SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A STAR BY INMA ÁLVAREZ DONAIRE

Hello everyone I am the star of the PowerPuffTeachers. This is my first post and I am really glad to share with you.

At the beginning, I was quite overwhelmed because being in front of almost 70 people explaining the poster is a big responsibility since I could put the work we dedicated a long time at risk due to the nerves. And the big day arrived… I have terrible nerves whenever I speak in public but when Linda said that the stars had to explain TPACK to each group using speed-dating dynamic I felt more relieved (I know it could seem silly). The first time I did with my group I think I did a good explanation but the second time I did with another group and Linda, I was really nervous so in my opinion I could have done better. In contrast, I realized how I was improving every time I did the representation to another group so I am proud of the effort my team and I put into the activity and I am also proud of me because I was frightened by the activity and I did not feel able to do it. Moreover, I have learnt a lot with this activity and I am sure that it will be useful in my future as a teacher.

In the representation, I was explaining the process of TPACK to all my classmates for 9 times. I tried to do my speech the best I could and with my own words: First of all, I introduced myself to my classmates. The next I said was:

·         TPACK is the knowledge teachers need to integrate technology in the teaching and learning process. It is made up by three core components (Technology knowledge, Pedagogical knowledge and Content knowledge). The interaction among the three core components is really important to achieve an effective and successful teaching with technology. There is no a unique combination of these three factors, there is no a single technological solution so teachers have to be creative, to develop and to re-establish a dynamic equilibrium among all components. Every time we make a change in any component we have to compensate the other components. That´s why we have represented TPACK as a roulette because when we move it, we can see the three main components move at the same time. Moreover, if we see any elements in isolation we will not be able to achieve an effective teaching with technology.

·         Content knowledge: As Shulman said, it is really important what teachers know about the subjects. Teachers should know the deeper knowledge fundamentals of the subject because if teacher do not know about it, it can produce negative effects on the students, they receive wrong information or understand the content in the other way. The subjects we have related to content knowledge have been Oral and Writen communication in English and in Spanish for the Primary classroom and educational  theories and institutions because we have learnt the content we have to know in order to transmit it to our future students.

·         Pedagogical knowledge: It is teachers´ deep knowledge about practices and methods of teaching and learning, techniques used in classroom and strategies to evaluate students understanding. This allow to understand lesson planning, how students learn and build knowledge, general classroom management skills and how a cognitive, social and developmental theories apply to students.                                                                                                           The subjects we have related to pedagogical knowledge have been sociology of education, educational psychology, developmental psychology and educational plannig because we have learnt how to react with society and in particular with our students. It will help us to face and sort out the problems in our daily live at school.

·         Technological knowledge: Technology is always changing and developing so it is difficult to define this term. If we look back, we can see the progress humanity have done thanks to technology and how the world has change so much. So, if now we define technology we probably have to change in the future.

The subjects we have related to technological knowledge have been Research and ICT and School Organization and Educational Resources. The most important thing we are going (because we have not finish the course) to learn is how to use technology (computers or digital blackboards) correctly at the classroom and what is more, how to catch the attention of our future students with these tools. Also we will learn how to conduct researches and important resources were we have to look for information.

·         Interaction between technology and content knowledge (TCK): Teachers have to know more than the subject they teach, they have to understand how the subject can be changed by technology and the impact that technology have on education and on other fields, as diverse as, medicine, history… in other words, the impact on the whole world. We have related this interaction to the film “Trascendence” in which Jonny Deep is going to die but he achieve to computerize his brain and his consciousness is uploaded into a computer. Finally, he succeed in changing the world and having the control of the whole planet. So, we do not know what the technology will bring to us in the future.

·         Interaction between pedagogy and content knowledge (PCK): It is related to Shulman´s idea of knowledge of pedagogy applicable to the teaching of specific content. One concept is the notion of the subject matter of teaching transformation. The teacher has to transform the student´s prior knowledge by multiple ways.

·         Interaction between technology and pedagogical knowledge (TPK): Teachers have to understand how teaching and learning can change by technology. Software programs are not designed for educational purposes but are usually designed for business environment. Teachers have to reject functional fixedness and develop skills to look beyond common uses of technology for pedagogical purposes. Teachers have to be creative, open-minded and to come up with ideas to achieve student´s learning and understanding.

When I was explaining TPACK to my classmates I did little explanations about the poster and why we decided to do like this.

On the other hand, in this task we were ask to associate the TPACK model with the subjects of our degree of University. However, in the presentation we realized that we did one of them wrong. We have related educational theories and institutions to Content knowledge instead of relating to pedagogical knowledge.

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