8. LEADERSHIP

8. LEADERSHIP

(From 6/May to 13/May)

What do you think is the best type of leadership?

Roles:

Facilitator: Irene Martínez Bermúdez
Journalist: Mª José Herrero Atiénzar

Analyst: Javier Marín Garcerán and Mariano Castillo Escudero

Translator: Natalia Martínez Alcázar

Curator/Farmer: Ana de Lara Torrente

Star: Alicia del Carmen Lova Ortiz

TRANSLATOR OF THE WEEK: Changes in the Spanish Educational System Overview: "The Game"

Those are the 5 terms we used and learned this week:

Directive Board: serving or intended to guide, govern, or influence at schools.

Resources: A resource is a source or supply from which benefit is produced. Typically resources are materials, services, staff, or other assets that are transformed to produce benefit and in the process may be consumed or made unavailable. Benefits of resource utilization may include increased wealth, meeting needs or wants, proper functioning of a system, or enhanced well being. At schools we will find educational, human and material resources.

Educational Administration: it is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some type of separate administrative structure exists at almost all academic institutions, as fewer and fewer schools are governed by employees who are also involved in academic or scholarly work. Many senior administrators are academics who have advanced degrees and no longer teach or conduct research actively.

Evaluation: it is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, project or any other intervention or initiative to assess any aim, realisable concept/proposal, or any alternative, to help in decision-making; or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objectives and results of any such action that has been completed. The primary purpose of evaluation, in addition to gaining insight into prior or existing initiatives, is to enable reflection and assist in the identification of future change.

School success: the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals. So probably at school a success for the students is to pass with good grades all the course.

The translator of the week: Ana de Lara Torrente

STARS' WORK: Changes in The Spanish Educational System. THE GAME!

Hi everyone! We are Mariano and Irene and we have been the stars in this practice.

 This week we have had a hard activity to do which included much responsibility on it. We have done a quiz that was based on the game Ladders and Snakes and all the groups have competed for an important prize to get the maximum reward.

 The objective of the game was to learn, understand and have an idea of our Spanish Educational System, so before starting to play the game, we have had our holidays to read and learn the main differences between LOE and LOMCE.

 The day of the game we were so nervous, we didn’t know the rules, and we couldn’t communicate with the other classmates of our group so we worked under pressure. But, finally the game was as we expected.

 Although we didn’t win the game, we have learnt all the information that included LOE and LOMCE; but the most important thing is that we have spent a wonderful time all together preparing the game step by step with conceptual maps, unifying our maps with the others of different groups who had the same topic, building and reviewing the questions for the game…

To conclude, we would like to say that this group experience has been very satisfying for us because though we didn't win the main prize, we won points for being the best group who had built the questions for the game thanks to the votes of our classmates.


Here you can see some of the photos that we took before starting the game! #selfiegiveme7

 

 

 

STARS: Mariano Castillo & Irene Martínez
 

ANALYST IN "THE GAME".

This week I am the analyst so I have to evaluate the teamwork and answer the following questions related with the practice: “Changes in The Spanish Educational  System Overview: The game.”.

· What was the best part of the activity?

The best part of the activity was the moment of the game, no doubt. Our star had prepared very well the content; therefore, we wanted to see them in action. When it was our turn, my team and I were very nervous and excited. In that way, we always  celebrated our victory! We trusted them, in fact, the stars did not fail any question, but the luck did not accompany us. Therefore, from my point of view, the game was really fun and entertaining. In addition, I think that everyone had a good time!


· What was the worse?

The worst is still the organization of the group because we are many members in the team and we have to divide and coordinate us in the best possible way and this is sometimes a bit tricky.  This time, the problem was to choose the stars. Obviously, no one wanted  this role.. So, we spend too much time making the choice, and in that way, it was a difficult task. So, after speaking it in common, we come to a conclusion:  we will follow the order.  In addition, we believe that this was the most logical and sensible proposal. Therefore, we do it!


· What was the best moment of the week (in the work of the group)?

The funniest part of the week has been the representation of the stars, as I said. This week, they had to respond to some questions which they have prepared during the week. All team members asked ourselves how the game will be, and thus, when our star had to respond to the questions, we were very nervous and anxious to see her/him. This week has been somewhat unexpected, which we think is innovative and dynamic.
As a group, we support our stars, especially when their turn came.


· What was the worse?

The worst part were the nerves. We were really nervous because it was a very important game. When the turn came for our two stars, my group and I expected with illusion and desire a correct answer! This moment is very frustrating, especially for our representatives (stars).  The stars knew that they had a great responsibility, so they were even more unsettled.


                           
·  What do you need to conserve -as a group- for the next weeks?

All members of the group worked hard their parts to carry out a good job. We did it with great interest and looking forward the game to be done correctly and successfully. If in a group there are not hard work, desire, illusion and strength, the group will not be very good and thereby the practices will not have a great result. Each and every member of the group work in order to the practice of every week will be prepared in the best possible way. This is an aspect that should be transmitted to next weeks.
By this I mean, we have worked hard to reach this stage: "The game". In addition, our stars have taken much interest and have studied a lot to pass the game successfully.


·  What do you need to improve –as a group- for the next weeks?

We should improve the decision-making. I say this because my group and I have taken a long time to choose the star .. This task was different, so it scared us a little. It is also true that we are many members in the group. Thus, it is more difficult to make decisions. There are many different opinions .. But I think we've taken the most logical choice: We have followed the order of the roles.


·  How THIS content is related to other contents in the course and in your degree?

This practice has been very important for us. For example,  in other subjects we are constantly trying these laws: in "Diversity" or in "Action Tutorial". So, that contest is related to other matters in the course. Therefore, knowing the law helps us.
Also, as future teachers, we must know this aspect . Because when we teach our students in a future, we have to know the law to teach correctly, to make good decisions, for a better understanding of the teaching process, to know every aspect of a school..

Natalia Martinez Alcazar (ANALYST)

Curator-Farmer: Resources and organization of our activity "The Educational Sistem"

Hello readers!

In my post as curator-farmer, I have few things to say, because of this last week we were mainly focus on The Game. That's the reason why I would like you to have a look at previous post of curator-farmer related to our last activity:
"Changes in The Spanish Educational System".
http://giveme7blog.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/post-reservado-curator-farmer.html

There, you can find all of the resources we have been using for prepare this task during these last weeks.

I also attach the link of our personal pearltree: a place that let us organize all our resources, such as web pages, links, files...



Curator: Alicia Carmen Lova Ortiz

It's My Turn as Facilitator.

This week we've been working again with the laws, we've done a very interesting game in which each group had to invent some questions about the laws we are studying and the stars had to answer them correctly in order to win the game in the end.

In our group we have worked in a very organized way because each of us had to invent an specific number of questions in order to have the total 24 questions of all the different topics we have (6 in total). Doing this like that we were faster and we could do better our work because then we all corrected all the questions and selected the ones we thought were more appropriate for the game.

Facilitator: Maria José Herrero Atiénzar.

Journalist for The Game. The Important Thing is to Learn.

Hi! 

This week we played the "Snakes and Ladders" game for testing our knolewdge about the LOMCE. Our stars, Irene and Mariano, studied deeply the question cards, and with the help of all our group clarified and review the contents and implications of the law. Through this practice, we have learnt that the approval of the LOMCE and the many changes that will bring about the LOE creates a display in which the educational sector are facing one of the biggest challenges in its history. I think that from the educational point of view is complex and can be very frightening for us as future teachers. 

Altought we did not win the game, we as a group are very proud of our stars, and as I say in the title, the important thing is to learn.

Just like our educational system...

Related to the ICT subject and the Lomce, you can read this interesting document to help you understand better the changes:

http://issuu.com/bealg/docs/analysis_of_the_loe_and_lomce_in_re

Now, onto our final exams...good luck to everyone!

Journalist: Javier Marín Garcerán.

7. Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview: The game. - ROLES (III)

7. Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview: 

The game.

(From 28/April to 5/May)

It's time for... THE GAME!

Roles:

Facilitator: Mª José Herrero Atiénzar
Journalist: Javier Marín Garcerán

Analyst: Natalia Martínez Alcázar

Translator: Ana de Lara Torrente

Curator/Farmer: Alicia Carmen Lova Ortiz

Star: Irene Martínez Bermúdez y Mariano Castillo Escudero

CLOSED FOR VACATION

Train bound for... Spring Break!!

After working like Trojans during all this period, I think we'll take a well-deserved vacation, to rest and re-energize ourselves.

But don't worry because.... We'll be back!!

Analysis of the Questions for THE GAME

This is the third week we're involved in the last part of the subject: Scholar Organization.

As we told you before, all this process that we are carrying out is for a final purpose: THE GAME.

Our last task has consisted on build of the questions for being included in the game. So, then, my group, according to the mind maps we made previously and with all the knowledge we acquired about the Educational System, built these questions with the topics we considered the most important.

So, as far as I concerned, it has been a good week, because of finally, we got the hang of it.

As always, time is against us, and that's been a problem we tried solving it with a good organization, trying to organize ourselves in the correct way, contributing each one and going all out.

For this, we divided us in two groups - a good method that we have been using during several weeks-, and each group was in charge of 3 topics. once it was completed, we had to pool all the questions and choose among them the most appropiate (something hard to do because we gathered a lot of different questions in the end).

Another important thing was the design of the cards. It was a task for the graphic designer of the group, Javier. Here you can check  them out:

 

The second part of the task consisted on, once the cards are completed, recovered all of them by topics and reviewed them taking into account the spelling, format, content, design...  That was the best part of the of the process because it was useful for seeing how the rests of the groups carried out the activity, putting our points of view in common and learning from our mistakes.

Analyst: Alicia del Carmen Lova Ortiz.

Translator's Work This Week - Build the questions for being included in the game

CO-EDUCATION : coeducation refers to the system of education where both men and women attend the same institution. Coeducation deals with institutions like schools and colleges which are usually attended by both genders.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: the body of law derived from a country's written constitution. It lays down and guides the duties and powers of the government, and the duties and rights of its citizens and residents.

SECTORIAL CONFERENCE OF EDUCATION: an authority of cooperation between the State and autonomous communities with an educational level.

CURRICULUM: The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools. Depending on how broadly educators define or employ the term, curriculum typically refers to the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which includes the learning standards or learning objectives they are expected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the assignments and projects given to students; and many other things.

SPANISH EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: Is the set of educational authorities, education professionals and other agents, public and private, to develop regulatory functions, funding or providing services for the exercise of the right to education in Spain, and holders this law, as well as a set of relationships, structures, measures and actions implemented to lend.


TRANSLATOR: Irene Martínez Bermúdez

I am The Facilitator This Week!

This week i am the facilitator in the practice "Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview: The game", especially in the third step called "Build the questions for being included in the game".

As facilitator, I have to divide, coordinate and organize the work of every member in the group.

Firsly, before starting this activity, we finished our maps. We did it through the maps of the other groups. So, we add and contrast the information.. And finally we had our maps prepared  for this practice!

Secondly, we organize ourselves to do the questions.
In this way, we decided that first we would do the questions of the topics  two and five. This decision was to facilitate the work because these are the issues which we have worked deeply.
Each member of the group had to prepare four questions for each topic. Subsequently, we review our questions of the topics two and five and we choose the most appropriate.

Thirdly, my group and I decided that each member of the group would have to review the rest of the issues in order to know something about them.
After that, each person would make various questions for the rest of topics (1,3,4,6) . Once the questions were made, my group and I chose the best questions.
This was a hard and a little complicated work. However, with effort and constant work, we got to have four appropriate questions for each topic!!

Fourthly, we carry out 24 cards with  a measure of  9x5. Here, the questions appeared!! Work done with a good organization!

Therefore, the organization to do a work is very important! Furthermore, we are many people in my group..In this way if we do not have some coordination, things will be very complicated to carry out.

Facilitator: Natalia Martinez Alcazar

The Journalists Of This Week: "The Game"

This week we have been working on the masnificent game with the questions about the laws and the different topics about Scholar Organization.

This task seemed easier but at the end it wasn´t as easy as we thought. We have been working a couple of weeks on different topics of Organization of the Spanish Educational System, especially topic 2 ( The Primary School) and topic 5 (Administration at Educational Institutions Level), but this week we had to review all the topics and asked four questions each with their respective answers . At all times we have tried to give our best ideas when we were formulating these questions and get them to be as creative and complete as possible to learn all the contents.

For this, it was necessary to read and search for information and documentation about LOE and LOMCE some web links that wee were working on last week: the European document that explains the Spanish Educational System, the LOE (the previous educational law), the new LOMCE and a document from CCOO that makes a comparison between both laws, among others.

When we were trying to formulate the questions we had a look at the forum of the subject on the University webpage to guide us with the different conceptual maps that we had made with the other groups and we made in class last week and picked up the principal changes introduced by LOMCE.

https://aulavirtual.um.es/portal/site/1134_G_2013_N_N/page/49481f2e-8ce6-4421-a9b2-8b31c737787f

Here you have some pictures of our hard days of work, but as you can see we never miss our coffee in the canteen!

Finally we want to share with you this wonderful blog that is helpful for both teachers and students or future teachers:

http://edutech4teachers.edublogs.org/

Journalists of this week: Mariano Castillo and Ana de Lara

STAR: 32 Questions About Topic no. 5 for "The Game"

Greetings!

These are the 32 questions about topic no. 5 for "Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview: The Game". Our peers from C´mon Tutankamon! rewieved the cards, and our group supervised them. We think they have done a great job.

Give Me 7

-The subject “Conocimiento del medio”, how does it change with new law, LOMCE?

-The head teacher of a school has retired and another must be appointed. There is a teacher at school with 4 years experience and he has the training course on the development of the management function. Could he be a candidate?

-The parent of a student assaults a teacher in a public school. What might be the implications according to LOMCE?

- If a child, who studied the subject of Religion for several years, changes school and wants to continue studying this subject, but the new have to study Civic and Social Values or has the school to offer the subject of Religion?

Brainstorming

-Regarding to the secondary education private centres, who is responsible to promote the curricular specialisation?

-Why are educational centres losing their democratic management with the LOMCE?

-What are the student´s rights as defined at LOMCE?

- In relation to interim staff, who is responsible for the management of their contracts? What is the criteria to contract/maintain interim staff and requisites for their selection?

T8T

-If you happens to be an interim teacher in a School and your time there is over… Is there any possibility that you stay at that school?

-What does it mean “curricular specialization”? Is it going to be run in Primary schools?

-If you were an interim teacher who is part of the general list, what  would be the limitations that LOMCE introduces to choose a school to work in?

-What does “the school development plan include” Name at least 4 items.

The Little Ants

- If you were teacher of the educational institution, could you summarize the school development plan?

-What does the school development plan of the educational institution includes and what are the values in which it is based?

-As for funding of Educational Authorities we can say that they may be bigger in specific case, what case is it?

-What the educational administration do at the beginning of each course?

Step by Step

- In the pedagogical and curricular organization education has to be supported by…

-Can a school choose all the materials and resources they want?

-What is the aim of having coordination between the primary education curriculum and the secondary education curriculum?

-What are the divisions of the sections in the educational framework?

Hide and Seek

-In relation with the economic management made by public educational institution, have they complete autonomy to manage?

-The school has set of rules, which are they?

-What competences related to the educational is assumed by the municipalities?

-In what three areas is where the educational institutions enjoy a wide degree of autonomy?

The Teachleaders

-What are some of the School board´s functions?

-What are the bodies that promote the participation of the students in the university life?

-Which areas can we distinguish in educational institution?

-What are some of the functions of the municipalities in the administration and governance at local level?

Educational Rush Hour

- Which are the main items of the educational project and where are included?

-Which is the annual general procedure of each school according to organizational management?

- The main changes from LOE to LOMCE in each section are…

-Which are the different section of Administration and Governance at Local and/or Institutional Level I and what they talk about?

C´mon Tutankamon!

- What are the three main aspects of the management resources? Can a school get additional resources when it need? How?

-An educational institution is going to prepare its school development plan. What section must be included in? Are there any differences among the actual and the previous law?
 Explain them.

-A new teacher has arrived to a school legislated by the LOMCE, the current law. Is he or she involved in the organizational management of the school? Justify your answer and say how his involvement is.


-What a school development plan is formed by? What does it promote?

STAR: Javier Marín Garcerán

Curator/Farmer's work this week.

This week we have been working in the same topic as last week se we have used the same references from the last week and we haven't changed our pearltree.

The only thing that changes is the activity we have done, which has been different because we had our topics in the conceptual maps but this week we had to make 24 questions each group in order to do cards with these questions and then, in some weeks time we'll play a game with them.

To see our references for this topic (laws LOE and LOMCE) you can see the last week's post of the curator/farmer, which was writen by Javier Marín.

Maria José Herrero Atiénzar.

7. Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview: The game. - ROLES (II)

7. Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview: 

The game.

(From 1/April to 10/April)

This second part of the activity constits on build 4 differents questions for each topic.

Roles:

Facilitator: Natalia Martínez Alcázar

Journalist: Ana de Lara Torrente y Mariano Castillo Escudero

Analyst: Alicia del Carmen Lova Ortiz

Translator: Irene Martínez Bermúdez

Curator/Farmer: Mª José Herrero Atiénzar

Star: Javier Marín Garcerán

Farming the Spanish Educational System. LOE and LOMCE.

Hi readers,

Those are the resources that we have used on the practice of this week called "7. Changes in The Spanish Educational System Overview". As usually, we have organiced them using our Pearltree account, and here you have the references below (really few webpages because the topic is well-covered in any of them), in APA style.

Anpe-Asturias (2013, October 29) "Ley de Educación (LOMCE+LOE): texto articulado completo" (webpage). Retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://www.anpe-albacete.com/lomce-loe/

Comisiones Obreras de Murcia (2013, October) "ACTUALIZACIÓN COMPARATIVA LOE-LOMCE OCTUBRE 2013" (pdf). Retrieved March 25, 2014 from http://www.murcia.ccoo.es/comunes/recursos/15720/doc167581_COMPARATIVA_LOE-LOMCE.pdf

Europa.eu (2013, December 1) "Spain: Primary Education" (webpage). Retrieved March 26, 2014 from https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php?title=Spain:Primary_Education&oldid=91583


Europa.eu (2013, December 1) "Spain: Administration and Governance at Local and/or Institutional Level" (webpage). Retrieved March 26, 2014 from https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Spain:Administration_and_Governance_at_Local_and/or_Institutional_Level

Huete, Manuel (2013, October 29) "Comparación LOMCE-LOE" (blogpost). Retrieved March 26, 2014 from http://aprendercrecerypensar.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/comparacion-lomce-loe.html

Curator-Farmer: Javier Marín Garcerán

My Reporting of "THE GAME"... I Feel Like Lois Lane

Hello everyone!

This last week we started with the second part of the subject: Scholar organization.

For this new part, the method of work is going to be more or less the same as before, but it consists on a big activity, that is going to be divided in smaller tasks (all of them related to the changes in the Spanish Educational System).

Each group had allocated two topics that explain the Organization of the Spanish Educational System, which in our case were these ones:

- The Primary School  

      ·Aim and general objectives

      ·Schools providing Primary Education

      ·Education Policy

      ·Legislative references

- Administration and Governance at Local and/or institutional Level I    

      ·Administration at educational institutions level

      ·Non-university institutions

      ·Pedagogical and curricular organisation

      ·Organisational management

      ·Management of resources

Due to there were 2 topics on which we had to focus, we decided to made two groups in order to distribute better the workload of this activity.

So, in this way, each group focused on a topic of the law, and after having deeply studied, each group continued to make concept maps.

For this, it was necessary a lot of documentation, such as web links, the European document that explains the Spanish Educationl System, the LOE (the previous educational law), the new LOMCE and a document from CCOO that makes a comparison between both laws, among others.

Referring to the mind maps, we were looking for a good internet Cmapping tool. Finally, we decided to use CANVA, and amazingly simple graphic design that I recommend to other students. We think that the result was professional and we tried to do it as clear as we could.

This week, the different groups had to group and discuss about the CMaps; in our case we worked with our fantastic classmates from The Little Ants, and among all we unified all the information in a final mindmap.

You can look at the final results in the post of my partner Natalia:

http://giveme7blog.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/i-am-star-this-week.html

Finally, I would like to talk about others classmates' blogs:

I recomend you to visit the fantastic blog of our classmates C'mon Tutankamon. They have a very good CMap, good content and good design too. It's clear that this group have been working hard this week. 

Congratulations girls!

It's also interesting the way that our classmates of Education Rush Hour.have made their weekly post. 

Instead of write in their blog, they decided to innovate and record theirselves talking about their roles. 

Great idea!

Another interesting web that I've found recently is EducationWorld: The Educator's best friend

It's a website founded in 1996 with the aim of create a place where teachers could gather and share ideas. This place provide us with original content, including lesson plans, practical information for educators, information on how to integrate technology in the classroom, and articles written by education experts.

If you have time, please, have a look at it.

Journalist: Alicia del Carmen Lova Ortiz

Facilitator´s Work This Week "Changes in The Spanish Educational System"

As a facilitator of the work during this week, I have to say that at first I thought this experience would be a bit difficult because this activity had lot of work to do. I had to coordinate and organizate the practice for this week using some tools (expecialy "Canva") to make two different CMAPs.

For that reasson, I considered that the best option to organize the work and the way to make this conceptual maps, was dividing the group in two small groups; so the first one had to carry out the first topic: "The primary school" . The members of the group that were working on it were: Natalia Martínez, María José Atienzar and me. And Irene Martínez, Mariano Castillo, Javier Marín and Alicia Lova were working for the second topic: "Administration at educational institutions level".

By this way, everybody knew what had to do, a specific topic but also I have to say that all of us knew the contents about both topics but by this way we work quickly and with good results.

Once we investigate and work about all the information that we want to focus on the CMAPs Javi and Alicia, because of their knowledge about technological skills, made our fantastic conceptual maps.

Finally from my point of view ande once I've finished my role of the week, I have to say that the most important think we have to know before start with the practice is how we are going to organizate, so the facilitator have an essencial role. But we are a group that worked pretty well and I'm proud of it. It was better than I thought at first !!

The facilitator of this week:  Ana de Lara Torrente

Analyst´s Work This Week "Changes in The Spanish Educational System"

This week the analysts have been Mariano, and me, Irene. Perhaps we could consider this activity as one of the most complicated in terms of content.
Undoubtedly this practice has been difficult to do because we had to search for information about the different aspects and topics that the teacher had assigned us, in our case 2 and 5, and compare them with LOE and LOMCE . And after that , we had to synthesize all that information into a simple outline with the main ideas. We learned a lot , and now we have a clearer idea of the two laws .

 

On the other hand I believe that the subjects we're seeing in the first course, have been adapted to the new articulated by LOMCE developed with the aim of forming autonomous people with critical maturity.
It also provides a higher quality in the education system, in order to develop our culture. For this reason I believe that subjects try to encourage our creativity, our ability to communicate, so that the student is an active element in the learning process.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the best thing we have done this week, it would be to split the group. Three of us were in charge of making the point 2, one person had to unify all the information in a conceptual map and the others had to do point nº 5. I really think we should go on with this methodology, because this makes the work faster and easier than if we had to look at all the information at the same time.
But, I would not highlight this week as one of the best weeks during this course, because we have had different activities to do, not only in this subject, in others too, and this situation has stressed us. Perhaps we need more time to prepare better our activities; otherwise we will swim against the tide at the end of this semester.

 
 
ANALYSTS: Mariano Castillo & Irene Martínez