Today's blog entry is going to be purposely peculiar. After having published more than 100 entries, we have realized that only a few of them have been written in English, when it is a fact that we have readers in more that 90 countries in all the continents, (there are proofs of that) in which many different languages are spoken. Therefore, it is only just that we start using other languages at least as a token of appreciation and a way of saying 'thank you' to all the many friends and readers we have in remote countries such a Singapore, Russia, The United Arab Emirates, Thailand, South Corea or Hong Kong, just to name but a few, plus our partners in the project: Norway, Greece, Great Britain, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia, Denmark, France and Italy.
Definitely, I would not sustain today's topic is precisely the most enchanting or tempting or even epic-making; yet, even in words so trite like 'targets' or concepts so well-trodden like 'objectives' or 'aims', one can find solace after a hard day's work, for it all depends on what each of us is seeking. Unless Netflix lies nearby, for that's another kettle of fish.
We have come to the moment in which we should introduce you all to the grim and harsh reality of what IES SIERRA MÁGINA de Mancha Real wishes to achieve with our participation in this humble ErasmusPlus project, an enticing path we began to tread imbued with enthusiasm, illusion and, still, strength. We will see what we have to say, through gritted teeth, when June and the final assessments come. Well, maybe you have already guessed it.
Jokes aside, this project has been devised by a committed group of teachers with an average job experience of more than 20 years. Therefore, we have been absolutely realistic when planning the activities and selecting the objectives, those bombastic words hackneyed by time and overused. Please, bear with us until the goal is reached, oh that!
This project was born from the need to continue with the five-year plan we set up in 2015 in order to effectively put into action the school's European Development Plan and, we hope, with outstanding outcomes, but that will be decided by you all.
Definitely, I would not sustain today's topic is precisely the most enchanting or tempting or even epic-making; yet, even in words so trite like 'targets' or concepts so well-trodden like 'objectives' or 'aims', one can find solace after a hard day's work, for it all depends on what each of us is seeking. Unless Netflix lies nearby, for that's another kettle of fish.
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| Alumnos del curso 2017/2018 |
Jokes aside, this project has been devised by a committed group of teachers with an average job experience of more than 20 years. Therefore, we have been absolutely realistic when planning the activities and selecting the objectives, those bombastic words hackneyed by time and overused. Please, bear with us until the goal is reached, oh that!
This project was born from the need to continue with the five-year plan we set up in 2015 in order to effectively put into action the school's European Development Plan and, we hope, with outstanding outcomes, but that will be decided by you all.
We began as a small group of teachers, to be honest, pretty overwhelmed by the appalling amount of paperwork, albeit we are now proud to say that, not only the teaching staff but also all other members of the school community are actively implicated.
In the above mentioned proposal, we can observe some disquieting data which should prompt some thoughtful reflection for those of us who have endeavored to improve our community: Sierra Mágina High School, despite its many strengths, still shows some issues which need a short-term, swift answer, among others:
1) A slightly dangerous rate of early drop-outs, even from students who did not obtain their degree in compulsory secondary education.
2) Some problems to properly deal with SEN students and attention to diversity policies, since our teaching staff need more methodological and didactic resources.
Additionally, we would like to give priority to the development of our wondrous, surroundings, i.e, the imposing natural park of Sierra Mágina, together with our cultural heritage. Consequently, it is our aim to combine synergies and efforts among all the members of the community and take advantage of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in order to disseminate the many richnesses of our region and make use of them in our lessons.
These problems we intend to come to grips with now have been incorporated to the current Teachers' Training Plan as well and with all this in mind, we set the goals of our project, which are:
1. To reduce early drop outs, in line with the Europe 2020 objectives.
2. To fight against school failure with perceptible changes in the way we work -therein lies the name of this project: 'Improving learning and teaching processes'- by using active and innovative methodologies with which better motivate our students.
3. To improve teachers' professional, didactic and linguistic competences.
4. To help to disseminate our artistic and cultural heritage, making our mobilities abroad fulfill a double purpose: to learn and to disseminate.
Fourteen teachers will participate in the mobilities, that is, one-week in-training courses and jobshadowing stays abroad. 8 teachers will take part in jobshadowing activities in 4 different countries -Slovenia, UK, Denmark, Finland while the rest will attend structured courses in prestigious academies from countries: UK, France, Italy and Portugal. All in all, 7 countries will be involved in this promising lifelong learning process. Yet we have taken a step further considering that some of these partners have already expressed tacitly both their wish to set up student exchanges and include us as partner institutions in their next ErasmusPlus projects. And we sincerely hope this is something more than mere wishful thinking.
Teachers from all fields of knowledge are to be involved, the Head Master on the lead together with most members of the management board, which ensures the absolute support of the high school. Likewise, 2 out of 3 Area Coordinators are also deeply committed as well as the Coordinator of Training, Assessement and Innovation, plus the school Counselor. As you can see, most of the members of the school's Board of Pedagogical Assessment are taking direct part in all the stages of the project: analysis of results, needs detection, search for suitable partners, planning of activities plus its implementation and development.
Not only do we wish to enhance our learning and teaching strategies, but also the general management of the school, so all of them must be involved. Therefore, we also count with the participation of the Coordinator of Extra curricular activities, the Coordinator of the Plan of Implementation of Multilingualism, the Head of History and Geography and 6 other teachers from several areas with different roles, such as tutors, teachers for special educational needs and non-linguistic areas. Can we then claim this is a project of importance and relevance for the school? I would say 'yes'.
To carry out this project, we have worked as a team, starting with a calm, serene debate among the teachers who participated in the first ErasmusPus project leading the way, later on submitting proposals to the teaching staff. We have also considered and incorporated the opinion of the families and the students, under the supervision and precious help of the Teacher Training Centre in Jaén.
Within this culture of ongoing improvement in which we are acutely engaged, we aspire to get to know other ways to teach better and successfully deal with everyday problems in the classroom, enhance our management of human and material resources, learn about new effective methodologies which may help us improve our results as well as the working, teaching and learning atmosphere, by making it more appealing to students. We all share concerns and strive to forge a better community.
We are convinced of the importance of the great opportunity that lies ahead of us in order to continue with the process of internationalization of our high school, opening up to other realities and ways of thinking. We can't only enrich the teachers' way of being and thinking but also the students'.
For this is the ultimate goal we basically pursue: improve our teaching expertise to really enhance our work and ensuingly, raise the academic outcomes. A motivated teacher will be more competent and their work will be able to transmit better the need of all of us to strive for excellence teaching and learning.
Yet we should not lose sight of the ultimate reason pervading all these European ventures: our students. Should these mobilities and all the other tasks not have any impact at all on our students, we'd better call it a day.
Manuel Molina Porlán
ErasmusPlus Coordinator.
P.S: This article has been written in collaboration with other teachers, among them Carmen Guzmán Ruiz, José Marcos Resola Moral y María José Catena García.
In the above mentioned proposal, we can observe some disquieting data which should prompt some thoughtful reflection for those of us who have endeavored to improve our community: Sierra Mágina High School, despite its many strengths, still shows some issues which need a short-term, swift answer, among others:
1) A slightly dangerous rate of early drop-outs, even from students who did not obtain their degree in compulsory secondary education.
2) Some problems to properly deal with SEN students and attention to diversity policies, since our teaching staff need more methodological and didactic resources.
Additionally, we would like to give priority to the development of our wondrous, surroundings, i.e, the imposing natural park of Sierra Mágina, together with our cultural heritage. Consequently, it is our aim to combine synergies and efforts among all the members of the community and take advantage of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in order to disseminate the many richnesses of our region and make use of them in our lessons.
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| Castle Hotel of Santa Calina and the scintillating mountains of Sierra Mágina |
1. To reduce early drop outs, in line with the Europe 2020 objectives.
2. To fight against school failure with perceptible changes in the way we work -therein lies the name of this project: 'Improving learning and teaching processes'- by using active and innovative methodologies with which better motivate our students.
3. To improve teachers' professional, didactic and linguistic competences.
4. To help to disseminate our artistic and cultural heritage, making our mobilities abroad fulfill a double purpose: to learn and to disseminate.
Fourteen teachers will participate in the mobilities, that is, one-week in-training courses and jobshadowing stays abroad. 8 teachers will take part in jobshadowing activities in 4 different countries -Slovenia, UK, Denmark, Finland while the rest will attend structured courses in prestigious academies from countries: UK, France, Italy and Portugal. All in all, 7 countries will be involved in this promising lifelong learning process. Yet we have taken a step further considering that some of these partners have already expressed tacitly both their wish to set up student exchanges and include us as partner institutions in their next ErasmusPlus projects. And we sincerely hope this is something more than mere wishful thinking.
Teachers from all fields of knowledge are to be involved, the Head Master on the lead together with most members of the management board, which ensures the absolute support of the high school. Likewise, 2 out of 3 Area Coordinators are also deeply committed as well as the Coordinator of Training, Assessement and Innovation, plus the school Counselor. As you can see, most of the members of the school's Board of Pedagogical Assessment are taking direct part in all the stages of the project: analysis of results, needs detection, search for suitable partners, planning of activities plus its implementation and development.
Not only do we wish to enhance our learning and teaching strategies, but also the general management of the school, so all of them must be involved. Therefore, we also count with the participation of the Coordinator of Extra curricular activities, the Coordinator of the Plan of Implementation of Multilingualism, the Head of History and Geography and 6 other teachers from several areas with different roles, such as tutors, teachers for special educational needs and non-linguistic areas. Can we then claim this is a project of importance and relevance for the school? I would say 'yes'.
To carry out this project, we have worked as a team, starting with a calm, serene debate among the teachers who participated in the first ErasmusPus project leading the way, later on submitting proposals to the teaching staff. We have also considered and incorporated the opinion of the families and the students, under the supervision and precious help of the Teacher Training Centre in Jaén.
Within this culture of ongoing improvement in which we are acutely engaged, we aspire to get to know other ways to teach better and successfully deal with everyday problems in the classroom, enhance our management of human and material resources, learn about new effective methodologies which may help us improve our results as well as the working, teaching and learning atmosphere, by making it more appealing to students. We all share concerns and strive to forge a better community.
We are convinced of the importance of the great opportunity that lies ahead of us in order to continue with the process of internationalization of our high school, opening up to other realities and ways of thinking. We can't only enrich the teachers' way of being and thinking but also the students'.
For this is the ultimate goal we basically pursue: improve our teaching expertise to really enhance our work and ensuingly, raise the academic outcomes. A motivated teacher will be more competent and their work will be able to transmit better the need of all of us to strive for excellence teaching and learning.
Yet we should not lose sight of the ultimate reason pervading all these European ventures: our students. Should these mobilities and all the other tasks not have any impact at all on our students, we'd better call it a day.
Manuel Molina Porlán
ErasmusPlus Coordinator.
P.S: This article has been written in collaboration with other teachers, among them Carmen Guzmán Ruiz, José Marcos Resola Moral y María José Catena García.
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Muy buen artículo y muy buen trabajo. Congrats!!!
ResponderEliminar!Ve preprando la maleta para tu curso en Portugal, que te queda poco!
EliminarSimply superb Manolo; way to go!
ResponderEliminarYes, superb. But I'm scared, I had to use a dictionary :-(
ResponderEliminar