyed TESOL this year. I won't talk about the things I didn't particulary like about the conference organization. I think that there were some problems that could have been devastating to my experience. I complained a lot about then, but I made sure I would have an awesome time at TESOL. How did I do it? Well, that's a good question. I took a different approach to TESOL this year. Previous Approach: I wanted to get the biggest bang for my Institution's Buck. I made sure that I went to all the sessions I possibly could. For example, even if I couldn't find something I like during the 10am sessions, I would pick the one that seemed the least painful to go to and go to it. This made for a long day filled with unproductive sessions. New Approach: This year, I only went to sessions I really wanted to go to. I probably went to half as many sessions, but I found it to be much more beneficial. I didn't go to as many sessions, but I felt like I learned just ...