This was what we did in class today. It is a lesson based on the commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford University.
It also includes an activity based on the song twenty something by Jamie Cullum.
Bloggin’ away goes to Santander
Last week I took our blog to a Conference about Internet and Education in Santander. I went there with my friend and colleague María who also gave a presentation about her own blog: Reviews, debates and resources.
There are always good and not so good things about this sort of events and as it is very often the case, what I was really looking forward to, turned out to be quite disappointing: the speeches by two of my favourite Stephens, Stephen Wozniak and Stephen Downes were literally drowned in hesitating, broken Spanish by a struggling interpreter that failed to transmit the messages. I understand that not everybody speaks English and being in Spain, Spanish people have a right to be spoken in their language, as the lady sitting next to me pointed out when she heard our disappointment, but I also think that a conference of this kind should be able to broadcast the original speeches while simultaneously offering the Spanish translation through headphones, and even, why not, Galician, Catalan or Basque versions too.
The highlights of the conference:
- Unexpectedly finding Ana there!
- Meeting some very nice people : Jesús Angel, Azucena, Mari Luz, Eugenia and Juan from Santander, and Begoña from Galicia.
- The boat trip and dinner after with Nacho and María
- Alejandro Piscitelli, who gave a most estimulating and entartaining speech.
All in all it was an interesting initiative, perhaps overambitious, there were very few of us for such huge magnificent conference rooms. The organisation in general was quite clumsy but let’s hope they will learn for next time!
Violent games
Photo by jontintinjordan
I think that violent games can influence our children in a negative way, of course.
This kind of games is recommended for adults, but I think that they shouldn’t exist at all.
Sometimes we can hear some news on TV about parents that have been murdered by their children, because they are probably thinking they are playing a role game.
Nowadays parents are very permissive with their children. They buy them all kind of games without checking if the game is adequate to their age.
Continue reading ‘Violent games’
Obesity
Photo by aJ GAZMEN - GucciBeaR
Obesity is one of the most real and serious problems in our society. It is caused by the ingestion of junk food but also by sedentarism and lack of activity and exercise.
In foreign countries this is a big problem because people are used to eat fast food (some people work all day outside and they have to eat in a short period of time) and they don’t do any sport, they lead a sedentary life.
Nowadays this problem also affects Spain. Every day we can watch on TV people that are always at home because they can’t go out and they need help for moving.
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Children and television
Photo by hoyasmeg
The purpose of this report is to present the findings of a survey about children and television. The information was gathered with the help of a group of 11 students (8 female and 3 male) aged 18-37 at the EOI of Mieres. Interviews were conducted by a questionnaire in the EOI’s blog and answers analysed for significant similarities and differences.
When the data were analysed, it was found that in the first part of the survey 100% of those interviewed agreed that television has turned into one of the most important hobbies and with more influence on the life of children, what takes up a lot of time from other activities like reading, studying, homework, playing, interaction with their family, social development and so on, and all of them also thought that in many homes the television is like a babysitter, parents use it as the only way of entertainment and amusement so that children leave them alone.
Continue reading ‘Children and television’
Education in our society
Nowadays, education has changed a lot. In past times, children had strict discipline and respected their teachers. They considered a teacher as a person who owned the knowledge and that he/she was a very important person in society. However, nowadays pupils are very bad mannered and they don’t respect their teachers. I think that this problem is because in their houses the parents don’t have a good impression of the teacher, they always prefer believing their children are fantastic, instead of facing the facts (in the case of problem children).On the other hand it technology has got to play a very important part in our society an specially in education. Internet has become an important working tool. I think that this is very important because now we have computers and Internet in the classroom and this aspect can be very interesting for our pupils that can find information about the subjects that they are studying, and also some educative games. But I think that it is very important to control what our pupils and children are doing on Internet because there are some negative aspects that we all know.
Education and the Internet
Life has changed a lot in the last years. When I was in high school, the Internet was just a baby, so, I used to study using real books, big encyclopaedias, and I used to do school projects by hand. Only at my third university year did I manage to buy a computer. Until this moment, class notes were handwritten. Now, teenagers think that what is not on the Internet doesn’t exist. The most common way to do your homework is the copy-paste system: I search for it on the Internet, I copy the paragraphs I need and I paste it on a word file. It doesn’t matter whether I haven’t read the rest of the article or whether the web site is trustworthy. I have got a pair of sheets to give my teacher and it leaves me time to watch television. School books are revised by teaching specialists, but, who revises the Internet contents?
People have to learn to learn, that is, we must search things by ourselves. One of the biggest pleasures in the world is reading, but nowadays hardly anybody bothers. I think it is a bit sad. Today, I still prefer to read a book or an article on paper rather than on a screen. I work with computers every day, when I arrive home, the last thing I want is to switch on the computer. I prefer to have a break, to read a book, to listen to music, to walk …
On the other hand, the Internet has been a big amazing discovery. It has been a giant step for society. You can communicate with people from all over the world. There is no distance, if you have family or friends far away, you can contact them trough the net. You can obtain all kind of information and entertainment. Also, many things can be managed on the Internet, so as not to waste time or money. Work management has improved too thanks to the Internet. This English class is a marvellous way to learn as well. It has been an immense help to me. I am learning to cope with the blog and all the good resources inside it. This English blog is a wonderful learning system, and it makes learning English easier for all those that don’t have enough time. I suppose that is a new age in education, and, if it is well-used, it can bring education and resources closer to everybody. But, the question is not to lose your own capability to think, we can’t be spoon-fed for ever. We have the obligation to teach the younger generations the “life outside the worldwide web”.
Learning in the 21st century
In the last decade the world we live in has changed at such speed that we don’t even realise we are moving. Things we take for granted nowadays, mobile phones, social networking, Wikipedia, YouTube, MySpace, Blogs, didn’t exist 10 years ago. The Internet has made information and communication available almost instantly almost everywhere, it has changed the way we relate to one another, we can share information, opinions, and ideas with people we have never met who may live next door or 2,000 kilometres away. It has changed the way we work, the way we play, the way we buy products or plan journeys.
Has it also changed the way we learn?
How has the internet changed the role of the student? or the role of the teacher?
In this video created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University, they summarize some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.
What do you think? Do you agree with them?
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