Back to gmu after a week at Westfield

These days we returned to our fellow duties,  a bit tired but very eager to see and learn new things from our fellows and the teachers at the high schools.

On Monday we spent the whole day at the University... In the morning we, the Tea fellows, shared our experiences and we observed during our fieldwork at highschools. Though everybody agreed in that here the highschools are very well equipped and the teachers usually do a good use of those resources, it's very interesting to notice that we've had quite different impressions about the US classrooms... Indeed, some fellows consider that the students here have too much freedom and that technology, at the same time, makes them lazy, for everything is given and the students put very little from themselves. On the contrary, others argue that it's important for the students to have freedom in order for them not to quit from highschool; the idea is that knowledge is easier to occur when the student feels he is in a comfortable environment.
Onother issue that prompted a rich discussion among us was related to the role of teachers beyond their role of "teachers" and the importance of building reltionships between the students and the teachers. Concerning this aspect, personally I consider that the teachers here are more "distant" to the students than in Uruguay. It's not common to see a teacher asking a student about his/her life or if they have any personal problems. It also called my attention how the teachers avoid and actually don't like the students to call them by their first name (sts refer to teachers as "Mr Fuentes" or "Mrs Robbinson"), however, at the same time, many teachers have pictures of their families and houses on the classrooms' walls or on the desk (remember that here every teacher has his/her classroom and it's the students who move from classroom to classroom).... This really puzzles me !!

Later on, in the afternoon we had the technology class with Dawn and Priscila (teachers seem to not have problems if students call them by their first names at the University :).
We finished listening to our classmates' Podcasts and then we took a look at some games.... reflecting upon which ones would be more appropriate to work with in a classroom.
Certainly there are many games that can be linked to the content of certain subjects, but it requires a lot of research from the teachers in order to find the ideal ones.
The best ones seem to be those that require from the students to look for things in order to accomplish tasks, for they require that the students listen to the characters carefully.. Dr Hathaway also recommended games such as "Civilizations" and "Sim City"....these are strategy games that put the students in situations similar to the ones a ruler has to face.... making them have a different view on how things worked in the past (Civilizations), or what are the decisions a city mayor has to make as part of his duties...

Visit to the Capitol and the Library of Congress

The visit was last Saturday and it was divided into two parts.

 The first one was the Library of Congress, we saw this great building and were told about the underlying meaning behind many sculptures and drawings. We also saw Jefferson's private library, which is completely digitized 🙌. But the most important thing we learnt about is related to teaching... The library has lots of resources for teachers to use in their classrooms, even complete lesson plans. Today, in Supriya's class, we entered the webpage of the Library and could see some of the lesson plans in depth. They are very detailed and engaging.
The webpage is: www.loc.gov
And for reading resources: www.read.gov

Then we passed through a tunnel that led us to the Capitol (were we outside we would have to cross a street). We watched a short documentary on the history of the U.S. democracy and had a tour around the Capitol. In the central part of the building there are 100 statues, two for each state. There cannot be more than two statues for state. Such statues can be ex_presidents or other famous characters, who were originally from each one of those states.

Visit to Glebe elementary school

Today night, after classes we were invited to an international fair at Glebe   elementary school. The special thing about it was that in each stand (organIzed in countries) were the parents displaying information and explaining... and that was in this way because the stands represented the countries these parents come from.... and there were a lot. Proof of the huge diversity that exists in the United States. .Amazing!!.

Ahh, and we tried delicious home made food from such countries 🙌

Before walking around the stands we were given a "fake" passport with questions in it in order for us to answer them while watching the information displayed about each country. We were also given an identification card 😀. Everything was very well planned, indeed.

Biased by gender ... and learning how to make a Podcast

MORNING CLASS

In Supriya's class we had a debate around a research done in Australia called "Young gifted girls and boys: Perspectives through the lens of gender", by Libby Lee.
Such research is based on a survey made to 16 school teachers.
It was very interesting to see how most teachers considered that boys are usually better at Maths and science, while girls are depicted by those teachers as being naturally better at language.
While getting deeper into the reading the author points out the origin of such assumptions. In the case of girls, for instance, most teachers view them as more caring and pleasing the teachers, also more concerned about helping other students in the classroom. But, boys, on the other hand, were seen as more rebelled and willing to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the lessons taught by the teachers. From those suppositions, the author explains how many teachers, unconsciously, consider children differently, depending on their gender.
If you are interested in the whole reading, here it is:
http://www.academia.edu/22965301/Young_Gifted_Girls_and_Boys_perspectives_through_the_lens_of_gender


And after the discussions we worked in trios inventing creative poems concerned with the issue of "gender". Below, there are some pics of us reading the poems and the written poems (to be posted soon).

                     

 



IN THE AFTERNOON...

In our technology class, we learned how to create a "Podcast" (recording ourselves describing something) and began creating our owns, indeed. The process develops as follows:
a- Look up the information we want to include in the podcast. In this case each group had to create a podcast about a different Memorial.
b- Then we had to decide what to say and how to say it. At this stage we ended up writing a script (most did it in the form of dialogues, so as to make it more interesting).
c- Choose a song or sounds to include in the recording, in order to make the podcast more attractive.
d- Finally, we'll have to record our voices (as if we were part of a radio program).

The challenging aspect is to limit our podcasts to only 1,5 mins :(
As a complementary activity, we can also add a video showing the places and events mentioned in the podcast .

 Doing podcast is something great for students to practice their reading comprehension skills (for they  have to select the important information before recording) as well as their speaking skill...
In the following link you'll be able to watch and LISTEN the podcast I did with Noe (a fellow from El Salvadoor):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEjqJTrh8Dg&feature=youtu.be

Technology for equity

Today's lesson on teaching learners with disability was fantastic.
We did some simulation activities, in which we had to solve some tasks, as if we had dyslexia or hyperactivity.
If you want to do the simulations take a look at the following links:

Http://geon.github.io/programming/2016/03/03/dsxyliea 

Http://webaim.org/simulations/distractability

We also focused on easy ways of helping students with such problems in the classroom. Like making the hyperactive kids squeeze a ball while in the classroom, or allowing students with dyslexia use their computers in order to hear what is written (using a program that turns text into speech), instead of making them read.

And last, but not least, Dr Kristine Neuber showed us different kinds of "adapted technology", meant to improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Below you can see some alternative keyboards and a joystick-like mouse.

 And what about a robot which can be controlled from a computer at home and be in the classroom instead of you....interacting with classmates and teacher, moving around and many other thing? It's not science fiction, and it's here at GMU.
Let me introduce you to VGo, telepresence robot:

The robot can move in the classroom and outdoors, it uses GPS technology.

This is the way you see (in the PC)  what the robot has in front of him.

We watched a video on how the VGo robot was used by a teacher to attend to her daughter's graduation, without leaving her workplace. AWESOME !

 Can you imagine a student who cannot attend to school and connects his computer to a robot in the classroom?... Or a classroom full of these robots, and us (teachers) watching their heads (screens with the faces of the students on the other side)??. ..
Scary... but still awesome :)

Vocabulary with Dr Mattix 😀

Dr Mattix's classes are becoming a great source of ideas to apply in the classroom. Today we worked on some "vocabulary" games to reinforce the sts learning. What games to play and how depended on the type of words (more concrete or more abstract) we want the sts to work with.  Such games imply the sts moving and asking questions or working in groups in order to represent concepts to the rest of the class; then the teacher can take photos of the students posing and stick them on the classroom wall. It's fun, engaging and effective!.

Technology reflection 1: Infographics

Our first computing assignment was finished today. It was an activity we can do with our students using their computers in class-time. The idea is to create an infographic  (presentation of information in the form of a chart). First we have to show the students an infographic  on the topic we want them to present ( festivals, a cultural fair, typical food, etc...). Then we tell them that  before using the computer they will actually have to design the infographic on paper. Once they did so we guide them through the process of encoding and assembling all the necessary parts of their presentations. Below you can see the infographic I did, using the platform "piktochart.com". Though it looks simple, it requires certain knowledge that most of us had to learn 🙈.

Leadership and changing the brain

Today morning, in Dr Beverly's class we focused our attention on different leadership styles and how fixed structures and conceptions lead to failure in a context of continuous change.
However, those continuous changes don't mean that we must be innovating all the time, for much more important than implementing rapid changes is to gather people around projects and foster internal commitment in such people. By doing so, we will be able to create stronger organizations prepared to face and overcome new challenges.

In the afternoon  Dr Supriya's class was based on some key concepts depicted in the book "the art of changing the brain". On the basis of biological evidence related to how the brain processes learning we analized some approaches that take such evidence in order to look for effective teaching strategies. As core concepts in those approaches we cannot avoid considering the importance of experience when learning as well as the emotional side of the process.

Spelling, phoenemes and Learning disabilities

Today's morning class with Dr Matrix was abobout spelling and phonemes ( a very difficult topic to face for non-native teachers).
As for spelling we learned some interesting ways of engaging students through games.
And in the case of phonemes we had a funny time sharing original phonemes from our native language. Dr Mattix shared ideas on how to tackle the issue; one I liked in particular is an interactive program at www.allaboutlearningpress.com

In the afternoon we had a lesson on "working with special needs students" with Dr Anya Evmenova.  We learned about how the topic is approached in the U.S. and how George Mason University works with students who have some kind of disability.  Dr Evmenova told us about the great job GMU is doing related to the topic through a program called Mason Life, which addresses this issue in a very efficient way, giving useful tools for the students to get a job once they get their certificate. These students previously applied for the university, after having finished high-school. Around 50 students with disability apply to enter the university, but there are only 15 places... I can only imagine how difficult would be to do that selection.
Though the Mason Life program has some academic content, the focus is on providing the students with abilities that will help them keep a job and relate to others according to the context.
As these students are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment, they are taught how to identify and avoid risky situations. And something that surprised us all is that they are also taught about sexual relationships and how to have sex in a safe way. It should be absolutely normal and obvious, but our prejudices usually make us see things in a different way.
At the end.of the class we met some of the students from the program and asked questions to them. They looked very happy as students here !!
The program is really amazing. It really gets to integrate people with special needs in the society (74% of the students who finish their 4 years in the Campus get a job immediately, some of them even end up working at GMU as part of the Mason Life Program).
Absolutely awesome !!