Engaging students in Pen pal experience

 

Pen-pal experience

International-mindedness provides us a vast array of possibilities to understand the importance of the different perspectives according to our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. People have recognized the benefits of it and the opportunity to know more about someone or a group of members belonging to a distinct culture. It should be an amazing opportunity to admire and accept others, in this way the values are essential to respect several points of view and how they can enable to feel closer and be in touch with someone over the world.

For that reason, all of this happened, when I was in contact with Alma Omanovic a teacher from Acibadem Okullari school in Istanbul, Turkey. We were really eager to know more about each country, especially the landscapes and some features of the school. In this chat,  we decided to encourage our students to know other perspectives by exchanging letters about outstanding places or moments describing the school with 2nd-grade students from her school.

In our collaborative work, we have fostered our students to involve in these experiences some questions to make connections with other students and gather useful information from others were always very helpful to enhance their skills.

Starting a new journey to know more about another culture has been significant for each girl. At first, they were excited and made a brainstorming session to arrange their ideas or thoughts. From the beginning, my students showed commitment to write a letter from a foreign student in English, expressing some relevant aspects of their school, and drawing some icons that represent the country. As a teacher I remembered to ask some questions to their pen pal to find out more information about them. Writing skills are remarkable in this project they made an enormous effort to express their ideas with coherence, good spelling, and grammar, showing passion and interest for them.

So, they looked forward to receiving their personal letter, were satisfied enough to know about Acibadem Okullari school, whose lives changed after reading some similarities and differences from that country. They loved to know about other subjects like drama, wood carving lessons, archery courses,  favorite sports, and their families. Both schools have a coliseum in which they celebrate several events throughout the year. 

Communication skills were crucial to listen to each student in this process of exchanging letters, they were enthusiastic to know about other students from a country far away. Each detail written provoked discussions and made emphasis in some specific details. They were able to find out that diversity is essential to discovering amazing moments in a definite country. 

Most importantly for us is how our students have admired another culture taking into account places, people, and traditions, as well as they, share the letter with their families to tell them the aim of writing someone was a splendid opportunity to meet new people with different customs that joined us a lot.

Reading the letters arose a variety of feelings, thoughts, and expressions:

 “I felt happy and excited because I knew another person and I discovered her culture, school, activities, members of her family and community” 

                                                                                          María Fernanda Leal

“ I learned many things of their culture “lu durum doner”, that it is a traditional food, and they have different lessons like drama”   
                                                                                       

                                                                                     Julieta López

“ I felt good because in the letter I found much useful information to know about the school of Turkey.”

                            Gabriela Duarte

At last, our students could appreciate social and cultural diversity and the advantage to know other points of view that help them gain respect and appreciation for others. So they could demonstrate curiosity and enthusiasm in this outstanding pen-pal experience in which they are still inquiring about Turkey. Where is the country located? What are the most famous places? What are the official languages? Generating more knowledge in their own process of learning and their compassion enhances being more tolerant toward others. 

Enhancing students` perseverance

 

I had the opportunity to hold a conference with Bianca Duceppe. She has been working with Lance King, who had designed and developed approaches to learning (ATL). It was an outstanding experience because I was learning some strategies to apply with my students and now I want to share them with all of you.

The meeting was related to ATL skills but focused on perseverance. 

Why did she teach us about perseverance? 

Because we live in a world where procrastination is evident in our lives. We start avoiding our responsibilities because we are used to thinking about the future.

This conference taught me the value of doing tasks at a specific time. We need to foster our students to optimize time management and organization to get to goals.

Always, we focus on telling our students some routines for doing better but some students don't acknowledge the importance of ATL skills in their lives unless teachers have told them the benefits of applying approaches to learning in different contexts. But we have to teach our pupils with our example. When they follow us in some dynamics we could guide this process in which they can express their opinions and carry out the necessary adjustments.

 

How to surpass procrastination?

First off, you should create a chart to focus on the things you need to change to get to your goals.

Write a list of all things distracting you to get your goals.	Write your commitments to reach your target.

Also, you might create a schedule to write a period of time to finish each task. This is a wonderful strategy for planning your learning experiences at a specific time.

When we are aware of the importance of taking action, is crucial teamwork uses skills like collaboration to finish and decide how much time will be needed to complete a project, as well as, all members are essential with their arguments or ideas.

How are students taking these relevant actions?

• Foster learning skills in our lesson plans in which they have an relevant role in each learning experience.

• Activating a process of a relationship of all members of the community.

• Involving students in exploring knowledge, concepts, and skills.

• Showing interest in their goals, experience, and learning from their failures.

• Focus on time management and disciplined thinking.

 

Cultivating Well-being

We figured out the importance of supporting our students to face some strong emotions because of the context of huge uncertainty. We decided to implement some remarkable moments and learning experiences related to well-being by providing them some useful strategies to practice every day. All these ideas have been included in our inquiry units, cultivating students' positive emotions, exploring nature, and strengthening their self-esteem. 

One thing, we should be aware of is starting conversations about the importance of gaining control over emotions and making some changes to be better in all aspects of life. However, we emphasized the effectiveness of expressing their feelings to acquire essential skills to overcome tough situations. These are questions we asked:

How do you think you are showing positive emotions?

How do you feel when you admire nature?

Why is nature important to you?

Which things make you proud?

Also, they had the chance to share some strategies from their cooperative learning. It is really important because they felt recognized as essential members of a team. We have been working on Kagan´s Cooperative learning structures throughout each unit in our virtual encounters, the most frequent is to reflect on how ATL skills are helping them to choose the best options for taking care of themselves and others. 

Relevant Questions:

What inspires well-being?

What are the fundamental aspects to feel well-being?

What are essential routines to promote well-being?

Why are routines important for well-being?

Throughout this process, we have been focused on knowing each student to establish some practice for reducing anxiety and stress as well as enhancing empathy for others. Those strategies continue to help some students to focus on other alternatives to gaze at the beauty of each moment. It is not easy in those days in which we have lost loved ones, but we have to keep working hard to support them. We know that they may engage in a learning experience if we made a positive impact on their life. It depends on daily details, at the beginning of the class in which they want to hear their names listen to their opinions or some aspects related to their families. When my students see that we are concerned about their well-being, they feel empowered to express affection to people around them. These actions will be reciprocal, while you are giving more attention to your students they will give you more affection and love being a great opportunity for all of us.

Encourage students to cultivate awareness

Admire the nature:

Students had the chance to explore and admire their surroundings in different places. Some of them have been in other places, near the capital center to spend time with family and at the same time having virtual learning experiences. We encourage our students to be more connected with nature to recognize splendid ways to feel satisfaction for the environment. Always all of these experiences bring more positive benefits to relationships with peers, friends, teachers, and relatives. 

Start breathing deeper: 

They built up an awareness of taking control of their body. We learned together how to focus on the breath. It was a great strategy to chill out our pupils especially when they were particularly stressed or anxious from some duties. This helps students to concentrate on their tasks, listening attentively to others, thinking deeper, being patient, and other relevant functions.

Being kind: 

  

Our students had the chance to reflect upon the importance to be kind to all people. Based on the Tibetan tale: “keeping your hearts close” by Pilar Manero Tornil. February 11th, 2019.

«A Tibetan story tells that one day an old sage asked his followers the following:

Why do people yell at each other when they are angry?

The men thought for a moment:

"Because we lose our cool," said one, "that's why we shouted.

But why do you yell when the other person is next to you? –Asked the sage– Is it not possible to speak to him in a low voice? Why do you yell at a person when you are angry?

The men gave some other answers but none of them satisfied the sage.

Finally, he explained:

When two people are angry, their hearts go far apart. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the louder they will have to yell to hear each other across that great distance.

Then the sage asked:

What happens when two people fall in love?

They do not yell at each other but speak softly to each other. Why? Their hearts are very close.

The distance between them is very small.

The sage continued:

When they fall in love even more, what happens? They don't talk, they just whisper and, they grow even closer in their love. Finally, they don't even need to whisper, they just look at each other and that's it.

Then he said:

When you argue, do not let your hearts go away, do not say words that distance you more, otherwise, there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will no longer find your way back. »

After reading the text, our learners wrote down specific actions to be gentle and friendly with everybody.

“ When we are angry, we have to calm down, relax and think positive thoughts, and when we speak softly.”

“ To have hearts close, we must think before acting, calm down, and dialogue.”

“ We have to be friendly and show respect towards each other.”

“ Always be kind to everyone, no matter what .”

Sharing love: 

When we establish a good relationship with students, they will feel important as human beings. In this way, they are more interested in being kind to their peers, teachers, and family. They start getting love and affection towards others. It could be accomplishments, giving feedback, helping in some exercises, sharing some goals, explaining some tasks. All of these have happened in those times of hybrid learning, they have shared their love with others. These experiences also have power in each cooperative learning in which they realize that getting love is a reward due to the benefits for themselves and others, highlighting the value of love in each moment is a path to nurturing our life.

                                        

                                      “ Love prevails within our hearts and souls.” 

                                                                      

Skills and dispositions in online learning

 

This article reflects the important role of teachers to involve in the different dispositions in online learning to support students in this time of challenges and changes. We provide some adjustments in our lesson plans to incorporate new skills. It was a pleasure to work with my colleague Patricia Pardo on this project.

You can read all the information - IB sharing PYP blog.

Skills and dispositions in online learning

Solving conflicts together

 

This article shares how social and self-management skills are developed in a useful strategy to solve classroom conflicts, taking into account their ideas and thoughts. Students had the opportunity to show their agency that promoted a healthy learning experience. It was great to see how my students worked effectively as a cooperative group. 

 

You can read all the information -IB sharing PYP blog. 

Solving conflicts together

Showing gratitude to others

I have observed how my students have changed their message throughout each unit of inquiry; they have shown a deep understanding of their life and crucial moments around them. At the beginning of the task, they wrote sentences focused on stuff, in some cases the most important for them were devices. Nowadays, they have changed the perspective of life, and they have been learning through this experience that family, life, food, shelter are charming gifts to be grateful for. It shows as pupils are so genuine in their insights and thoughts by writing sincere messages about their feelings, as well as showing an intense joy to express their ideas to the entire class. It has been a terrific event to see their big smile when they finished reading and listening to other peers. I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to listen to them attentively each day, engaging students to keep appreciate their amazing life experiences. 

Some girls have to cope with some tough events in their homes, but this experience takes them further when writing gratitude messages to give them happiness and peace in their hearts. They know the importance of showing gratitude, particularly loved ones who are supporting them in their decisions and actions.

Once students gain the habit of gratitude, they start a path of satisfaction, full of blessings for being alive and having a family. These aspects were written most of the time in their journal of gratitude. This stimulation can help the state of mind, especially the part of resilience and emotional management. As you notice, the role of the teacher is relevant who guides the process of gratitude, gives the students trust, and also provides relentless persistence to appreciate what they have. 

                                                                         

                                                                            

In this image, you can see one gratitude message did from one of my students. It was a double reward. First, of all, pupils felt amazing to write a message that expresses their feelings and also their parents were outstanding to receive them. This allowed my students to show a high level of self-assessment skills, and we could socialize some questions about the process of this task. 

 

How did they feel about this message?

 

One student told me, "When I was writing the message I felt happy because I am going to say thanks to a person who gives me a smile every day, and they are important for me”.

 

How did your parents feel about receiving the message?

 

When parents received the messages, another student said, “When I gave the message to my parents, they felt very happy because they are proud that I am a grateful girl”.

 

 

 

It brings charming happiness to their families, regardless of the challenges or changes of those days. This experience inspires me to keep working hard to ignite the inner power of my students. It has impressed me with the attitude of my students during this pathway. They use their own and each other’s ideas in order to make connections to cope with different situations in this way; they have conveyed deeply message.

Interestingly, I figure out that this learning experience has shown a higher level among some IB key concepts:

 

Connections: they have made connections with themselves, classmates, family and other people.

 

Change: they have been appreciating to be alive and have a family.

 

Perspective: they have been respecting points of view.

 

Reflection: they reflected on being grateful and value their families and life.

 

This heightened change has been a process in which students have changed some structures in their daily routine to be more aware of the importance of being grateful to people who are around them.

Below, you can see the word "happy" which is the most common in this learning participation.

 

 

Please share your experience related to gratitude.

The power of being grateful

I'm thrilled to tell all of you, one concerned about how to be grateful at times of challenges. I strongly believe in the benefits of this state of mind in which we can admire the magic of the world, knowing how many splendid things provide our universe, in some cases, we are blindfolded to accomplish some goals without enjoying each step in the process.

When we face hardships through different circumstances, we consider it is impossible to overcome. But in the end, it is relevant to focus on new pathways. We will be proud of our power and especially, helping pupils to feel inner peace.

In our virtual learning, we decided to focus on providing our students with a nurturing environment to cope with stress and tackle the latest challenges. This situation provided a new perspective to encourage our students to reflect on each encounter as a special moment to enjoy. At the onset of each virtual learning, learners could cultivate gratitude in their daily journal in which they wrote down amazing events to be grateful for and they had time for sharing with the entire class.

Cultivating gratefulness was phenomenal for creating a friendly environment in each member of the group to acknowledge the importance of each message, respecting the point of view of members, and listening attentively to each other.

This learning experience provided us with multiple possibilities to be better with people who are next to us. They could acknowledge the importance of being grateful every day. It turned into a healthy habit that provides some essential elements to manage their emotions and well-being. Another benefit was when I started with this habit; I figured out how my students became more confident and cheerful with each encounter. 

One example of this learning experience for students:

They can write a message of gratitude for their parents, friends, teacher, or someone special in those days of the change. Then, we socialize their responses in class.

How did they feel about this message?

How did you feel about giving the message?

Being part of the IB environment in which approaches to learning and teaching are crucial in virtual meetings. Our students are aware of the importance to demonstrate agency in their process of learning. For that reason, I started involving my students by asking them some questions related to self-management skills (state of mind).

What are the benefits of being grateful?

How do you show gratitude?

Why does gratitude enhance the state of mind?

Why is gratefulness important for you?

As a teacher, we can think about our role in virtual or face to face learning.

How can we encourage our students to be grateful?

It is a great way to encourage our students to evoke positive emotions, despite challenges or changes. This strategy helped them to increase social connection among students, improved a wonderful sense of humor, and enhanced relationships with families.

These worksheets are designed in Spanish and English language because I would like that all teachers can apply this strategy in their lesson plans. You can find one slide to encourage students to indicate the sense of agency when choosing someone for writing a special message.

In the PDF Below, you can download the worksheets done for you! 

PDF message of gratitude (English)

PDF message of gratitude (Spanish)