The things I've learned to the things I've thought
here lies some reflections, and lessons taught & learned during my time in school here in Madrid.
The School
CEIP Pinocho
Under the auxiliares program I’m placed in CEIP Pinocho in Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid.
The school is named after the mischievous puppet/real boy (spoilers!) who’s most known for his nose that grows whenever he lies! The school accommodates infantil to primary school students.
During this time of writing, I spent most of my times in the school teaching 1st grade primary and 2nd grade primary school students (though our schedules are set to change throughout the school year.)
Contact CP Pinocho at website: https://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/centro.cp.pinocho.torrejondeardoz/pinocho
The teachers
I’ve learned and am learning so much from the teachers in CP Pinocho. In this section, I highlight an important lesson learned from each teacher. None of these “lessons” learned are mutually exclusive, the lessons learned from one teacher I’ve also learned from other teachers. I am only highlighting one each for emphasis and to make it easier to relate some anecdotes from the past classes.
Aurora
Ivan
Marta
“I went to the dollar store and got caught up buying so much school stuff with my own money”
Aurora has taught me the value of being prepared in class. She always tries her best to find the best teaching materials, activity, and lessons for the students. I can see her passion for her job when she goes out of her way to make the activities more informative and fun for the students. When Aurora comes in the class you know she has an activity or two up here sleeves!
“idealistic with a little bit of a spunk… mmmm let’s see.. Gryffindor!!” Ivan dubs in a pre-recorded video of him sorting the students into their Hogwarts houses during the Harry Potter themed school day we had in class. He can be seen in the picture above in a wizard’s robe!
Cheerfulness is Ivan’s second nature his energy translates into his work and I have learned this value from him. When he engages the class in with his positive energy his energy passes through the students making them more comfortable to engage and participate in the activities in class.
"can you help her, she has troubles reading"
usually, I help students who are already engaged in the class. What I’ve learned with Marta is knowing that students have different learning styles. As teachers we should not focus on those who are engaged but find ways to engage the disengaged. It makes the most sense but I failed to see it. That the ones we should be helping are the ones that are in need. This story ends with me helping the student and that she was really smart once I got to know her and got her to engage in the class, that every student just needs that little nudge!!
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Teaching materials
Available for Download
I’ve found that involving the kids in games makes them more engaged in the classes. On most days, I keep a presentation or a game I made handy, on some days, I just wing it. Sometimes I’ll make use of flashcards on the Cambridge teacher’s web site and make the kids race towards the flashcard that I’ll announce, or do a Tic-tac-toe with objects from the lessons we’ve learned, or do a hangman but instead of threatening to hang a guy I go with a more child-friendly save-the-snowman-from-melting game.
Here are some of the presentations I’ve presented in class. I try to incorporate things, objects, and people that I know will relate to the kids. Sometimes its dance moves from videogames, superheroes, timely topics, or just some cute gifs.
KABOOM!
An engaging interactive game for the whole class
In this document, I've prepared a presentation with around 15 question slides + 5 kaboom slides of simple questions. Duplicate the Kaboom graphics and link the 15 slides along with the 5 kaboom graphics with the numbered circle graphics.
The students work in a team. Each question they answer is a point but here's the catch, there are 5 slides that contain the "bomb" or "kaboom" that ticks for 3 seconds if the 3 seconds have passed and the student didn't give the correct answer their team loses all points.
Batman vs The Riddler
Batman themed Question and Answer activity
In this activity, I try to role play with the students and have them "Help" batman against his fight against the Riddler. In order to help Batman, the students need to choose between the choices that best answer Riddler's questions. The Questions are also Batman themed and is accompanied by the proper Batman gifs/ videos to engage the students in the activity.
Kahoot!
online/ in-class interactive lessons!!
Kahoot is a great platform I use a lot when I'm in a pinch the game show format of the quizzes along with the sound and time constraints make for a really educational, fun, and interactive game for everyone in the class !!
Below is a link for my Kahoot profile. You will find some games that I made for class that you can also play!