FINAL POST, MIGUEL GONZALEZ MARTIN 1ºB

1-      ICT and improvement school: TEAM PERK

ICT stands for Information and communication technology. ICT are often spoken on a huge variety of contexts such as education or health care. Who applies ICT is granted the opportunity to access information, communicate and so on. That’s exactly what it’s being worked right now at schools. It is feared by some teachers; actually they don’t want to know anything about ICT.

Teachers and ICT à challenge for children and teachers:

Due to the digital divide teachers sometimes feel less qualified to perform their labors, but what these sorts of people ignore is that children are also afraid of that. ICT should be taken as a challenge, a challenge that must be overcome by the joint of teachers and pupils. ICT in class is more about being able to use it cleverly, and teachers should use it as a tool to make a good improve in the learning process.

Social networks are presented as tools that give us solutions in order to communicate with our students, and also between them. They know each other more deeply and offer the chance to eliminate those fears with ICT.

To prevent that irrational fear from teachers, at first it should be created some training courses for those who don’t control technology so that they could achieve the necessary strength to face ICT difficulties, because they must be aware of their pupils needs.

On one hand, giving special attention to generations that could not enjoy the advantage of technology in classrooms, there must be provided some areas (university, high schools) where it will be developed this skills so as not have this possible problems.   

The ICT main aim is to break the digital divide in every single aspect, like in schools. Technological advantages are increasing and it is an obligation to give children the chance to catch up.

Advantages and disadvantages:

Nowadays some schools are introducing tablets instead of books, they work efficiently all the subjects in there, they do not pay for books and earn extra complex content faster than ever, nevertheless, we are not taking into account that they are children and we are putting in their little hands a very expensive and delicate tool. Books can be lend and fall down to the floor but tablets not. As giving them these materials they should be mature enough to take care of it.

2-      INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS: Amigos del fútbol / Unknowns

There are barriers and challenges and what inclusive schools are looking for is to destroy those barriers and overcome those challenges being stablished by a previously well-designed framework where we include classrooms, activities, programs, schedules of the school that guarantee that every single child would take advantage of that, so they develop skills, participate and learn all together.

The objective of an inclusive school is to provide some competent educational solutions for children and these solutions are thought to be resolved inside the current essence. Inclusive schools have been born recently as special need for the educational society.

“Amigos del futbol” gave us some explanations about four authors, what they concluded is that inclusive schools are a process that never ends for the diversity we are experiencing right now , that must be supported by quality and equity, and is very related to multicultural education. Inclusion should be worked in all schools, but they need the help of the policy, communities and also families. So, inclusive schools try to give solutions and answers to all children so they will learn better and faster, but it is impossible to respond everyone in a 30 children classroom being just one person, as we know inclusive education is for all types of children from other places, countries, with disabilities, so some institutions must give aids to settle this fact.

In some videos our partners shown us there was presented individual needs, and teachers supporting the curriculum being able to know what it was happening, also being aware what their children need or feel, what would be successful and comfortable. Children have rights, regardless of whether they are disabled or not, we are all equal and we must strive for an inclusive education, which doesn’t leave anyone behind, our culture have different goals as children exist, so let’s turn the inclusion in one of those goals and enjoy our differences and diversity in all the areas as much as possible.

Schools pelouro school in pontevedra

Amara beni.

3-      Leadership and school effectiveness. Dumbledore teachers army

Leaderships provides and improves effectiveness in schools, due to leadership, it gives us the motivation with high expectations to pursuit some objectives no matter what. Leaders are the ones followed by a crowd of people and they have the capacity to make good strategies, think faster than the rest, and be more competent. They know how to focus on the plans they make, exploiting through their team work the different abilities and fostering the collaborations between their partners. In my opinion teachers should include this ability in subjects where children can play different roles e.g.: making projects, or searching information for something special the teacher is requiring. But this that easy, some children are shy and don’t have the strength necessary to be a leader, that’s why teachers should be the tool that grants them the opportunity.    

There are some strategies very useful to put children in the skin of a real leader, convincing them with the things they like interest and enjoy the most, providing them some examples of national leaders. Being leaders we ensure that they acquire some skills that will be very useful in their likes, leadership effectiveness resides in the collaboration, empathy and respect between pupils. Teaching these moral things through educational programs they will get anything they propose.  

4-      Ways of living together in schools Moderns students

It is based on eradicating bullying, violence, aggressions, low stem and that stuff.  They talked about the school mediation, such a bridge that links students and teachers in order to solve problems by preventing and acting judiciously being objective.

All of this must be supported by a program that take care of achieving these goals with collaboration, and creating a grouped consciousness where children know and control their feelings, this is very tied to emotional and social learning, the difference I see is that this is like a kind of “utopia” issue.

The example of KIVA school, showed us an anti bullying research putting into practice over programs where children can learn how they can freely live and coexist with other children, being able to solve their conflicts avoiding things such as physical and verbal aggressions, knowing what they produce and what they can do to other peers with their behavior.    

  

5-      ICT AND LEARNING DISABILITIES Cronicas viajeras

This team started showing us their conceptual map divided into 3 items.

 Disabilities: Autism an syndrome that is characterized by a neurological disorder that impede them to socialize in an appropriate way, this affects to their communication skills, social learning and interaction reflected in our current culture. Down syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by a chromosomal abnormality. Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21 (tree itead of two). And motor disabilities, which is not referred only to the movement of the body but also the social inhibition.

Through that map we saw the difficulties (not problems) these people have most of the difficulties are shared with people who don’t have any disability. The other part was about the inclusion of technologies to help them, and the last one, results and consequences

They provided videos of how technologies can help them.

It’s very important the communication, in fact, it is essential for them.

Actually they are underestimated, these people are usually very intelligent and smart, even more than others considered “normal”. They have provably more potential than the rest, but they have some limitations that cannot afford them to reach that state, that’s why I think that technology is a very special and useful tool in order to help them to develop the skills they can’t by themselves.

These solutions and aids, that technology furnishes, give them high stem and happiness by reducing those difficulties.

 We saw that tablets, which attract the attention with plays, sounds and colors, help autism children to focus and concentrate more. Whiteboards are useful with down syndrome to improve their memory. And computers with motor disabilities that enable them to speak and express their selves,

So in conclusion technologies must be considered in these terms as a blessing for people with disabilities.

  

6-      LEARNING COMMUNITIES Musical chairs.

I would like to see how they would explain their project but they couldn’t, I consider this topic worth enough to be talked and that’s a pity.

First of all I think that everybody would have learn a lot by searching for this, from the coexistence with one self, through family to the social community.

Related to the education we can talk about the learning community inside the education, between teachers and pupils. This can be like a pyramid where we have some backgrounds on the floor and in the top the high institutions or maybe it can be like a circle where all are members and collaborate with each other.

By doing this we can be aware of the others feelings taking into account the effort of both sides.

They have presented tree parts; the first one is about showing all the possibilities to make a better center in terms of methodologies and odds. The second one is choosing with critical mind, and being realistic, the items that can be possible to put it into test. And last one, as I said before, after discarding the bad or useful less ideas, put it finally into practice.  

If take for granted education and collaboration we will be lost, it is indispensable to make a real and shared learning community.

7-      SOCIAL AND EMOCIONAL LEARNING WANDERLUST

This was our topic and I have to say that I was scared, because I’ve never been able to conclude a summary of such a huge widely open concept that embraces too many things.

But I am very satisfied with the results; we search information as an individual. We divided the project in some parts that makes up our conceptual map. Social and emotional learning has been born as a need, as other topics we have talked about previously. It is based on neouroscience, psyconeuroinmunology and multiple intelligences.

The main aim is to acquire a better understanding of one's emotions, control and identify others, preventing adverse effects of negative emotions and now how to generate positive emotions and motivation. By these objectives children would develop empathy and social skills regardless facts such us mood, humor, or intra-personal problems.

In the project explanation below we have put our project but the most important thing to say about social and emotional is that we must BE HAPPY. Children have feelings for sure, we, as teachers must show them to feel what all they can feel, feel what others can feel. From the beginning of the education we should show them to experience every single feeling, this fact will encourage them for their future lives. I really enjoy doing this last project and it was a shame not to do the play which consists in putting some colors on the floor. Red: anger; Blue: sadness; Green: Calm; Yellow: Happiness; and Purple: Scare.

We would put some songs and by hearing them, people go to the color and must realize what they can feel with that song, by this play, people could put themselves in the skin of others for example wondering why they can relate a happy song with a sad memory of their life and so on. 

CONCLUSION:

The final conclusion is that I can perceive all the topics and items are very conected between them in one way or another, I can perfectly speak about social and emocional learning in every single topic I've written, or link the inclusive schools with leadership and school effectiveness for example.

I do not consider this an individual work. We have interact a lot between each other and this final post is based on the ideas of all of us, the eight groups, without noticing what we were doing it all together but separately.

 I really enjoy this final fact.