LESSON 16

CREATIVITY

• When does learning take place? Interaction

You have an effect on the teacher and the teacher has an effect on you. But it is difficult to reach interaction and effective learning. 2 kinds of interactions: Monologic and diologic. We have to be dialogic.

• In language learning: how to communicate? What to communicate? We are not focusing on how, now in what.

• Play a game: Scandalville : Think about something you consider to be important in language teaching. In a piece of paper. Something new you have dealt with in all this master. For example: implement original activities/ psychological studies/ foster critical thinking and communicative approach to foster communication/ motivation , students willing to learn /

• It is important the music/ Play a game with music : Slow motion Samurai

• What makes a person creative?  Can we make the effort to be creative? Can we be trained to be creative? We have to have the attitude to be creative. We can make the effort to be creative but I think it is difficult because we have to have the attitude.

• The investment theory: you know a lot, maybe you are a person that you already know without taking risks. Because if you take them you are maybe wrong. You won't be able to leave your status quo because this represents a risk and there are people who don't want this things in life. The first thing we should consider is if the creativity can be taught.

• There are some studies: test about creativity in 600 students. The results were that the majority of them showed signs of creativity when they were in primary school. Later, only 30% percent showed creativity. Then, only 12% adults: only 2% of those children were creative. The conclusion is easy: in school what we learned tend to be non-creative.

• It is any way to be creative? Bono's hat (This is a way)

Every learning experience can be based on different things:

Green hat: explore new feels, new things, new possibilities and it is the hat for creativity. So everyone, let's put the Green hat and let's start to be creative!!

LESSON 15

TFM

THE DEATH OF THE METHODS

1. They assumed too much about a context before the context was identified.
2. In the first days, students witness a unique set of experiences, but within a matter of weeks, classrooms look like any other learner-centered curriculum.
3. They cannot be tested empirically to determine which one is “best”.
4. They formed part of the mercenary agenda of their proponents (they formed in the UK and the USA and rolled out in vastly different cultural environments).

 

- Depend on the class and the school, we have to apply our own approach, You have to offer an approach and write a TFM.

 

WHAT IS RESEARCH?

HOW DOES RESEARCH CONTRIBUTE TO OUR JOB?

1. Research produces evidence, that can be used to create practical principles for teaching.

 2. It may provide new insights / information that hadn’t occurred to us.

 3. It may contradict comfortable, but inaccurate assumptions.

 4. It may confirm our own intuitions.

 5. It is our contribution to learning.

 

 

TYPES OF RESEARCH

 

Research into language.

Research into language learning.

Research into achievement.

TASK 1: ASK A RESEARCH QUESTION (MY TOPIC)

-What do you feel curious about as a language learner/teacher? Think of a question which has always worried you and generate a statement. Next, tell your partners about it and decide whether it may be a topic for a research project.

 

-Once we have found it we are in AHA MOMENTS.

THE STRUCTURE OF A RESEARCH PROJECT

1. Title 

2. Abstract

3. Introduction

4. Review of literature

5. Statement of purpose

6. Methodology

6.1. Subjects

6.2. Materials: interviews, tests, diaries...

6.3. Research Procedure

6.4. Data analysis

7. Discussion

8. Conclusion

9. References

10. Appendices

ASSIGMENT 10: THEORY OF LEARNING

Theory of learning: Meaningful learning

Ausubel's believes that learning of new knowledge relies on what is already known. That is, construction of knowledge begins with our observation and recognition of events and objects through concepts we already have. We learn by constructing a network of concepts and adding to them. According to his theory, meaningful learning, to learn meaningfully, individuals must relate new knowledge to relevant concepts they already know. New knowledge must interact with the learner’s knowledge structure.

Meaningful learning can be contrasted with rote learning. He believed in the idea of meaningful learning as opposed to rote memorization. The latter can also incorporate new information into the pre-existing knowledge structure but without interaction, it is of no use to the learner in understanding the relationships between the objects.

Because meaningful learning involves a recognition of the links between concepts, it has the privilege of being transferred to long-term memory. The most crucial element in meaningful learning is how the new information is integrated into the old knowledge structure. Accordingly, Ausubel believes that knowledge is hierarchically organized; that new information is meaningful to the extent that it can be related to what is already known.

I can't post it in a tweet because I don't have twitter.

LESSON 14

HOW TO BECOME A TEACHER?

Theory: 3 levels

-Look other teachers
-Degree
-Theory in use (before start teaching)

How to be a good teacher?

We need to start teaching to discover if we are good teachers or not, because it is the way to gain experience. Once we had experienced some lessons, we have to ask questions like "Am I doing it right?"(real experiences).

• Brainstorm the qualities that teachers should have to be a good teacher.

- Motivation

-Empathy

-Creativity

-Friendliness

-Optimistic

TASK: Design a teaching quality framework

Quality indicators

-Content knowledge

-Creativity

-Social skills

-Comprehension

-Classroom management

-Quality is measured by assessment: we can measure the results by observation (not only taking into account the results).

- External examiner

-Headteacher judgements

-Your own reports: when you are a teacher (write a report, diary, memo...) to express something. You can learn a lot of people if you read what they have written.

-Classroom artefacts: ICT

-Teachers portfolios.

 

HOW TO BE AN EFFICIENT TEACHER?

To know different kind of teachers and schools, 3 schools were explained:

1. Sócrates

2. Pygmalion and Galatea.

3. Hal 2014