Ideas about an opinion essay

Why eating out makes us fat

Fast food and taxes

Xmas is coming

A collection of Xmas Ads

Frozen 2 into the unknown

Watch the video and fill the gaps of the song.

A presentation with genially

You will have to create a presentation using Genially. For that, follow these links to get help.
The presentation should be about any aspect related to the environment.
Ask for help if you need any.

Click to see our genially about recycling


Genially tutorial

Web de ayuda para crear un Genially

Stages to do a Genially in class

• Present a plan which shows clearly the staging of the activities that the students used to prepare the project (e.g. Stage 1. Choose topic and establish groups; 2) choose modality of Genially…)

1. First, we were dealing with the issue of environment and environmental problems so they decided to to a genially on how to recycle better.

2. The small groups looked on a suitable source of information, and they decided on an article each. As we don’t always have access to the computer room, they finally reached an agreement and decided to do something about recycling. 

3, For that, they were investigating on the different templates, as they did not have any previous experience on Genially and they chose a quiz. We also watched a tutorial which I uploaded on the blog.

4. Again in the small groups, they chose one question each (they are 20 students organised in 5 groups of 4 people). They also had to search for images and the way to write them for the quiz.

5. Then, one representative of each group was chosen as a spokesperson because they had to decide on common things such as the background, the same way to answer the questions, etc,

6. Finally, the representatives did the presentation while the rest of the groups decided on how to present it orally. Each group had to talk about why was everything chosen and how they reached agreements.

7. Last but not least, the spokespeople did the presentation in class and decided that every person in every group should go to other groups of the ESO and Bachillerato students to introduce their presentation,

• Comment on how decisions were taken as to the grouping of students and timings of the process.

The decisions all had to be made within the groups and quite quickly, as we only had two hours in this particular subject to do it. There was a timer set on the computer and although it was quite stressful, they also learnt to organise their time better.

• A sample of any additional materials you used (handouts, project planners etc.)

A handout of the article https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjW27DvsYrmAhUK8hQKHQGrBLAQFjAAegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2018%2F05%2F29%2Fclimate%2Frecycling-wrong-mistakes.html&usg=AOvVaw3_6bBhWLCjOHLU7G08NLSe

They also downloaded the best images they found. Some were from Genially, some were from the web, trying to choose free images.

• Links to the projects realised by your students (you can choose the best ones to upload)

https://view.genial.ly/5dd7f04351a61a0f71d6f86d/learning-experience-challenges-recycling

• Video, Audio and/or photos of the presentations.

There was no video. Only the photographs seen in the presentation.

• Lastly, do not forget to reflect on how the use of the tool has optimised your students’ learning experience and has helped you achieve the objectives. Would you change anything?

They were not aware of this type of interactive presentations with Genially and they quickly loved the idea of doing something with it. Again, as in the other activities in this course, the limited use of computers we have makes everything a little harder.

Timelines with Timetoast

Some of the timelines of my students:

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2140346

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142254

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2138526

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142217

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2138515

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142870

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142982

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2143000

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2141999

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142017

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2141792

https://media.timetoast.com/timelines/2142362

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2142402

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2141934

• The learning objectives of the activity:

The objectives were: to raise awareness of the 19th century literature

To learn about the lives of the Brontë sisters

To reflect about the story we are reading now: Wuthering Heights.

To raise awareness of the situation of women writers and compare it to this day and age.

• The advantages of using TimeToast for this activity

By using Timetoast they could reflect about the life of the three sisters and its influence on their books.

• The steps you followed to set up the activity

I gave them this page to read and also the reader we are dealing with, Wuthering Heights. With these two things, they could decice whether to do the timeline abour their life, the book, or the period. First we read both texts, the book and the webpage. Then, I explained the way to do the timeline. In the timelines they had to include one link and photographs of their choice to illustrate it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bronte_sisters.shtml

• Any problems and how you and the students solved them. As they are Bachillerato students, no problems arose, and they did the timelines at home, some individually, some in pairs.
• The students’ reaction – how did they feel about using TimeToast to complete the task?

They enjoyed the activity and saw the possibilities of creating timelines with other subjects.

• Some things that you would change / improve next time

Perhaps I would tell them to choose the photographs more carefully and see if the links worked.

• At least 3 ways that the use of TimeToast helped you achieve your learning objectives

It helped to reflect more carefully on the elements of the Brontë’s life present in the book

It helped to set the novel in its right period of history

It helped to raise awareness of the situation of women writers.

Comics with Pixton

Pixton comic

We did this comic in a subject called “Inglés práctico”. There are 19 students and we only had one computer to access the internet, as all the ICT classrooms were full.

●     How did you organise the groups?

We had 4 groups of five people. 

●    What was the sequence of tasks that you followed to get to the final product?
First, we watched a tutorial on how to create a comic with Pixton. Then, all of them decided on the subject we were going to talk about. As we are studying environmental issues, such a comic was the chosen one.

Then, we organized the groups. One group wrote the script, which we decided was going to be simple because we wanted to use it to be shown to ESO students. Then, another group decided on the characters, their physical appearance, their clothing, the setting... Another group began creating the comic on the computer with the assistance of the other groups and the last team checked if there were mistakes or if anything should be added.

●     What were the specific learning objectives for this activity? How did the use of the tool help the learners achieve these objectives? Please be specific and give concrete examples.

Objectives:
-Reflect on the use of simple vocabulary to achieve a complex task: as the comic is for ESO students, they had to choose appropriate vocabulary
-Decide in groups what was going to be used: This took quite a long time, as they had to agree on the setting, the characters and the sentences used.
-Revise vocabulary related to recycling and the environment. They revise words such as reuse, revise, recycle etc.

●     In what ways (be specific) was creativity and the use of imagination encouraged in your students?

They had read many comics but never done one, so this was an opportunity to do some thinking about the way to do it.

●      What did your students enjoy most / least about this activity?

The technical part was hard as we only had one computer. They enjoyed creating the comic strip

●     What would you change next time?

We have two lessons per week, so I would dedicate two more apart from the two hours we used.

●      How were the finished projects shared with the rest of the class?

I sent them via Google Classroom

• ·         What opportunities were there for students to co-evaluate and discuss the learning experience with each other?

They reflected on the finished product by watching it on screen and giving their opinion as to what things to change and which were good the way they chose them.,

Wuthering Heights video

Check out this short video on the book and 1992 film

My reflections:

• give a reason for your choice of video.

This is one of my favourite books and we are also working on it in my 2nd bach class, so it could be a good idea to watch a short cllip.

• explain briefly the learning objectives for the session(s) and sequence of activities

Objectives:

- Revision of the story.

Activities:

As it is aimed at 2nd bachillerato, we will have a: 

-Reflection on what had happened before and predicting what will happen after the clip

- Explanation about the characters: explain if their mental image of the characters coincides or not with the ones on the film

• explain if you flipped your class (or any part of it) and how, if so, this has helped you achieve the learning objectives.

I did not flip the class because in Bach we only have 3 hours per week

• highlight the high points of the experience: what went well and what did you and the students particularly enjoy about the task

The prediction of the characters went well, the questions about the video were easy for them.

The main difficulty was to understand every single bit, so we played the clip with subtltles later on. My intention was for them to concentrate on the important parts rather than in understanding everything.

• suggest ways of improving next time

Let them watch or choose the video from the film, dedicate more time to the reading in class.

Timelines

Timelines

www.timetoast.com is a web in which you can create your own timelines. See my example and try it!

The rise of the VSCO girl – and how to spot one

Is this trend also in Spain?

Christmas Shopping and the Environment