First Lesson Plan on paper

So this was the first time I actually sat and jotted down all my ideas, created a lesson plan for a unit of inquiry and reflected on it. It wasn't hard, but it was challenging. I was very confused at the beginning and then I was excited and I then I felt pressured by time but at the end I enjoyed every minute of it. I did't get to complete it as I would of liked to, my lack of experience made me go slow and it was hard because all of my ideas where everywhere, making it hard to land and work. I know that with time I'll get better at doing this, I will learn more about applying Super 3! and Digital Taxonomy into a lesson plan.

It is fun to integrate information literacy skills into a lesson plan because, even though I work with 5 year olds, they are more digital aware than me and this keeps them engaged with activities while it also develops their skills of finding, processing and evaluating information.

Webquest, Running around the school

After a quest we had in ADE 634 course, I learned the importance, mostly, of teamwork. We needed digital devices to find clues, we needed to run around the building to find them, we needed to download a scanner and use it (never had done that before), we looked for books by their location, and also investigate how to citate a magazine. All of this would of not happen if we hadn't listen to each other and used the different abilities we had as individuals in the group. Some of us had the digital devices needed to scan the codes and get the clues, others were good at getting all of us together and focused and there was always one willing to type, seek and gather the information we got. At the end it was a very fun activity, I learned how to scan codes (not difficult at all) and how they work, and how much fun it is when we work together for a same purpose, doughnuts; and guess what?? WE WON!!!!

Google vs. Database, which one works better

Google vs. Databases.

We typed the exact same key words on Google and on Ebsco database in order to evaluate the top five hits on each one.

From our research we conclude that both databases and Google offer informative and useful results.  However, both have positive and negative characteristics when using them as research tools.  The positive characteristics in using Google are:

·      Internet sites offer attractive layout and color, which if used properly can make the user feel motivated to keep on reading.

·      Many sites offer useful links that may enhance your search while making it interactive.

·      It is fast and simple to use.

Some negative aspects of Google could include:

·      Large amount of unreliable or unaccountable sources.

·      Different layouts may confuse navigators.  (Too many ads, crowded information, too many colors, popups.)

Databases pros:

·      Information is reliable and accountable.

·      Results may be more specific for certain topics.

Databases cons:

·      Results are very limited to specific areas and may not necessarily cover what we are searching for.

·      Databases are not very attractive to read and may discourage users from even reading the article.

Do elephants swim???

That was the question one of my 5 year old student asked me last week. I was sitting in the front playground watching them have a discussion next to the see-saws. I decided to approach them after a while and investigate what was happening. As I got closer, one of them told the rest of the children that he would ask me and I was going to solve their problem. I was very sure I could help them, I mean, they are 5 year olds after all. Antonio came close to me and said "Miss Mariana, we want to know if elephants can swim". I smiled. I had no clue. It was a simple question, nothing out of this world. I did a quick mental review, I could even see the elephants playing next to a river, in the middle of Africa, but as much as I tried I could not come with an answer. I took a deep breath and told them the truth. "I have no idea, that is a very good question, I had never thought about it before, but I guess we will have to find out". I quickly went and got an ipad and told them that we would research their question in internet. They all looked at me while I typed the question. As soon as I got to the web page Google sent me to, I read it out loud. "Yes,   elephants do swim, almost all of the mammals have swimming skills. Elephants love swimming. They can swim long distances and  they can do it fast. " They all smiled. I even showed them videos of elephants swimming. We decided we needed to learn more about elephants so we went to the library and checked some books out about elephants and other animals so we could compare. At the end of the day, they seemed satisfied and I was relieved. We both learned something new that day.

Info Lit, Media Lit, What the Lit???

UNESCO's Media and Information Literacy Curriculum and Competency Framework is very interesting and more than thinking that they blend together I think they go hand in hand. For us to be able to use and understand media literacy we have to have previous information literacy skills.  We need to read, listen, watch and inform ourselves not from one source but from many. We cannot expect that all media can positively direct information to all of us in the same way, and for us to be able to interprete all of the information that is constantly given to us through mass communication, we need to have info lit foundations.

I do think that information literacy skills have to be acquired at an early age, so they become a habit, to analyze and evaluate information before using it or even believing it.

What is Information Literacy???

Easy way to understanding INFOLIT

Do I want to do this...Info Lit?

I have been very confused with Information Literacy since day 1. I've read articles and I read different meanings but I am not completely sure I still understand it well to be able to think on how to teach my classroom children how to apply it.  I still don't understand if it’s a skill, or is it a requirement or an ability. I do know and confess, that I, as a student, as a teacher, as a person, have used information, whatever I find first, instead of taking my time to read, to browse, to highlight and bookmark from many websites and blogs and articles available. So that said, how can I teach my children not to be lazy and to take advantage of all of what there is available for them to learn. Taking technology courses has opened my eyes and my mind to many ideas, to many thoughts, to many conclusions on what I need to do. I work with small children and I think it’s the right age to begin with. They are so open to learn, they are sponges; they actually want to learn as much as they can, (as much as their attention span allows them). Having technology since a very young age is changing the way they learn, the way they explore and also it changes their expectations; their isn’t anything us teachers cannot know. And that is because we have absolutely every way to investigate, not only to find an answer, but also to find examples, videos, pictures, links, we can Skype experts, we can travel anywhere we want without even moving and we can expand our knowledge in so many ways.

So my advice is to incorporate this into our lives. As adults we CAN still learn, we can still improve, we can still grow. We need to accept that we are in a new era where most of our excuses do not apply anymore, we have million of options and ways to always be on top of it. We just have to want to!

Time for PLN or me...

Trying to find time for me to build my PLN has been overwhelming. I love to read, and I love to learn but my attention spam is the same as a five year old. As soon as I sit down and start reading a blog, I open a new window and check my emails, and I open another window to check my Facebook. So as I am reading my email I remember I was reading a very good blog on something I really like so I go back, and then a take a few minutes to reflect on how will I use or apply my new knowledge, meanwhile I decide to answer any mails I've got or comment on pictures or friends status' and go back and forth back and forth. I look at the time and I see that I have been on the computer a couple of hours and have not accomplish all I had intended to at the beginning, so my challenge is not making time for me to create my PLN, but to learn how to do one thing at a time so I can get the best out of it.  I need to take my time, because now I have Facebook, Twitter, 2 blogs, and access to many other social networks. I know this will help me in many ways to become a better teacher, maybe also a better person but I refuse completely for it to take over my life. We all have to learn to take time to learn, to experience, to grow by using networks but we also have to remember not to be on it all the time. Lets not forget to enjoy life and not overlook something important or simple things because we are on twitter or checking Facebook or reading emails.

Why would it be important for me to have a PLN???

Yes, that was my first impression. I own a computer, so I can Google whatever I don't know, I have a facebook account and a blog ( with 2 entries) from a previous class I took on technology, so I thought I was pretty much a digital native. Was I so very wrong. Let me tell you why, within days I learned I had very little or no knowledge at all of social networks. I'm just starting a course on technology named "Adult Learning at the Workplace" and when I started reading the pre-assignments I started to freak-out. There was so many things I didn't have a clue about, terms I had not heard about, programs, social networks I didn't know existed, apps on google?? OMG!!!! I felt very overwhelmed. So little by little, with a lot of Google-ing, and emails to my mentor, I kind of got the hang of this. I am no expert yet, I still have to look at tutorials for many simple things, but I have come to accept that I have to dive in. I'm a kindergarten teacher in an international school, where we have access to everything we want, technology included. And to be honest, I see children with ipads, computers, digital devices and I know that sooner than later I will have to teach them, not how to use them, but how to get the best out of those devices. So after reading, typing, blogging, tweeting and google-ing ( I still invent a lot of terms) I have come to good terms with all of these. I want to, more than I need to, learn how to be tech-social network-friendly. I hope that I can keep up with everything, and also encourage others to learn because this is not meant to make our lives complicated, it just gives us an insight to a lot of information available, so we can decide what we need, what we want and what we like. With PLN we can share, learn, and also advice. We can become more natives than immigrants and thats what all of this is about.

How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century?

Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Paradigms

I find it very interesting how Sir Ken Robinson begins his speech with "Every country is reforming public education". I do not completely agree that in my country, Mexico, the government is actually reforming public education with the intention to prepare children for our 21st century economy. The educational standards are set and regulated by the Secretaria de Educacion Publica, a federal government division. The educational division discuses and makes decisions of what are the needs in education and how can they implement different policies, but they do not prioritize the skills children need to develop for their future placement in the worlds economy. Mexico is a country were more than half of the children that actually attend school are enrolled in public education institutes, classrooms have from 30 to 50 children with only one teacher in charge of the group with no differentiation and almost no technology. So my question is, due to poverty in this country, what can we teach children that attend public schools? Survival techniques? Technology? No. We let children play, investigate, be creative. We guide them, teach them techniques that will help them become independent human beings, so they can develop critical thinking and problem solving skills so they eventually become someone, so they can go to college, be able to have better job opportunities, to let them be part of our society. We adults are the ones who have to consider ourselves in our economy, so we can fight for education, for our children's future.