Mapas visuales

Aunando la técnica de los mapas mentales (y las indicaciones del experto David Expósito García) y el trabajo del pensamiento visual, el nuevo reto del curso "Visual Thinking en educación" consiste en elaborar un mapa visual en torno a un proyecto o idea de las áreas que trabajo en mi aula. 

En estos mapas visuales debemos incluir esos aspectos esenciales de todo proyecto (objetivos, temporalización, agrupamientos, actividades, recursos, resultado final, evaluación...) representándolos de manera visual a través de imágenes y símbolos, colores, tipografía... Reconozco que al principio no lo tenía muy claro, pero a los cinco minutos ¡me vengo arriba con los rotuladores!

He escogido un par de proyectos que hemos realizado este año. El primero es el mapa mental del proyecto eTwinning que llevamos a cabo en el primer trimestre, Butterflies Across Europe. Esta fue mi primera experiencia y la verdad es que tuvo mucho éxito. Se trata de un proyecto muy sencillo, corto en el tiempo y consistente en un intercambio de pequeñas manualidades. Los niños lo disfrutaron mucho. 

Otro proyecto, Pajareando, lo realizamos en el segundo trimestre, en relación a las unidades que trataban el tema de los seres vivos. Nuestro producto final estaba orientado a la jornada de puertas abiertas del centro, de modo que toda la comunidad educativa pudiese ver los resultados del trabajo en el aula. ¡Algunos de mis alumnos son verdaderos ornitólogos en ciernes!

No sabía bien cómo resultaría el intentar explicar todos los pasos del proyecto en un solo folio y principalmente a través de dibujos. En ambos casos, me lancé muy decidida y pasó lo que tenía que pasar: metí la pata. No controlar muy bien el espacio, emborronar un dibujo, olvidar una idea que tenía que haber escrito antes de pasar a la siguiente... así que vuelta a empezar. Sin embargo, una vez organizado todo un poquito más en mi cabeza, iba saliendo todo solo, realmente no tenía que plantearme tanto qué dibujo hacer para representar tal o cual idea. Como son proyectos que he llevado a cabo, solamente era pensar en esos días que dedicamos a la actividad y hacer una versión (simplificada) de las tareas, objetos, etc.

Sorprendentemente, con cada nueva tarea descubro que, por mucho que me cueste empezarla, acabo sintiéndome a gusto y con ganas de seguir haciendo más cosillas. No es perfecto y ni siquiera dibujos muy bonitos, pero solo el superar ese miedo inicial a coger los rotuladores y comenzar a esbozar ideas, me resulta hasta emocionante. ¿A que al final le acabo cogiendo el gustillo a esto?

6 sombreros para pensar

Como ya os había comentado, vuelvo con una nueva entrada para hablaros sobre cómo estamos trabajando con los 6 sombreros para pensar en mi aula de 1º de Primaria. La iniciativa surge de un proyecto eTwinning. A partir de aquí, toca ponerse las pilas.

Recopilé los seis sombreros utilizando 5 gorritos de cumpleaños (como veis, el blanco antes era naranja) y una chistera de fieltro, que pertenece a nuestra mascota, Rasi.

En una primera fase, introduje los sombreros en gran grupo, con la intención de que esta estrategia nos sirviera para resolver las discusiones de los niños en algunos recreos. Los alumnos y la profe nos sentamos en el suelo en un círculo grande. Las partes implicadas y los testigos exponen la situación y sus emociones al respecto (sombreros blanco y rojo). Después, todos los niños reflexionan sobre las consecuencias negativas (sombrero negro) o positivas (amarillo) a las que esta situación puede llevar. 

A continuación, con el sombrero verde los alumnos tratan de encontrar una solución (lo más creativa posible) para el problema. En este sentido, tratamos de alejarnos de la idea tradicional de castigo (hacer copias de una frase, castigado en un ringón...), y en su lugar, llegar a acuerdos y tomar decisiones con las que nos sintamos cómodos y que contribuyan a una mejor atmósfera en la clase. Como son los niños quienes proponen las ideas y toman sus propias decisiones, el grado de compromiso con éstas también es mayor. El último sombrero es el azul y lo usamos para evaluar si todo el mundo ha respetado el turno de palabra, si nos hemos hablado con respeto, si las respuestas se ceñían a la pregunta especificada por el sombrero, etc.

Después de varios ensayos, los niños siguen mejorando en sus reflexiones y razonamientos. Además, como vamos hablando entre todos y de manera muy calmada, las partes implicadas en la discusión o pelea de turno, poco a poco también se van relajando. Al final de la actividad, todos nos sentimos mejor.

También hemos usado esta técnica en nuestra hora semanal de tutoría. En esta hora normalmente también tenemos que trabajar en emociones y fomento de la lectura. Por esta razón en uno de los últimos ejercicios combinamos todos los contenidos. A partir de una escena del libro que habíamos estado trabajando ("Nadie quiere jugar conmigo", de Gabriela Keselman) en la que algunos animales se sentían un poco disgustados o enfadados, utilizamos los seis sombreros para pensar para analizar la situación y encontrar una posible solución. Esta vez, trabajamos por equipos, cada uno dedicado a un sombrero. Los portavoces tenían que comunicar las respuestas tomadas por consenso, mientras que el resto de equipos, también podían añadir alguna idea o comentario extra. Este trabajo ha quedado reflejado en un póster que tenemos en la clase. 

Estoy muy orgullosa de cómo lo van manejando los niños poco a poco. Espero que sigamos utilizándolo más veces ¡y me sorprendan con sus maravillosas ideas!

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.

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.