buad khales

This study aimed to investigate the role of portfolio as a vehicle for enhancing competencies to pre service teachers in early childhood at Al-Quds University. Ten students of Practicum course participated in this study, in which the researcher employed the classroom observation, interview, and portfolio analysis as instruments and utilized the qualitative method and the grounded theory to analyze collected data. The results section listed the contents of portfolio, which pre service teachers worked on collectively. portfolio contents came as follows: project plan, daily plan, sample of learners-designed educational games, photos of activities implemented during field training by the student teacher , videos, reflection, children's worksheets and samples of children's work. the result shows that the highest competences was teaching strategies and create educational materials (28.6) mean, then design learning environment and professional development that hold (28.2). so planning hold (27.4), As well evaluation attain (24.4).

Aim: The study aims to identify the impact of using the strategy of role-playing in enhancing the creative writing skills of English Majors at Al-Quds University. 2 students (male and female) was conducted. The study used the quasi-experimental approach with one group pre-and post-test design to determine the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent one. Place and Duration of the Study: The study was carried out in the Department of English at Al-Quds University, West Bank, Palestine, between March 2016 and June 2016. Results: The results of the study showed a development in creative writing skills as a whole. After studying a selected play using the role-playing strategy, the results showed a development in students' creative writing skills: originality, linguistic accuracy, and content organization. The study shows no development in both skills fluency and flexibility. It also showed no gender differences of statistical significance between the pre and post tests. The results of the interview showed positive impressions among the students regarding the use of role-playing strategy and its impact on developing their creative writing skills, as this strategy helped them in analyzing the text in a better way, organizing their writings and enhancing their imaginations of the events. Conclusion: Creative drama activities are an effective technique to enhance students' creative writing skills. Role-playing helps students to understand, evaluate and appreciate the text in a better way. It also helps them enjoy the literary text, and thus look at the text from a beautiful perspective. Recommendations: In light of the results of the study, the researchers recommended the need for further similar studies but on other variables, as well as the necessity for the use of role-playing strategy in teaching.

The present study aims to explore whether the electronic portfolio can influence pre-service teachers' education and to examine how professional learning communities develop through electronic portfolios. To achieve this, twenty-four student-teachers taking a course in early childhood education at Al-Quds University participated in a study to ascertain their views towards the use of electronic portfolios and the role of e-portfolios in developing and enhancing learning communities The findings reveal that the use of electronic portfolios allowed participants to work closely together, and enhanced their growth and development in course teaching strategies in early childhood. 1. Introduction The cognitive development, the desire to develop university education and the focus on learning more than on quantity resulted in giving importance to the computer since it allows the teacher to gather, organize and present all his/her works in the form of multimedia like, texts, graphics, sounds and video footage in a cumulative file called portfolio. And the names of this electronic file are many such as multimedia, or electronic paper, paper web, or electronic bag (Sharif & Dasouki, 2010). Khales 2016 states that the portfolio is a file that is used to record and collect outstanding works for the learner from the lessons and lectures, projects and exercises in a course or a group of courses. And it depends for its display on multimedia projected as texts, sounds and video footage, still images, graphics and presentations. And the movement between the different file components is done through links, and it can be published on the internet or on compact CDs, which shows the learner's ability to use knowledge and apply it to real life situations. According to Jones (2010) a portfolio is a tool that allows student-teachers to test their knowledge and value them in real-life contexts in a way that develops their skills of investigation and teamwork. It also develops pre-service teachers' ability, before getting into the workforce, in reflecting on teaching practices, develops their minds' habits and supports them through the lifelong learning via meditation practice and contemplative reflection. Lombardi (2008) shows that Portfolio becomes a simple exhibition, an opportunity for self Portfolios permit the tracking of longer episodes of teaching more effectively than single observations do. Portfolios encourage important connections between process and product, through bridging what goes on in teaching with how it is manifested in portfolio products. Portfolios institutionalize norms of collaboration, reflection, and discussion. A portfolio introduces structure to the field experience and can be seen as a "portable residency A portfolio is a collection of works that a learner has collected, selected, organized, reflected upon, and presented to show his/her understanding and growth over time. Additionally, a critical component of a portfolio is the combination of a learner's reflection on the individual pieces of work, as well as an overall reflection on the story that the portfolio tells) Barrett, 2006). Chien (2013) also indicates that portfolio include all work carried out by teachers, such as worksheets, students' outcomes, projects and writings. Portfolios also contain audiovisual materials, samples of students' tests, reports, and their reflective writings, which reflect their development through the process of education. Labosky (2000) is of the opinion that the preparation of a portfolio requires teachers to speculate about their teaching philosophy, and link their practices to their educational philosophy. This helps teachers to become more confident and more capable of conducting better models for teaching and assessing consistent with their convictions and interests. Electronic-portfolios, which are also known as digital portfolios, web-folios, multi-media portfolios or e-folios, in principle, include the same artifacts as traditional portfolios. The fundamental difference, however, is that the contents are shown in a digital format (Kilbane & Milman, 2003). Also electronic portfolio a collection of authentic and diverse evidence, drawn from a larger archive representing what a person or organization has learned over time, on which the person or organization has reflected, and that is designed for presentation to one or more audiences for a particular rhetorical purpose. (Barrett, 2007). In contrast with traditional paper-based portfolios, there are portfolios that use modern technologies and are described as the next big thing in higher education. Barrett (2006) states that many colleges and

This study aims to explore the role of reflective dialog in helping student-teachers to face difficulties in a practicum course. Twenty student-teachers enrolled in a practicum course in early childhood at Alquds University took part in the study. The research instruments included a questionnaire, reflective dialog sessions and reflective journals. Pair t test was used to assess difficulty in the pre-and post-reflective dialog sessions. The results show that reflective dialog eased the difficulties that practicum students faced and increased their self-confidence and improved their ability to communicate with their students as well as among themselves.

The article describes the integration of inquiry, reflective practice,
and child-centered teaching approaches in preservice teacher education
at the early childhood level. The article reviews relevant
literature on the forms and functions of inquiry and reflection as
a form of professional development and teacher learning and also
describes the current state of Palestinian teacher education and
early childhood teaching and learning. The article then describes
the preservice program at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, the West
Bank (Palestine) for students pursuing a BA in early childhood
education and highlights the program’s emphasis on child-centered,
discovery-based teaching and learning. To illustrate how
the Al-Quds program emphasizes reflection and inquiry at the
preservice level, the article presents examples of the student teachers’
projects, perspectives, and experiences in implementing an
inquiry-based approach to teaching. Taken as whole, the article
helps crystallize key issues and advances in teacher education in
the West Bank (Palestine) and contributes to the growing awareness
in teacher education at the global level of the professional and
research benefits of cross-cultural and cross-border dialogue and
exchange

This research aimed to highlight the power of reflective writing for early childhood teachers in Palestine, seven
teachers in Palestine participated in this qualitative study, they were asked to write their reflections for 18 months.
Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews and reflective writing journals. Data was analyzed using
thematic analysis approach in order to determine the possible effects of using reflective writing with teachers on
developing their reflective thinking. The results of the study indicated that reflective writing was capable of
developing teachers’ reflective thinking and helped them to change their attitudes toward themselves and empower
them as well.