Week 4, Post by the translator, Pedro

Hi everyone! I'm Pedro and this week I am the translator of my group: Ladies&Gentlemen.I'm gonna show you some important terms we have learned this week:

- Robinson Projection: It is a kind of map projection that was created to be able to display the entire terraced balloon so it could be displayed on a map.

- Mercator Projection: It is a kind of projection which has been widely used for nautical charts introduced by Gerardus Mercator in the XVI century.

- Azimuthal Projection: It is a kind of map projection in which the spherical globe is projected onto a flat plane. It is also used for nautical charts and flights.

- Treasure Hunt: It is a game which consist in searching an answer or finding a solution to a determinate question or problem.

- Map Projection: It is the Earth's surface representation which is always seen with a determinate distortion.

Week 4, Post by the Star, EBRU

                             
                             AIM FOR THE STARS !

     Hi everyone! I am Ebru. I was the 4th week's star of the group. It was for the first time for me to be a star in the group. Therefore, I have many things in my mind to say. Firstly, I want to mention about my experiences during presentation. Being an erasmus student  affects the way you present because when you can not express something, there is no chance to say it in your mother language. When I took this role, I tried to focus on my work and do my best. However, to be honest, I did not like my performance. Due to my high excitement, I could not focus on presentation during presenting. But, for me, it is more important to take lessons from this experience and doing better in the next one. Also, my group friends worked well and we motivated each other during working.

         Moreover, I searched for some ways to develop our skills to make good presentations. This knowledge will also help my friends.

Let's look at some tips to make a good presentation.

-Think about the presentation beforehand.

-Do use PowerPoint.

-Face your audience at all times.

-Be very clear about how much time you have.

-Be very clear about your key message.

-E-mail your presentation to the event organisers in advance.

-Make copies of your slides available.

-Ensure that the slides look good.

-Make appropriate use of pictures.

I hope these tips help us to make better presentations. 

KEEP CALM AND MAKE GOOD PRESENTATON :D

Hasta luego!!

Week 4, post by the analyst - Louise

Hi, my name is Louise and I was the analyst this week! This week`s activity has been to analyses tree world maps projections (Robinson, Mercator and Azimuthal) just because the maps size of the countries varies on maps. In our group, we discussed that it`s important that we as teachers show pupils all three maps to compare in order to give them a better understanding. But the map we thought gave the clearest picture of how the world looks like, is Robinsons map. We have also selected a country from Europe and a country from North America, that we explored at the map. Both countries (Turkey and Greenland) are different in the three maps, and it is important to explain that. We have chosen an example that makes it easier for students in primary schools to understand. When you draw a heart on a paper does it looks different from what it really looks like in the human body. But children usually don`t know that until someone explain it for them. We have to explain for the pupils that sometimes a picture of something may have a different meaning in reality, and also that a picture can have different meanings for different people. We have also chosen an activity that teachers can use in the classroom, Treasure hunt methodology - Cambridge. The teacher have to make small cards with clues and then hide them in the classroom. The pupils can do the treasure hunt in pairs, groups or the whole class together. The teacher give them the first question, and when the pupils have answered the question they will find a new clue.

The best part of this activity was to analyse and discuss the different maps. We shared information with each other and we learned a lot because we have good cooperation. We have learned to be more aware of the pictures and facts are not always true. It`s also important to be able to show our future pupils the differences.One example that is similar is that we teach pupils source criticism on internet (in sweden). It`s always easier for pupils to understand when the teacher show a right example and false example, then they get a greater understanding. 

We also discussed about how we would explain something similar (the maps) to the pupils in primary school so they understand. We can use the example of ”the heart”. We have good knowledge and example that we can share and use in our future classes. The best moment of the week was the preparation when we work together and shared thoughts and ideas. This is important for us in our future profession to be able to work with different colleagues that makes the pupils prepared for the best condition to make good in school. Last week we had the goal to be more creative in our work, and we've gotten better but I would say that we need to have the same goal for the next week too.

// Louise :) 

Week 4, post by the Journalist, Mitchell

Hello everybody I am Mitchell and I was the journalist this week, so let me tell you how this week went.
The first time we met this week was straight after the class where they explained us all what we had to do for this week. We decided to do it this way because like this things are still fresh and its a good hour for all of us to meet since some of us come from Cartagena and if its after class we are all together anyway.
 Pedro (as always) was very focused studying...

 Ebru seems to be very happy about the idea of me taking  a photo by surprise for the blog.

 Stina and Louise were eating, and I have many more fun photos which I won't upload...

And Michi was very natural when I said "pretend you are doing something".

Joking appart, this day we worked very hard and until late, I think i ate at about 4:30 pm, so what I learned this week was to take food ready to school for next week.

Unfortunately after this long day and since we are all very hard workers we decided to meet again the following day.

 As you can see, this time we thought it would better to find a more "fun" environment that doesn't remind us of class to stay motivated

And I think it worked!

Finally, on Wednesday we saw how the other groups did their expositions and then how our star, Ebru, did the exposition of our group. 

Here are some useful links which will help you learn a lot about why the map representations we use are wrong.

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/how-maps-can-lead-you-wrong-idea/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIID5FDi2JQ

Week 4, Post by the Curator, Samuel

Hi everyone! I'm Samuel and this week I am the Curator of Ladies and Gentlemen. I have taken all the resources we have searched and used to carry out this task. 
This week the task was about map projections, and there are 3 types: by Mercator, by Robinson and by Azimuthal.
So we have browsed the web and finnally we found these resources:

General info:
https://goo.gl/HDob7U

Info of the 3 projections:
https://goo.gl/uehHqR

Info to carry out our presentation (PowerPoint):
https://goo.gl/6Ge9gY

Week 4, blogpost by the Faciliator - Stina

Hola! This week I had the role of the facilitator and our group assignment was to present the different map projections (Mercator, Robinson and Azimuthal). 

At Monday this week we had a meeting and we finished most of our work together after school. During this meeting we discussed the different topics and decided how we wanted to present our work. I think that as the facilitator I have a really easy role, because we do think a like most of the time so there doesn't really have to be any "bossing around". Everyone in the group is doing their job and that is a very good quality in this group. I have tried to taken my responsability to answers question, to maybe guide some of my co-workers if they feel lost or whatever and also I have just been trying to have a positive attitude to everything we do in our group. 

This role I believe can be really satisfying or the complete opposite. Just because in some groups there might be real difficulties and that could be real difficult to handle. But I think it is really good for the future and adding these roles in other situations aswell, because it doesn't really matter where you are in life, you always get a role somehow.

Otherwise I have enjoyed this weeks assignment. It was very interesting and I think my group did a good job! 

Saludos! 

/Stina 

Week 3, blog post by the Star, Samuel

This week I had the Star role such as my partner Mitchy, this week there were 2 stars in every group.
The exposition way had a speed dating mechanic, we had to expose our work in 5 minutes to each group, so we did the same exposition nine times!
At first, I was so nervous because it was the first time I exposed something to this group, but from one group to another group I started to feel comfortable. People from other groups said to me that I had to put my hand out of my pocket, so I decided to take a pen and explain pointing with it; that helped me to calm down myself and explain our work in a better way.
I would be once again the Star because I love speaking instead of being a bit nervous at the begining. And that will be my job in the future, explaining my children to make them learn and understand.

Week 3, post by the Star, MITCHELL

This week as the Star I had to do an oral exposition together with my colleague Michi. The way the activity was set up was, first we did the exposition to our own group, and then all the groups rotated so in the end we had to do the same exposition nine times. I liked this way of doing the activity because I recognise I learned much more about the framework while explaining it than the day before when I was studying what I was supposed to say.  Also, I already considered my self quite good at speaking in public but while doing the activity I realized it also helped me improve a lot in this aspect. From the first time I had to speak to the last there was an amazing difference, nerves, forgetting the phrase, looking at people in the eyes, etc. Overall the activity was very helpful and I'd like to be the star again, because he does the same thing I'm going to have to do as a teacher, explain. 

Week 3, blog post of the Curator, Pedro

Hi everyone! I'm Pedro and this week I have to post the Curator work of our group. I have taken all the sources we have used to carry out our task.

This week our task was about TPACK, we have explore a little about it, collecting all the data we have found, and using the following references:

- TPACK Basic paper:
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70. Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/articles/v9i1general1.pdf

- TPACK mini video:
TPACK in 3 minutes by Royce Kimmons http://youtu.be/0wGpSaTzW58 

See you next week!

Week 3, post by the Journalist , EBRU

 Keep your eyes open and look Ladies&Gentlemen this week's work!!!

          First of all, we started this week with patient, ambition, and determined. To get the highest yield, we chose the role that is most appropriate for each of us. We met timeously during the week. In some quiet classes we tried to do our works. The important point for us was  to work together and share our ideas. By the way, our this week's subject was the TPACK which is a framework for teacher knowledge for technology integration called technological pedagogical content knowledge. The interaction of these bodies of knowledge, both theoretically and in practice, produces the types of flexible knowledge needed to succesfully integrate technology use into teaching.

         After we finished our own task, we discussed about tasks whether to change them or not. Then, we started to prepare the poster of TPACK.

⇛ The presentation day

After we prepared our poster, we studied one more time. The stars of the group  who were Samuel Marín García and Mitchell Martínez Woolhouse did presentation of our poster.

The subject of this week ,TPACK, was presented in these points:

   ⇒The Challenges of Teaching With Technology                    

⇒An Approach to Thinking About Technology Integration

⇒The TPACK Framework                                                   

⇒Content Knowledge                                                          

⇒Pedagogical Knowledge                                                   

⇒Pedagogical Content Knowledge                                     

⇒Technology Knowledge                                                    

⇒Technological Content Knowledge                                  

⇒Technological Pedagogical Knowledge                           

⇒Implications of the TPACK Framework                          

After every group  presented their work to their own group, stars of each group started to present their work to other groups. And each star tried to introduce their TPACK poster .

Almost every group presented their poster successfully. For example, they worked cooperatively, spoke fluently and the way they expressed their ideas was understandable.The material and content were related well. They were good at all.

Finally, there are some blogs that I can offer you because they are really helpful for learning TPACK better.

1.) http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2015/02/an-introduction-to-tpack-for-teachers/

2.)http://missbeeke.blogspot.com.es/p/tpack.html                                                         

Also, you can see some videos on these blogs. They clarify TPACK.

SEE YOU !!

Week 3, blog post of the Translator - Louise

This week we had a task to explore TPACK and make an information map. My role as a translator this week was to collect the five most important terms of the week: 1. This week's cooperation has been very good. We had a good communication and we respect everyone's opinions.
2. We have learned that not all qualities that the teacher needs is in TPACK. The TPACK- model can help us to become effective teachers but to become good and knowledgeable teachers, we need to have many more qualities!
3. When we listened to the presentations, it was interesting to hear how different everyone's presentations was but still had the same information. And by that we now understand how important it`s to have a good introduction and conclusion.

4. In our presentation, we used many examples, and the audiences experienced that as a positive thing. So we will continue with that.
5. Something that we take with us into next week's lessons is that we need to be more creative in our work.

Week 3. Blogpost by the analyst - Stina

This week’s activity has been to make a map of how the model TPACK works and how this model can help teachers improve their teaching skills. The best part of this activity has been to analyse this model and to really understand how complex the teaching profession really is. I believe there hasn’t been a worse part of this activity but if we must mention one thing it would probably be when you came to class and saw everyone else’s map and how creative they had been. Our group is easy to work with and I think we have a lot of good ideas but we need to work with the creative part to become a better team. Once again, we notice that to become a teacher today you need a little bit of everything to be the best. You also need to be flexible. The thing I like best about our group is that we all are aware of these things and that is one quality that is necessary to get better as well. Especially in our profession or just daily life.

What we have learned this week is that not all qualities that a teacher needs is in the TPACK model, but it is a great resource to use when teaching in today’s society, with all the media and technological knowledge all the kids have today. It is about time that today’s teachers take a step forward into the technological knowledge, otherwise we will prevent the kids from learning necessary things. This is very typical in Sweden. The older generation of teachers do not want to join social media or even try to work with computers but this is just, as I said before, preventing the kids to learn important things. We have also learned about creating mind maps in order to be more meticulous.

For next week, we will take this task as a lesson and give our work some more attention and love. We will also try to put our good ideas into use and think creatively. What we will bring with us from this week are our methods of presenting our work and our open and reflective minds.

We believe that this content is important for us to be aware of. In this course, our daily life and of course, for our degree. This is actually a big topic in Sweden right now about how teachers can be better tutors by using technology and also of course how they use their pedagogical knowledge to present the main content. Therefore, we think that it is important for us in Sweden as well as in Spain to follow the news to always stay updated and informed about new methods to use in classrooms.

This was all for this week. Hasta Luego! 

Week 3, post by the Facilitator, Pedro

Hi everyone, I'm pedro and I'm gonna reflect about our task this week as the Facilitator.

Once we finished our week2-task about the different ideas of education, we distributed our new roles for the nest task. This week we chose that Facilitator and Curator roles would be posted by the same person every week. This week I have coordinated both. As Facilitator I can say that I’m very proud of our group-work this week, that is always conditioned due to the difficulty we have to meet us because of our remoteness of our homes.

According to my role as Facilitator, we organized our work in an isolated classroom, with the only presence of the members of our group, to achieve a greater concentration to get a good result. As a facilitator, I have also tried to have all roles fulfilled and I have tried to help and motivate the group in carrying out the work, basically trying to take initiative whenever our work was blocked, or trying to positively value the work of my peers in order to motivate. I have also insisted them through the social networks so that the whole blog was updated before the update deadline and avoid possible neglects.

Then, in general I am satisfied with the work of my group, and we are prepared for the next task with the desire to improve and get a personal satisfaction and the whole class’ approval. 

Week 2, post by the star, Rajae.

Did you ever thought about an alternative way to express a message? Well, this was our mission of this week …

On wednesday i was really surprised about the power of pictures in the sense of the power of making us reflecting about the possible meaning, not only that but also the different meanings they were coming out, while my mates were looking at the pictures. This fact made me reflect that there is no absolute truth, each one of my classmates was talking taking into account his experiences and previous knowledge.

How i could forget that? i honestly appreciate the speed dating format, it is unbelievable how it promotes active learning, i can see many pros of this dynamic:

1. Students are active, happy as well as having fun!
2. Students establish new relationships.
3. Students know each other.
4. The level of learning is much more higher, as ideas and information are shared
5. Above all , pupils improve their communication skills, which will affect in a positive way their development as professional teachers.

There is no words to describe how i felt while i  was presenting my group’s work and the whole class listening(amazing feeling) , you can not imagine how thankful i am to be here !

Ebru ÇELİK

Week 2, Blog post by the Journalist, Pedro

After expose our personal presentations, we started our work-group about “Ideas related to education”, and each member of our group chose a role for the week. Along two days before presentation we have used WhatsApp and Facebook to communicate each other and prepared it.

Every Ladies and Gentlemen’s member took an idea and then we chose the five ones that we would expose in class. We took a picture related to these ideas and talked a little about them. The ideas are:

• Teaching has to be helping the others to learn, not just forcing them to listen.

• Using technology in class, to make every pupil is involve with the subject. It represents the importance of technology in our education and how can it affects students.

• Children mirror adults in good and bad habits. It represents the education through examples and the importance of an adult as a role model for a child.

• How to use mathematics (algebra or geometry) outdoors school.

• Learning with music, that raises the question about the use of music to learn.

At the same time our group’s “star” was exposing our ideas to different people in class, we rotated listening to another different group’s “stars” and trying to identify the meaning of each picture the “star” was telling us about, ending in a global “star” explanation to the whole class.

This week I have found those two blogs:

- www.http://villaves56.blogspot.com

It is about learning with social networks, so I think that could be very useful.

- http://www.unicoos.com

It uploads different videos on internet related to different lessons of different subjects in any academic grade. I really recommend this link because it was very useful for me to pass some subject on Bachillerato. 😇

Week 2, Blog post by the Facilitator, Samuel

This week was the first task of this course, called "Conceptual Photography"; in which we had to think on 5 ideas of education, then draw (or take a picture) and print them. In this phase, we splitted the work as equals, I mean, each member would have to think about one creative idea about education. The result was this:

• Teaching has to be helping the others to learn, not just forcing them to listen.
• Using technology in class, to make every pupil is involve with the subject. 
• Children mirror adults in good and bad habits.
• How to use mathematics (algebra or geometry) outdoors school. 
• Learning with music.

Then, my partners will explain the process of the activity that day.

See you!

Week 2, Blog post by The Analyst, Mitchell

This week we had to think about five concepts related with education and also provide images that define or represent those ideas. We found this activity very helpful for us because it made us share our opinions about education and how each one of us would improve it, as a result we all got to know each other more as a group and more importantly, we learned about education by ourselves, the beast way, speaking and having conversations reaching our own conclusions. This also was the first step to improve as a group, to socialize and get to know each other. Being a group formed by such diversity the weakest point we could’ve had was to not know each other; but luckily for us that has an easy solution that we have already applied, speaking together. If we keep working as a group together like we have done, our weakest point will turn into our strongest. Thus this activity has taught us more things from many new ways of learning to another way to work in groups differently to in other subjects, or the importance of presenting your activity in class and the importance of presenting in teaching. The good thing of this learning methodology is that apart from what you get to learn in your group you also get to learn a lot through the others groups presentations and also observe how they have learned new things as a group. 

 As the analyst I think our hardest part of the activity has been having such a short time to prepare the activities and having to meet living all in different places, but we have known have to resolve this by using Skype which was possibly the best moment of the week for us, and we have also found a spot we all have free that we are going to use in order to complete the tasks together. This is also the solution to what we identified as the worst part of the week for us, finding moments when we were all focused on the project at the same time. Other than these little problems that have already been resolved, we think we have done very good as a group, we have breen creative and used our own ideas and this is definitely what we should maintain for the following weeks.

 Overall it has resulted very effective, because the way we have worked on the activity has also been secondary forming us to become teachers, a teacher has to be constantly thinking of new things and ways to make better presentations and to help the students learn.