Four reflective journals

First journal 

Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 28th 

As planned at the beginning of the fourth term, the topic for that class was internal organs. So I firstly showed some pictures of organs to my students and then they could locate those organs in their body. That warming-up activity gave my students first thoughts about what we were going to start talking about.
After that, I gave my students correct pronunciation of the new vocabulary they were going to learn. We all pronounced the vocabulary while touching the external part where the internal organ was located. A few students already knew that vocabulary, they felt motivated to say those words aloud. While doing that, we reviewed previous knowledge about parts of the body (external/internal) they could have already known before that lesson.
Next, we opened the learner's book on the unit about organs. Then, students felt ready to read the information of the organs presented by the book. We did reading aloud in the classroom to practice pronunciation and intonation of the new vocabulary. I asked closed and opened questions to my students of the text they read in ball-passing game. Most students wanted to have the ball and answer the questions related to the reading.
To close the lesson, I showed a video from youtube about the importance of our organs on the flat TV screen to my students so they could widen their knowledge on this topic. During the lesson I was checking students' interest on internal organs and thinking what movement activity could be done in order to start explaining the function of the organs. And that was how I started to plan the next session with them.

Second journal 

Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 29th 

After having students attention, I asked every single student to put their right hand on their left part of their chest and feel the heart beat. Then I asked them to put their right hand on their neck and feel the heart beat. After that, I asked them to put their hand on their wrist and feel their heart beat. To be honest, most of them had difficulties to feel the heart beat but after helping them, they could feel their blood pumping.
After doing that as a warming-up activity, I asked students to open their notebooks and do the table that I was going to do on the board. That table had one column with different exercises (Walking, jumping and running) and another column with two spaces, one for the student and another one for the student's partner. So they could work in pairs somehow and learn together by feeling the heart beat of each other. Students felt really excited that day; especially those who had no idea how to tell their heart beat.
During the outdoor activity, students identified the main organ of the circulatory system: the heart. After doing the three tasks, students found out that the heart beat increased by doing exercises that required more speed or strength. Also, students realised that their heart beats were all different by comparing their own heart beat with his partner's.
When students were done, we went back to the classroom to share the experience. Students learnt new vocabulary while basically playing with the outdoor activity. Later that day, I started to think about how I could have given more to my students by going further in the field of the circulatory system and the heart function. With that in mind, I took the decision to make the next activity more motivating for my students and deeper in anatomy.

Third journal 

Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
September 30th 

Before going in the classroom, I had really nice expectations for that class because I was going to explain the use of a technological webpage which was going to be like Facebook from now on for students but with academic purposes. And, it is a well-known fact that kids nowadays are very familiar with technological devices and the internet.
Schoology was the website that my students were going to start working. I guided students and did a tutorial during class for them, solving all doubts and doing all demonstrations students requested. Then I gave them the code for the course students were going to join when creating their accounts at home. We did one example with one student to show all the rest how to do it and how to edit their profiles. The whole lesson was based on instructions for the webpage so students could be all set for the next session using the webpage.
After I left that lesson I started thinking if creating the account was going to be difficult for my students and bring headaches for their parents. The results that I got from my students next day were amazing though. My students could create their account and modify lots of their information. Some of them even messaged me on the Webpage and asked to work more on Schoology the next sessions we were going to have. That motivated a lot to continue working with them what I had thought to do on the webpage on September the 29th.

Fourth journal 

Aspaen gimnasio la fragua
Second graders
October 2nd 

After knowing that my students performed good on creating their accounts on Schoology and editing their profiles, I proceed to explain how to complete tasks or tests on the webpage. They were really excited to know how they were going to be tested and how the webpage was going to be a tool for them. I showed on the TV screen step by step where they should click and what they should do.
All students could follow me with ease. We listened to a song related to the circulatory system and were able to identify new vocabulary in that song. We followed the lyrics of the song while singing. Then, we continued with the main activity and watched a short video which was going to be the resource for them to answer the questions on the test. The video was fun for them because it was animated, causing them laugh a lot. Next, students completed the test quickly.
After that, I asked students how it was and interviewed some of them to collect data for my research practice. While doing so, I was reflecting on their answers and taking as suggestions for future activities on Schoology. We finished the class sharing the moment we had on the webpage. Before using virtual learning environments as an educational tool, I thought it was going to be a hard assignment for students to accomplish but it was totally uncomplicated for students to manage the webpage.