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Summary of the presentations

Amgios del Football

The “Amigos del Football” were the first group who started with their presentation.  The topic of their presentation was inclusive schools and the presentation was made of a definition, main ideas, barriers and a conclusions. As well they showed us a video at the beginning. The video was about inclusive education experience and practice. Teachers talked about their experience and told their opinion about inclusion. They said for example that all students must be included, teachers have to work together, all students must be preparing for the real world or that children can learn from each other. The group presented us also the main ideas from different authors like Gordon Porter, Tony Booth, Mel Ainscow or Gerardo Echeita. Porter for instance stands for equity and quality. He has the opinion that current resources must be use effective. Mel Ainscow defines inclusion as a process and Echeita insist that the culture and the policy in the educative centers has to change. They showed us that inclusion has also some barriers. The three main barriers are: Policies, diversity and didactic. But there are strategies to solve these problems for example creating inclusive cultures, producing inclusive policies, evolving inclusive practices etc. At the end of their presentation they showed us one example for an inclusive school. The name of the school is O Pelouro School. It is a child-centered school. All kids live in the same space; they are never separated according to their abilities.

Crónicas Viajeras

The Crónicas Viajeras developed a great conceptual map about ICT and learning disabilities. They talked about three different disabilities: Autism, Down syndrome and motor disability. The conceptual map was divided into the definition, the difficulties, new technologies, which can help and the results and consequences.

Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder which is characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication. Kids with autism have difficulties in socialization, language, thoughts and imaginations. Down syndrome, also called trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder characterized by mild to severe mental impairment, weak muscle tone, shorter stature, and a flattened facial profile. Some of the difficulties that belong to that disorder are distractions, minor initiative or also difficulties to remember things. Also the group talked about motor disability. That includes physical and motor difficulties. In school there are often unadapted facilities, which can be a huge problem for these kids.

The new technology nowadays can help these kids to learn easier and also include them easier in class. There are for example tablets, different games, mp3 (music), computers and laptops which can be used from teachers in class. For instance a whiteboards helps kids with Down syndrome a lot, because they are really visual. They are more motivated and it is easier to remember things with that.

The group showed us also a video where they explained that technology helps to communicate or to create different imaginations. For some children it is for example difficult to pay attention on a paper, but in the video we could see that these kids paid a lot attention on a ipad, because on a Ipad they can see movements and hear music. This is enjoying and motivates them.

At the end of their presentation the group had a small activity. One group member went to one group and they showed us an app. It was a game for kids with a disorder. It was really nice to get to know such an app and how apps like this work.

Team Perk

Team Perk talked about ICT and improvement in school. The introduction of their presentation was made with a video called “The future starts now – 2012 edition” The video was about how to use ICT smartly to improve learning.

The group talked about advantaged and possible difficulties. Difficulties could be that the new technology is most of the time really expensive or sometimes teachers are afraid to use new things. But it is important that the teachers learn to use it, because before they are going to teach students how to work with technology, they have to know how to work with it. Teachers could learn this in teacher trainings or at university. Technology is in the world of the children every day present. All children are digital native. They grow up with technology, so they have to know how to handle them. Also the group talked about social learning in school. The goal is to improve communication between children and teachers. Social network and the internet help to avoid boundaries. Of course there are also other tools like Ipad or robotic. Apps can for example support the class. The video the group showed us was about the use of Ipads in class. You could see how comfortable it was for the kids and that you can attend the attention of other kids who have for example difficulties in reading or motivation. Their conclusion in the end was a great short summary. They mentioned that teachers have to continue to do trainings and that there are a lots of different possibilities to use technology in class.

Unknowns

The conceptual map about inclusive schools of the Unknowns was divided in following different parts: introduction, ideas, benefits, questions and answers and a conclusion. In the introduction they presented us the authors on which their presentation was based on. The authors were the same like in the presentation of “Amigos del Football”, because of that the content was in some points similar.

The ideas and objectives are that inclusive education is presented as a right of all children. Inclusive schools linked to multicultural education. It is about not to leave anyone out and to promote opportunities for everyone. The group mentioned three main barriers: Political (contradictory laws and rules), cultural (permanent attitude of categorize and establish discriminatory rules between the children) and didactics. The group had also a questions and answers part, which was really nice, because in that way they included the class to their presentation. One question was for example “Why is inclusive education important?” The answer to that is of course diversity. Another question was “Is inclusive education for everybody?” Yes it is. That is the point of inclusion, to include everyone without making difference between children.

The video they showed us was about padre piquer center. That’s a school in a low socio-economic neighborhood where the diversity is really high although the students are pretty good in school. The results of their exams are great. Most of the people think because of the huge diversity the marks of the children are bad. But that school showed us that diversity is not bad and doesn’t mean automatically that the student’s grade suffers because of that.

For the group the solutions for the barriers are for example to create inclusive cultures, develop inclusive policies or to develop inclusive practices.

Wanderlust

The group “Wanderlust” prepared a presentation about social and emotional learning. Social emotional skills bring you social well being and academic success. Emotions are daily seen in class. Teachers have to work every day with the emotions of the kids. One task of a teacher is that the children feel happy in class. The group talked also about empathy. To develop empathy in class it is important to attend the emotions of children, listening active and make the children fell free to express their feelings. Teachers have a main role in school and they can do a lot to develop a classroom full of empathy like emotional stimulation, an environment where you listen to each others, respect others view or to be equal to all students.

In the presented video they mentioned that you have to spend a lot of time and effort to develop a peaceful living together. In the video teacher explained that it is important to understand the kids or to spend a lot of time to talk with them. Teachers can help them with their problems by trying to get to know them better, being opened or support them in terms of emotional skills.

Dumbledore Teacher's Army

Why is leadership important in school?

Leadership is important to driving up standards and ensuring that all young people get the good education which they deserve. Teachers have to be leaders to promote the learning of all children. They have to show the students the right way and promote the growth of all students by cultivating a strong culture of teaching and learning. Teachers have a lot of power which they should use by developing a strategy to promote effective and collaborative teaching practices. A specific system, school structures and social norms can help teachers to make sure that all students get the same chance to archive their goals.

What are the main characteristic of a good leader?

A good leader should represent three characteristics: businessman, organizer and institutional expert. To be a businessman as a teacher is important because you have many different students which you work with, so it is important to know how to handle this. Organizer is as well important because as a teacher you haven’t so much time but at same moment you have a lot of content which you have to teach. That’s way it is important to organize yourself well so nothing or nobody get missed. Teacher should know what they are speaking about. They have to be expert in their area. They can’t know everything but if they teach something they should be well prepared and should be able to answer questions.

This three characteristics of a leader were mentioned by the group but I think you can lead a class in many different ways. In my virw it depends a lot on your own personality and on what kind of teachers you want to be. Everybody has to figure it out by himself and I think that need a lot of school practice.

Conclusion

All in all at this point I can say that all presentation were really good. With each presentation we have learned something new and it helped us to increase our knowledge about how to improve the organization at schools. At the same time you realize that there are a lot of different aspects, which you have to consider when you think about school organization.

Technology is nowadays inevitable in schools. The kids from today grow up with technology; they have to learn how to use it right. Also the use of different technology is very helpful when you work with children with a disorder like Down syndrome or autism. This also supports the idea of inclusive school where all students learn together and it doesn’t matter if some have a physical or cognitive disorder. Diversity doesn’t mean automatically that is it more difficult for the teacher or that it has a bad influence on the learning process. It all depends on the school structure and on the teachers of course. Creating inclusive cultures, producing inclusive policies or evolving inclusive practices can help to develop a successfully inclusive learning. Emotions take also a big part at school; teachers have to know that and have this in mind. It’s a teachers task to make the students feel comfortable and free to expressive their feelings or opinions. There are many different ways to develop a peaceful way of living together in school. The school has to develop an own strategic and figure out what is for them important. After that they have to work on it hard, because to accomplish the ideal school structure needs a lot of time and effort.