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Hi everyone from Valencia (Spain)!

I’ve been Biology and Geology teacher for 31 years in secondary education.

I've been involved in etwinning projects for 5 years now.
Apart from Biology , I teach Scientific Culture and Earth and Environmental Sciences .
Hope to learn lot  about PBL

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My present school, where I’ve been working for 11 years, is called IES Comarcal, it is located in Burjassot , a big town the outskirts of Valencia (third city most populated city in Spain)

You can visit the school website here http://mestreacasa.gva.es/web/iescomarcal

This school year I’m in charge of 6 different groups, aged from 12 to 17.

I teach my subject  in english in 4 of the groups (1rst and 3rd levels of secondary education)  and in catalan language in two of them (higher secondary education).

My student’s groups are, fortunately, quite small, the largest group is formed by 17 pupils and the smallest….by  only 3 students!!!

I teach three different subjects :

Biology and Geology  in 1rst and 3rd of  E.S.O. ( compulsory secondary education)

Scientific Culture in 1srt of Bachiller (higher secondary education)

Earth and Environmental Sciences in 2nd of Bachiller (this group is prreparing for  getting the University)

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First impression after watching the videos and read the article: The PBL approach is very interesting and enormously attractive.

It has been very enlightened the simile of the article, PBL is not the dessert, is the main course.

The PBL approach involves much work of teaching staff prior to implementation, have a clear idea of where you want to arrive and the way to go, with the open mind to be surprised with the results .

I am aware that there is much to learn, and I hope to do in this course

In my opinion, first step to go into this approach is to free oneself from  the pressure of the curriculum, not to feel guilty because you don’t finish the vast syllabus and to have a clear idea that students are learning during the whole process, contents , skills and competences.

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PBL involves change the teaching/learning process up, starting with the initial training of teachers in university schools.

PBL represents a radical change in teaching practice, implies more work for teachers, implies change in the figure/role of teachers and is not always willing to do so because of lack of security, there is no stimulus neither from the educational authorities that compensate the effort for people who are already in the profession.

Implement PBL necessarily imply changes in the structure of the classes from the role of each human element (students and teacher) until the distribution of the spaces and  the material resources in the classroom.

An important limitation in some cases is the number of students per group.

The main challenge is the change of perspective on the teaching/learning process and assume the new role that has the rol of the teacher .

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What teaching strategy do you use most commonly?

I have an , let’s say, eclectic teaching style, although I don’t plan all my classes through projects I wouldn’t say that I teach in a “traditional” style, I try to make my pupils protagonist of their learning process, by involving them in the lesson , by  making them working in small projects, in some cases “first meal course” but in others “dessert” projects.

In the last 6 years I’ve been teaching bilingual groups , which in my school means small groups of usually highly motivated students,

3 years ago I decided to organize the classroom in groups of 4 tables from the beginning of the school year, so that student distributed in small groups could interact more actively. As a result of the new space distribution I ‘ve realized that my pupils feel happier in my classes , which in my opinion is very  important ,but that is not enough to learn more and better.

What do YOU do most of the time in the classroom?

This is a bit of what I do in my classes: at the beginning of a new topic I start  with some motivating warm-up activities (the mystery box, find someone who, the stuff box, an initial collaborative poster ...)

When I introduce a new concept I always try to connect with personal experiences of the students, by asking them “have you ever….?” who of you ….?,etc

I begin each day lesson connecting with the previous day through quick oral activities.

I try to involve them in the dynamic of the lesson in different ways, sometimes by using drama techniques , sometimes making them being objects, celestial bodies , or characters related with the topic,

Almost everyday we use internet during the lesson, sometimes to watch videos or to do online activities ,sometimes to look for specific information needed to solve a question or  to use bilingual dictionaries.

What do the students do most of the time?

Depending on the day, my pupils do different things,if I have to introduce new concepts or explanations , they listen and actively participate in the dialogue that I try to provoke.

If they have to work in the activities, I use cooperative learning structures, so they share their ideas and help each other.

Do you feel your current approach could be easily complemented with a PBL approach?

I feel that my current teaching approach can be easily complemented with PBL approach, I hope this course is the shot in the arm I needed to implement PBL with my students

Do you sometimes have the problem that students don't remember what they "learned" the day before?  How do you address this?

Do you already use some of the PBL approaches mentioned in the video?

I have already used the PBL approach with a small group of students participating in a Comenius project, but it was a punctual experience.

From my point of view, the emotional component is very important in the learning process, My students can remember easily things they learned through the projects they have done, in which they have been personally involved for example, in etwinning projects

What works, doesn't work?  Why?

How do you find out about your student needs and how do you incorporate this knowledge in your teaching?

This question makes me realize that I don’t usually take into account their needs when I plan my classes,

A different thing is what happens during the development of my teaching , then I’m opened to change if their interests go in a way that was not  in my plan.

Finish your reflection by identifying a class and a subject topic that you teach which you can use to experiment with PBL.

At this moment I’m thinking about  two subject topics in two different levels  to experiment PBL:

Human Biology : Health and illness, defences, prevention and treatment

Two groups of 15 students aged 15

Geology: Sustainable use of water

Two groups of 15 students aged 12

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After watching the video I think the 5 components are challenging, which is a powerful stimulus for doing this course and changing my working practice.

I don’t find any of them unachievable, but in my opinion the most difficult could be the beginning, find an appropriate real problem as a base for scaffolding  the  project.

Apart from that, to design and implement PBL requires teacher’s teamwork, which is quite unusual here in Spain. We as teachers, don’t have a tradition of collaborative work,

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These are the two driving questions:
1.Are we what we eat? (Sorry, I realize that this is a googeable quastion!)

2. Would you be able to build a flying bike?

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As I mentioned in another entry to this diary, I have organized my classroom  in groups of 4 tables, so that my students always sit in groups, not always the work they do is a team work, because there are activities that have to perform them individually, but they discuss between them before answering and in case of doubt  they only ask me when they  have not been able to resolve it among the members of the team.I try to provoke interaction and create the need for collaboration with the activities that I raise.

On those occasions when we have worked by projects, through etwinning or within the classroom exclusively, I can say that I am the one who marks the general lines, but they within their teams, have had to share responsibilities and take substantive decisions, for example for survey design, for  distributing  the work when interviewing the respondents, to design the contents of various videos, for the realization of the video (recording, editing, etc. ..), to elaborate the presentations that later have exposed to his companions. The final outcome has been the result of interdependent work because the contribution of each of the team members has been necessary for a final product.

It is true that I do not always give them the opportunity to make decisions about the final products of the projects. I often doubt whether I address them too much or whether I should let them make more decisions, because it seems to me that sometimes they feel lost. The decision making needs to be taught and if we don't give them the opportunity they won't learn it, obviously.The solution, in my opinion is the balance between one thing and another, to direct the process letting them create and decide, but that they always have the impression that you are next, mainly in the case of the youngest students.

When we have worked for projects, both they and I have enjoyed and learned, but Iwonder  if I can do it continuously throughout the whole school year.

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This is the activity that I used at the beginning of this school year when I made the groups for the first term, the aim was that they were conscious of what they had in common although they were no close friends. The activity  consists of giving to each group of 4 people a piece of paper with a triangle drawn which divided the sheet into 4 parts , the central part was numbered as 4, the others from 1 to 3.Each student had a different colour marker. One student started saying a thing that she or he liked, the other three said if they liked or not, if the four of them liked it , then the “thing” was written in the central part numbered 4. When only 3 people liked , then the “thing” was written in the sheet part numbered 3, and so on.In turns each student said one thing ( they did three rounds).

At the end they realized the things they had in common, which were a lot.

The end of the activity was to decide the team’s name and the logo  inspired in the things they had in common.

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I‘ve been involved in 5 etwinning  projects, two of them with the european quality label, the experience of collaborating with young people from other school has been absolutely positive for the students involved, and  for me as a teacher , has broadened my educational horizon.

I would say that eTwinning is a little bit addictive, because once you’ve finished the first project you are thinking in the next one.

Thinking  now about involving people from the community in students' work, here there is a list of possible people:

*Students from higher levels

*Education and environmental departments of the city council

*Members of NGO’s

*Health department of the regional government

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I don't think I can add any new collaborative tool.

My students find very useful and easy to use PADLET, Google Drive doc and presentations

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These are some of our actions that can weaken our pupil’s confidence:

To ignore them when they want to participate in a discussion, dialogue in the classroom.

Not to congratulate them when they do the things well, especially in case of the pupils with less self-confidence.

To scold them in public

To compare pupils’ behaviors and results publicly.

To correct the errors in written works  in red color, turns out to be quite humiliating to see a corrected work full of red color, visually it crashes less if a color of another scale is used,as blue, violet, green, brown,..