Super learning mission 2: Create a class blog!

Hi everyone!

Today I want to show you the second super learning mission that I have created. I am going to follow the previous post steps to explain this super learning mission. This mission, consist of create a class blog in which each child has to write a post, they have to make some draws to explain it (done by themselves) like the habitat, the skeleton of the animal, its food and so on.
This is in order to continue working with No me cuentes historias, ¡dibújamelas! because children have to draw it, not only explain.

- Learning mission instrucions:

• First, children have to take into account the information they found for the comic.
• Then, they have to write all the information on a post in the class blog following the next structure:

1. Explain the animal's habitat.
2. Talk about the groups to which the animal belongs (viviparous-oviparous, vertebrate-invertebrate, mammal-bird-reptile-fish-amphibian).
3. Tell what the animal eats and if it is carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.
4. Explain some extra strange or surprising information.

- Goals to be achieved:

• Be creative.
• Review acquire knowledge.
• Learn how to make posts.
• Express himself/herself on a correct way (written form).
  

- Digital tool:

• Blogger.

- Competences involved:

• Digital skills.
• Social and civic skills.
• Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Cultural awareness and expression.

- Collaborative Project alliegned with:

• No me cuentes historias, ¡dibújamelas!

- An example post:

- What have I learnt with this super learning mission?

Firstly, I want to say that I have learnt a lot making the previous posts. At the beginning of this year, I have never made a blog, so I didn't know how I could make posts, what I could write on the post, how I could add photos or videos and so on.

Nowadays, I know a few things, because I am not an expert, so in my experience this is a fun way to communicate to others what I am learning, so they can take advantage of this, learn it and use it in the way they like the most.
The most difficult part, as in the previous post, has been to think about the super learning mission, since as I said before, I am more accustomed to carry out the activities of the book or some invented, but not to create a super learning mission where children phave an active participation.
So again, I encourage you to try it with your students, because it is made with an easy tool, encourages group participation and is funny for the children and for the teacher to see their draws. This is other useful tool that I am going to use in my future clases.

If you have any doubt or you have tried it, leave a comment. I hope you like this second super learning mission and you like it.

Super learning mission 1: Make a comic!

Hi everyone!

Today I am going to talk about how to turn an activity or exercise into a super learning mission. The teacher has to draft the learning mission instrutions, the goals to be achieved, the digital tool that the children are going to use and the competencies involved. The teacher can also alliegned it with the partner collaborative Project that she wants to contribute if she or he has it. Now I am going to show you my super learning mission, how the comic would be and what I have learnt.

- Learning mission instructions:

• First, children have to choose an animal to make a comic.
• Then, they have to look information about it (if it is vertebrate or invertebrate, what it eats, how it moves, if it is a mammal, fish, reptile, bird or amphibian, where it lives and how we can take care of its hábitat).
• When the child has the information, he/she has to make a comic with the tool StoryboardThat. (I told you about this tool on a previous post).
• Finally, each of them have to show and explain their comic to their classmates.

- Goals to be achieved:

• Be creative.
• Review animals movements, feedings and groups (viviparous/oviparous, vertebrate/invertebrate, mammal/bird/fish/reptile/amphibian).
• Know how to look for information online.
• Express himself/herself.

- Digital tool:

• StoryboardThat.

- Competences involved:

• Communication skills.
• Digital skills.
• Social and civic skills.
• Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Cultural awareness and expression.

- Collaborative Project alliegned with:

• No me cuentes historias, ¡dibújamelas!

- Comic:

Made with Storyboard That

- What have I learnt with this super learning mission?
The first thing that I have learnt is that a super learning mission is funnier than an activity or exercise, because the child is involved in the learning process and he/she has to think and be creative to make it.
The most difficult part was turn an activity or exercise into a super learning mission, I think because I am accustomed to simple activities from the book or from another site. But doing this super learning mission, has made me see that, although it is difficult for the teacher to carry it out, create it or explain it, it is an easier way for the student to learn the contents and that they look for information outside the book to learn, to explore by themselves.
That is because I encourage you to try it with your students, because it is made with an easy tool, funny for the children and for the teacher to see their comics, so I am going to use it in my future clases.


If you have any doubt or you have tried it, leave a comment. I hope you like this super learning mission and you like it.

Elevator Pitch with WeVideo

Hi everyone!

On this post I am going to continue talking about Collaborative Projects. If you do not know what I am talking about, you can go to my previous post to see it.
Today, I am going to choose a Collaborative Project to collaborate with. When I started to prototype my Educational Project I make it thinking only in use it with my class children and later, I discover the collaborative learning so I make some activities for the children to collaborate between them.
This is similar, but not the same, that is, now I am going to collaborate with other people's projects, sharing my own Project and adapting it to accomplish all the requirements.

The first thing that I made, was visit lots of Collaborative Projects to chose one. This is not as easy at it sounds, because there are several project that have something that I like. The Project that I like the most is "No me cuentes historias, ¡dibújamelas!". What they do, is explain the content by using draws or ask for the children to draw what they have learnt from the explanation, so they can see the content. I like this the most because we learn 80% of what we see, and it is important for me to motivate the students and make the lessons easier for them. Here you can see their Project:
http://dibujamelas.wixsite.com/dibujamelas

Once I know which project I am going to collaborate with I made an Elevator Pitch, this is a short video (20 seconds) in which you have to explain your Project in order to sell your product, find financial support or like me, explain how my Project could contribute to "No me cuentes historias,¡dibújamelas!" Project, by using WeVideo, you can see here the result:

This new tool is useful to create videos because you can upload or record a video or audio, ad text or transitions and finally, upload the result where you want, that is, dropbox, YouTube, Facebook and so on, or download it for you and your students. Before recording the video, I made a draft to know what to say in my elevator pitch:
- Hook: Do you know how difficult can be motivate our students?
- Problem: Nowadays, children have lots of distractions so, motivate them to study can be difficult for us.
- Solution: With my Poject, I am going to motivate and make them love Science, by using visual tools.
- Close: So I hope you accept me in your Project and I hope you like it. Thank you.
Finally, I recorded the video by using my Smartphone and as I said before, I modified it with WeVideo.

What have I learnt?
Thanks to this challenge, I know new amazing Open Educational Projects that I will take into account in my future clases. I recommend you to look for them because they are very interesting.
In addition, I am developing myself as an innovative teacher, something that seems crucial to me these days.
At the begining, I thought it would be a difficult challenge, but finally, and once I have my Project in mind and what I want to say, I set about it. What I found more difficult was the reording, because it made me nervous and could not explain me. Despite this, I managed to finish it and I think it is a tool that I will use in the future, since it is important to be able to explain and symmarize what you want to express, so I recommend you to try it and tell me.

If you have any doubt or you have tried it, leave a comment. I hope you find it useful and you like it.

Designing a visual metaphor for my Collaborative Educational Project.

Hi everyone!

Today I am going to show you an online visual metaphor of how I am going to turn my Open Educational Digital Project into a collaborative one. I have chosen collaboration within the classroom through cooperative learning, that is, the children have to collaborate between them to learn new things through an activity.
I have used a new tool called Pixton to make the visual metaphor, and here you have the final result.

This new tool is similar to StoryboardThat that I explain in the previous post, this one is a bit more complicated, but you have more freedom to move the characters and express their feelings, that is what I like the most.

What have I learnt with this resource?
I knew this tool from my degree and I like it so much because I can move the character and put it in the position that I want, that allows me to express better what I want to say with the character (how they feel, what are they doing and so on).
Something that I have learnt wihle doing this visual metaphor, is that there are different ways to make an Open Digital Educational Project into a collaborative one. For instance we have:
- Collaboration within the classroom through cooperative learning (I have chosen this one).
- Collaboration out of the classroom, connecting with other classes, other communities, with the real world.
- Collaboration back to the classroom, involving external agents in the learning process so as our classes become a real learning community.
I found this information in my URJC's Aula Virtual.


In my opinion, the easiests is the first one, but collaboration back to the classroom could be interesting to try, so maybe I use it on my lessons. I also think that, doing an Educational Project can be very beneficial, not only for our students, but also for ourselves, since socializing with other people and learning from their ideas is important today. We can learn a lot from other classmates, from other classes and even from other schools, so I encourage you to do Collaborative Educational Projects.

If you have any doubt or you have tried it, leave a comment. I hope you like this new tool and find it useful.