Edutopia

This blog is fantastic. I have spent nearly an hour surfing on this website and every post is better than the next one.

On the one hand I have to say that I feel happy to know that education can be offered in a different way. Whereas, on the other hand I have to be realistic and I know that Spanish education is far away from this educational models.

At this moment I'm preparing in a Spanish school an Ecological Garden and I would like to remark from this page the following video.

Natural Intelligence

I want to introduce another book

This essay argues the importance of an education mainly focused on happiness and not on knowledge.

It explains the significance of human beings in their individuality.

We have to replace the whip for the smile because happiness is the key to widely open the brain doors in order to achieve more knowledge.

New school

Many parents and teachers are worried about an educative system that doesn’t work. Year after year we are seeing children, parents, teachers who are somehow against a system that doesn’t have space for other ways of thinking and for any type of creative expression.

Let me show you some schools from Sweden. They are called Vittra Schools. In their website they promise to give every individual the opportunity:

-to find the best approach for them

-to learn based on experience

-to understand their own learning

-to have faith in themselves and their abilities

-to develop their ability to communicate and engage in respectful interaction with others

-to be equipped for study and work in an international environment

Here you have a video from this school. Do you think something similar would be possible in our country? I know there are some Montessori and Waldorf schools, but they don’t offer a full education yet. It’s a pity that we don’t have this opportunity here, don’t you think so?

New books for a new education

I want to introduce an interesting book about education for the new age we are living in.

The author thinks we need a comprehensive education in which  the different scientific models converge, without forgetting the human sciences. That's because the humankind progress should not only be material but also mental and spiritual.

Thinking of others

This is a beautiful documentary about education, love and feelings.

We all think about the importance of learning languages. Children go to English, Chinese, German, Spanish lessons... My question is: What about feelings? They can express many things in different languages, but... Can they handle with feelings? Will they be able to express what they really feel in the near future?

I hope you enjoy the video.

The theory of multiple intelligences

This morning, surprisingly a friend of mine, share in facebook some news about "The theory of multiple intelligences".
I have found this news really interesting because it has helped me to go into detail about this knowledge.
It's very important that teachers and parents have a full knowledge about this interesting vision of intelligence.

The link:

http://blog.tiching.com/howard-gardner-inteligencias-multiples/?utm_content=CMPHowardGardner&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cm&utm_source=twitter

Galileo

Amazing videos could be an interesting tool in order to get students' attention.

This video is for science subjects and I'm sure students and teachers will enjoy this great real experiment.

Galileo theories alive!!!

My best teacher

When I was a child, I attended class in a Catholic school. There were a lot of teachers there. But one of them, in particular, makes me feel that  education could be fun and profitable at the same time.

His name was "Miguel Blanco", he was a  musician and a  teacher too. Music was an important part in his  educational path: Sometimes as  a target, sometimes as  a prize and sometimes as  a creativity resource.
The most important feeling I still keep in my memory, from these days, is "every day could be different", why was it  true?   Because every day this teacher proposed different activities and suprised all of us,

He was a musician and played in a famous valencian folk band called "Al Tall". Once they travelled to Mexico and our teacher bought every one of us a Mexican clay puppet. Can you imagine our happines and devotion? We inmediately  planned a puppet  performance, crafting every puppet and clothes for the show.

He was as good teaching maths as teaching other subjects. He wrote  a book about mental calculation. The book's name was "Cálculo mental, cálculo rápido". I still use the calculation skills he taught me.

He  was a great teacher.