Carmelitas School, Elda: "Experience: The Ipad and the understanding projects in Primary Education. (Sociology)

On Wednesday, 27th of April, 2016, there was a meeting about the use of ipads in the classroom. At the begining, we whatched a video which the teachers of that school used to convince the parents about the use of the ipad as a tool into the classroom. The idea was to change the methodology in the teaching-learning process of the students, to adapt it to the School of the Future. Students belong to the future, so it is important to change the way of thinking about teaching.

That video explained to the families the theory of this process, the idea that will be developed during the next years. It talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the use of ipads, although that video didn't show disadvantages really, because later all those disadvantages were turned into opportunities. For example we could see that ipads are expensive but it offers profitability; families and the school didn't know so much about it but all the teachers would be trained to use it. It also would be an opportunity to know successful experiences. The school would offer enthusiasm and ilussion, but it would need the collaboration of families. 

The main objective was to improve the development of intelligences, taking advantage of the new technologies. 

The result of the video was great! Parents were convinced and engaged in this new methodology to collaborate with the centre in this big change.  

After approving this idea, two years later more or less, the idea was put into practice in this school.

A primary teacher called David, told us that it was necessary an educational improvement, and that actually schools, teachers, families..., have to be updated and it is necessary to develop a constant review and update of the educational goals, the methods that you as a teacher are going to use in the class with the students. "It is important to keep in mind that the brain is not a glass to fill"- he said, so we have to think in other ways of teaching and also keeping in mind that each child has a unique intelligence. 

The school needs to evolve, because the school of the future will be a hyperconected school, a creative school which objective will be to educate people: reflexive, conected, open-minded, pupils that can create, understand, working all the intelligences in a balanced way.  

He also said that they work according to the Bloom's Taxonomy :

This taxonomy shows us that in the traditional school, students only reach the first step, but with the new methodologies through the use of new technologies, it is possible to reach the top, because students do not depend only on a written test. 

The role of the teacher is to guide, facilitate the learning, and the role of the student is to be autonomous, active, with initiative, players of their teaching-learning process. 

• THE IPAD IN THE CLASSROOM.

It is an individualization, communication and creation tool, that takes full advantage of each student's capacities. 

In the school they work by understanding projects through the use of ICTs that allows the students to improve their digital competence. They become more autonomous and develop their critial sense. In this way, the activities are infinitive and not finitive as in the textbooks. 

At the end of the project the students do comprehension activities, in which they reflex about the activity. 

 

Teachers use a digital platform in which they can work all the areas without the need of using textbooks, because they have all the necessary materials in. Then, during the year, they add new materials that they create that can be useful in the next years. 

To work in this way it is important to provide students with all the necessary tools. 

They not only use ipads, they develop a mixed system: 

IPAD + 3D PRINTERS + SELF-CORRECTING... 

Fist of all, teachers have to stady the law to group the contents that will be developed in the different grades and then they select some of the contents to prepare a project to work with the students. Then they design the project and they create an Ibook for the project.

An english teacher of the centre explained us what an Ibook was and how they work with it. 

He said that the idea is that the Ibooks as the new books. An Ibook is a kind of digital book in which there is developed a project, so the students using ipads can work in this project and they are learning the same contents as there are in textbooks, but in a motivational way and without the necessity of use textbooks. They learn through games, and all the Ibooks have a part of Keynote to review the key contents to consolidate the learning. 

He also said that they don't assess the students according to a test; the students do a test, but that test is only one more activity to assess. They assess the students keeping in mind all the activities that they do, and each activity worths a percentage, depending on the importance of the standards of the activity. So to conclude, they assess according to items. 

All the apps that they use in the class are upload to a platform in which all the educative community, teachers, families, students... can use the different applications. 

At the end, they were comment about the 12 educative keys to the digital society, according to the next picture:

In my opinion, I think that it was an interesting meeting, because there are a lot of facilities to improve the teaching-learning of  the students and I think that it is a very good idea that the school is involved in the formation of teachers, in the change of the methodologies, in the collaboration with families, and also providing the students with the necessary tools. I think that it means that the school cares about the education of its students. 

I think that the teachers that were talking in this meeting, are completely involve in their childrens' education, designing a lot of activities, facilitating their learning. 

Maybe these teachers could be a good reference for us as teachers.   

JCCM Coexistence School-Centres Guide-Chapters 1,2, 3 and 4. (Unit 5. Pedagogy)

 In this topic we talk about four chapters that talk about the coexistence in shcool, how to solve conflicts, about respect each others, peace... All these values are necessary to maintain a pacific environment in the school but also in the classroom, that's quite important because this environment will allow the teacher to develop the contents in a best way. 

It is also talked about inclusion, and also about the importance that have the participation of families. We have to keep in mind that the teacher needs the families' involvement in education. 

Maybe this topic could be interesting for future teachers, because it explains solutions and methods that they can use to solve a problem during the lesson. 

At the end of the explanation there are some questions about the topic. 

 Conflicts are part of our life due to diversity, because we have different opinions, interests and perceptions. They are inevitable in human relations. It’s important to say that the majority of the conflicts are solved in a pacific way.

We can define conflicts as situations in which two or more people come into opposition because their interests, desires or values are incompatible, where feelings and emotions have an important role; the relation between people can be strengthened or damaged, but conflict is not synonymous of violence.

Although both positions can be confronted, the needs and feelings can be the same.

Conflicts in school are very common but we have to understand it as something normal in coexistence.

 To solve these conflicts we can distinguish five models:

Competition (I win/You lose): The individual tries to satisfy his/her personal needs without think of the other.

Avoidance (I lose/You lose): The individual doesn’t face the problems.

Agreement (We win/ We lose): The conflict is solved seeking an agreement between both parts. Both individuals have to give up some of their interests.

Accommodation (I lose/You win): The individual yields to the other part, renouncing to his/her interests.

Collaboration (I win/You win): The solution to solve the conflict is the common objective of both parts. They try to find a creative solution.

 We can use different names to refer to these phenomena, and we have to keep in mind that these phenomena imply a problem in interpersonal relations.

A. Violence

It is the dishonest use over the other; it can be a physical, verbal or psychological damage to another member of the community. We have to keep in mind that the majority of the school conflicts aren’t violent.

B. Scholar discipline

It is the set of rules and procedures by which order is maintained in the school. The aim is to favour the teaching-learning processes and the achievements of the educational objectives.

It could be a good idea to make an organizational proposal to make easier the prevention of violence and the conflict resolution, but it’s very important the participation of students because violence can appear easily in a school where rules are established without keep in mind their participation.  

 E. The mistreatment because of the abuse of power among equals.

It is considered bullying when a student is exposed repeatedly to different forms of bullying by a partner. This can be also called “victimization”. This has the following characteristics:

• The intent to hurt
• The repetition of this behavior
• The power imbalance between victim and aggressor.

Examples of this type of abuse are: exclusion, verbal or physical aggression. This usually begins to be more common at 9-14 years.  

F. School absenteeism.

The absenteeism shows multiple manifestations, we can find the following types:

• According to their personal distribution
• Depending on its duration.
• According to multiple causes.

 G. Other behaviors

• Aggression between teacher and students.
• Vandalism
• Thefts.

 A. Speaking about coexistence

The coexistence is present in the educational institutions, since this is the capacity that humans beings have to live together.

The coexistence in schools manifests itself in in a subtle way, such as in the form of organizing time, to divide the students, to share the contents, etc.

B. Educating for coexistence

The coexistence should be understood as a fundamental objective of the educational process. The improving of the coexistence will be because of the teachers, the governing bodies, the students and their families.

The aspects that work the education through the coexistence are: respect, tolerance, participation and solidarity.

Some of the educational models that can be used for the development of the coexistence are:

• The punitive model
• The relational model
• The integrated model

 C. Coexistence community.

The school is at the same time, a learning center and a community of coexistence. Each school is presented as a connivance unit configured from the (better or worse) coexistence and articulation of various human groups: Teachers, students, families, social context and educational administration.

1. The nature of participation and communication.

To meet the demands of a changing society the educational community must develop new skills. Participation in the current educational model is both an educational objective, a model of organization of the center where prime co-responsibility and a form of performance by teachers.

• Participation: An educational objective.

Participatory processes have a  great educational value; any problem that requires negotiation can serves as an effective instrument for acquiring knowledge and skills in practical and functional way.

• Participation: A model of organization of the center.

Participation should be the principle on which is currently settle the organizational model. The contents of participation and the areas where be developed are:

• In the management of the centers
• In learning: What school teaches and what children learn.
• In the Community: The scope of relationship that school establishes with its environment.

• Participation: A form of performance.

In line with the curricular and organizational proposal It must be designed a plan that commits the educational community to improve their training and professional development. For this reason, this decalogue of democratic participation must be followed:

1. To provide opportunities for real participation (discussion forums, schools of parents…)
2. To promote and encourage participation in all sectors collecting their expectations and become them objectives.
3. To make sure that learning is the result of cooperation and interaction.
4. To confirm that education is a joint responsibility of parents, mothers and teachers.
5. To be convinced that the center educates only when it is organized as a community of coexistence and that participation is a regulative principle of learning.
6. To encourage participation in all levels of decision.
7. To spread the participation to all sectors of the educational community.
8. To work so that everyone involved can participate, regardless of their representation.
9. To convert the diversity on one occasion for inclusion and enrichment.
10. To ensure bidirectional communication.

 B. EXERCISE OF RIGHTS AND FULFILLMENT OF DUTIES. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RULES

a. Arguments for the development of rules

It is very important the definition of clear rules. Education is the main instrument for building a democratic culture; we must replace traditional authoritarian mechanisms of a tax discipline by models of democratic discipline. But we must develop the rules with the participation of the educational community. For students to understand, accept and support the school rules and classroom. Also it prevents bullying between equals and there are better results of learning when there is a climate of class and center which is positive.

b. Considerations prior to the development of rules

The rules of the centers have to develop constantly by the need to update and by offer students the opportunity to participate in their establishment.

We must evaluate the system of rules to learn their results.

Integration of values and norms includes different levels:

·         Know the rule and its value.

·         Accept the value of that rule.

·         Integrate this in the behavior.

 C. ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CLASSROOM. METHODOLOGIES FOR DIVERSE PUPILS

Educational research shows that the variables called management and organization of classroom have more influence and determine in the appearance of behaviors against coexistence and in student learning, academic performance and personal relationships.

a. Distribution and use of space

It is the placement of people and materials in the classroom. The distribution of the physical elements of the classroom, the characteristics of the space the center and its use are basic aspects to generate better or worse climate of coexistence.

b. Distribution and use of time

Classroom sessions usually respond to a defined pattern in the distribution of time, which is related to the classroom atmosphere, the performance of students and the greater or lesser presence of disruption.

c. Discourse of the teacher and verbal interaction

It is composed of texts and messages that the teacher communicates in the classroom and is directly related to the type of verbal interaction established in the same

d. Non-verbal Interaction

Body language, gestures and especially the movement of the teacher by the classroom are elements with a direct impact on the presence or absence of disruption.

A teacher must know how to communicate with his voice and with his body the same message; otherwise, students will detect the ambiguity of the situation.

 E. Teaching style

The teaching style consists of several elements:

• Way of dealing with conflicts.
• Procedures teaching and instruction, how to give the class.
• Control and classroom management .

 It is possible to act on the teaching style when taking into account :

• Consistency between successive regulatory levels present in the center , including teaching routines.
• Action protocols for different problems and implementation of best practices.
• Mutual observation between teachers and contrast the styles of each .
• Accompanying novice or hard to manage class teachers.
• Teamwork.

 G. Reaction to the disruption.

The reaction type of teaching is one of the indicators that the group of students used to interact with their teacher .

Reaction types are :
Aggressive: The teacher perceives disruption as a personal attack and reacts aggressively turn .
Liabilities: For economy of effort and perhaps impotence, he decides to pretend not aware .
Assertive : Tackle disruption with determination and mettle , applying agreed rules about it , if possible with maximum rigor.
Cooperative : Translates immediately the problem and the situation the whole class and involved himself or implied , seeking immediate correction or group consensus about a possible action or sanction.

The use of de-escalation strategies is advised , as calm and stay calm and not let the situation leads to a frontal confrontation , much less in front of the class group and the use of first-person messages.

There are two specific situations where teacher behavior is key : to discuss with a student before the class or challenge , challenge or humiliate a student in public.

 H.Teaching and learning methods

Flexible grouping: Reduce the heterogeneity of the group of origin to facilitate the teaching of specific content.

Workshops and corners : They are organized around a material or resources that the teacher placed in different areas of the class and have different learning objectives . Students work alone, in pairs or in small groups , usually choosing the task, and planning the work and time .

A classroom, two teachers : This is to ensure that all students can be served in the classroom by two teachers. The group of students is always the same . It requires prior coordination work to choose the time and tasks of joint intervention , establishing complementary roles for both teachers.

Differentiation learning levels : It is intended to work a theme for the whole group , but developing different levels of difficulty activities . It requires prior work in the teaching departments or teams cycle to prepare adjusted to the characteristics previously identified in the student materials.

Work plan: This is an individual work , in which , taking advantage of student interests , each can work aspects of the curriculum following their rhythm and personal level. Each student can choose the activities you want for a certain time and perform them in the order you prefer .

Didactic contract : This is a variant of the work plan in which the student is traded on the task to be performed for a certain time and commitments are recorded .

Cooperative groups : You try to create a general dynamics of the class in which learning is the result of interaction and cooperation between equals. Each achieves its goals and only if the rest of the team gets their own. They must be heterogeneous and distributed tasks are of different type and level to allow input from all members. Job evaluation does not consider both the product group , but it acquired by each of the components.

Work projects: Interrelate projects enabling knowledge and seek and process information specified . Each project has a different route from interests , prior knowledge and experiences of students.

It's difficult to know what to do at any moment, but the teacher has to be prepare to think what kind of method could he/she use in an specific moment, according to the situation, according to the child. It is also important the respect and the authority of teachers, and maintain a good relation between teachers- students, families- students, teachers- families, teachers- teachers, students- students. 
The teachers must try to solve the problems attending a pacific way, and if necessary supported by families. The concept of educational community is essential. 

If it is interesting for you, or you want to say something about this topic, you can do that writing a comment or if you want to ask me something, you can also send me an email to the next address: albialbita@outlook.es. 

16 Activities-Resources. (Pedagogy)

  

This post is about eight activities followed by eight resources, which are webpages, that are useful in the teaching-learning process of primary students.

The point is that the activities are made by me, although I did some of them during the last term. 

I will explain briefly each activitiy and I will say something about each webpage, a little comment according to what I think that could be interesting for a teacher, or why I think that those webpages could be useful to make easier the understanding of the students. 

I think that it is a good way to introduce the ICTs in the classroom. 

Firs, I'm going to talk about the activities and then about the different resources or webpages. 

• ACTIVITIES. 

·         -KUBBU - (http://www.kubbu.com)

Activity à (http://www.kubbu.com/shared/typeofwords)

With Kubbu you can do a lot of activities. This activity is composed by six questions to students know the definition of the different type of words and to they can distinguish them.

     JIGSAW PLANET – (http://www.jigsawplanet.com)

Activity à (http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=2839330fe8c5)

It is a puzzle of the digestive system. This activity belongs to the last term. 

·         TONDOO – (http://www.toondoo.com)

Activity à (http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/9354383)

It is a cartoon about healthy and unhealthy food. It is also an activity that belongs to the last term. 

·         STUDYSTACK – (http://www.studystack.com)

Activity à (http://www.studystack.com/hungrybug-2019827)

This activity is a game to learn the function of some of the parts of the different systems. With studystack you can do different activities using the same information, for example flash cards, crosswords, or games. This activity belongs to the last term. 

·         QUIZLET – (https://quizlet.com)

Activity à (https://quizlet.com/129555322/learn)

This activity can be useful to learn the geometric shapes. The students can see the image of the geometric shape. It is an online questionnaire. 

·         VOKI – (https://www.voki.com)

Activity à (http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=12568645&height=267&width=200)

It is a cartoon that will explain the students that it’s very important to keep the environment clean.

·         SOCRATIVE – (https://b.socrative.com)

Activity à It is a questionnaire about different types of clothes. The students have to do the questionnaire online, using a tablet or a mobile phone. 

·         TOOLS FOR EDUCATORS – (https://www.toolsforeducators.com)

Activity à Bingo about Clothes.

• RESOURCES. 

·         PRIMARY RESOURCES – (http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/history/history.htm)

In this webpage you can find a lot of resources, activities, materials of each subject of primary education that can be useful for teachers in the classroom, and to students to understand the concepts clearly.

·         MATHS WEEK – (http://www.mathsweek.ie/2013/puzzles/activities-for-primary-schools)

This webpage is related to maths. We can find a lot of activities and games to improve our mathematical knowledge.

·         ESOL – (http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topicsmenu/elementary.html)

In this webpage we can find a lot of activities related to the subject of English. We can find readings, quizzes, grammar exercises that can be useful to improve the level of English of pupils.

·         PRIMARY INTERACTIVE – (http://www.primaryinteractive.co.uk/english.htm)

In this webpage we can find some activities related to maths, science or English. These activities are games, and can be useful for students because it makes the learning process easier.

·         CRICKWEB – (http://www.crickweb.co.uk/)

It is a webpage in which we can find a lot of games that teachers can use to teach or reinforce some mathematical concepts. Some of them are very funny and it is good because children enjoy while they are learning.

·         PRIMARY GAMES – (http://www.primarygames.com/reading.php)

This webpage could be very useful to improve reading, because most of children don’t usually read at home, so it could be a good way to make them read while they are playing.

·         MUNDO PRIMARIA – (http://www.mundoprimaria.com/juegos-matematicas/)

It is a good webpage because it has a lot of activities that explain the different contents that students have to learn in the different subjects. For example, we can find that the subject of maths is divided in different parts: measurement, operations…, and the activities become more difficult.

·         VEDOQUE – (http://www.vedoque.com/index.php?sec=primaria)

If we want to review some vocabulary, here we can find some activities that could be very useful for children. We can choose the activities depending on the age of the students and we can find also activities related to history, maths or values.