My symbaloo: Ethics

I've included a number of useful resources in my web mix which will be very useful for my Ethics CLIL classes.  Here I'll explain why I've chosen these specific things and how I intend to use them in my 2Bach classes.

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/myclilactivities-ethics

The three didactic units which I have decided to include are discovery, sound and economics.  They will serve as the springboard into more elaborate complex projects which I will work towards collaboratively within my classroom set-up. The final projects will depend as much on my students ideas as my own.  The objective of working through the first, is to guide students to think about what has happened in the past and appreciate how the history of the world has made it what it is today.  As this is their last year in school, we will touch upon much of the learning from other subjects in the their own past in the ESO and the guided scaffolding provided will help us revise previous learning as well as to reflect on some important historical facts from a look at ancient civilisations through to the voyages of Columbus.  We'll look at art work, maps and short videos to do this, as well as the web resources provided.  We will also consider the roles of men and women in the past in this way.  One of the final projects could be a guided writing activity, a diary for example, written by someone in one of these historical periods, or a small theatre.  It all just depends.

Next, I've included the activity on sound.  We'll consider what physically makes up the world around us, think about what we can hear in different places in our city and different places in the world. This will build observation and imagination skills.  We will link it to the last unit by thinking about the difference between sounds in the past and now, before imagining what we will hear in the future.  We'll work especially through songs in English, culminating in Affirmation by Savage Garden which will take us very nicely to think about what we would like this world to be like.

The third unit is Economics.  Together, we'll discuss and evaluate, especially through small group work (groups of 3), what's happening in the world at the minute.  As the unit will guide us through different economic models we will consider the benefits and drawbacks of each, before considering the current economic crisis.  The project will depend directly on what things my students feel are relevant while we work through the unit.

In my web mix I've also included three important short videos, the first is about kindness.  I think it will be very useful and has a very powerful message which my students can discover, enquire about and discuss in detail.  Again, the exact activities will be jointly decided and constructed.  In this way, I'll be being coherent with my aim of helping students become increasingly more responsable for their own learning.  And the classes will be more interesting for everyone.

I've also chosen to include a video about the purpose of life, because this, as the last year of their school life is filled with questions and doubts about where to go next.  A related video is also on my symbaloo"what if money was no object?".  I feel it's important as a teacher to guide discussions around these things with them.

So that's the reasoning behind some of the things I've chosen to add to my symbaloo.  I reckon it's a great tool which allows me to have all these resources together, so that, at the click of I button I've access to much of what I'll be needing in class.  As you'll see, I've also added links to interesting articles and videos for teachers to have a look at and a few quotes to remind us of the importance of the job we're doing.  And I'll continue to add to it progressively too as things come up - but this is plenty to be getting on with!

Enjoy!

Connecting CLIL to the bigger picture

There's a time for input and there's a time for output, as every language learner knows.  Without the former, the latter is impossible, yet if the balance isn't right, learning can get stuck.  Couple this with the knowledge that everything that's worthwhile takes time and is difficult until, with practice, it becomes easier. Then, add it to the knowledge that learning is what remains after the original content has been forgotten and you will soon realise that CLIL has amazing potential.

As an approach, CLIL revolutionises both content and language learning.  Whether we like it or not.  And, as with everything in this life, we can either embrace change and grow beyond what we know to foster greater benefits for all, or we can get stuck, complain and become complacent.

What would you like to change about your current teaching circumstances?  What would you like to maintain?  What are the immediate and longer term ramifications and of what you're doing on a daily basis? What impact are you having on students lives?

I'd like to feel I'm doing a good job.  I'd like to make a real difference.  I'd like to know my students are learning things that take them in the right direction.  I'd like to see my students become progressively more capable, more independent, less dependent.  I'd like to know they're building skills which are helping them progress in learning and in life.  I'd like to see more communication and collaboration among themselves, both within and beyond the classroom walls.  I'd like to evidence more complex thinking, reasoning and decision making.  I'd like to feel I'm influencing positively in their lives and that the time we spend together is also contributing significantly to mine.

During my scaffolded investigation of CLIL I've realised I can do all of this.  Just like any tool, it's as powerful as the person who is using it.  In a world where any content is at the touch of a button on the internet, in a world which is daily more complex and complicated, CLIL opens up more learning possibilities than we could even imagine.  If the teacher is prepared to learn too, to enquire, to explore and to modify their practice depending on the results, we can all move forward.

If we embrace the opportunity.  If we engage.  If we inspire.  If we enable.  If we start from the importance of the human connections, work with people above both language and content, we can train in all these skills and abilities.  If we think.  If we communicate.  If we collaborate.  If we infuse the "what" we're doing, with the "why" to come up with the right "how's".  If we're prepared to take the risk.

There's a time for thinking, and there's a time for doing, as every teacher knows.  Let's use this opportunity to make learning not only visible but to discover what, together, we can achieve.  Let's do  it now.  We reap what we sow.