Interactive Game

Hello Everyone!
I am sharing with you today a lesson that includes a interactive game made on this amazing website called “Kahoot”.  The lesson is trying to fulfill the needs of a first grade level California Standards. “ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.5

Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.”

To start the students will recall what they remember of the Three little pigs story. Who are the characters, what do they do, who tells the story, what is the environment like.  

Students will read the story again and define if the details they remember are the correct ones.

Questions will be produced by them. An informational worksheet with matching phrases will be administered.

The “True story of the three little pigs”  will be introduced, and after listening the information will again be brought up questions they will produce like who are the characters, what are they doing, who tells the story, where does it take place. A worksheet with specific information will be filled out about the story.

A video of both stories will be shown, allowing the students to remember and learn even more details about both stories.

The interactive game starts then, the classroom will split up in teams allowing them to answer the questions with the information they have just gathered.

After that the students will select a topic of information about the story (Characters, setting, problem, place, story). They will start creating a presentation in any form they want, a song, a poem, a representation, a presentation etc.  Comparing both stories in the specific area they selected.

Sometime will be given for students to select their answers and work on their products. A draft will be assessed along with the participation of the members of the team.

Before presenting their final products, they will play again individually this time, the questions will be mixed up and the understanding will be shown.

The direct link to the game is:

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/6791c5b2-1a82-43de-b2a9-f1b841cb11c9

Teach for transfer. Madeline Hunter

Hello there!
Today I am about to share a bit about a really interesting book "Teach for Transfer" By Madeline Hunter and hope it spikes you with interest and more.

Hunter(1971) Teach for Transfer. Theory into Practice. Tip Publications. El Segundo,CA. 93pp.

Author:

Madeline Hunter (1916-1994)was a Principal, University Elementary School Lecturer and Professor of Educational Administration and Teacher Education. She created the Instructional Theory into Practice teaching model which was widely used by instructors during 1970s and 1980s. She is the author of twelve books and hundreds of articles about education. Her teaching methods helped to transform classrooms into learning environments and the students knowledge grew faster and stronger. For this book, she spent two years extracting from psychological research the principles of transfer which seemed useful and critical to daily teaching.

Comments on the back cover:

This book is the final book of a series the Author wrote to help teachers understand the theories applied to the classroom directly.

Teaching for transfer should be the end goal of all teaching as it starts with the same reasoning, the ability to transfer previous learning to a new situation is the start of creativity, problem solving and critical thinking.Once the teacher has identified an appropriate educational destination for the student,the knowledge he has over the theories will be the answer as to what route to take to be effective, and efficient.

Highlights:

The author believed that the a huge part of the  job of teachers was decision making, and that each educator makes many decisions each day. All of the decisions a teacher makes could be distributed in  what you are going to teach; what you as the teacher will do to improve and effectively provide that learning; and  when the students learn,  how they will let you know that they've learned it.

In teaching for transfer, Hunter specifies that a past situation or learning can and should be linked to the present one as it encourages the knowledge. It means applying what one has learned in a particular situation to another in a different context.

“If we wish to encourage transfer from association of feelings of the past with the present situation, we should make pairing of the two learnings explicit for the learner.”(p.45)

She shows how learning is increased by repetition, learning new things lays down neural pathways so every time a skill is practiced the knowledge is strengthened. Therefore, if something is learned incorrectly the learner has to change what was wrong or wrongly done by relearning the material or skill correctly.

“Adequate learning usually is not accomplished in one exposure so we may need to return to a concept many times and see it in many differing situations before it is well enough understood to transfer to other situations where it is appropriate.”(p.2)

The book is filled with information and then quick quizzes and questions to make sure the reader is understanding the information. It helps to fully analyze and comprehend the theories and match them appropriately to the classroom moments.

Project based learning

Hello there!
How is your week going? I hope is great!
This week I have to present an idea to improve the creativity of the class with a project based learning plan.

When working with a Kindergarten group. I can think of exposing their thoughts and creativity with a community involvement to then show their parents. The students will be challenged to study, evaluate, discuss and show their simple knowledge of a community member that might have helped them or one that they might want to become in the future.

The learner will know that community members are people in our society that we see each day in our daily lives.  They might be a part of our family, a neighbor, someone who helps us in an emergency or simply connects with us through something as routine as our mail or trash.  The learner will understand that there are many community member careers that they also can try one day.

Starting with brainstorm to notice all the possible community members they could take note of, then labeling and understanding their careers. Reading more about them and writing a few small sentences on their information would come next, since they are small children parents would be of a lot of help. The children will explore their talents and motivations when approaching the member and understanding the way they want to express what they have learned. They will be provided of material and help in an effort for them to push their curiosity and talents so they are able to express in their own way.

At the end the students will use their creativity to present the community member or job they liked the most.

This type of activities, help students collaborate, think critically and communicate. They can go and ask community members, investigate and learn more about them. Then there are many things they could do to embrace their creativity and present their findings, from dressing up to building something or doing a representation. It would be very motivating and empowering for them to push their knowledge and have the liberty to present in the way they find fits best. There would be some boundaries and vocabulary they have to use so the activity continues to fit with the standards, but still their feelings and thoughts would be able to go through.

Confident of your 21st Century Skills

Technology has become an integral part of our life, everywhere we are, everywhere we see there is always a way a tool has helped or improved.The internet, blogs and smart phones are some examples of tools that we use to grow in our knowledge and understanding.

Using technology like this in the classroom needs more than knowing how to use the tool therefore as teachers we need to understand the importance of everything that could be done with technology in the learning process, and the ideas behind integrating it in a way that concentrates on learning without being a distraction.

Other than what is mentioned before, the Four Cs as in critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity are also a main part of the 21st century needed skills. They intents far more than technology skills put to use in the classroom. This is real world learning that will equip children with the skills to survive in the 21st century in jobs or careers, allowing them to have the power and opportunity to succeed in the future.

300 × 199 - teach.com

Using technology in the classroom is not a simple task, is crucial to understand the various skills that students need to develop in order to use technology in the most effective way. Sometimes it might feel like too much or a bit scary, but in order to become successful teachers we must guide students through the way and keep up with the improvements that are being discovered all over the world.

Students can be exposed to visuals and audio instead of concepts on printed pages. At the same time, they are gradually expected to express their understanding using tech resources in addition to plain text, meaning that multimedia applications are increasingly a part of all classrooms. As teachers we must find ways to incorporate technology into everyday activities, and help students explore and master new ways to communicate what they are learning.

To accomplish all of the mentioned before, we must be capable learners in order to acquire and improve the abilities we need and be able to pass them on to our students. I strongly believe a person must never stop learning, as there are opportunities to learn at every place and moment. I am capable of learning from situations, places, books, coworkers and students, it is just part of staying open and receptive of everything what is going on around and not be afraid to try.

21st Century

The phrase “21st century” is everywhere you see, you can google it and get a thousands results like 21st century skills, 21st century learners and teachers, 21st century education, and more you can see it in all of the major social media pages and several applications suggest they can help you improve it. The question then stands, What is it? Am I a part of it?
The 21st century skills suggest that we should acquire and apply core knowledge and critical-thinking skill into everyday tasks, demonstrate creativity, innovation, and flexibility make decisions and solve problems ethically and collaboratively use technology to gather and analyze information exhibit positive interpersonal relationships and display leadership skills that inspire others to achieve, serve, and work together.
It is important to consider that the 21st century also includes being aware of the digital literacy, which means being knowledgeable in the use of smartphones, tablets, computers, PCs or any other digital device seen as part of the network other that alone.

As a part of everything I must achieve I need the two following questions:

How do you describe yourself as a learner in the 21st Century?

As a learner in my profession the one and most important thing to mention and remember is than a person must never stop learning. Everyone can learn many things every day, at school, at work, at home or any other place, by living simple experiences every day and knowing if we should repeat them or not. As a teacher I know there are different developments in several educative areas every day and I must be ready and eager to keep learning, motivated and in constant improvement of myself so I am able to share and introduce my students to the challenges and competences they need to accomplish.

How do you describe yourself as a teacher in the 21st Century?

As a teacher of the 21st century I consider myself capable of developing lesson plans with personalized objectives and tasks for different learning types. There is no “one size fits all” so is important to create different moments where students can create their own permanent knowledge. To do this, is always important to keep up with the technology and the digital literacy must grow with the group’s objectives; the resources are important and technology always finds the way to keep interested and motivated to the students.

As mentioned before there are different several tasks students must obtain in order to continue and achieve success, they include critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication or the 4C’s for short, I know I must include them every day through the progress of the classroom for their own development.

The 21st Century is now. Almost every day new technologies are being developed and skills need to be improved to keep up with this new world.