2016 Teaching Experience: weaknesses and strengths

This was a very productive year for second form. We had different opportunities of exchanging experiences with people from around the world and learnt from them. Kids really enjoyed the "Teddy Bear Exchange Project" in which we received "Rocket" and children took her home every day.
We could also work on the different projects in depth and we connected the topics to the world!


Personally, I was more confident with my performance. I think this was one my strengths this year since I knew how the school works, my responsabilites and my weakness from last year helped me improve my daily work.
I felt free to make changes in the daily plannings and different materiales such as cards and booklets taking into account the children's needs.

As a weakness I highlight the fact that my personality  is sometimes a problem for myself.  I want to have everything done in due time and form and there are opportunities in which I cannot cope with so many things at the same time. I have to learn to delegate and ask for help instead of forcing things and getting behind.
I am also shy of certain things and that is another weakness.
Miss Flor

Teaching reflection

When it comes to reflecting on teaching there are so many aspects to think about......

I would like to begin by saying I have all these words and ideas in mind, but the one that is making noise is "Students". I am finishing what in kinder is called the adjustment period: we went through the process of getting to know each other, to understand certain rules, to get involved in learning. However, there are still some aspects I need to continue working on. The most important one is behaviour: I feel students need to understand and  put into practice school rules like "remain in silence when asked, line up properly, listen to one another". I know it is a long term challenge, but I will work on it at the same time I deal with other projects.

I am very excited about this year's projects. This is due to the fact that this is my second year at school so I am more confident and I feel I can make suggestions and changes basing on my previous experience. Yesterday we started working on the Teddy Bear Exchange Project which I find really profitable! Children are so enthusiastic about it and they are learning about our own country and a different culture at the same time.

At the moment I am dealing with three projects: "animals all around", Teddy bear", and my personal project on "Behaviour". I wish to be able to cope with all of them and.....

Second Form reflection.
21st Century Skills.
In 2nd form we have worked in many skills and abilities connecting  all the subjects , Natural Science, Social Studies, Language, History, Maths and Geography.
Students developed summarizing skills specially in short texts according to their level of course, where they learnt how to identify main words or ideas related to the themes. Their logical and creative thinking  took part  in asking questions and listing answers, they were also involved in short stories held by Lauri and us. They played games and sang songs related to the projects as well. As regards technology they experimented innovation where they explored techniques that had not done before.
Food Revolution Final task was a communicative piece of work  which allowed students to analyze situations, think about a purpose and context of messages following instructions, Reading, speaking, listening, turn taking and writing. Students used many creative abilities to figure out solutions to possible problems and put them into action.
Continents Tour was a Project which highlighted reflective thinking. Analyzing everything carefully, examining, classifying, comparing and contrasting different information. They learnt how to connect all these abilities in order to reach to a conclusion based on evidence. By technology students experienced interactive maps and augmented reality where they could share their experiences with their families and worked with those apps on their own, this means independently. In one way we brought the world into the classroom, students learnt many different cultures and traditions. At the beginning of the year one dad travelled to China and brought newspapers, food and many Chinese things for us to share. Students felt fascinated working with this material. 2nd Green did not have the opportunity of being part of any hangout but I think it would be a great idea to have one  next year. Second blue had one hangout, and it was an amazing experience. Students could interact with other students and teachers, and they applied the contents they learnt in this interaction. This was the most meaningful activity in which students could really bring the world into the classroom.
This year we visited Fayanás house , they have  animals and we closed our Project about  Pets and Food  with that outing. This experience connected all the wok done in two projects. We took notes and worked before and after the visit. It was a clear opportunity to work with the experimental method. Students could make hypothesis, analysis and so on. This Project was connected to Natural Science and we worked together with the morning teachers.  This is only one example of collaboration among teachers.