The teacher, an entity beyond it all. An all knowing force whose job was to protect, cultivate and disseminate her/his knowledge. Yes, THEY were the possessors! Thank heavens things have changed! In this 21^st century everything has changed. Schools, students, institutions, and teachers, too. Let’s take a look at a new way of approaching learning within this fluctuant context: Blended  Learning.

  Blended learning is a mixture of face-to-face learning and online instruction. It supposes a complete change from the traditional learning, it even challenges it! Students are no longer used to sit on an assigned place, listening to endless speeches delivered by the teacher, so they can later show what they have learnt by responding to formal tests. In this sense, this new kind of learning gives the students the possibility to choose about where, when, and how to learn since the contents, activities and tasks are now available online for them. Basically, students have choice and participation in their own learning processes, fact that, I consider, goes hand in hand with the development of their autonomy.  Sounds interesting?

  The main idea is that learners can access different didactic units, activities and tasks from anywhere, but not necessarily from the classroom. The teacher plans and designs the contents. Then, she/he shares that with students resorting to one or several of the teaching resources that are available online. This allows a more effective use of class time from the part of the teacher who can explain things students found difficult or couldn’t solve on their own. Furthermore, teachers can answer questions learners may have or practice what they have learnt.

  A nice tool to do blended learning is school learning platforms. They are within the school environment and they provide a safe framework where students can get information and work on it. Personally, I believe that this kind of platforms helps schools creating their own institutional identity and also fosters learners’ membership to it. In our Teacher Education Programme we got used to work with two different learning platforms: Edmodo and Moodle. Both of them became core components of our blended learning, allowing us to share information, ideas and contents.

  However I would like to highlight some drawbacks that this kind of learning may have. First, since many teachers are not familiarized with all these new technological tools that offer plenty of opportunities, the implementation of blended learning can be a huge challenge to face; teachers may feel overwhelmed sometimes, but regarding learning alongside with their students can be a nice solution. What is more, even parents may feel confused and unsure of how to support their child at home, but the truth is that their role in their child’s education in crucial and they have to engage in this new kind of learning, which very much differs from their learning experiences. For instance, they can have their children teach them about an application or programme that they use on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the most important point here is that parents can acknowledge the fact that althought the tooll has shifted from a textbook to an online programme, the fundamental role of technology is to enhance learning.

  I would like to end this post with this last reflection and a special thank. It is interesting to say that adhering to this new kind of learning supposes a thorough preparation from the teachers’ side, a professional development that many times, the private and state institutions that teachers work for do not support or promote. Looking for the best ways of approaching learning is really up to those who see the importance of doing it! In this sense, I would really like to thank the opportunities we have in our training programme, which offers students different instances to become in contact with these new concepts in teaching. This year for instance, Instituto Superior del Profesorado N° 8 “Alte. G. Brown” proposed different courses aimed at preparing students in the field of technology and how to best implement it in their lessons.  I enrolled in a course about virtual classrooms and I learnt a lot! Moreover, the fact that we can devote a whole year working on how to design materials resorting to these new technological tools such as we did in the subject ECO II, is a strong institutional stance that shows how committed they are to the improvement of education. There goes my recognition to this Institution that took the responsibility for supporting their future teachers in the constant search for the best ways of teaching!

Sources:  

-Kinsey, Megan, Blended Learning in the Mix: The Informed Parent,

 http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-informed-parent-megan-kinsey

-Kinsey, Megan, Blended Learning in the Mix: The Proactive Teacher

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-proactive-teacher-megan-kinsey

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5txJfv2q0c

Web 2.0: A didactic sequence

 Some weeks ago, we devoted a whole lesson sharing our practical works. As our subject relates to the creation of our own materials to enhance our learners' language acquisition, we spend the evening sharing different activities and tasks we created by profiting from the Web 2.0.

  Not only did we enjoy looking at our classmates' productions, but we also discovered many different tools to work with. It became evident that whatever your topic or the skill you want your learners to develop, there is a Web 2.0 resource ready to be used! Creating comics with special characters, making your own videos, inventing short stories and supporting them with images are some of the endless possibilities we have.

  Together with my mates, Marion and Antonela, we designed a lesson plan which was intended to teach places in the city to a 2nd Course from a public secondary school in Santa Fe. Their final task consisted on creating a video to show their imaginary city, describing it, with the main aim of convincing their mates to go to that place. The only restraint was that the video should last no longer than 40 seconds. 

  As a starting point we chose to work with what our imaginary learners were supposed to know. We tried to active their schemata by showing them the collage on the right, which has photos of places they already know since they are all in their own city. By using a beamer and some traditional worksheets, we shared and elicited from them different vocabulary related to those places. The idea was that our learners could produce simple sentences like "In Santa Fe there are two big stadiums: Colón and Unión".

After chicking this first activity, we showed them another collage, the one on the left. Working in pairs they had to write as many sentences as possibles as regards the places that are and are not in Santa Fe. To check, we designed a brief peer assessment session which, we believe, add some authenticity to the task and it also engages them more. This was followed by a simplified Jeopardy to practice the vocabulary.

To finish and actually introduce the final task, we presented a video that we created using Stupeflix, a Web 2.0 tool that allowed us to come up with a nice presentation of our own imaginary city that was called PARACITY. Have a look at it! And be honest... Wouldn't you like to visit it?
I really recommend this versatile resource that gives you the chance to create unlimited free videos, up to 20 minutes long with your own photos, texts and music. 

This practical work was really an opportunity to learn collaboratively using novel tools within the traditional learning setting, and also a strong invitation to keep on looking for the best way to teach! 

How NOT to make a presentation!  

                                        7 helpful advices.

The use of PowerPoint presentations has shown a great increase trough the last years and many teachers and students are applying this tool in their teaching and learning every day’s experiences.

Nevertheless, there are some basic points we must consider when making a presentation. I we don’t, we may run the risk of wasting the potential of this technological resource.

1- Avoid putting all the words you’re supposed to say so as not to overcrowd your slides and bore your audience.

2- Consider font size: not to big, not to small.

3- Keep your text stationary! Otherwise you can annoy your audience and lose their attention.

4- Be careful with the font you choose. Believe it or not, your choice will show some of your character traits.

5- Strike a balance with animation in order to cater for your easily distracted students or the more visual ones. 

6- Avoid using too many acronyms.

7- Include only relevant charts that contribute to your general message.

These basic notions will help us increasing our presentations effectiveness. I highly recommend you to watch this video of a conference by Don Mac Millan,  to see some examples that will help you get a clear idea of what NOT to do.

Sources:

-http://www.technicallyfunny.com/videos.htm

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbSPPFYxx3o#t=170

To selfie or not to selfie? 

                          That’s the crucial question.

"Self-confidence", by Shirley

We’ve been looking for some ways to build the gap between digital natives and digital immigrants, so… What about bringing this new phenomenon into the classroom? Have you ever considered it? To tell you the truth, I haven’t thought about it, since I used to see this kind of photographs as a very superficial way of presenting ourselves. But it wasn’t until I attended a workshop hosted by the English Language Fellow Mathilde Verillaud that I realized how much we can profit by introducing this type of photography in our lessons.

By working with selfies with our students, we can help them realize that it is a very powerful form of communication. A picture speaks by itself, and whenever they portray themselves, they are sending a message to all those who see the photo. If we relate this simple fact, with the communicative function of the language we are teaching, we can see that both can contribute to the same process: sending messages across.

 In this sense, Mathilde showed us an interesting project she carried out in China, some years ago.  She worked with a group of university students and she used selfies as a way of presenting themselves and showing the rest some salient characteristics of their identities. Having learnt some basic notions of photography such as angles and diagonals, this group of students did a very interesting job. You can see some of their works following this link.

"Walking by", by Monica

But how did she relate selfies with the acquisition of the language?  She proposed a number of activities that ranged from writing poems based on the photos to making a gallery walk showing the works. She designed activities covered the four learning skills since, for example, they had to answer higher order ranking questions about the pictures, make oral descriptions, write sentences among others. They used the “selfies” excuse to develop the four skills while using the language to speak about them and getting to know each other. What a wonderful way to learn!

It’s high time we start being permeable to this new kind of phenomenon and let our learners’ creativities and identities becoming the mentors of their learnings!

Sources:

- Verillaud, Mathilde, "Selfies in the Classroom, Really?", presentation at Alicana, Santa Fe, August 2014.

- http://gongdaepc.livejournal.com/tag/self%20portrait

                                                                                  

A model for Immigrant teachers: TPACK

Every teacher’s concern may arouse from the difficulty to create task and activities that are appealing, and also include any of the available technological resources that our digital learners are used to work with. How can I teach them? What’s the most successful way? These are questions that I, as a Digital Immigrant, always ask to myself.

In order to increase our learners’ motivation and to make the content more accessible to them, we can start thinking of a new way of approaching teaching:  TPACK. What is it? You may be wondering…  It is a framework that combines 3 different areas that are the core of every lesson nowadays: Technological, Content and Pedagogical Knowledge.

 When planning our lessons, we need to have a clear objective in mind. The WHAT of our daily practices is related to the subjects we have to deal with and this represent the Content knowledge. In our case, it is English. This type of knowledge combines with the Pedagogical one. The latter refers to the tools that teachers used in their classes so as to present the contents and make them more accessible. So when teaching, we should consider that our teaching proposals (group work, debates, modelling, direct instruction, etc.) enable learners to properly acquire the contents.

As far as this, it seems to be the traditional way of teaching, in which the contents are carefully planned and activities and task are designed in accordance. Nevertheless, a new type of knowledge is called to be developed and it is the Technological Knowledge. If teachers want to keep up-to- date and make their lessons interesting, they need to integrate technology in their classrooms, and it is a great responsibility for them to start learning about these new educational resources and apply them to support their pedagogical strategies.  There are a considerable number of tools that can contribute to the learning process: laptops, projectors, smart boards, cameras, iPads, etc.

The interrelation of these three types of knowledge is what we call TPACK, a framework that help us realize the importance of selecting the appropriate contents, applying the correct pedagogical strategies with the support of the right technological tools, but always bearing in mind that we should adapt this model to the different contexts we may be working in.

Source:

- http://www.tpack.org/

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FagVSQlZELY

Digital Natives… 

Are teachers up to the challenge?

Nobody can deny that today’s children and adolescents are not the same they used to be some years (maybe decades) ago. There has been a radical change in their lifestyles, ways of approaching learning, thinking and processing information. It is now frequent to see 2-years old kids “mastering the art” of using iPhones, and we should not be surprised if a boy or a girl ends up teaching us how to use a computer programme. The truth is that they were born in the digital age, where everything surrounding them is connected in one way or another, to digital devices such as computers, videos, digital music layers, videocams, cell phones, etc.

The term to refer to this new generation of kids and teenagers is Digital Natives; whereas all those of us who where born before the 90’s are commonly known as Digital Immigrants. The following chart clearly shows the differences between these two generations and provides a simple reference that we, teachers and future teachers, should bear in mind.

 In this sense, it is important to highlight that Native’s teachers are mostly Immigrants and therefore… are their teaching practices appropriate, appealing and significant for these new kids? The answer is simple. Unless teachers learn to communicate in the language and style of their students, acknowledging the fact that they receive information really fast and like to parallel-process and multitask, they will not be able to cope with this unprecedented challenge. It is not an easy task, but we can profit from our learners since, as Mark Prensky states “Smart adult immigrants accept that they don’t know about their new world and take advantage of their kids to help them learn and integrate”.  I believe that the most important thing for Immigrants teachers is to recognize this “lack of knowledge” and start working and looking for the best tools, resources and ideas as well as developing their creativity to offer students more memorable and fruitful learning experiences. 

I would like to share with you a very short video that summarizes what Digital Natives, our today's learners, expect from schools and teachers, and stress this important idea:

 "My school has to keep up with me,  not the other way around"

Sources: 

-Marc Prensky, 2001, "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants"

- http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupId=1111374
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ5Vy9BgSeY

Everybody must have heard that old idea that states...."Don’t believe in everything you are told" We can well apply it to the reading of online information. It’s nice to think that knowledge is waiting for us, just a click away, ready to be used! But instead of being something that we can wolf down, we should spend a considerable time chewing on the information, before digesting it.

There are certain criteria that a website must meet to see whether the facts it provides are reliable or not. Actually, there’s not a sole criterion for analyzing web pages, but there are some core components that should guide every analysis.  Here are some points, that I consider really important:

•        Relevance: the information's level of importance to a particular reading purpose or explicitly stated need for that information
•         Accuracy: the extent to which information contains factual and updated details that can be verified by consulting alternative and/or primary sources
•         Bias/Perspective: the position or slant toward which an author shapes information
•         Reliability: the information's level of trustworthiness based on information about the author and the publishing body.  

    Looking for relevant and reliable information can be time consuming, but I think that we can do our best if we identify those criterions that are personally relevant and try to design our own templates of websites reviews. 

Source: 
 - Coiro, Julie, "Teaching adolescents how to evaluate the quality of online information", http://www.edutopia.org/blog/evaluating-quality-of-online-info-julie-coiro
- https://vle.whs.bucks.sch.uk/mod/page/view.php?id=51043