I would like to talk in my last entry about my PLE. Symbaloo is a good tool for all the people in order to organize your important and useful websites for your day by day.
Nowadays, I know that my PLE is poor and it's a mess but I think it is because I don't have all the resources that I would want and I did not understand it operation for me. While I was watching the oral presentation of my classmates, I thought
How do they know this tool? I want this webpage for my Symbaloo. It's so interesting and useful for my future.
I did not think that I can organize my websites in colors or in corners. I think is a good idea Because is very visual and catch the attention of the public.
Now, When I finish this subject I want to make a change in my PLE and I am going to do it again Because
Because now I understand their operation and now I know more websites to improve my English and teach English in a simple, clear and meaningful.
'CLIL refers to situations where students are taught through a foreign language with dual focussed aims in: the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language'.
(Marsh, 1994)
As professor Do Coyle says in his article Developing CLIL: Towards a theory of practice,Clil is using a foreign language as a tool of learning a non-language subject in which students learn both content and language. Teachers should inform and do training courses to implement this tool as useful in learning both children and teachers. But in order to be useful, it requires a good preparation and a solid foundation already is not teaching history in English but rather the goal is to work content and knowledge with the use of the language and let children learn by themselves through experimentation. Language is just the way to communicate.
By using of CLIL in many schools, children have increased language skills and expanded vocabulary. CLIL has increased participation in the classroom and ,at the same time, has helped children to communicate in a language which is not theirs of a very natural way. To getting a good CLIL, this has to meet three essential requirements: - You have to be flexible to adapt to student learning and, at the same time motivating to engage the student's attention. -It has to work through the 4Cs Framework (content, communication, cognition and culture) - Learn using language and using language to learn.
If we implement a language as an obligation, most children do not learn. But, if we use in a particular context and attractive for students, benefits may be satisfactory. Although, we cannot forget that order for an activity be useful and get good results has to have a teaching staff that works to get it and do it in a cooperative and collaborative.
I would like to explain you what means The syllabus. I studied it last year and it was very interesting and useful for my future as a teacher.
Syllabus is a document where the teacher writes what he/she wants to teach during the course and the objectives that he / she wants to fulfil. Common characteristics of a syllabus is that the cover page has explicit objectives of the course, an ordered list of components what the teacher wants to do with their respective contents and methods to carry out. Another characteristic of the syllabus is that it is a public document and it can be used in others context and not only in the school.
I believe that all teachers should do their own syllabus and thus, they can decide what they want to teach, how teaching and why they teach it. It is a good idea to order the contents from the easiest to the most difficult so that the children in that way can improve their learning step by step and it then becomes more overcome. In my opinion this kind of document is great and useful for the new teachers because it includes some material that’s is good to do in the classroom, different methods and activities to do and you can use it to make up an idea of how you have to prepare yourself, how to put everything together, simply how to carry it out.
There are distinct types of language within syllabus such as, grammatical lexical, grammatical-lexical, situational, notional, functional-notional, mixed or multi-strand procedural and process.
For example, in the syllabus situational, pupils study the language using real-life contexts such as in the street, eating a meal. These are examples of complete sentences that are used in class day to day and its structure does not change.
This type of programming has advantages and disadvantages. Most teachers can get tired of the syllabus and follow the task from the course book because making a syllabus takes away part of their free time and maybe, a syllabus does not work as a motivation of learning for every specific kind of group and class of pupils. I agree with this statement because most teachers follow the course book and do not think about what would be better for children to learn and what the pupils can use outside of school, so therefore I believe that teachers as much as possible should use the syllabus way in their teaching.
"I've gone to my table to remember to look at things differently. The world looks different from up here "
Dead Poets Society.
As stated by Professor Keating in the film "Dead Poets Society", things are different if you look from another perspective. Sometimes, as teachers, we insist on follow everything is disclosed in the curriculum and we do not stop to think about the needs of our students and what they really want to learn.
As N.Maldonado says in his article "Rethinking classroom management", we have to stop and think what we teach and what we want our students to learn. For this, it is necessary for the teacher manages the classroom taking into account the three main areas that live in the classroom and have to be linked to get meaningful learning: classroom organization, curriculum objectives and social values.
To get these three areas are related and complement each other, it is necessary that the student participates in classroom management. Their opinions and feelings are very important for the teacher to know where you need to improve management and that changes must carries out for the student to feel comfortable in your classroom.
As for classroom organization, N.Maldonado raises the idea that the class rules are developed by the student group because it is they who have to live every day with their peers. In this way, you create an atmosphere of respect and empathy among students who will get to know more and bind as a group. The teacher must also agree to these rules but should only supervise, at any time change, students are those who have spoken and it is they who have decided
Another example to resolve the issues of curriculum is, again, to give voice to the students. Students are eager to learn things. Why not ask them what they want to know and then try to relate it to a curricular topic? One idea that came to mind while reading this paragraph was asking a question each time you start a new topic:
What I want to know about the human body?
Once the teacher receives all student responses, can start organizing your classes as long as answer each of the questions from the students.
And finally, to social issues, one of the most difficult areas to work in the classroom and in real life, the teacher has to highlight the positive aspects of students rather than wasting time on the mistakes. What I mean is, if you tell a student who never learn to multiply, the student will believe it and never try. But, if you encourage try it, looking for other strategies to teach or get himself understood using a different methodology, the effort and the ability to overcome has to be assessed. If we value our students and believe in them, we will create a comfortable, friendly and warm classroom. Teachers are the mirrors where children watch, so it is in our hands to create a good atmosphere of companionship.
Education is not just school work. Education is everywhere and at all times, on the street, on bus, in cinemas and at home.
There is a difference between educating and teaching. Educate means "Developing intellectual and moral faculties of a person" And also, "Teaching the good uses of civility and courtesy." Instead, teaching means: "Make someone to learn something."
From these definitions, we realize that the role of the teacher is to teach. Teach new knowledge, new words, to read and write. But at the same time, we also educate. We teach them to be respectful, tolerant, friendly and hardworking. Also, we encourage them to be themself and that they believe in themself. But it is not enough if they do not hear the same things at home.
Normally, and I speak from experience, my mother always wanted a school that had the same social values she followed to educate us in this big society. Each school has different and specific values and ,it is for this reason that it is so hard to find the best school for your child, and even, to work as a professional. It is a very important decision and a pact that parents do with school. The pact should have an agreement where both parties are responsible for working together towards the same direction since both want the best for the child. Working together does not mean requesting the notes.
The parent's job is to worry about continuous learning process of their child, to assist them at all times and basically show interest in improving their child's learning.
How do we involve parents?
Parents have the key to the future success for their children
Using parent meetings with the teachers, communicating news and problems which occurred during the week, showing them what their children learns through crafts or letters written by the students and, the most important point, recognize the work done from home. There is nothing more recomfortable that your work is valued. The school must value both parents and students, without kids there is no school but without the involvement of parents we cannot achieve the goals of the school.
The idea of differentiating instruction is an approach to teaching that creates an active planning which can help us to see student differences in classrooms.
As the authors Peter Westwood and Wendy Arnold say in their article about Meeting individuals needs, students are different from each other. Not everyone has the same abilities to learn and the same interests. Therefore, teachers need to know how to balance the differencies in the classroom without losing the goal: that students learn and make progress.
To achieve this goal, we have to be constantly changing. You have to think new learning activities where students learn while having fun, doing group works, let students discover things through out their own researches and what is really important is to involve them in the class by making them the protagonists.
It is also necessary that the teacher always looks at the students learning process and where there is a problem and how it can be resolved in order to continue going forward with that students learning process. Do not leave anything on the road.
There is no book that bring together the different methodologies to improve your everyday classroom but thanks to technology, we have access to the experiences, views and thoughts of all those who are striving to get a school where every child learns in relation with his or her rhythm and skills. In the end, they learn by their own way.
This week, I saw for the first time a speech that touched me and turn back my desire to always continue learning new things. It was thanks to a wonderful speech made by Steve Jobs, a great example of constant learning process and new creating thinking.
In this speech, Steve talks about the importancy of teaching what is really need to know for the students in their every day life. He also says that it is important to spend more time teaching about things that the students really have an interest in and wants to know more about. At the end of the day, what interests them may be necessary for their future.
"can not connect the dots looking forward, only looking back can do. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will join will give you the confidence to follow your heart. This approach has never betrayed me, and has made a difference in my life. "
It also highlights the idea of never giving up and always have confidence in yourself. That attitude should be more worked in schools. but the questions is How? We should stop paying attention to the mistakes and instead seek solutions in order to learn how to not do the same misstake next time. It is useless if you will correct the same exercise to a student three times. What you have to do is to sit down with the student and find out where she/he fails so that he/she realizes and fixes it for the next time.
"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Do not lose faith. Do not settle."
And the last advice Jobs offered, is to always be yourself. Know you and know what you really want to do. We are all different, we all have different interests and needs. Therefore, as teachers we need to know that each of our students is special. That each of them has something to teach and everyone can fight to achieve their goals. As teachers we need to encourage and support them to achieve their goals, we must believe in them. Part of his time is in our hands, so let's take the most of it.
"Your time is limited, so do not waste it living someone else's life. Do not let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And what is most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Somehow he already know what you really want to become. Everything else is secondary."
This Wednesday, I celebrated my first Halloween as an assistant professor at the college where I work. I was in the class of N2Y with children of four years. Throughout the week, the children had been singing different songs about Halloween, decorating their classrooms with drawings of skeletons and witches and had heard the book "Room on a Broom" by Julia Donaldson.
Children's audio book, "Room on a broom"
Each class had a crown of some fear. "My class" were called monsters in one eye. All children had left their uniform at home and instead they were wearing black dresses. The teachers also left out their uniforms and replaced them with black dresses decorated by cobwebs, bats and a witch's hat.
The whole school was decorated with drawings made of the children of preschool and elementary. High school students went to elementary classes to explain stories they had written about halloween and the primary students accompanied the pre-school children to do the "trick and treat" to students of secondary students.
The traditions and festivals is a good opportunity to weave links between younger students and older. In this way, you create a family atmosphere and a cozy place where all students feel valued, for example when the older students explains stories to the younger ones. Furthermore, the fact that the school is decorated with the drawings done by the students means how much value we put on their work and give them the chance to show their work for the whole school. Many times these small gestures are more satisfactory for the students than a high mark. For us as teachers it is also a great time when we are having different activities such as Halloween, out of the normal activities day by day. As a teacher we have an obligation to make our students enjoying their daily school and in order to do this, we also need to enjoy our daily work.
This week we've been talking about the importance of working with the various resources offered by Web 2.0.
Since we are in the era of new technology, why not use them in the classroom?
Nowadays, the children are born with a computer in their hands and we fail to exploit this skill . They are familiar with facebook, twitter, skype, blogger, etc.. But not with websites where they can learn while having fun. Thanks to an exhibition of an English teacher, I realized the amount of websites there is for preparing lesson which are totally different to what we are used to doing in the classroom.
Voicethread, Voki, Storybird or Woices are some of these applications that allow students learning, gaining a sense of responsibility for their work and, at the same time, have fun, isn´t that great? These applications allow teachers assess student's constant work, effort, dedication and learning process.
Although we cannot forget that to get a good use of technology, we need to do a previous preparation. Therefore, before using any Web 2.0 application, the teacher has to spend some time to get familiar with this and how to use it when teaching. So important is the knowledge of the application as the result that you can get.
To finish up, I want to say thanks to the era of technology that we are living in, I have been able to find and use many different ideas for creating lesson that I have been doing in the University. I think sharing of the different knowledge about teaching gives a lot value to our work and especially when it comes to these new technologies and applications.
Here an example of the ability of children with technology.
This is my first entry in a blog. I'm a little excited.
My name is Clara, I'm 22 years old and I'm from Barcelona.
I have to say that I have always wanted to create a blog where I could talk about fashion. In this fashion blog, everyone could take a look about the new trends and daily styles. Cloathing is one of my favourite passions. However I do also have a big interest in movies and cinema. In a raining day (like today), I like to sit in the sofa with a cup of tea watching a movie. I like every kind of film but especially musicals. Also, I am a follower of diferents serials as Grey's Anatomy, Games of Thrones, Lost (was a pitty when it finished), The Vampire Diaries, Desperate wifes and Friends.
I also like almost every kind of music because every one can be used in different situations. Not long ago I discovered Andrea Motis, a young Spanish girl who is an jazz's instrumentalist. I love her version of Somewhere over the rainbow and I recomend all of you to listen to her songs.
Furthermore, I love travelling. Last summer, I went for the first time to London (I loved it) and also to Menorca. One of my dreams is to go to Australia and be able to surf on those heavenly beaches.
Now I will explain three secrets about myself: I have panic for the cockroaches, I cannot leave the house without earrings nor perfume and I'm passionate about all sports.
I think that this is all for now. If you want to know something about me, you just have to ask me!
