Mindmap: Cacoo

Cacoo is an online diagram and flowchart software.We used it for creating a diagram on the book Seven complex lessons in education for the future by Edgar Morin.

This tool is easy to use and when creating your diagrams you can use pictures, different shapes, colours, and even emojis. All the necessary elements to create vivid mindmaps are there. Besides, it is useful to use it when students need to do a summary of any topic and they can collaboratively work and participate on the assignment without needing to be in the same place. In fact, from their computers, they all work at the same time. That is incredible.

I think that teenagers and adults can accurately work with such an amazing tool.

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For the birds (Short film to teach values)

Short films are and interactive tool for teaching and learning, and for me, “a must”, for motivating students and engage them on learning. Working with films is an eye catching way of working with different contents.

I have chosen the film  “For the birds” because this video made me think about the importance of teaching values at school. Unfortunately, most of children do not respect the other. One of my groups in my institute is sometimes laughing at others, so I think this is the great opportunity to change their view. I always speak with them and teach them about the significance of respect, but then, they do it again. So, I am going to work on this video for then reflecting.

By using Movie Maker, I have added to it some comment for making it like more interactive. For instance, after the title I wrote: "What do you think this story is about?". Then, when the birds laughed at the lonely one, I wrote "Why are they laughing at the bird?". In this way, the use of this video promote participation and also teach about values in a more attractive way.

Infography: Visme

Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.

I chose Visme to work with.

I designed an infography about "How to smile and live happily". I included different steps with a description and pictures.

We can use this exciting tool for presenting topics in an interesting and eye-catching way to all levels of English.

Created using Visme. An easy-to-use Infographic Maker.

Learning objects: Jigsaw Planet

I chose JIGSAW PLANET to work with because I think that students love playing with puzzles. They make them think carefully and they demands concentration from them .

In this webpage you can upload any image and create the puzzle with the difficulty that you want taking into account  the number of pieces.

In the following pictures, you can see that I create a puzzle with an image about “Animals under the sea” since I am working with students from my institute with that topic. In my opinion, this activity will help them revise all the names of the animals, and after putting the pieces back together, they can describe the animals and name them, thus remembering vocabulary and creating their own productions orally.

In fact, this activity can be used for any group to work with any topic and the only things we have to do are choosing different pictures and changing the puzzles’ difficulty. In the end, students will successfully revise concepts and learn as well.

Innovative Teaching Approach: Padlet

Padlet is an interactive and online wall in which we can organise our life. We can use it with phrases, with summaries for studying, and even with all the things that we have to do or goals to accomplish. We can write or express whatever comes to our mind.

This great wall will help us to arrange our whole life. Moreover, it can help our students to make summaries for exams or write down notes about any topic.

The padlet I created has phrases about Life, to cheer up our friends, mates or  family members.

Podcasting: Voki

Voki is a fantastic tool that let users create avatars in a creative and personal way.

When entering on the page, students can start creating their own avatars by choosing different characters and different backgrounds. Interestingly, they can add a voice to their avatars too. In this way, students can spend lot of time designing an avatar for then showing it to their classmates. In fact, teachers can propose students to use this wonderful tool with any topic they want.

I really liked this tool and I created one avatar for introducing my blog to the first year at secondary school group. As they received the netbook, I proposed them to create a blog for further practice.

If you click on the following link, you can look at my avatar: http://tinyurl.com/y6uszwo5.

Scoop it !

Scoop it is an interesting platform in which we can upload or share different contents according to our interests.

On my account (Mari Montenegro),  I created an album to follow with the topic "Teaching English at Schools", and inside it, the pages I scooped and rescooped appear.

I think that this site is amazing for being informed and discovering new trends and thoughts.

http://www.scoop.it/u/mari-montenegro