Mobile learning: keep improving

Hello again!

In this post I would like to tell you about mobile learning. In my opinion and specially when you are a teacher, you have to keep improving the necessary skills to do your best. Our training does not finish when we finish university or when we are civil servants. Times are constantly changing and we have to be prepared for them. However not always we have enough time to do it. Fortunately technology is here to help us. You will see how...

Last Tuesday I attended a webinar called Mobile Learning and Digital Competence for Education developed by my teacher María Jesús García San Martín where my classmates and I learnt about the huge variety of training courses for us (teachers) offered by The Ministry of Education thanks to the INTEF (Instituto Nacional de Tecnologías Educativas y Formación del Profesorado). 
The main point is to improve your skills by working at your own pace and whenever you want to. They provide you with a portfolio in which you can see your progress regarding the digital competence. There are different levels within this competence: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. You will have a recommended itinerary  to follow based on your expectations. 

So, what online training courses can we find within AprendeINTEF?

• Edupils: it is a mobile phone app devoted to self-learning. It allows you to increase your digital competence in short periods of time (from 3 to 7 minutes). Each pill is based on a descriptor of each competency levels and categorised according to the Areas of the Common Framework of Digital Competence. It allows you to work at your own pace and when you want or have time to do it. 
• NOOC INTEF: They are nano courses of three hours each one which allow you to achieve 1 objective (competence) in this time making it clear through a digital portfolio. This platform is opened in a specific date but once your are inside, the materials will be there forever. You will have an online tutor who encourages you to do your best and you can share your experiences within different social networks. It is based on the motivation to learn instead of getting credits. 
• MOOC INTEF: These courses are longer than the previous ones. They last around 4 or 5 weeks. They are based on an active methodology and peer learning and one more time the participants are connected to each other through the platform and social networks in order to share their experiences. 
• SPOOC INTEF: this is related to learning experiences at your own pace. They are online and open courses and you can access whenever you want. You do not have a specific day to finish it, you can do it freely and when you are ready to do it. Here you do not have a tutor, but you can have all the help you need within a Facebook group where all its members are included. Once you achieve an objective, you win a digital badge. 

It is important to say that no one of these courses are thought to give you certificates or credits. They have been created just to learn from others and with others, for the pleasure of learning. 
And from my point of view this is something we usually forget when doing courses. We just do courses to get something, and we forget how restorative is to learn new things just because we like it or we want to. There are no excuses to do it, we have lots of possibilities adapted to the time we have available. Just do it!!

From my view as a teacher and what I liked when attending the webinar is to see how these courses give you the possibility to see your own progress and all the things your are achieving. It creates a sense of fulfilment when seeing all you are able to do. 
Apart from that, I think that there are several advantages when using these courses from INTEF:
First of all, the possibility to choose the kind of training you want. Depending on the time you have available you can choose the training that better fits your needs. 
Then, the chance to work at your own pace and rhythm, at home or at work, wherever you need it. 
And finally that you can take advantage of your work at school (projects, activities, etc) in order to show your achievements regarding this digital competence. 

That is all! I hope you join these courses because I am already thinking about it!

See you soon, 
Best! 

Channel 4 News (II)

Hi again guys!

As I promised you several days ago, here you have my Channel 4 News video! 

As I told you in my last entry related to it,(click here) it is a mini project in which my classmates and I wanted to introduce ICTs and more precisely videos in our classrooms. 

We decided to be the main characters of the introductory video in order to encourage our students to do the same. Not many times we see teachers participating in first person in their students´ projects or videos. So we made it possible!This time we are working with 6th graders. 

This project is going to be carried out in the Cultural week of the school. It will last 2 sessions: In the first one, the students will watch our flipped video and afterwards they will work on the computer room in 4 groups of 6 people each one. But... to work on what? Well as I told you before, at the end of each of our performances as journalists, we ask the students several questions related to the following areas:

- Natural Science (natural disasters)
- Social Science (the European Union and the Brexit)
- Literature and Arts and Crafts(Saint George)
- P.E (new sports)
- English (used during the whole project)

What students have to do is to watch our video and answer these questions in groups in order to make an oral presentation that they will have to present in front of the rest of the class by using digital tools as Genially, videos, etc. As you can see it has lots of cross curricular links to other areas and subjects which is the best way, in our opinion, to work on the English language: by using it as a vehicle of communication. We are going to use it in the Cultural week in order to review all we have done during the trimester.

What about our objectives with this mini project? Well, we want them to work cooperatively, to improve their four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), to develop their digital competence and of course to learn other subjects through a foreign language. So as you can see, its usefulness within the classroom is totally clear.

Regarding the creation process, I have to say that it was really really funny. Working with my classmates as if we were kids in the classroom was a great experience, not to mention the huge number of outtakes we did until the final one! It was amazing. Not only recording the video but also agreeing with them regarding how we want to change education as teachers by using ICTs.

In order to edit the video my classmates used imovie. The background s that appear behind us are from Pixabay and the sounds from Garageband.

Here you have our final video including the questions for the students, I hope you really like it, we love it!!

See you soon! Bye bye

tell us #twima8 !!

Hi there!!

This night I would like to share with you a special moment I lived in my first year as a teacher thanks to #twima8 (The World Is My Audience, 8th edition). It is a platform in which you can share your experiences (in my case as a teacher) with people all over the world! I mean, for me it is restorative to listen to other people who work in the same as you and how they are living wonderful experiences from other parts of the planet.




Through Flipgrid I have recorded my video and it takes just five minutes to do it! Quick, easy and funny!All my classmates at university are doing the same as me, sharing their stories! Here you can see what we are doing (or you can click here):

Participating in #twima8 was very special to me because I had the opportunity to share how special I felt when a pupil told me how much he had learnt from me. When working with children you realise how important you become for them. You are someone they live with everyday and you become essential. This is the best part of my job, when they tell you how much they love you and how much they admire you. It is nice to work with little ones!. 

And what about using Flipgrid in the classroom? Well, without any doubt it is going to be a great idea since we can ask our students to share everything we want them to tell us, and they will have the opportunity to share their learning experiences with their classmates. All advantages!

I hope you enjoy my video and of course I hope you join #twima8 and tell us what your story is. 

See you! 

Channel 4 News (I)

Hey! What´s new?

Today I´m going to tell you about a project that my colleagues at University and I started last week. We were asking ourselves how many times we ask the students to record a video for our classes. As I have said since I started to write this blog,  new technologies are essential nowadays within education. I have to confess that at the beginning I hated them, but day to day I´m learning new and easy things to use in my classroom. 

So, as I was telling you, my classmates and I were thinking about how we can introduce videos in the classroom in order to involve the students in the creation of one of them. It is obvious that asking for a video recording is going to be very motivating for them. But suddenly we realised that by introducing the videos on our own, they students will be even more motivated since they will be able to see their teachers in action. 
So, let´s get on with it!

We decided to create a programme in which each of us will be a reporter telling the students different news related to different areas within education (natural science, arts, etc.). 

Which was our main objective? To make the students think and to use the English language as a tool to work on other different areas. And of course, to work on our students´ cooperative work since they have to plan their work very well by establishing different roles: drafter, recorder, community manager, editor... 

At the end of each one of our performances, we ask the students several questions on which they have to work. To answer them, they will have to create an oral presentation with digital tools like Genially, handmade lap books, videos... They will choose the best way to present their topics!

In order to work with my colleagues, we have shared a document within Google Drive to work all of us at the same time. 

That is all for now. In next chapter I will let you watch our Channel 4 News video and I will tell you more about it!

See you soon!!

The Jungle Book

Hello again!

Today I´m going to tell you about an audio project. Projects are a great tool in order to work on different areas at the same time. Students can forget about traditional teaching to focus on group work and new methodologies to learn new contents. 

There are lots of ways to work on projects, and this time I have decided to start it by using podcasts. Podcasts are pieces of audio which we can share wherever we want to. 

First of all, you have to create an account in a web page where you can upload your podcasts. I have used SoundCloud to do it. After creating your account, you have to select a device in order to record your audio. This web page is really useful in order to create your playlist and to share your audios with other people. However, It does not allow you to record yourself. I have used my own mobile phone to record the audio. 
Then you add it to your play list and that is all! Really easy to use! I have never thought before about using these kind of resources within the classroom. But now I have tried it, I think it is very motivating for the students and it is an original way to work and to engage the students. 

Regarding my project, It is related to animals. We are going to work on different aspects related to them such as their reproduction, food habits, and descriptions related to their physical appearance.  I have encouraged my little ones by telling them a riddle in which they have to guess which animal it is. 

The students will work autonomously by recording their own audios using different devices they have available (their computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.)and as a final work of the project we will create a class Jungle book. 

So, now, why don´t you have a look to my project?
Here you have my project: 

Here you have my audio channel: 


Here you will find my playlist: 

And finally, here you have my welcome audio: 

See you, bye bye!

I will eat you again!

Hello again! 

This time I would like to share with you an infographic I have created in order to help my students to understand the concept of a food chain. 

I have used a tool called Piktochart . I really liked it because I think infographics are really useful for my students to have a global idea about a concept. Moreover, by printing them you can hold them around the classroom so that the students can see everyday the things they are working on. 

With this one my students will be able to see what a food chain is, how it works and what are its main elements. Apart from that, I have included a video in which they can see in depth what the topic is about. 

What about Piktochart? Well, In my opinion it is very useful and easy to use. First of all you have to create your own account. After that you can start designing your infographic. On the left you will find a menu in which you can select the different options such as graphics (shapes, lines, photos...), uploads (where you can keep your own photos), backgrounds (the different images and colours you are going to use), text (in order to adapt the kind of letter you are going to use, I specially liked this part because there were lots of options available) and finally the tools ( videos, charts and maps). And I suppose that is all! It is very intuitive, really. And when you finish you can share it with all the community! 

One more time and beacause of the fact that I am currently working with the little ones of the school, I think this tool is very complicated for them. But with older students it will be perfect, not only to create materials for them but also for them to create their own materials. 

Sincerely, I have not heard about infographics before, but now that I know them, I think they are a wonderful resource to be used in my class for the students to have clear ideas about my subject. 

I´ll come back! See you. 

Loading...

We plant seeds in spring

Hello again!

Spring is coming, and today I would like to show you my plants mind map ( click here to see it ). This time, I have used a tool called Creately . Under the mind map you will see this symbol 🔗. It lets you see all the videos, games and images I have linked to it.

When working with long topics in science, I think that mind maps are really useful for the students to have a general idea about the topic they are going to work on. Moreover, it allows the students to organise their ideas when studying at the same time they are connecting different concepts and key words. 

But, how does Creately work? Well,after creating your own account you can choose from a variety of templates to start with. In my case, I started from the beginning without any template. 

On the left you will find all the objects, shapes and forms you can include in your mind map (circles, stars, arrows...) and on the top you have the different features to work with such as different lines, images, changing the colours and thickness of the different elements...etc. It is very intuitive but if you find it difficult, at the very beginning they provide you with a tutorial with some first steps. 

What I really liked about the tool is that you can link everything you have on your mind map with different web pages. For example in my case, if you click on Games or on the different photographs, you will see different videos, games and images I have selected for my students. I think it is a great tool even for the students to create their own mind maps. However, one more time I find it difficult for students who are not in 4th, 5th or 6th grade. Too much information and features to control. 

I have to confess that at the beginning I thought about changing the tool because I did not know how to start working with it. But as I told you, the tutorial is really helpful. 

When searching different tools to create mind maps, you will find a lot. But in my search, most of the web pages I found were not free or they did not allow you to upload images into your map. 

Anyway, with this tool I have learnt how to improve my skills as a teacher when organising contents, and I think that from now on, I will start all my lessons by showing my students a mind map for them to be totally informed. 

See you next time!!

Be an ant!

Hello everybody!

Today, I´d like to share with you a great tool to create comics for our students: Pixton. 

First of all, I am going to tell you about it. One more time the first thing you have to do is to create your own account. The next step is to select the layout you want to use. Here you can choose from different ones (comic strip, story board, graphic novel...). In my case, I have used the story board because I wanted to include a brief description about what is happening in the story. 

After selecting the layout and its size, you have to decide if you want to create a basic story or you want to do it with the advanced tool. I chose this last one in order to manipulate all the details of the story. 

Once you have provided the comic with a tittle, you can start! Although at first sight it seems to be difficult, in fact the panel is very easy. You will find different options: 

• Adding a character: if you click here, you will find different characters to choose from, not only people but also animals. You can modify its look, facial expression, movements, proportion and colours. Then this tool gives you the option of saving the character to be used in the comic. 
• Adding text: here you choose the kind of speech bubble you want to use (speaking, thinking, shouting...) and you add the text. 
• Adding a prop: in this option you will find different objects classified according to different topics. For example, as my story takes place in a school, I have used the school filter which has books, notebooks, pencils, laptops, boards...etc. 
• Adding background: here you choose the place in which your story takes place. There is a vast number of backgrounds that you can choose, from houses, the space, theatres, parks, landscapes...etc. 
• Adding image: finally, here you can select an image from your computer to use it as a background.

It is important to say that in all these options you will find a search bar in order to look specifically what you want, and it is really helpful. 

Now, What do I think about my experience with Pixton? Well, at first I have to say that for me it was a complete mess. I didn´t know how to use anything. Luckily, the first time you log in there is a very useful tutorial which helps you to see how things work, it helped me a lot. After a while using it, I was completely able to do it without any problems. So at the end, I really enjoyed. 

If I have to complain about something, I´d say that I think this tool is too difficult for young students. I mean, the website was totally safe for students and once you are inside you only are going to work with things inside Pixton, so students can use this web without any problem. In fact, when you create your account you have the possibility to say if you are a teacher or a student. I have used the teacher´s one, but I suppose that the students´ one will be more or less the same or even safer. 
However, there are a lot of features for young students. I will use this tool from third grade on because with the little ones of the school, in my opinion, it is going to be very difficult. They have to be old enough to know how a computer works in order to be able to create their own comic. But with students in the right age, it will be a perfect tool in order to encourage them to read and write their own stories. 

I think it is important to show the students other ways they can use to express themselves, their feelings and emotions, or some things that happen to them in their daily routine. That is the reason why the comic I have created is based in one of the main problems I, as a bilingual teacher, face most of the days: study habit. When talking with parents, some of them tell me how difficult is for the children to study science in English, to memorise all the vocabulary in another language and to understand the concepts. And I always say the same thing: It is difficult, but with a great study habit is not impossible. They have to be aware of the fact that when studying in another language, your effort has to be double, and you have to study every day little by little in order to achieve the final goal.  
Students usually study the day before the exam, and when you are learning in a bilingual system, this is not valid. Some of them become disappointed because of this failure. and we as teachers have to help them to understand how important is to study every day and how this feeling of disappointment can be got over. 

Here you have the story created by using Pixton, I hope you enjoy it. You can click here to see it in depth with the narration included. 


See you next time!

The travel of a drop

Hi there!
Today I am going to share with you a presentation of the water cycle. I have used this one with my little ones in the classroom and they really enjoyed!

The tool that I have used to create it is Genially. It is a website in which you can create online presentations. For me was surprising the great amount of designs you can find, some of them quite realistic, just look at my presentation! The water is moving like in a swimming pool!

The first thing you have to do, as always, is to create your own account, but luckily is totally free. Once you have registered, you can start by selecting the background you want to use. It is difficult to decide which one to use because there are lots of options and all of them are really good. In my case I have chosen this with the water because it is related with my topic. 

The next step is to start having fun! You design your own slides by selecting the letter font, colours, the images you want to insert... Moreover, they give you the possibility to use their bank of resources which includes different shapes, lines, buttons, images, gifts, maps...

Another thing I really liked were the animations and the opportunity to link your slides with social networks by adding their emblems (google, facebook, youtube...). I have also added a video where you can see me explaining the water cycle using it. 

In short, Genially is the perfect place if you want to sweep aside the boring and typical presentations. Reinvent yourself or die!

See you later alligator!!

k

Let´s find out!

Hello again! 

This time I want to show you some banks of resources we can find online. In our daily work as teachers, we need to find as many resources as we can in order to improve our lessons. For these days in which your creativity is out of the loop, here you have some "Content Curation Tools" or banks of resources: 

• Pinterest
• Symbaloo
• Pearltrees
• Listly

In my case, I usually use Pinterest. It is very intuitive and easy to use. You have just to create an account and ... magic!! You will see lots of resources available and ready to be used. This webpage works as follows: 

After creating your account and your profile, you use the search bar to write what you are looking for. Then, you will see all the options available. By clicking in them, you will see them bigger and you can choose in which of your pins you want to keep it. When talking about pins in Pinterest we mean different folders in which you can organize your resources. 

The only tiring thing is that if you want to download something, you have to go to the original website (Pinterest provides you with the link) and sometimes they are not totally free. 

Anyway, even if you do not want to pay, Pinterest will give you lots of ideas that you can create on your own. It is like a magic pocket in which you can find everything you imagine. For me, it helps me a lot when preparing my lessons especially when working on arts and crafts. 

Here you have my Pinterest profile where, as you can see, I have been working on the digestive system:

This is all friends, see you next time!

Walking through the savannah... what can you see?

Hello everybody! What's new?

Today in my CLIL lesson, my pupils (first graders)and I have gone to the savannah! We are starting a topic related to animals and, can you imagine a better place than Africa to see them? 
To start the class, I have shown them the following photo:

Image by: Maríamichelle CCO Creative Commons

I have used this picture in order to introduce our topic. I have asked my students to be explorers and to tell me what kind of animals they can see. One of the main objectives of the topic is for them to distinguish among different kinds of animals according to their diet, that is: carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous. So with this picture I am going to grasp prior knowledge and to check what they already know about animals. 

Another important fact that I am going to introduce is the knowledge about different habitats around the world starting in this case with the savannah and grasslands. 

Photos are a great tool to introduce topics to our students and to make them think. However, when searching for photos on the internet, we have to bear in mind one thing: not all we find on the net is valid.

We have to be sure that the photos we are using can be used because they are free for us to use them, which means that every time we use photos we have to check if they have a license to be used. 

As you can see, under my photo you can find the author (Maríamichelle) and the license (CCO Creative Commons). This photo does not have a title, but if there would be a title, it would be before the author´s name. 

There a lot of webs we can use to find photos with license ready to be used. In this case, I have used Pixabay . You just write what you are looking for and in just a second you will find lots of images ready to use!

See you soon! 

Woof woof!!!

Hello everybody!

Today I am going to introduce you my best friend, Floki: 

He´s a golden retriever and he´s 5 years old. His main occupation is to guard everything that happens in the blog.  He is always running around here! He loves running after the ball, biting my trainers and burying socks in the garden. If you click here, you can listen to what he has to tell you!

I have created it with an app called Voki. In this webpage you can find lots of different designs. First of all you have to create your avatar. You can choose from many different profiles (famous people, animals, monsters… etc.) Then, you can give it voice! There are different ways of doing it. For example by adding an audio file from your computer or just by writing what you want it to say. I have used this last option.

The web is very good and the avatars look real. However the main problem I have found is that if you want to use the avatar embed code to put it on your blog, you have to pay. In the free version of the app it is not available 😓😓. It is maybe an important reason to take into account. 

Of course there are lots of apps to create avatars. Before using voki I have tried with bitmoji, digibody and build your wild self. 

This last one is amazing! You can create an avatar with different parts of animals and it is really funny. However, avatars in these pages cannot speak so that is the reason why I finally chose voki.

You might be thinking… Why using avatars? Well, we can use them if we have a web page at school, or if we have a class forum or an online platform in which the pupils can keep in touch with each other.

But from a teacher point of view, I think that the most important thing is to show the students that when surfing the net they do not have to be themselves, they have the opportunity to be whoever they want to be: their favourite superhero, a famous singer, an alien from other planet! By doing this we are teaching them the importance of taking care of our own identity in a place where everybody can see us. 

As I am working with the little ones of the school, I think that they will like this! It is true that with young students we will have to guide them in the creation of the avatar, but it will be worth the effort when they see all the options they have, they will be very motivated. Not to mention the oldest students, they are good at new technologies and even they are better than we the teachers! Let them know the great variety of characters they can be.

That´s all for today!

Write you soon and remember, Floki is waiting for you!!!

Let´s start!

Hi there! 

Welcome to teacher Jenny´s blog! I´m Jenny, a Primary English teacher currently working in CEIP Fuentes Claras, in Cubas de la Sagra. 

The purpose of this blog is to keep in touch with teachers around me, to share experiences in this amazing educational world and... why not? To let you know all things I´m learning in my life as a teacher. 

Apart from teaching little ones my passion is travelling, I really love it! 

See you soon, 
Jenny.