TOPICS STUDIED IN THE COURSE

SOME TOPICS STUDIED IN THE COURSE AND THE CONNECTIONS OF THEM TO MY EXPERIENCE AS A LEARNER/TEACHER.

1. FLIPPED CLASSROOM: In regard to the flipped learning, I can say that my first reason for flipping my classroom is focused on the fact that the student of today lives stuck to his laptops, iPads, tablets, among other electronic devices that make them happy. Therefore, we as educators must be updated and focus our teachings to the interests of our current students. By sending our students interactive videos of the classes we are teaching, we give them the opportunity to use their technological tools in a fun way and motivate them to learning, having more opportunities to correct any mistakes in the learning process and be fully prepared for classroom classes. My second reason for flipping my classroom is that through this teaching method, I can guarantee an effective differentiation for all my students. Since it allows my group, regardless of their different learning styles, to have the opportunity to learn and effectively engage in learning globally. It also, allows me as an educator to have more time to guide my students in learning a certain subject; because with the different online assignments, the student is acquiring knowledge and only comes to the classroom to apply what has been learned and clarify doubts of certain subjects.

2. GAMIFICATION: Gamification is the use of game design techniques to solve problems and engage audiences. In other words, this buzz word refers to adding a game layer to the real world. The basic premise is to make something we do or want to do more engaging by turning it into a game. I would use gamification especially in Maths, since students always present certain difficulties in understanding the contents and using of the games it would make the topics much easier for them.

3. VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (VLE): A virtual learning environment is a set of teaching and learning tools designed to enhance a student's learning experience by including computers and the Internet in the learning process. The principal components of a VLE package include curriculum mapping, student tracking, online support for both teacher and student, electronic communication (e-mail, threaded discussions, chat, web publishing), and Internet links to outside curriculum resources. In general, VLE users are assigned either a teacher ID or a student ID.

Through this I can guarantee that my students are connected with the technology because I will be in constant monitoring of what they are doing and we will achieve effective communication both inside and outside the classroom.

    4. SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM: Skype is a free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom and their students to a world way beyond their campus. With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures, and expand their knowledge in amazing ways. Teachers and parents can also benefit from Skype in the classroom.

I would use Skype in my classroom as a tool to provide my students the opportunity to practice the English they have learned with my native speakers’ friends from the United States and England. In this way they will be able to improve their pronunciations and lose the fear to face a conversation with native speakers of the language.

 5. ONLINE GAMES: This technological tool give me the opportunity to motivate my students to speak in English, help them with their pronunciations and master a new vocabulary. Also, it allows me to make the class more interactive and fulfill a global teaching, attending to the individual differences and educational needs of my students.

To use this tool in my classroom I will need: internet, a projector, tablets, iPad or laptops for each student. There are many websites that offer various games for learning a language. However, the ones I would use with my students would be: www.frivxl.com and www.zapdramatic.com which have very interesting games that motivate students to work as a team, to be critical thinkers and to develop their English language communicative skills.

6. BLOGS: I have learned many new things about various technological tools. However, what I learned the most was how to make and use the blog in teaching. I remember that in my university days I had the opportunity to create blogs, however our teacher only taught us with the aim of knowing the technological tool itself. We were not motivated to use it as a teaching tool. I know that there are different ways to use it and that you can be connected with people worldwide and not only that, but also allows the use of voice and videos to communicate. It can also be used as a photo portal, portfolio, journal, etc. Knowing the blog as a teaching tool, I am absolutely sure that I will be able to achieve all my short-term goals, because not only I will stay with what I have read so far, but I will continue to practice and use it with my students so that they as I can benefit from this important tool that allows us to have a journal and many other things about we are learning daily and that allows us to be connected with learning.

    7. GOOGLE APPS: there are many applications that we can use with our students and facilitate their learning, however the ones that I have learned and  impacted me the most during the course have been:
     Google Chrome: Google Chrome is an extremely powerful and versatile tool. And very reliable, fast, and user-friendly. It allows you to have multiple tabs open in the same window and keep your tabs better organized by using the "pin" tabs feature when things start to get out of hand. Pinned tabs reduce the tab size and send each one to the left end of your browser window.
    Gmail: A Communications Center. Gmail keeps me in touch with anyone and everyone. Whenever and wherever I want. Gmail is useful for professional development to submit queries and doubts to peers, and to give and get timely help. At the academic level, it can be used to send out announcements and reminders, for students to submit homework and projects, and for the teacher to give timely help.
   Google Drive: A Collaboration Center. Google Drive allows you to create different types of documents: text documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, forms, drawings, and maps. And you can add apps (add-ons) to these documents. Drive allows 50 people to collaborate simultaneously, locally or globally, and to leave text and audio comments. For audio, you need Kaizena, an extremely powerful add-on for language learning, because students can get and give feedback both in text and audio. While students work in a document, they can search, research, and quote from an online source and have it automatically cited. Easy Bib is the add-on for this. When working in a joint project, they can collaboratively brainstorm ideas, plan, create, and produce their end product using different media: text, images, audio, video, and so on. Finally, they can share it with colleagues and the world—an authentic audience! If they want to go a step further, they can present it via a Google Hangout. Google Drive allows you to create different types of documents: text documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, forms, drawings, and maps. And you can add apps (add-ons) to these documents.
   Google Forms: Get Results and Feedback. With Google Forms, you can create pop quizzes, polls, surveys, and questionnaires with different types of questions: multiple choice, true/false, short answer, open ended. In the case of the first two types, you can get instant feedback. 
    YouTube: For Videos. It is a huge repository of videos of all types, categories, and topics that cater to all tastes, interests, and needs. If you want something more specific to education and the classroom, there is Teacher Tube, School Tube, and YouTube for Education, all with appropriate and safe content for the classroom.

8. GOOGLE SLIDES: With this tool we show to our classmates in one of our course presentations how to teach the simple present (verb be and other verbs) to our sixth grade students. To begin the presentation our colleagues had to fill a quiz test (it was created with google form) as part of a diagnostic test to introduce the content. Then, we explained them that analyzed the previous knowledge of our students we can begin the explanation of the topic. We put in the slides various images, games, rules and didactic strategies to learn the subject. In addition, we made use of hyperlinks, to bring them easier to the different websites we use to explain the topic. One of these websites was PowToon which was a tool that allowed us to make fantastic videos to explain the class. Also, we showed YouTube videos. Jeopardy, was another important element in our presentation too, because it allowed us to make the presentation more fun through games.