Teaching with tecnohology. Seminar 3

During this session we received a special task. Sara van Bruggen, the managing editor of Real Travel Experiences magazine has sent a special invitation:
The magazine has begun a TravelCast series called "Monument Moments," a unique audio journey through monuments and memorials and the lives of the famous people they commemorate and we were invited to participate in the development and production of an episode in the newest Travel cast edition: Monument Moments- Washington D.C. Edition.

For this task Elliot Mashinini from South Africa was my partner and we did a podcast about Martin Luther King Jr. It was a meaningful activity. We can search information about his life and his remarkable role in the Civil rights Movements in the United States.


Design process

Purpose: Your episode is part of the TravelCast (podcast for travelers) series entitled Monument Moments.

Audience: tourists visiting the Washington D.C. area /children

Length of time : 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds.

Style: an engaging audio tour with information about the monument and the person who is commemorated. Ghost from the past.

We had some guide questions to answer (who, when, where, etc), researched and wrote a script and rehearsed.

ENCODE
We included intro and outro sounds, voice recording and sound efffects.

ASSEMBLY
We use Audiacity to assemble the parts, published for ourselves, revised and sent the final version.
PUBLISH
REVISE
FINAL PRODUCT

It was a new activity for me . We used the tool audacity to record ourselves and to get the mp3 file.

First day In Oakton School

Our field experience started today. We were ready at 7:15 am to go to Oakton school. There the staff was kind and politely. The welcome was warm. Teacher Christopher Fowler received us with a box of Dunkin Donuts. Then the tour started. It took  all the morning. Classes starts at 8:00 am. Students in their classrooms honor the flag and make a patriotic prayer. Then they are told some daily annoucements for instance about the special events they have.

We met the interim principal Daniel Meier and some of the assistants principal.

I was amazed with all the facilities they have. The auditorium is just as big as the theater of my city. It has a capacity of 1176 people. The library is a comfortable space with fiction an nonfiction books, magazines, newpapers and computers. The art classes are marvelous. They have band, choral and orquestra classes, professional photography (even with black room and studio) and graphic desing. The school have plenty of prizes, medals and awards in atlethics, music, academy. We visited most of the classrooms. I was suprised with a special class that combine engineering, design and Maths. Students were using lasers, 3D printer.... Wow!!! We met also the police officer and the security staff. 

We visited some science, history and world languages classrooms. students were excited. I saw some spanish classes for few minutes and I felt students behave like my students when a native english speaker come to my class and speak in English. They don't want to speak and they show a blue face like they don't understand when talking in the language they are learning.

In the school schedule is not connected with the days of the week. There are just two changes (two different days): Burgundy and Gold (their represenative colors). Burgundy has a set of classes and Gold other. Everyday they have Couger time, is a period of 45 minutes, in which students choose a class to go. This time allows students to be responsible with the time, to use effectively the time, to make wise decision about where to go. The idea is to create the responsibility sense and the independence in students. Freshmen normally choose classes to waste their time, but as they become mature they use this time to do homeworks, group projects, ask questions to the teacher about topics they aren't doing well, in general to save time after school in homeworks.

I had the opportunity to go to my Partner teacher's class after lunch. It was good experience. Dr. Cruz has creative writing class. I really liked the way she introduced the class to write an essay about Volunteering. She started talking about the word volunteer, students participated answering if the word was a noun, a verb, an adjective or a preposition. Then they defined what Volunteer is and the teacher asked them their opinions about volunteering as a compulsory action to get the diploma in Virginia. Differents opinions came up. With this Dr. Cruz made students to have an argument and Counterargument brainstorming. Then Students thought about a thesis for an essay. Something innovative for me is Ms. Cruz uses a document camera projector to show students how to write correctly, where to write, correct words, etc.

It was a shame I couldn't see the end of the class because we arranged to be at 2:30 pm at the teachers' lounge. But I can't wait for tomorrow to see the whole English class.

New Pedagogy, Reflection and Leadership. Seminar 5

Our session today was quite different. Dr. Baily had the first session with us. We talked about our experience so far and discussed a little about the first chapter of the book: "The courage to Teach". The chapter is called "Exploring the inner landscape of teacher's life".

I found these ideas interesting of the book. Good teaching is not based on the teacher’s technique, it comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. Good teachers can connect with their students, and connect them to the subject being taught. Good teachers don't depend on methods and techniques. Instead they make themselves available and vulnerable to “the service of learning.”

 Later, we focused on  seven (7) moments in our lives that have made who we are as persons and teachers today. We represented in fine cardboard the journey to become teachers and shared it with some other fellows.

New Pedagogy, Reflection and Leadership. Seminar 4

In this session we started reminding that moral purpose is connected with the Leadership. 

From these two concepts Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common global". And teacher leadership "Skills demostrated by teachers who continue to teach but who influence practices of other teachers and activities in other classrooms"(Charlotte Danielson) we gave opinions or insights  that were really connected with them.

Teacher leadership is the best hope for sustaining School change

We have a Life-long learning Teachers never stop learning.

• Know yourself and where you are going (a teacher leader need to be self-reflective and think about the future)

• You cannot be overly prepared (there are always things to learn).

• Link with others (not only teachers from your school but also from other schools, parents, students in general with the community)

• Measure your words (they can impact positively or negatively on people around you)

• Take resposibility (when you make mistakes)

• Keep others informed 

• Maintain perspective (don´t give up  with obstacles, keep on track of the goal, students' learning is not an overnight process)

• Enjoy yourself

 A leader is made up of:

Loyalty

Emotional intelligence

Affiliative

Democratic

Effectiveness

Relationships 

Later, we have a talk with Dr. Tamas about Fairfax County Public Schools. I am so proud we are going to be part of three remarkable schools in the county for a short time. I hope this experience enhance my skills as an English teacher. 
The  schools we are going to be are: Oakton, West Field and Robinson. They are on the top of the US schools. That is amazing!


Today I have a new commitment which is to reflect on myself more often and to be careful about wrong attitudes with students,  fellow teacher and people around me,  being more democratic, taking care of my words and taking resposabilities when I make mistakes. These changes are key point to be a great leader.

Assignment 
 Complete the Teacher Leader Self-assessment (TLSA) and update our journals.

Leading in a Culture of Change. Chapter 3 and 4.

Chapter 3. Understanding change

• "Change cannot be managed. It can be understood and perhaps led, but it cannot be controlled" (p. 33) An effective leader lives with the change and develop great potential for creative breakthroughs 

• "Effective leaders have the right kinds of sensivity to implementation. They know what that change is a procces not an event" (p. 40). It means not everything will work since the beginning: Leaders  resist the urge to focus on short term results by placing emphasis on long-term results. They are empatethic to the people and appreciate the resistance, because dissents are potential sources of new ideas. 

• "Successful organizations don't go with only like-minded innovators; they deliberately build in differences" (p. 43). It allows to think of other ideas, have a brainstorming and reach consensus.

• "Effective leaders know that the hard work of reculturing is the sine qua non of progress".(p. 44)

• Leading in a culture of change means creating a culture of change. It does not mean adopting innovations, one after another; it does mean producing the capacity to seek, critically assess, and selectively incorporate new ideas and practices"(p. 44). It means get people involved in the process of change with an active participation.

Guidelines for understanding change:

1. The goal is not to innovate the most. Innovating selectively with coherence is better.
2. Having the best ideas is not enough. Leaders' help others assess and find collective meaning and commitment to new ways.
3. Appreciate the implementation dip. Leaders can't avoid the inevitable early difficulties of trying something new. They should know, for example, that no mater how much they plan for the change, the first six months or so of implementation will be bumpy.
4. Redefine resistance. Successful leaders don't mind when naysayers rock the boat. In fact, doubters sometimes have important points. Leaders look for ways to address those concerns.
5. Reculturing is the name of the game. Much change is structural and superficial. Transforming culture - changing what people in the organization value and how they work together to accomplish it - leads to deep, lasting change.
6. Never a checklist, always complexity. There is no step-by-step shortcut to transformation; it involves the hard, day-to-day work of reculturing.

The following are the six leadership styles Goleman identified (p.35)

1. Coercive—the leader demands compliance. Do what I tell you.

2. Authoritative—the leader mobilizes people toward a vision. Come with me.”

3.  Affiliative—the leader creates harmony and builds emotional bonds. “People come first.”

4.  Democratic—the leader forges consensus through participation. “What do you think?”

5. Pacesetting—the leader sets high standards for performance. Do as I do now

6. Coaching—the leader develops people for the future. “Try this.”

Chapter 4. Relationships, relationships, relationships.

If moral purpose is job one, relationships are job two! (p.51)

• "When the individual soul is connected to the organization, people become connected to something deeper- the desire to contribute to a larger purpose, to feel they are part of a greater whole, a web of connection" (p. 52). Leaders work on the sense of belonging to involve people in the process.

• "The most effective leaders are not the smartest IQ senses but are those who combine intellectual brilliance with emotional intelligence" (p 71).  Emotional intelligence is at the core of successful leaders in a culture of change. It allows them to improve relationships in th eorganization.

• Business and schools need to be concerned with moral purpose and good ideas if they are to be successful and sustainable organizations. (p 70)

From these chapters I have learnt that a good leader should combine the styles of leadership to have success in an organzation. Above all the Authoritative, democratic, Affiliative and coaching styles have positive impact on climate and  performance and show emotional intelligence.  Also I learnt the relationships have power as positive  as negative. To have success in any organization people need to be involved in the change process and leader should be relationship builders recognizing the diversity, the resistance  and the difference.

Teaching with Technology. Seminar 2

INFOGRAPHICS

Today we designed an infographics about ourselves using the website Piktochart. The most important learning was following steps to design something, in this case the infographics. So, we started designing it on a sheet , deciding relevant words, pictures and color before do in it on the computers.



Every projects needs to be thought step by step to save our time and using it in the most important steps.

ESL Research, methods and strategies. Seminar 3

We started with a warm up activity called A to Z race. In groups we think about objects that can be taken to a holidays or vacation. The name of the object should start with the letter of the alphabet. It was a nice game tolearn vocabulary.

"Vocabulary is learned form the context"

We talked about tier words and we played with opposite cards, looking for a person who has the contrary picture. After we found her/him we said the  words in our languages and define it in English.

After that we played Mismatch card. We received two pieces of paper. In the blue one we wrote a noun and in the yellow one the definition of that word. I wrote Country: The territories in which a continent is divided. We handed in to the teacher and then we chose a pair of pieces randomly. We read aloud the noun and the wrong definition and then figure out who had our correct definition. Mine was Daughter: A girl that a woman gives birth.

Later we played with Picture People ... In group of four we represented an emotion, a verb and a preposition and the rest of the audience guested.

Tier 1 words are simple words that we use everyday.

Tier 2 words are more sophisticated for instance Ecstatic (really excited).



For this second group of words we can use in our classrooms activities such as Semantic Gradient, friendly definitions, creating stories to picture the word and using examples and non-examples of the word.


We finished the class reflecting about what we learned, why is important and why we would like to do with it now