21st century skills - Final Reflection

5th forms project have been designed and developed to enhance some of the skills necessary for a 21st century learner.

- Summarizing skills: when dealing with summarizing skills, students worked really hard reading webpages, books and cards which had information about the different projects. They read paragraphs and they had to obtain the main ideas, summarizing them in one or two sentences. Then, they created collaborative presentations with the information they gathered. They also designed mind maps which helped them study.

- Logical & Creative thinking: in our first project Helping Hands students analysed the situation of children in different parts of the world, they connected the place where they lived with their needs. They also read about children's rights and the extent to which they are respected or not around the world. They created a comparative chart collaboratively and they drew conclusions regarding this issue. During Green Helping Hands project students analysed the impact our actions have had on the environment. They investigated about energy & environmental issues. For this they had to find reliable sources, select relevant information, summarize the ideas and show them in a creative way. 

- Communicative skills: during assemblies students trained their skills for communication. They were asked to share their ideas and thoughts about the topics both fluently and accurately. They were given different functions which helped them develop their ideas further as well as specific vocabulary to be more precise when they expressed their beliefs. Besides students had various situations in which they made informal presentations during the projects.

They also developed their communicative skills in writing when they created different pieces of work such as comics, stories, descriptions, presentations, reports.

During the videocalls, students faced the challenge of communicating with both native and non-native speakers from different parts of the world, sometimes with unknown accent or with technological difficulties, but always achieving a successful exchange of messages.

- Reflective thinking (reflective moments): All of our projects contributed to the development of reflective skills as students used their knowledge of the world, their feelings and their perceptions to consider the different themes we worked with. Not only did they reflect upon their social commitment to people in need or the environment, but also about the role of ancient civilizations in shaping our culture and heritage. Furthermore, during the project The Time Machine they also implemented a journal in which they reflected upon their learning and the process carried out in the lesson. 

- Bringing the world into the classroom: 5th form students have connected with different classes from around the world, both synchronically and asynchronously. They have enjoyed learning about other cultures, sharing their interests and guessing the locations while developing geographic skills. They also used social media to report what was going on in real time, they used online browsers and maps to locate geographical features and monuments, as well as books, encyclopaedias and atlas.

- Collaborating with other teachers? (bilingual projects / cross cultural content / global themes) 

Even though it has not been agreed on during the teacher’s meeting, we worked on a bilingual content when we studied Ancient Greeks. We profited from the fact that students studied Greek myths and legends in Spanish at the beginning of the year, in order to build in knowledge regarding this ancient civilization. 

As far as cross cultural content is concerned, we have already mentioned that each of our projects dealt with topics that bridged gaps and expanded students’ view of the world.

5th form Projects took into account global themes such as children's rights, the environment, pollution, poverty etc; which aimed at raising social awareness and building global citizenship. 

Evidence of Reflection Class III

Finally, I delivered a second class to put all the concepts in bilingual education together, my reflections....

It has been an effective lesson as I could notice students’ active involvement and desire to speak. Most of them raised their hands and asked their own questions as the video we watched offered ideas and inquiries as well as fun. During the lesson there was a slight change in the sequence of plan. The language focus was carried out before expected as a couple of students noticed that the sentences they were given to read had “two verbs, one in the present and the other like in the past” (student’ sic). The previous day we worked on the changes a fictional city suffered and students described the way it looked in the past and the way it is nowadays. So, when the lesson began I reminded students of the two cities and asked them the following question: “In your opinion, what has happened? (making reference to a space left between the two pictures). Later, every time a student shared a “human action” I asked him/her if it was performed in the past and if we stopped doing it or if we continued doing it. Finally, I elicited from students the fact that there are actions that we did in the past but still have an effect in the present. Students participated actively because they felt they discovered how to use and frame this new item of language.

As far as formative assessment to monitor learners’ progress is concerned, several aspects were considered so as to engage students in an active participation and productive language skills. Each student was given the time to read the slips of paper, match them and think of the consequences individually. I have two students who feel threatened when they have to speak in front of the class, so they generally write what they are planning to say before exposing themselves and their ideas. Besides, different interaction patterns were used so that students could think on their own but also enrich their beliefs with their partners’ ideas in order to build up the information together. For example, after watching the video, students were given some minutes to think of some questions individually. After that, they discussed their thoughts in small groups and finally they shared their ideas as a whole class. They thought individually, they discussed in small groups and finally they shared to the classroom. In the end, traffic lights were used so that students evaluated their own understanding of the topic. Through this self-evaluation technique I could gather information regarding the student’s feelings in relation to the language item. Most of them agreed that the content was not difficult but that they needed more time and activities to process it since they felt like “yellow”. Only two students demanded a new explanation because they couldn’t grasp the idea of the lesson and other seven students gave “green light” to the lesson because they felt confident enough to use present perfect to talk about human impact on the environment.

Having participated in this course offered me a range of new possibilities to explore in the bilingual classroom. Even though I have been teaching for 10 years I always find I have got new things to learn. I have been using learning targets and success criteria for a few years and this course has strengthened the idea that they are crucial for students’ betterment since they clearly show them what they are expected to do, say and how to reach the desire outcome. This year I have also started working with the four C’s and they provide my lessons with a variety of tasks and skills which make them more meaningful. I have slightly developed my understanding of the triptych, I found the use of it interesting and hard at the same time as I had never heard of it before. I generally have a functional language routine at the beginning of the lessons and sometimes it is not related to the tasks of the day or it relates back to the previous day’s activities. Yet, if I think of it as the language for, it might be useful as I give students the chance to use an item of language accurately which is contextualised. I still think I need to continue being trained as there are things I could not grasp in these three months and which are crucial such as language through. As I have not sufficiently developed my ability to implement language through in my lesson plan, I consider I need to investigate more about it. Having read about essential questions and the revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy, I realise I both are useful to plan my lessons so I consider I need to keep them  at hand to make sure I include activities that cater for these cognitive demands.

Evidence of Reflection Class II

When I participated in the course of Teaching Bilingual Education I delivered a lesson taking into consideration the theory analysed in class. Here I share my reflection on that lesson.

I consider that the lesson was effective in terms of students understanding of content. The most significant aspect which helped students understand the information better was the activation of prior knowledge. As Petty (2006) claims, “to make progress in ‘understanding’ means linking to prior knowledge”. Because there were so many instances in which students worked on content, it was easier for them to comprehend how to use it in the main tasks. First of all, the video gave them an idea on the topic and offered them more information about water. Then, the use of pictures and labels triggered students’ knowledge of vocabulary which was known or stored somewhere in their minds. Together, they worked out the lexical items they needed for the lesson. Besides, they had to think of the links of those concepts to the topic in question. After all these interventions, students were ready to tackle the texts without difficulties and to use the data included to understand maps, which also gave them more information to build their own conclusions and hypotheses. I think that the lesson run smoothly because there had been enough activation of prior knowledge and scaffolding so that students could work out the text autonomously. Mehisto, Frigols & Marsh (2008) consider that we need to anchor the information into our prior knowledge in order to move it into our long-term memory so that it can be recalled at a later time.

However, I think that time constrains have been an issue in this first lesson I was observed. I was so concerned about giving students opportunities to access prior knowledge that there were many questions students asked and time was not enough. Then I had to rush through language, so content and language focus had not been properly balanced. This understanding is essential to me as a practitioner because I think that next lesson needs to have fewer activities, but more effective ones so that there is no need to activate knowledge with three different tasks and there is more time to dedicate to the comprehension and production of language. Because I was not yet confident about the lesson format I couldn’t handle timing properly. I will now need to organize the activities coherently, bearing in mind time sequences so that I can work on both content and language simultaneously, since content and language acquisition go “hand in hand”. (Mehisto, Frigols & Marsh). This could be important to students because it could have a better impact on their learning of both content and language progressively and systematically, in a meaningful way.

Another aspect I would like to improve for the next lesson is the kind of questions I ask students during the lesson. I noticed that most of the questions I pose are questions that guide, questions that lead and, in a smaller degree, questions that hook. Yet, I did not include enough essential questions, which are open-ended, thought provoking and intellectually engaging (Mc Tighe & Wiggins). Acquiring this skill is significant for me as a practitioner since essential questions aim at stimulating thought, provoking inquiry, sparking more questions, thus, demanding for higher order thinking skills. Because I am not yet confident about this topic, I will need to plan thoroughly the type of questions that might be asked to trigger students understanding.

Holidays

Language Competence at my school

Task 2: Language Competence

The acquisition of English as a foreign language at Newlands School starts at the age of three in kindergarten. Students use the functions of the language as a daily, systematic and organized process, establishing their first encounter with English through songs, games and drama; activities which favour the exposure and exploration. Once students start junior school, they keep learning the language through communicative tasks which are based on meaningful content, contextualized in projects. This fosters the development of the linguistic competence which is required to sit for their first international exam in 6^th form: KET, Key English Test – Cambridge ESOL. When they start senior school students deepen their learning of the language through the study of curricular content in subjects such as environmental management, literature, history. The knowledge acquired allow students to sit for PET (Preliminary English Test), FCE (First Certificate in English) and CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) administered by Cambridge ESOL as well as the diplomas of academic achievement: IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education); ICE (International Certificate of Education) and AICE (Advanced International Certificate of Education) administered by CIE (Cambridge International Exams) 

In the case of primary school, students’ performance is graded in the report card using four levels: outstanding and satisfactory are given to students who successfully achieve the contents; whereas in needs of improvement and below standard are used with learners who cannot reach the expected performance in the different areas of the language. Report cards show students’ level regarding general knowledge, spoken and written performance, thinking, investigation and communicative skills, behavior among other concepts.  Besides, students are evaluated on the effort they make to achieve those goals, which is described in three categories.

Furthermore, daily achievement is graded bearing in mind a learning intention, and a rubric which expresses the success criteria for each task. These learning intentions or objectives are related to the development of communicative functions of the language such as expressing ideas in the past, making predictions/plans about the future, talking about experiences, giving opinions/suggestions/advice among others. Marks are shared with students daily, and, in some cases, they grade themselves according to their own perception of their performance offered in class.

Taking into consideration the global scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe 2001), I consider that some of my students possess the strategies described in B1 level even though they sit for KET, which represents A2 level. I notice that they:

Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics, which are familiar, or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

Yet, I think that it is important to point out that some other students in my group are at a lower level (A2) as they master some of the strategies described in A2 as well as a few of the ones mentioned in B1.

Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

To conclude, I think my students’ performance varies from basic to an independent user of the language, depending on the aspect in question as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the learner.

Considering my linguistic competence level, I think that that I fall into the category of effective operational proficiency, C1. This category claims that I can understand demanding texts and recognize the implicit meaning, that I can express myself fluently and accurately using a wide range of language for social and academic, and professional purposes, and that I can produce clear, well-structured texts respecting organizational patters, connectors and cohesive devices.  However, I consider I can handle some of the skills describe in the C2 level too. For example I can differentiate finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations

All in all, the CERF is a framework to classify linguistic competence in the foreign language which has proven useful for the design of school programs. As it is claimed, the CERF “[…] was designed to provide a transparent, coherent and comprehensive basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, the design of teaching and learning materials, and the assessment of foreign language proficiency.” Nonetheless, it should not be taken as fixed description of our students’ level or our yearly plan since variations may occur and competences may be mixed resulting in a new category. As it is mentioned in CERF, it  […] does not offer ready-made solutions but must always be adapted to the requirements of particular contexts.

References:

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp. Retrieved April 19^th 2014.

Task 1: Interview & CLIL

I am participating in a course for bilingual teachers and I would like to share some reflections.

Task 1: Inteview & CLIL

Transforming practice after theory

Four students in my educational context were interviewed with the purpose of analysing the challenges they face by learning content through an additional language and the elements/instances they would pick out as supporting their learning. The students interviewed belong to a bilingual school located in the southern area of Buenos Aires. Two of them are in 5^th form primary school; and the other two are in 3^rd year, secondary school. The four students have attended the same bilingual school since kindergarten and they have a standard level of English, both spoken and written.

To begin with, students were asked about the topics learnt the previous year in order to see whether they gave more importance to content or language, or both. Primary school students mentioned mainly grammatical items of the language. However, secondary school students remembered topics dealt with in different subjects such as literature, environmental management and history. This might give evidence on the fact that the main focus of the lessons in primary school last year was grammar. Therefore, they were asked whether they studied any particular content which might be related to Spanish in order to trigger their memory and they mentioned the knights, Manuel Belgrano and May Revolution.

In relation to the difficulties they find when they have to study content in the foreign language, the four students coincided in that using the correct words is hard and expressing the ideas in English takes them longer than in their Spanish lessons. This might be because the language demanded by the content may not properly highlighted in the lessons, as it is suggested by Coyle (2010). Students stated that when they have to study content it is easier if they work with a partner preparing posters, filling in a shared document, using books or the computers. Finally, they claimed that when there is something that they can’t understand they use the material available to work out meaning, they ask their partners or, as a last resource, they ask the teacher.

Having read The CLIL Tool Kit: Transforming theory into practice, and analysed the answers obtained in the in the interview I realise that it is important to consider the four components of CLIL when planning a project, content, communication, cognition and culture, so as to achieve a successful and meaningful performance. I have significantly improved my understanding of the learning of the different types of language which is demanded by the content (language of, for and through). Additionally, I have learned the theoretical reason behind a task that I have included in my project and which links classrooms throughout the world. As Coyle (2010) puts it “CLIL integrates language learning and content learning at cognitive and cultural levels appropriate to the learning. It is this interaction which results in new learning scenarios which are different from regular language or content lessons”

References

Coyle, D et al. (2010). Content and Language Integrated Learning. UK: CUP. 

Mystery Games

I strongly believe that our students need new skills for the XXIst century: skills for collaboration, for teamwork, to share knowledge, for interaction. That’s the reason why I design school projects which cater for those needs since they are multi faceted: they integrate the teaching of content with language learning, focusing on the communication of ideas through technology. Taking risks and being innovative as well as becoming global citizens capable of engaging in collaborative and cooperative projects with people from around the world are other key skills our students are required for their future. For these reasons, I have been promoting collaboration among schools from all around the globe. The interaction among schools has been carried out by means of synchronous and asynchronous meetings that Newlands students hold with kids from other parts of the world via Google Hangout. During these encounters students play games, give and receive information, engage in research tasks, solve problems among many other highly motivating and meaningful tasks with the purpose of achieving a certain goal decided beforehand by the teachers. In this particular lesson, instead of reading information from a book or searching data on the internet, students played a Mystery Game with students from North Korea and Uganda in which, by means of Yes/ No questions, students had to guess where the other class was located before they guessed your location. Due to time differences, we held this meeting in an asynchronous mode by recording three videos: 1) five questions to ask the other school, 2) the answers to the other school’s questions, 3) 10 clues which give relevant information about the country. This lesson was successful since it was a meaningful way to learn about other cultures with real people telling us about themselvevs.

Follow Brandon Hall, to learn more about this:

Mystery Game # 2

We sent some videos to friends in the world in order to find out where they are located...



Mystery Game 2 Questions from Daiana Martinez on Vimeo.

Some Reflections on Teacher Development & Learning

Excellence in teaching is what most educators pursue. In order to become a better teacher, training is needed so as to deepen our knowledge and refine our skills, and to be considered professionals of education. A professional can account for their decisions theoretically and improve their practices after reflection. According to Timperley (2008), there are four important issues regarding our role as teachers which need to be accounted for:

a)      What our students learn is directly related to what and how we teach,

b)      Teachers decisions are crucial in this complex activity of teaching,

c)       Teachers are responsible for setting the appropriate conditions for students to learn, conditions in which we engage our students’ background knowledge to be associated to the new knowledge in organized frameworks which can be retrieved and used.

d)      Teachers and students context shape reality, their understandings of it and their experiences.

For me, the most relevant issue that teachers need to consider is related to the integration of knowledge and skills, i.e.: the link among particular teaching activities, students’ responses to those activities and what they actually learn. Teachers need to have acquired knowledge of the curriculum, how to teach it and how to assess it. Besides, the ability to identify what exactly students know and can do is a prerequisite for teaching that is responsive to students’ needs. When teachers are aware of how the decisions they take in the lessons may affect their students’ performance either positively or negatively, they can start improving those practices in order to guarantee an effective learning environment. Teachers should take greater responsibility for the learning of all students. Additionally, teachers need a variety of ways to assess the students’ outcomes and progress, ways that include but go beyond standardised testing such as interviews, analysis of students’ written work, classroom observations, among others. Thus, a theoretical understanding of teaching is the basis for making ongoing principled decisions about practice.

However, the aforementioned issues can be reached if certain conditions are assured. Teachers need to have the possibility of belonging to professional learning communities with other colleagues in order to acquire new knowledge and skills to become more effective educators. External experts (within the school or from outside) may offer new possibilities to challenge the assumptions and the social norms in which the group operates. Yet, there is a need to promote sustainability in education in order to develop skills, knowledge and values that promote behaviour in support of professional teaching. Schools need to have an organizational infrastructure which supports professional self-regulatory inquiry skills and teacher learning. Furthermore, all learning activities require trust and challenge. Change involves risk taking, and before teachers take risks they need to trust that their efforts will be supported, not belittled.

Timperley H. (2008). Teacher professional learning and development. ImprImerie Nouvelle Gonnet. France: Belley. 

Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos - MOOC

En esta oportunidad estoy participando de un curso masivo online y abierto sobre el "Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos" (ABP) en el cual conoceremos proyectos de referencia, los analizaremos, y hasta diseñaremos nuestros propios proyectos. Además tendré la oportunidad de contactar otros docentes, y profesionales de la educación con quienes podré debatir y conocer sus puntos de vista en relación a esta metodología.

Para comenzar, preparé una breve presentación asi mis compañeros y profesores me conocen!

Our first Mystery Hangout!

Mystery Hangout 1 from Daiana Martinez on Vimeo.

21st Century Learning - Part 4: Context

This year, after our head's recommendation, we changed the books from the home reading programme as the context was not student friendly. It was not related to their realities so students found it hard to grasp meaning. As they were classics, the characters and the plot were difficult to relate to their daily life or their knowledge of the world. As a result interaction between student was not very successful because they could only reproduce the main ideas in the text without getting involved or feeling identified with characters or situations. However, the topics dealt with during the projects are related to the students' context so they felt motivated and engaged to interact and communicate their ideas and thoughts.naturally.

Teaching Listening Strategies III

Some tips to consider before planning a listening task:

ü  Establish the purpose:

-       Listen to remember important information / learn

-       Listen for details (lexical items, grammatical units, functional languge)

-       Listen for general idea

-       Listen for implied meaning

 

ü  Teach 5 to 10 words before listening. You can use a chart like this one

Words I know	Words I don’t know	Words a bit familiar to me

ü  While listening encourage students to carry out note taking to identify main idea and find details. Different tools can be used: rough outline, graphic organizer, chart, story map.

ü  How to help students identify main idea? In listening activities speakers use:

-       Direct statements

-       Repetitive words and phrases

-       Pacing: pauses, Increased volume, Change in pitch of voice.

-       In a video, body gestures and mood.

ü  Ask general questions to follow the listening taks.

ü  Don't focus on gramar too much (1 grammatical point per time)

ü  1 listening activity a day (15’
 

Teaching Listening Strategies II

Abbott & Godinho (2004) suggest a collaborative learning strategy to carry out listening tasks. They built a framework for listening comprised of four units:


1. Tuning In-concentrates on developing individual and small-group communication skills that provide a foundation for learning and working cooperatively in any situation.

2. Tell Me the Story-explores narrative frameworks and strategies for engaging an audience.

3. So What’s New?-promotes dynamic performance and presentation skills

4. Let Me Change Your Mind-investigates provocative ways of developing and contesting points of view.


Through these activities, students will find significant aspects of the language through cooperative learning, such as the identification of the message, the understanding of the category, the understanding of the higher-order ideas in the text, the implied meaning, and the justification or persuasion within the discussion.

Abbott & Godinho (2004) Speak, Listen, and Learn. Stenhouse Publishers

Retrieved from "Listening Strategies and Applications in EFL Classroom" By Sella Liao.

Keelung Municipal ZhongShan Senior High School  

Teaching Listening Strategies

Acquiring listening skills has been a concern since I was a child. I’ve always found difficult to understand tapes teachers used to play in the lessons. I even find it hard today, when learning another language, to grasp the general idea that is presented in the audio. I think that the problem stems from the fact that teachers and students carry out ineffective actions when dealing with listening activities. I consider that students may not be well prepared before the task as there seems to be no specific training of listening strategies or preparation of pre listening activities which may ease the task and lower the anxieties produced with the unknown. Besides, I think that we as students acquired ineffective listening habits which do no foster the understanding of oral texts or the acquisition of strategies that might prove helpful.

 

There seems to be two ineffective practices that teachers use when dealing with listening tasks which restrain students from reaching proficiency in listening skills. The first one is that teachers tend to start the audio without setting objectives, without predicting content thought previous activity, without reading the task to check understanding and comprehension. As there is not previous involvement with the text to came, and no guidance through the process of understanding oral texts, students get lost in the waves of spoken information and end up feeling disappointed and frustrated.

 

The second deals with the fact that teachers organise the listening task in such a way that it prevents students from thinking. In general, students rush through the task without using higher order thinking skills as they seem to be more concerned about getting at least one word which may get them back to the lost line. Besides, most of the tasks designed deal with basic listening survival skills such as, complete the word in a song or place the chorus in order.

 

However, to be an effective learner, students need to carry out several activities which are not always fostered:

• Establish a reason for learning and the objectives.
• Pedict information expected to find in the message
• Gather the raw speech and create an image of it in the short term memory.
• Organize the information by identifying the speech event (dialogue, lecture, radio) and the function of it.
• Recall background information.
• Assign meaning to the message
• Check if the message is understood
• Determine the information to be stored in the long term memory.

 

Brown, H. (2001). Teaching by Principles. New York: Longman.

 

21st Century Learning - Part 3: Tools

"Standing still is not an option". We agree with this statement and because of this we try implement digital tools either for reflection, such as this blog, for training for instance courses or seminars, and for fun such as the use of social networks.

It doesn't matter weather teacher or students feel more at ease with technology, as learning is a two way Street. Besides, technology should be a means to an end, not the end in itself. Both teachers and students can teach and learn at any momento using the technology available, and profiting from each other's expertise.

21st Century Learning - Part 2: Content

 

We agree that language itself is not enough for our 21st century students. In fact the three main areas of content covered in the video are considered within 5th form projects: cross curricular, cross cultural content and global themes. There are some instances that still need to be polished such as bilingual Project, but we still work across the curriculum collaborating with teachers from other groups in primary and secondary.

 

What we consider to be unacceptable is to expect everybody to be the same as we are, not to acknowledge diversity. We would like to include cross cultural activities this year, communicating with schools from other countries within the connecting classroom framework. It would be interesting to share different points of view regarding the same topic globally, in order to reflect on our own culture and to discover how it differs from others.

 

5th form Projects take into account global themes sucha as children's righs, the environment, pollution, poverty etc; which aim at raising social awareness and building global citizenship. In this way we pretend to expand their view of the world.

21st Century Learning - Part 1: Skills

After having watched the video from Pearson ELT on the importance of developing 21st Century skills, here are our reflections.

 

Even though we do not belong to the same generation as our students, we do not consider ourselves digital immigrants, we are not outsiders. We feel comfortable with using technology in the classroom and we consider ourselves flexible enough to adapt to what the situation requires. We accept the challenge to help our students develop the digital skills they need to process the huge amount of information available to them. We are conscious that there is a need to add into our plans instances in which they filter and summarise the data the Internet has to offer.

 

Summarising skills can be implemented from the very beginning. We can train our students to summarise key points from texts read, songs, any given topic, and we can even have a "Summary of the lesson" activity at the end of the day.

 

In relation to our first project, Helping Hands, we could include logical thinking strategies when gathering data about the situation of children in Argentina, and about the process of collecting items for donation. This is an aspect we need to go on exploring. Also, regarding creative thinking, students could be asked to present results using different tools and media.

 

Even though fifth form projects deal with working with teams to try to promote social change, it may be necessary to go more deeply into what it means to work as a team, the roles involved, the expected attitude and behaviour, learning to act both as a good leader and as a good follower.

 

Developing communicative skills is a central issue. In fifth form students have several opportunities to exercise these skills throughout the year, however they mainly give informal talks or presentations. We could try to implement the teaching of formal presentation skills so that students gain more confidence and develop accuracy in a formal register.

 

We consider we should include reflecting moments within our plans, making them explicit and providing them with a specific timing in the assembly. This year we aim to raise students' awareness in relation to their learning styles and provide them with tools to enhance their strong points while at the same time improving their weaknesses.