I started blogging when I was doing some Moocs online some years ago.
I am still blogging about education and the use of technology in my job.
I am a life-long learner and love doing what I do.
Writereader is a simple app online for writing stories.
You can easily create a library with your children: just need to create an account and then they will start writing simple stories in English or in their own Language. https://www.writereader.com/en
The great features of the app are the simple use of it and the possibility of printing and downloading the book. Books created by the learners can be downloaded too.
Another course with TECHNOCLIL has finished. I worked online and did my task: here is the link to the website which I created last year and where you can find the link to the activities I did this year.
This year is my fourth year on EVO: EVO means Eloctronic Village online and it offers many free sessions for educators who are willing to learn and enhance their own teaching.
I am working also as a co-moderator and I am also trying to do two courses: I choose the sessions about TECHNOCLIL and the one about FLIPPED LEARNING.
For TECHNOCLIL I have already created my Learning Diary where I am going to keep the main documents and tasks I have carried out in the course.
Here you can find the Kickoff of EVO19: you will listen to the voices of the teachers who are working online and maybe you will try to do a course too.
By ich - Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons by Saibo.
Original text: selbst gemacht, Foto ist von mir = Own work (photo), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Teaching foreign languages requires a lot of strategies and learners need to be more active in order to better some skills. Listening skills can empower our learners but they need a lot of exercise and often we do not have the time to do this in class. I am aware that it takes time before students can achieve the level of English which will enable them to understand a conversation or the news.
Hopefully we can get access to many free resources online. Radio Garden is perfect !
You won't need to download anything.
It is an interesting free service for listening to the radios from all over the world: radio.garden/
Watch this video where you can see what you can do online:
You can also listen to radios after you have checked the places and languages you are interested in :
I am just presenting some websites where you can find radios online.
The first one is Radiowebsite :
Some more hours to wait for and we will enter the new Year: I wish all the best to educators worldwide and their students. It is going to be a new year with plenty of challenges!
Be ready to work together and to learn from the others and with the others!
Module 4 Mooc about Supporting Special Education Needs
This is my post about the presentation of the Mooc which I finished in November.
I submitted the slide with is a picture of the learning space where I would like to work.
It should be a place for the gifted students, for the less able ones and a place where learners love spending their time.
This learning experience made me think and reflect about the importante of learning spaces in our schools: we do need to create special areas which deal with the needs of everyone.
Open spaces and the use of technology can also help us while dealing with the peculiarities of the different learners we have in our classes.
I used an online tool for creating images of the place and then I also created the video:
The Mooc took place last autumn and I was busy online while doing my course for preparing students who need to take Cambridge IGCSE exams in my school. I had to catch up but I chose to do it as more and more our schools are coping with Special Education Needs. The platform that provided the Mooc was Schooleducationgateway, an important website where European educators can have access to free resources and Professional Development.
The aim of the Mooc were clear and I really wanted to learn together with other educators.
These ideas were specified in the first Module:
Understanding the need for inclusive classrooms
Identifying some practical tips and tricks to make your classroom more inclusive
Making connections to fellow educators who are in a similar situation to yourself
Learning from the experiences of educators around Europe
Understanding the variety of special educational needs
Considering inclusion as a human right
Developing a plan towards inclusive education in your own context
Key ideas were presented in the Mooc: acessibility and inclusion
" Accessibilityrefers to providing systems and solutions to optimise access in content, methods and environment. In learning environments,accessibility meansdesigning learning experiences without barriers that allow all students to achieve the main pedagogical objectives. Why is accessibility important? One of the main arguments is that accessibility benefits everyone and not just a single segment of society, providing easy and various ways to access information, materials and environments. Captions for audio and video, for instance, don’t just help hearing-impaired people. They can be beneficial for anyone who doesn’t speak or understand the language of the presenter being spoken. This is the premise on which you should approach many of the activities explored on this course. Whenever you improve the accessibility of your teaching, it is not only for the support of those students who have been identified to have a special need; rather, it is supporting the learning of all your students. That’s why, later on in the course, we explore the process of the “universal design”, which should be incorporated in every design process of creating products, services, environments or learning experiences for all people.
And what about inclusion? In education, inclusive education is defined by UNESCO as a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners by increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, reducing exclusion within and from education. Inclusion is also a right and not a privilege. It is every person’s right to bring out their unique strengths by participating in our society and to appreciate the beauty of diversity. According to UNESCO (2017), inclusion is a mindset that involves valuing the presence, participation and achievement of all learners regardless of their contexts and personal characteristics and recognising the benefits of student diversity."
Definition of Special Needs
In special education, there is a wide range of disability levels to consider and some of them are quite tricky to recognise and support. Furthermore, special education encompasses not only the individuals with learning disabilities but also the gifted and talented students.
INCLUSION AS A HUMAN RIGHT
For teachers and school administrators, this convention means that they have to be committed in respecting and accommodating diversity and, more practically, creating learning environments where all students can meaningfully participate, contribute, and learn.
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
The aim of inclusive education is to respond to the learning needs of all children, whatever their needs are. Inclusive education does not only have pedagogical benefits, by addressing the learning differences of all students and confronting them with various learning styles, but also social benefits, as it leads the children to become citizens who are open and tolerant and can live in peace and harmony with each other. Obviously, inclusive education requires teacher training..
Learn different strategies for accommodating the learning of students with special needs
Reflect about own practice and beliefs
Identify main elements of the inclusive classroom
Prepare an inclusive classroom design
Review inclusive classroom designs of other course peers
Make connections to other course participants
DYSLEXIA
Dyslexia is more common than many people think, considering that almost 10% of the world's population has dyslexia traits. MEMORY TECHNIQUES
Multi-sensory approach
A student's perspective
AUTISM Autism spectrum disorders are characterised by social-interaction difficulties, communication challenges and a tendency to repetitive behaviours. Symptoms vary widely across these core areas.
ADHD Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental condition characterized by problems related to paying attention, excessive activity or difficulty controlling behaviour which is not appropriate for a person’s age.
GIFTEDNESS
The definition of giftedness has not been universally decided. According to Heller (2000), giftedness is an individual potential of abilities for excellent performance.
However, there are also some students who are exceptional in two ways: they are gifted and they have special needs. That is why they are called “twice-exceptional” learners.
"I am gifted"
OUR FINAL ACTIVITY- TO BE ASSESSED BY PEERS
In this final peer-to-peer activity, you have the opportunity to imagine the inclusive classroom of your dreams. You can either find a colleague to work with for the final task, or do it by yourself. You are free to choose who you would like to work with. You can have a look at theforum posts in Module 1, to see who shares similarities with you (similar kind of students, teaching the same subject) or from whom you would like to learn in particular. You can use the forum to contact each other and to set up a new thread to collaborate. If you prefer, you can also decide to collaborate outside the platform, e.g. via Facebook, Skype or a shared online document.
The inclusive classroom of your dreams can be a graphical representation or described in text format (15-20 lines) or even better, both. You are highly encouraged to use visual elements. Hand sketches, cardboard models or 3D design models are all available options and you can use LEGO, SketchUp, Minecraft, HomeByMe or just pen and paper.
Use the following questions as a guide on what to address and then unleash your creativity!
Guiding questions:
What could the learning space look like?
What needs do my students have?
How can I facilitate the learning of all my students?
What are the important physical features?
What support would you place in your learning environment for SEN students?
What digital technologies would you use?
How adaptable and flexible is my learning space?
How accessible will learning be in my learning environment?
Will it facilitate various types of teaching methodologies?
What is your vision for the inclusive classroom of your dreams? When you have designed and described your classroom, please submit your work in the next section. Make sure to read the instructions carefully.
As I am a secondary school teacher in Italy and I am not working with young students I had to focus on what my students need to spend their time well while they are at school. Some have problems with dislexia or have difficulties in spending hours sitting at their desks. My ideal school is a school where everybody finds a place which is interesting and they can have fun. In my next post you will find my activity. Here is the place I have created online by using the tool HOMEBYME.
