MY EXPERIENCE AT MIDFYNS GYMNASIUM BY A PARTICIPANT
We have atended a seminar in Denmark at Mydtfyns Gymnasium as part of an Erasmus Project aimed as “Differences, identity and active citizenship”. One of the aims of the seminar was to get to know how ICT teaching tools are used in class.
I atended some English lessons and I also attended a History lesson. There are some learning procedures that we are not familiar with in Spain. I will explain them briefly .
Working in groups. I would say that in more than 50% of the lessons, students work in groups, the number of students in each group varies depending on the activity.I can say that students feel more comfortable when learning in such a way. I also makes quieter students get involved in the class.
Class management: I have noticed that students can be asked to leave the classroom if they have to do some group work( discussions, debates, different activities on grammar and vocabulary) and they enter the classroom once the activity is finished. The way the leave and enter the class is done in a quiet way.I think if you work in groups students find the lessons more amusing and at the same time they have the chance to meet students they wouldn´t meet if a more traditional class took place. The group generator(made through Notebook) is an effective way to organize the students in groups in a fast way.
Use of computers in class. Every student carry his/her computer to class because most of the lessons are carried out online.Every single classroom is provided with a smartboard, a good set of plugs to charge the devices and a traditional board. I haven´t seen a notebook or a pen in any of the clases I have attended, and I haven´t really missed them at all.
Teacher training-This is a very important pont as far as the teaching process is concerned. I was told that teachers have training meetings and workshops every term. For that reason, University students come and are in charge of the students. Teachers arrange the lessons with the students.I find these seminars very useful, because it updates teachers with the latest teaching methods and techniques.In our country this would no be posible because during the school times we are engaged in many different tasks and (parents meetings, paper work, ground duties…) and there is no way we can find available time for us teachers to meet.
School atmosphere
Our students have been part of the school as normal students for a week and the first thing that they were most impressed at is the quietness and relaxing atmosphere you feel as you enter school. You can see students sitting on sofás, working with ipads…. In our schools, we try to make all students be inside the classrooms and ask them not to be wandering around.
Here in Denmark students can leave the classroom two or three times in a lesson if they are doing classwork and this is not very common in Spain because we don´t want to disturb other teachers.
It tools : I have been impressed at how teachers are so skilled at using the IT tools in class. I must add that every classroom is well equipped with Smart boards, computers and sound devices.
Visits. We did some visits besides the IT teaching. We were taken to a “After school” which is a boarding school where some students can go in between the secondary education and the gymnasium. It is based on an old system in which students are taught how to be independent and the curriculum is focused on áreas like music,art or drama. We also visited an assembly in a primary school. I liked the way school starts the day: singing, reflecting on some thoughts.
