Summer School Begins

Dear All,
Tomorrow the Summer School of B.U. will start. I will be giving a compulsary course titled; "Introduction to Educational sciences" there. In my list there are 40 registered teacher trainees. They must be thinking of me and the course, just like I am thinking of them. A new course, new faces and new sharings. You might ask why I am in such an effort in such a hot season. Why do not I rest? Why do not I set some time for my personal hobbies? I must admit that I have been feeling sick since the exam days are over on 9th June. I could not realize the plan of a short holiday in Datça due to a sudden attack of Vertigo. Perhaps you will not believe in me but I am feeling much better now thinking that tomorrow school starts.  I am afraid I am a kind of workhaolic. Or meeting new people, making new dosts, sharing and caring must be my mission and I cannot give up such a life style. This is me! I am happy for being such a person. I do not want to cahnge it and I want to pass away while I am teaching and/or learning. I have been feeling like this for 37 years. I always think that wasting even five minutes is a big crime. Our lives are limited and adding value to life and to the lives of others is the biggest responsibility of a human being.
During the past two weeks, I realized two important things:
1. I gave a lecture and I was a panelist for the disabled people and,
2. I read three books.  I liked "Water" written by Buket Uzuner. I could not leave the book aside until I read the last line. It was wonderful. Hoerr's  "The Art of School leadership" was another favourite one and I have decided to use some chapters in my lessons. The thoughts of Beki Erikli in her last book titled "Living with Angels" was another interesting source for me. Now I am trying to finish the historical novel of Ahmet Ümit which is about the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet. It is also interesting. I love reading. You?
Tomorrow I will share my first impressions about my first lesson. I hope the week starts in a positive atmosphere not only for us but for all the worl humanity. I think my country has been approaching to the edge of war very often recently. It is odd in a country which was founded under the motto of Atatürk: "Peace at home, Peace in the world.". Conflicts, violence and/or war are not good for us, not good for others or for the environment. I hope wisdom wins.  

Best regards,

Hayal KÖKSAL

Another Reflection

Dear All,

On 9th June, the final exams ended. The students of "Non-Violence in Education" handed in their project CDs and we said good-bye to each other. Final days always craete a feeling of loneliness in me. This time it was the same. I will never forget the ones whose hearts shared the same feelings with me. Here is another reflection from İ. Akgül. He assisted me a lot during the term concerning the time management. I wish him good luck for the future days.

Loves to all...

Hayal Köksal

First of all, I am so happy to become a member of this course. Because it was very nice semester for me.Moreover, it is so nice to meet dear Hayal KÖKSAL. I have learned many things from her.She is an excellent instructor. I have met many new friends, too. It  has become very beneficial for me to learn many presentation formats, I did not know them before.
My group friends and I have studied on verbal violence.While doing this, we did many researches and I am sure that they are very effective and instructive. In this course, we also watched approximately twelve different presentations about the types of violence. There is some new information for me that I could not hear before. Many of those presentations were very successful. We all have had knowlegde about violence and its types and solutions to overcome it. Individual presentations were again very successful.
I also want to explain about our guests:Aylin Vartanyan, Maggie Pınar and Dolunay Obruk. Those lessons were very different for me and  I enjoyed a lot, for each guest talked about their profession and did some  kind of workshop with us. For instance, Mrs. Vartanyan and we played a game and it was both funny and instructive. Again Mrs. Obruk mentioned about art, history and  jazz and we listened some of her favorite musics. But the most enjoyable lesson for me was the Mrs. Meggie’s one. She had a strong energy and it effected me a lot.
I want to thank to dear Hayal KÖKSAL because of her guests. We have had a good semestr with Mrs. Köksal. And she shared her experiences with us and I think that she is a very very professional person in education and teaching.I am so lucky that I am a student of dear Hayal Köksal.
                                                                                                                                            İ.Akgül

                                                                 

Feedback from the Students

Dear All,
The academic year ended and most of the instructors must be busy with the evaluation of the whole term. Each term of any course is a new gate for me: I meet new teacher trainees and I know that they are the architectures of the future world. Therefore they gain more importance for me. After 14 weeks of collaborative work, we learn many things from each other. As an instructor this is also valid for me. I learn about my teaching methodology, the materials I used, my assessment style and others. The last days of the term is the real learning time for me. Their feedback and their suggestions are very important for me. This term more than 100 students have shared their feelings and comments with me again. I am thankful to them. I hope they also learned from my experiences which have been accumulated in 36 years.

I would like to share one of the feedback coming from my first year students. G. Başer wrote it. Thanks a lot and good luck to you my dearest colleague. Loves,

Hayal KÖKSAL

FEEDBACK

This course was one of the most enjoyable lectures that I have taken this semester.  Instead of the teacher-centered or student- centered education learning method, there was a method involving both students actively including the teacher: İmece Circles!  It enabled us to have an active role during lectures by presentations that we made. Importantly, class discussions following the presentation helped the internalization of the presented subject and by this way, not just individuals who made presentation dominated over that lecture, also other students in class found the opportunity to express their ideas about the subject. In addition, teacher’s contribution to class discussions with her experience of academic work was really interesting and helpful.
     When it comes to assessment style of the course, I can say that it is not assessment style like overpowering with mid-terms and memorizing things just the purpose of a good grade. Instead with the absence of anxiety, I think that students wanted to learn just because they wanted it. Moreover, by the system of taking the register, participation in courses was provided during the semester.  In addition, using power point to make presentations helped a better understanding due to including both seeing subject and hearing what is talking about.
    During the semester, I tried to come all lectures but there are some absences of mine. I tried to make additional homework that instructor gave us in order to meet the course needs. Finally, I would like to emphasize that I am really glad to be one of part of this course.
G.Başer
Guidance & Counseling Dept.