Eventos del MOOC "Visual Thinking en Educación"

Algunos pequeños mini-retos que nos han propuesto para el curso de Visual Thinking (pensamiento visual). 

En el primer caso, el #VisualTrazo, se nos proponían unos trazos al azar, simples garabatos (el trazo negro). Hay que dibujar lo que ese dibujo sugiera, que puede ser o no algo concreto. 

A continuación, #dibujamemes, para dibujar alguna escena de alguna anécdota del aula. La verdad es que entre los compañeros del curso hay verdaderos artistas... ¡y algunos bien ingeniosos! Yo he tomado prestada una anécdota de una compañera del cole. He de comentar que en nuestro centro tenemos jornada continua, hasta las 14:00. En el 1º ciclo de Primaria el recreo se divide en dos periodos: uno de 20 minutos a media mañana y un segundo descanso, más breve, de 10 minutos antes de la última hora. Dedicamos el mismo tiempo al descanso y juego de los niños, pero proporcionando dos momentos de esparcimiento. A ese segundo ratito, más breve, los niños le llaman también "mini-recreo". Ahora podréis entender bien la duda de su alumno. ¡Estos locos bajitos y sus genialidades!

Biblioteca visual y regla del 6x6

Este es mi respuesta al reto de la segunda unidad del curso Visual Thinking. En esta ocasión, la tarea consiste en diseñar una biblioteca visual con imágenes que representen algunos conceptos que utilizo con más frecuencia en mi labor diaria.

Como soy tutora de 1º de Primaria, me he basado en una de las rutinas del encargado de cada mañana, que consiste en organizar el horario de ese día con unas tarjetas. En ellas están representadas las distintas áreas, cada una con alguna imagen o simbolito con el que la pueden identificar fácilmente. Además, añado algunas tarjetas extra para los niños que se quedan al comedor, los días que hay alguna celebración, excursiones, la actividad semanal de piscina,etc. Además de aprender el horario de cada día, los niños tienen en todo momento control de qué profesores van a venir a la clase, qué actividad viene a continuación, cuánto falta para el final del día de cole, etc.

Por otra parte, y espero haberla comprendido bien, tenemos la regla del 6x6, de Doan Ram. Esta regla propone 6 cuestiones que nos planteamos ante un problema o idea. La verdad es que no sabía muy bien cómo abordarla y estuve echando un vistazo a las aportaciones de los demás compañeros. 

He elegido como idea la estrategia de pensamiento de los seis sombreros para pensar. A continuación, he tratado de responder a las seis preguntas: 

*¿Quién presenta la idea?/¿Qué idea?
*¿Cuánto la valoramos?
*¿Dónde surge?
*¿Cuándo?

*¿Cómo nace?
*¿Por qué es importante?

Espero que mi sencillo trabajo de pensamiento visual os dé unas pistas sobre lo que hacemos en clase con los sombreros. En la próxima entrada os lo detallaré un poco más.

Nuevo MOOC sobre Visual Thinking. Primeros pasos.

Añado al blog esta entrada para que sirva como presentación para el nuevo MOOC en el que estoy participando, "Visual Thinking". El curso lleva ya algún tiempo celebrándose y yo acabo de empezar, así que tengo que darme prisa para llegar a tiempo con las tareas. Empiezo con la primera: avatar más o menos personalizado con Face Your Manga... y un intento a mano.

Soy maestra de Audición y Lenguaje, actualmente tutora de 1º de Primaria en el Colegio Diocesano Pablo VI de Ávila. Imparto las áreas de Lengua, Matemáticas, Social Science y Arts, pero que no os despiste esta última: dibujar nunca ha sido mi fuerte. Hago algún "apañito" para mis cosas personales... ¡pero desde luego nada para exhibir y mucho menos ser revisado por otros! Supongo que saldré de mi zona de confort, y éste va a ser mi reto en esta actividad formativa: liberar la muñeca y desterrar prejuicios y miedos. La parte buena es que los colorines sí me encantan, y que creo que esta herramienta (el visual thinking) puede ser muy potente para trabajar en clase.

Ahora bien... ¿qué es el visual thinking? 

Según voy viendo en el material del curso y por los trabajos que algunos compañeros más adelantados ya han compartido, lo describiría como una estrategia o herramienta para plasmar ideas y contenidos de manera visual, atractiva, impactante. El uso de palabras se reduce todo lo posible, dejando solo aquellas que pueden ser más significativas del tema que estamos tratando de reflejar. Las imágenes (monigotes, flechas, símbolos, tipografía...) y los colores son los protagonistas.

Este tipo de actividad puede resultar un poco compleja para los que somos un poco más cuadriculados, pero si quiero llevarlo a mi clase, debo haberlo probado antes. Además, mirando a mis alumnos, esta actividad, por lo novedoso, puede resultarles muy atractiva a todos, y por otro lado, potenciará las habilidades de aquellos niños con un estilo de aprendizaje más visual o los que son más creativos.

Creo que la manera más fácil de sintetizar todo esto sería hablar de mapas mentales, que es la primera idea que vino a mi mente cuando encontré este curso. Sin embargo, he visto y leído ya algunas pinceladas del contenido y tiene pinta de que el visual thinking abarca mucho más... ¡Comienza la aventura!

El año de la revolución eTwinning

Había una vez una joven profe que dio con un curso sobre conciencia europea y eTwinning. Era yo hace unos años. Pensé que era un curso tan interesante y motivador que quería llevarlo a mi aula... pero nunca llegó a ocurrir.

Al principio de este curso volví a la plataforma eTwinning, decidida a hacer algo más que buscar y revisar cosillas. Quería interactuar, participar de todas las maneras posibles. Y no me tomó mucho tiempo: a los dos días ya me había unido a mi primer proyecto eTwinning: Butterflies across Europe.

Mis alumnos estaban verdaderamente entusiasmados; las familias, curiosas y contentas con esta iniciativa, y mis propios compañeros decían que era una actividad bonita, alegre e interesante. Los niños escribieron y leyeron mensajes de sus compañeros europeos, todos en inglés, demostrando su interés y habilidad en este idioma, e incluso usaban el mapa para situar los países de los colegios cuyas cartas recibíamos, relacionándolos con otros personajes y monumentos famosos.

Después de este exitazo, quería continuar la aventura, probar más proyectos, encontrar experiencias emocionantes que llevar a la clase. ¿Lo adivinas? ¡Sí, me uní a otro proyecto! Esta vez el tema eran los 6 sombreros para pensar. Ahora mismo estamos aún trabajando en ello, dándonos cuenta de cómo vamos mejorando y descubriendo que quizá no era tan difícil como inicialmente había pensado. ¡Mis alumnos no paran de sorprenderme!

¡Pronto os contaré más sobre el proyecto de los seis sombreros!

Project plan for a new eTwinning adventure!

Here is it, finally! The challenge for unit 5 of the MOOC "Open eTwinning" was designing a complete plan for the draft I already shared on a previous entry. I've just finished the task, and I must say it has really put my brain to work, but I'm a lot more satisfied than tired -and that's a lot!

Have a look at this emaze presentation and feel free to leave your comments and suggestions.

Collaboration through e-activities

In unit 4 of the MOOC "Open eTwinning" we are asked to design an ICT activity as a part of the collaborative project we've been working on along the last days, so here I am with my idea of a collaborative e-activity for "The Hungry Globetrotter" (read this entry to know more about the project).

One key point of any project is collaboration. In eTwinning projects this collaboration among students who are so far becomes real thanks to a wide range of digital tools and apps. 

First thing of all, teachers from the three partner schools will need to discuss the organizational aspects, among which the transnational teams will have special importance, since our pupils will have the chance to be in touch and interact. We would also need to consider our groups' ages as well as both languages and ICT skills in order to choose the most suitable language and tools to carry out our project.

Once the teams are formed and pupils have introduced themselves, they will have their first collaborative task. We need each team to decide a healthy menu with three dishes (final result for this concrete activity). This can be done by either having each country suggesting options for only one of the dishes (country 1 suggests first courses and appetizers, country 2 will do main courses and country 3 desserts) or offering one menu with three dishes and then the team chooses which dish from which country they want to work on. The result must be a complete menu with first course from country 1, main course from country 2 and dessert from country 3.  

At first, I thought we could use a forum on the TwinSpace, but considering my 7 year-old children, and the need to have a user and a password, I changed my mind. I think we might use padlet for this task. Its use is very easy, and I find it great for brainstorming. It adapts well to my pupils age and skills. Children could post their suggestions and preferences, and make comments on the other team members' posts too. I will ask students to write the name of their team and country on the title on the post, so as to know which post belongs to which team. They will also have a different part of the board for their messages, so everyone can find their team's posts more easily. You can also see those two fictional teams have followed different strategies to suggest ideas.  

I hope the image helps clarifying my idea (click to see it bigger). 

The great thing is they can even post pictures (or links to pictures and galleries) of the dishes they want to work on, so partners from other countries can have an idea what everything looks like, if they might like it, if they could cook it...

I've also taken on account my group might need some extra help, as they're still beginners at English and might not know some tools. I would consider the idea of inviting a couple of parents to some sessions, so they can provide the groups with extra help if they need to make a photo collage, write some sentences in English... Children would still do things by themselves, but parents and I could split and work as guidance for two teams each. At the same time, families become active part of the eTwinning project and it also helps spread the word. Parents love to be involved in their children's learning process! Parents could complete a simple survey afterwards, to provide feedback about the activity and share any comments and opinions they may have.

The objectives I intend to achieve with this collaborative activity are:
- Get in touch and start interacting with other European students.
- Facilitate the use of ESL in a more natural situation.
- Use of ICT tools (padlet) to collaborate for a common goal.
- Develop a habit and positive attitude towards healthy food/menus.

As to evaluate this activity, when the groups have made their decisions we can check if the menu is healthy enough by looking at the food pyramid: does the menu include the correct portions of each stage of the pyramid? We can actually evaluate the interactions and use of the second language on the Padlet board.

Once each team has decided the 3-dishes menu, they will realize some other activities, like writing the recipes, calculating the cost of the dishes, etc. But that would be at different moments of the project.

Please make your comments and suggestions -they help me improve! 

Revising my draft

The tasks for unit 3 include designing a project draft and our first P2P activity, assessing each others' drafts. It's been a really interesting unit because of all these opportunities to do and reflect about work about work (my own and my partners'). It's been really enrichening to assess peers' drafts because it forces me to think about the good and not-so-good (there is no bad!) parts of it, as well as the more suitable words to express your opinion or advice to that partner.

Considering the strengths of the projects in the MOOC, the main positive point I've seen is the will to learn of all the participants -keep going despite the many hours of school, and a very positive attitude to realize necessities and change what is needed in order to achieve a better result. Creativity is remarkable, and reflection, obviously, because every information has been considered carefully (even if this was just a draft, it's the beginning of a good plan).

Within my own project, peers' assessments and my own were quite similar. The aspects that gathered more positive comments were:

   - The topic itself: everyone understands food, can have an opinion about it and have different experiences (eat, buy, cook, like, dislike, traditions related to food...). It's a good start to work on in the different subjects.

    - The objectives: perhaps I should have reduced the list, but I thought those objectives can be split among the different subjects (Natural Science, Literacy, Maths, English), making easier their evaluation as each subject would have no more than 3 of them.

    - The final results: they are attractive, easy to understand and enjoy by everyone.

On the other side, there are the weaknesses:

    - Number of partners/students per group: it's not clearly defined. I found it hard to be specific about this point because... how can I do it if I don't know yet how many schools will be interested in the project? Perhaps if I get one more partner we can discuss this part and make a decission about how many other partners to find.

    - Communication among students: I have some doubts about it. My pupils are 6-7 years old and I think they might have some difficulties writing messages in English to other European partners. Besides, when we use ICT tools or apps in class, it's something a lot more simple, not like chatting, discussing and make decisions in a foreign language, so I got a bit lost about this part.  I will find a way to make communication and collaboration in this project real. 

One of the peers that assessed my draft mentioned it would be a good idea to involve families in the project. I didn't make it clear enough, but they were in my mind too: from helping children get to know the recipes they cook at home to the final result of the gastro-fair, which can be a great family activity: cook at home, try different ingredients and dishes and share the results with the rest of the community! 

Finally,  I think this task of assessing several projects will really help the final version of my draft. After reading several projects, realizing there are several common points in our drafts, and considering the revisions of my own work (both by my peers and myself) I can look at my draft in a somewhat different way from when I was writing it and be a bit more critical. I still think some aspects should be discussed once I got partners, but I'm sure I'll make some corrections.



Thank you everyone for your comments and for helping me improve my project!

Open eTwinning. Unit 2. Conclusions

In unit 2 we were asked to reflect on those aspects of our teaching we need to improve and learn about. Afterwards, we had to search for some projects that could help with it. And well... I was overwhelmed with so many ideas!

First, about those things I need to improve I would say the feeling of being stuck. Sometimes I feel we have too many contents and/or too little time to teach, plus all the extra activities, and other events in the class (some problem happened that morning, children not understanding something and taking more time than expected, etc) put pressure on us, like we're on a hurry. In those moments, it's easy to feel overcome and feeling you lose control of your own work and tasks. 

Another aspect I need to improve is the use of ICT tools more regularly, and relying on children to make an autonomous, good use of them. So far, when I include some technology in the class, it's still me using the keyboard and mouse, leading all the task and giving children a very little responsability. 

About the lack of autonomy, perhaps it's because the age of my group of children (6-7 years old). I know they are digital natives and their knowledge (from playing games and videos on the computer, tablet or smartphone at home) and intuition will make up for the lack of practice of this or that concrete application I want to use in class. But at the same time, they're children and I don't want them to accidentally drop the tablet or find some problem with the settings. To avoid this, so far, we've used only one tablet per team. 

I should also be more regular and include some time for ICT activities along the week, either in Maths lessons, Literacy, Social Science... It's also a bit related to the paragraph above: it's already May and we still need to teach quite a few contents, complete the books, evaluations... So, I need to take a breath, think of this as one more part of the curriculum and make a plan.

Apart from all that, we need to develop and evaluate competencies, however I (we?) still spend quite a lot of time on mechanical tasks and tests to practice and repeat contents, but not applying them on a real situation of childrens' lives. 

What did I learn from the projects?  

I browsed the SNA website and read about a few projects whose titles caught my attention. It was like opening a chest full of creativity and bright ideas. I suppose with all these new treasures and the feedback from the MOOC participants I realized we all have similar doubts, but we do also have the enthusiasm and the will to learn more and improve so...

...What to do when I feel stuck? 

Relax and take a deep breath. You've been through this before. Keep calm and make your plan considering less is more: hurry will make us chaotic and us, teachers can't afford that. Quality before quantity. Checking projects from other teachers will also provide some ideas about activities to make our lessons more effective.

...What ICT tools can I use and when? 

So far, Plickers got a great success and children even ask for it, but it's not one tool in which children have a main role using ICT devices. I have to return to my idea at the beginning of the school year to use Padlet: every child can write a post with their answer to an open question. About the 'when', the last period of the day is a bit more complicated. Children are more tired and sometimes even start to bother other students, so it might be a good moment to use such motivating tools and activities.

These are my top apps for the class. 

In case we can participante on a eTwinning project, the TwinSpace offers tools for communication among teachers and students too. 

...How can I work on and evaluate competencies? 

Projects are competencial tasks by defnition. Every teacher can create their own project, adapted to the characteristics of their own group, school and city, so the curriculum will be perfectly integrated and the project will be related and adapted to students' real life situations. We can even give children the chance to try actions and experiences they wouldn't normally do... but will surely enjoy, like for example, interviewing someone, participating on a radio program, etc. 

Of course I need to use books and do some mechanical tasks in order to practice contents... but children will learn a lot more with activities that develop their competences, like projects. These will also stimulate their motivation and enthusiasm, which is exactly what neuroscience states: we learn what excites us. 

Possibly, I could pass children a test after the project, to check what they've learnt, but that wouldn't evaluate competencies unless I suggested similar situations to those studied along the project. Plickers, Quizziz or Kahoot could lend a hand too. But it would be easier to use rubrics, learning diaries, self-assessment and peer assessment to evaluate students' competencies along the project. 

Project draft

Here is the project draft for the Open eTwinning MOOC. Food as the main topic of the project because, after all, we all need to it, have favourite dishes and need to get (or improve) healthy habits.

From there, we shall do several activities working on different food and dishes and everything would result in a book with all our recipes... and the possibility of celebrating a fair with those different dishes.

Feel free to leave some comments, they will help me learn!

Getting inspired

Today I'm trying to get some ideas in order to re-design and modify my next draft for a collaborative project. Sometimes I have an idea, maybe not very clear on how to be carried out, but I can picture some scenes in my mind about some parts of the work... and when this happens, it's difficult for me to think outside that box. 

So here I am, browsing the net in search for some successful projects, in order to fill the gaps in my own draft. By reading about these amazing experiences I feel there is a great challenge ahead, and I'm just a beginner... 

However they are perfect examples of where collaboration can lead to. There is a lot to learn about international teams, use of varied ICT tools, interaction among schools and really colourful, fascinating final results. Surely we'll find difficulties when working on our own project, but with the help of our partners, and all the information and experiences other teachers share, we can make our own ideas shine! Aaah... if we can learn (and, with our example, make our pupils learn) the importance of collaboration!! 

I leave you to the eTwinning National Support Service website, where you can select projects by age, subjects, school or awards won: Handmade Christmas exchange, La marmita fantástica, El laberinto de las palabras, Our School Anti-Bullying Campaign – Respect, etc.

Top apps for the class!

Today I want to share with you a list with some apps I've tried in my classroom. Most of them are very easy and children can use them with few indications, and definitely all of them are colourful and motivating. Go have a look and, if you feel like it, leave some comments with your own suggestions and opinions.

Top apps for the class list

I hope you like it!

eTwinning in 140... or a bit more

A while ago I had to describe on Twitter what eTwinning is to me. To be honest, 140 characters is not much, but it helps being concrete, go to the core idea and avoid unnecessary ornaments. This is my tweet:

"eTwinning is a unique opportunity to release creativity, test skills, enjoy with colleagues with same interests and needs. Try it!"

Let's make this short X-ray grow a little bit. In my recent experience on eTwinning, I've taken part with other teachers on a project consisting on a handcrafts exchange by mail and testing our English skills. This project was not included in our curriculum, but I thought it could be a nice experience for my 6 year-old children... and it surpassed my expectations greatly!! 

Kids were absolutely enthusiastic about the project, elaborating the most wonderful handcrafts and feeling eager to hear from their European peers. Can you imagine a better way to practice those initial dialogues in English? "My name is... I'm ... years old. I like... I don't like..." They could read and understand perfectly each message in a real situation (the post exchange with other schools). Motivation was so high they wanted to check the map whenever we got some new envelopes with the mail and even learn a bit more about those countries so far. 

Along this process, I've also taken part on online activities in which ICT tools were a key point. Not only they facilitate collaboration between partners that are quite far from each other, but they're also very attractive, and most of them, very easy to use... It got quite addictive! 

So we have, motivation, real practice of language skills and ICT. What can we do with these ingredients? Again, a new project! For a while now, trends in education talk, among others, about the flipped classroom and project based learning (PBL). I think it's easy to engage the class when you offer them a topic of their interest, and give them the main role on their learning process, let them search, investigate, reflect, do. Show them the new ICT tools, and they'll be asking for more. 

One final point. Experiencing eTwinning enriches yourself both in a personal and professional way, but it also reaches your students -obviously- and your colleagues: those who weren't part of your project might soon want to join when they see the results by themselves. Enthusiasm spreads fast!! The school will benefit from it too: professionals with experience in collaborative projects with other European schools, the possibility to be awarded with national and European quality awards, and the chance to develop practices that combine innovation, ICT, languages, and PBL. 

I'm not sure if I expressed myself clearly enough... why don't you check the site by yourself? 

www.etwinning.net

Estrenando blog

Hoy comienzo la aventura de mi blog de profe. Intentaré compartir cosas que puedan ser de interés: actividades realizadas en clase, formación, enlaces... 

En este momento estoy realizando un MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses o cursos online masivos y abiertos) sobre eTwinning, una plataforma a la que me he reenganchado este año y estoy empezando a sacarle partido. Las próximas entradas tendrán que ver con actividades de este curso, tareas para reflexionar sobre el día a día en el aula, proyectos con otros compañeros, etc. 

Próximamente iré completando con más material. 

¡Bienvenidos!