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.