Reflections of the Last Projects - SEVİNÇ ÇİSEM YÜKSEL

INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS BY AMIGOS DEL FOOTBALL

We were the first group and our topic was inclusive schools. We started with the definiton of inclusive and we gave the difference between what is integration and inclusion. Because these two are easily confused. Having 3 disabled children out of 10 isn’t inclusion if you don’t mix them all together. Seperating these 3 in a mixed class means that you have integration. First of all we should be aware of that.

And we talked about some characteristics of inclusive education. The most prominents ones are again about diversity, heterogeneity, awareness of teachers. We had 4 authors to examine their ideas. They were Gordon Porter, Tony Booth, Mel Ainscow and Gerardo Echeita. More or less they all defend the same ideas. We chose the most important 2 ideas from each. They all want to have inclusive schools but of course we have some barriers. The general idea of these barriers is the attitude of the teachers. If a teacher say that I can’t teach somethnig to that class because they are all different from each other, then we can’t have the inclusion. The main points are policies, diverstiy and didactics. They are all related to each other and the common problem is the attitudes of the teachers. So we have to educate teachers at first. And then we have some purposals to get rid of these barriers. We should create inclusive cultures. This means that everybody should be included to create an inclusive education from parents to the government and all of them should keep in touch with each other. And then we establish the inclusive values. We have to teach how to be respectful, grateful and helpful etc. And then we produce inclusive policies. When we are designing a school, we should think everbody and all situations may happen. We should also have the support of the government and the other institutions to organize the diversity in the classrooms. And the last purposal is evolving inclusive practices. That means that every tool that we have should be appropriate for all children. And also we promote orchestrating learninh which means that we should combine theory and practice to teach something to pupils and practice together to create a better learning process.

We have 2 schools to show as an inclusive schools. One is O Pelouro School and it has the same space for all children to feel same and they are the pupils who decide what to learn. So there is an equality. And the other one is Amara Berri. It has the sense of being different is a quality and they show this to their pupils by many different ways.

To sum up, bringing new values and ideas and educating teachers to be able to cope with the diversity are the most important solutions to have inclusion. If everybody is aware of that being different is a quality, we can integrate with each other to bring inclusion to the schools and have a better education system.

ICT AND LEARNING DISABILITIES BY CRONICAS VIAJERAS

The map was very clear and they also talked about the topic very clearly. It was easy to understand how we can use the technology to teach something to disabled people.

They talked about 3 different kinds of disabilities. The first one was ‘Autism’. People who have this difficulty in their lives don’t socialize easily and have difficulties in understanding things. So we have to be aware of this and we should help them as much as we can without being impatient. Because the most important thing about working with disabled people is to be patient and understanding. We should know that they are different and they need special care.

Cronicas Viajeras suggests that the best options to cope with the education of autistic children is the usage of tablets and games. Because they are already so intravert and they have difficulties in understanding. As we saw in the video, using ipads to teach something is can be very useful. They can pay attention to the subject more easily like that. Because they both see and hear in an attractive way. And also games can be very useful for especially kinesthetic issues like understanding the movements. To sum up is is very useful to use technology to make the learning process more clear for pupils.

The second one was ‘Down Syndrome’. I think it is the most difficult one among them. It is so difficult to teach something to them as a whole. Bacause they can’t concentrate easily, they can’t distinguish the new information from the old ones and you always feel like starting to teach from the beginning. It is not so easy to take steps regularly. But this doesn’t mean that they can’t be trained. With the help of the technology, we can help them to learn better. Even if we can’t make them normal, we can make them feel normal. Whiteboards and cameras are the best 2 options that Cronicas Viajeras suggested. They said that, with these 2 tools we can improve pupils’ memories and concentrations.

The last one was ‘Motor Disabilities’. They can be both innate or acquired. When you are dealing with the physical disabilities, this effects the way you use the tools. Because they are mentally ready to learn something. So with the help of the technology, it can be easily overcome. The biggest problem is that they are aware of their situation and maybe they don’t want to integrate with the others. So as teachers, we should encourage them to learn. By using mp3s, computers and many other things, we can teach them so many things. If a pupil is blind, we can use vocal tools. If a pupil is deaf, we can use visual tools etc. So this makes their learning process more productive and they feel comfortable. Stephen Hawking can be the best example. He can’t even breathe by himself but he has a wheel chair which is designed according to his needs and he is one of the best scientists of the world. 

ICT AND IMPROVEMENT SCHOOLS BY TEAM PERK

They started with a video which shows how we can use the technology in the classes. And their maps included 4 different parts. They talked about some advantages of the technology. Our era has changed so we are so familiar to the technology. So this is an advantage. We have different kinds of topics for each subject. By using the technology, we can adopt them and teach them in a enjoyable way. But there are also many teachers who grown up witout using technology. So this can be a disadvantage. While the new ones are using the technology, the old ones are having some difficulties. And also it requires too much Money to supply all the tools. It may be too expensive to have many kinds of technological devices.

But apart from all these difficulties, starting to use the technology in the classes brings you convenience. Students can learn more easily and they remember what they’ve learnt in the classes more. Because we both use vocal and visual materials with the help of ICT. Teachers can also express their complex ideas in a simple way. And also ICT increases the interaction. Parents and teachers can keep in touch with themselves very easily. And also pupils talk with each other about homeworks or something else out of the scool.

The main idea to use the technology properly is to teach how to use it. It is very important for both teachers and students. Of course there are many beneficial social Networks to help us learn but there are so many hazardous Networks which keep us apart from our education. So we have to choose what we use very carefully and also train ourselves to use them in a better way.

INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS BY UNKNOWNS

They are the other group who talked about inclusice schools. But they talked about it in a general way apart from us. We both said the same things more or less. They talked about the general ideas of inclusive education. ‘ Inclusive education is presented as a right of  all children’ was the best idea which presents the gist of the inclusion.

There are some objectives of having an inclusive education system. For example, promote democracy and justice and equal opportunities. By giving them these, we can obtain a good atmosphere because these are the general values that we want to have. We are all the same no matter our differences. The idea is to have the same opportunities with our differences. In order to have that, we also need the collaboration of the instutions and formative environments. Otherwise we’ll have some problems about policiy, community and society.

They divided the barriers into 3 as political, cultural and didactics. We have problems about the politics because there are some rules and we have to obey them no matter how beneficial things we want to give. And there are cultural problems about the diversity. Our first aim to provide the same education for all but we sometimes have some troubles about that. Because of the various differences, they need individual care to have the best learning process and one teacher may not be enough to deal with all the students. And also they may not want to deal with at all. In this way, we have the didactical problems. Teachers should be able to deal with that situations and be patient about that. S/he must know that they are all different but they have the same rights.

And they purposed some solutions to get rid of these barriers and they are the same as ours. They also showed 2 videos of great examples of inclusive schools.

SOCIOEMOTIONAL LEARNING BY WANDERLUST

They started with the author Rafel Bisquerra who is an expert about socioemotional learning. There are some main goals of this type of learning like developing different emotional competences, acquiring better understanding of one’s emotions. The main idea of that being able to learn not only mentally but also emotionally. Because the effectiveness of the learning process also depends on our mood and we can learn better by adding our emotions into it. The best options to learn socioemotionally are through programs based on theoretical frameworks and with a good team prepared teaching faculty.

Our main winning is to be happy while we’re learning. How are we going to be happy? With the help of it, our social skills get better and we have better relationships. Our level of agression and self-defending thoughts decreases and so we improve our self-esteem. Because of the general happiness of ours, we have better academic performances.

To maintain the happiness, we have to work emotions with the pupils everyday especially gaining emphaty is the most important one. How can we develop emphaty in the class? By listening them and let them listen each other, teach games based on it(F.e: ‘Walk in my shoes’) and also pay attention the emotions of them. Expressing their emotions before&after the classes can also help pupils to relax and learn better. So teacher can understand if they are satisfied or not and take precautions according to that.

As teachers we should promote mutliple intelligences tasks for the pupils, let them work in groups and help them if it is necessary. Regularly, we should give them positive rainforcements to encourage and make them feel successful. The most important duty of the teacher is to have a daily student-teacher interaction and have interaction with the parents to understand their pupils in a better way.

LEARNING COMMUNITIES BY MUSICAL CHAIRS

The main points to have are communication, coordination, cooperation and collaboration among teachers, students and volunteers.  Because they share the same goals and attitudes.

Not only teachers and students but also volunteers should be involved to learning process to create a better system. Because teachers are not the only ones who have the knowledge. Volunteers have also knowledge based on their own experiences. In this way, students are also educated in some important values. Pupils see the things in a different perspective and it also help them to socialize.

Teachers should be aware of that with the help of the others, they can achieve more. So they have to be keep in touch the parents and volunteers. They have to share the info and lead them in the best way they can do. They should motivate pupils to be openminded and social and implement constuctivism rahter than behaviourism.

And volunteers should trust the teacher and support them as much as they can. They have to be understanding and patience enough to deal with the pupils.

The gist of this type of learning is to be together to teach pupils and also gain new persperctives by interacting with each other.

WAYS OF LIVING TOGETHER IN SCHOOL BY MODERN STUDENTS

There are some problems about get on well with each other in the school because we are all different from each other. The main problems are bullying, violence and exclusion. One of the best solutions is school mediation. The madiatior can be pupils, teachers and employed non-teaching stuff. And there is a program to get rid of this. It helps to improve self-esteem. This is important because the main reason which causes the problems is the lack of self-esteem and self-consciousness. It also increases the responsibilities of the pupils to lead them to be more resposible. It is acquired volunteerily participation. And the main point is to have dialogues and active listening to understand each other.

They used archeology as a metaphor of feelings in the school. It has 5 stages. The first step is to find what the problem is. The second one is to find the different realationships between students-teachers, teachers-parents etc. The third one is to have a emotional learning at the school to create a better understanding area. The fourth one is find the solutions to get rid of the problems and the last one is share the experinces and else to establish the solutions. This is the archeology technique which is found by Miguel S. Guerra.

And at the end, they talked about KIVA school which uses madiation to avoid from bullying. It also offers you to take online courses, trainings and antibullying programs and this is perfect.

They concluded that if we help pupils to control their own emotions, we also help ourselves to solve the problems. Besides, pupils feel safe by knowing that there is somebody to take care of them.

LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS BY DUMBLODORE’S TEACHERS ARMY

Why is important leadership for schools?

Because there has to be someone who makes the decisions and takes the responsibilites. Oherwise, everbody has different ideas and solutions to the possible problems. But if we have just one authority, we have to follow her steps and take her as a leader. In order to avoid chaos, leadership is important.

What are the characteristics of a good leader?

She has to be knowledable about the current problems and the atmosphere of the school. She has to respect the others and their ideas because she is not the only one who knows something. She has to lead the population for the better. She has to be prescient to know if it is true or not before she does it. She has to be trustworthy and always supportive. And also i think it is better that the one who will lead the majority should be experienced. If she is not, then she will learn by doing. But it is supposed to be alreay known.

As a conclusion, working about all these subjects help me to understand how the ideal school and ideal teacher should be. Because we learn the systems, problems and solutions by doing. We are the decision makers and we are the ones who think that what can be done to have a better education system. I find these projects very beneficial for my own teacher training. I am now more aware of how to use the technology in an effective way, what can be done to avoid bullying and live happily in the schools, how I can include all different kinds of pupils in the same class and projects and how to deal with disabled learners. We looked at almost every possible situations which we may have in our classses and i think we are almost ready to take all the responsibility with the extra help of our leaders.