Last Blog entry

Hello everybody,

So here is my answer...

How can the concept of “tinkering school” be applied to Chilean public classrooms?

At first glance I thought “How can be kids using harms and dangerous tools?!!”, but then when Tulley mentioned the word “trust” I totally understood why they were doing that.
I strongly believe that trust is the key to have a better learning and teaching environment. According to my work experience in a public school, teachers who don’t trust in their students will have yelling and hard feelings inside the classroom. For instance, I realized that students learnt a model of living at school which is the following: the girls would talk until the teacher would yell at them; otherwise, you could be at least 20 minutes trying to make them quite. Then, when it comes to the lesson plan, it will be a real mess because the teachers have this misconception of students with no brains to think. All this is due to the lack of participation during the lessons. I think that seems to be pretty obvious for me, but not for them, because they are no longer interested in their students’ lives. They see them as a bad generation, and they have prejudices towards them.
So, if we could have the principle of trust, not just in the use of dangerous tools, but in the use of computers, in their autonomy, in their word and believe on them, they will see that failures can be overcome. Teachers need to be guiders, helpers but not the bad guys of the movie.


Have a nice day,

XOXO

"La Vale"

My own lesson Plan

Hello everybody,

I decided to create my own lesson plan, so here it goes...

Introduction

The main purpose of this lesson is to show the importance of “Los Jaivas” and the musical instruments as an expression of what our country represents.

Learning outcomes

Students will learn about one of the most important national bands: “Los Jaivas”. This will allow them to know more about our culture, folklore music and also, let them recognize the musical instruments that the band uses. As they explore the fragment of the song “Todos juntos” they will have approximately 25 seconds to figure out which band is being played and then with the visual material they will checked what they thought it could be. Also, they will have to guess and select from the images which musical instruments were used or not.
This lesson reveals how much there is to know about our national bands, the ones that have left a legacy, that show us our culture, our traditions, and how little can be known about them and the musical instruments.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

One class period

Materials needed

• Audio recording from “Los Jaivas”:
o “Todos Juntos” extract song.

• Images of “Los Jaivas” and some musical instruments:
o “Los Jaivas” album cover.
o Different musical instruments.

• Computer and speakers to play the recording.
• LCD projector to display images.

Background

Chile is a long country bordered by the Andes Mountains, Argentina, the Pacific Ocean, Peru and the Antarctica. Chile has a diverse culture along the whole country. In the North of it, you can find the Aymara people, and in the South Mapuches, while it also has the Easter Island with a rich ethnic heritage. The most common religion is Catholism, and the second one Evangelism.Its capital city is Santiago, and one of the most important cities in the country is Viña del Mar which is the place where "Los Jaivas" came from.


Material Resource:




Violin


Synthesizer


Saxophone


Piano



Electric guitar


small five-stringed guitar


Bass


Trombone

Have a nice day,

XOXO
"La Vale"