🌟 S T A R

Hi workers 🔨! I am Carmen Díaz 👷, and this week as you already know, I have been the star 🌟!
We decided to make a raffle with the roles, I did not want to be the star, so I decided to be the first one in picking the little paper 🙈, and guess what? 😲  I am the luckiest person in the world...STAR!! 😢
At first I was a bit afraid of speaking in front of the WHOLE class, because I did not present before to such a big group. Moreover, I do not like to be the the center of attention, so I was not very happy. 😬
However, after trying to understand the whole task and the different projection maps, I realized that it was not so hard!
My group helped me with the presentation, so at the end it was easy! 😎
I felt a little bit nervous, but only a little because I understood everything (which is the most important thing!) so I was calm.
On Tuesday afternoon I practiced my speech like four times. And, when I got home I practiced twice, timing myself. I spoke for 7.40 minutes, more or less. ⏳
On Wednesday morning I practiced again and I last like 8 minutes... so I was more relaxed. I wanted to be the first one, in order to relax myself and enjoy the rest of the presentations, but I was the third, which was fine. 😌
I LOVED the presentation of FISHERS IN THE RIVER, it was great, original and fun! 😂👏🎉🎉
So, after watching the start of their presentation I felt a bit sad, because our presentation was a traditional one. 😩
When It was my turn, I felt comfortable because all of my classmates were very polite with me, they were paying attention, showing interest with their YES FACE, and I was feeling really pleased with that feedback! 😍

I enjoyed being the star because I gained more self-confidence, and I felt proud when a lot of people told me that I did a good exhibition, they understood me, so I felt really happy, pleased and glad. I am very lucky as I said before, I have a great class!!  🎉💖
My experience was very positive, because as time passes, I feel more comfortable with my class, less nervous and less afraid of participating and speaking in public, which I love, because I am a chatty chat! 😁

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME 💚

👷 T H E T A S K

First of all, we want to present what a projection is. A projection is the display of an image by devices, some examples are a video projector, a slide projection, 3D projection, or in our case a map projection.

Projections – Defining terms and recognizing patterns  A globe is the only “perfect” representation of the Earth’s surface. All maps are distorted in four major ways. The four ways maps are distorted is by the shape, size, distance, and location of the landmasses being mapped. In order to make maps, projections must be made, and different projections require different distortions. For each projection listed below, complete the chart for the correct information.

To solve our task we have chosen 2 countries; Cuba and Italy , because they seem similar in their shape and size.

 But it is not the reality, Cuba is around 30 times bigger than Italy according to its square kilometers. However, Italy has 6 times more population than Cuba, because it is much richer than Cuba, that’s why we tend to see the countries like this, because richer countries tend to be bigger in shape than poor ones.
In order to explain why we can be wrong with the size of the different countries when we look for them in a map, we are going to explain how we can see these countries according to three different projections, Robinson projection, Mercator projection and Azimuthal projection. But first, we have done a summary of the different projections to explain them.

Robinson projection wanted to represent the Earth in a simple and accurate way. The problem is that it distorts countries´shape, so they seem  bigger as we get closer to the poles. This projection adopted an oval shape.
 We can not see changes in Cuba or Italy's shape because they are situated in the equator, so they stay more or less the same.

Mercator projection was oriented to navigation. The problem is that it distorts countries' size, so they are bigger as we get closer to the poles. If we use this projection we can see the real shape of the countries but not their real size. This projection has a flat shape.
We can not see changes in our two countries because they are located in the equator.

Azimuthal projection presents an equilibrated distortion. It represents the pole and complete hemispheres. This map is like if we see the Earth from above. The problem is that when you get closer to the equator, that is the line around it, the countries get more distorted in area and shape . Moreover it increases with distances. This projection has a rounded shape.
In this map we can see how Cuba has stretched a little bit more than Italy, because Cuba is nearer the equator.

We would choose the Mercator projection in our lessons to a primary classroom, because we think that for children it is easier to understand. Using this projection they would see the real SHAPE of the countries but not their  size so as to solve this problem  we could tell them that the size of the countries is not the real one, and explain to them the distortion that Mercator projection presented. Moreover we will say to them that if we represent countries as they really are they cannot fill in a map. Our main objective as future teachers is to ensure that children are able to identify all countries in a map without importance the projection used.

According to the slogan "Media are not neutral" we want to say that in our daily life we can see a lot of moments in which Media show us something that does not correspond to reality. Here we are going to show you some examples.

• Marketing tends to sell an ideal product, which doesn’t correspond to the real one. Like food.

• Beauty tends to show as the “ideal stereotype”, for example Barbie.

              

But it also occurs in Education:

• Flashcards tend to show all animals/food/object with the same size. So if they have never seen this before, they might be confused with reality.

             

• Toys. We can see this in advertisements where they tend to associate boys with violent and rough games, and girls with domestic ones. So media is dividing people by gender, associating one role in society with gender. For example, a girl might think that she needs to be a housewife or housekeeper because that is what she is being told (by toys in this case), or a boy might think that he needs to be a policeman or fireman.
  We can see this in schools, were boys don’t let girls play football, because they are girls.

                      

And now we are going to talk about Treasure  Hunt.
Treasure Hunt is another methodology in which children learn while they have fun, it is a different way of learning how to search things on their own and how to learn things about a specific topic. It is very useful, because they learn while their motivation increases too. 
Teachers choose a specific topic and then make questions. Children need to develop the task with the resources that teachers give them. Finally, there is a final question, which can not be answered by a traditional class where a teacher explains concepts and ideas, this question needs more searching. 

 We have chosen one in the internet about recycling. To solve it you have to answer some questions using the sources provided by the teacher and finally there is a big question that they will need to solve using their knowledge about the topic.

Here we provide you the URL: http://www.aula21.net/cazas/cazasaula21/reciclaje.html

📖 T R A N S L A T O R

Hi Archilearners, we are in the third week and for this task we were asked to do a very different activity. This week I will be the translator.
Actually, this role requires a big effort because I should stand out the main concepts to facilitate to the readers the comprehension of our task, so let's start:

✔️ Projection Map: a projection map is the representation of the globe's curved surface  on a flat  map using different devices for that or even a typical paper sheet. There are 3 maps projections:

• Robinson: this author aimed to represent the earth in a easy, simple and accurate way, but this theoretical part, obviously, has a problem: DISTORTION. By the time he wanted to express his ideas, he found that distortion appeared changing the real shape of the globe, which is more pronounced as we get closer to the poles. As a result, we observe that this map has an oval shape.
• Mercator: this type of map projection is the traditional one and , from our point of view, the most useful one and, also, his ideas were oriented to navigation. In this case, the distortion can be appreciated in the size and with this type of map we can observe the real shape of the different continents but not their real size.
• Azimuthal: we would choose this one if we want to show an equilibrated distortion in the map, as the earth is represented from above or from the poles, so it is the same as we cut by the equator a globe. As a result, we won't see the countries near to the equator very well as the distortion is located in this part. In this case, the distortion increases with distances.

✔️ Distortion: the typical definition of this concept refers to the difference we found from the real stuff because of different causes of effects. In this case, we are talking about distortion in maps because we are expected to think that a country is bigger than other one and, actually it is not like that. In our case, we found that Cuba, despite its size in the map, is 31 times bigger than Italy, which seems to be bigger and this is because of distortion.

✔️ False expectations: the difference among reality and what we belief about some aspect(s). In this case, we are talking about an specific example: FLASHCARDS. In pre-school education, it is very common to have children that have no idea of some animals, for example. so when a teacher tries to teach vocabulary about animals he/she would use flashcards to show to them. But flashcards are not actually real, as they represent all the animals with the same size and that's not real.

✔️ Media: it includes the different types of transmition some information, values, beliefs or even attitudes. In this case, we are talking about stereotypes in games, for instance, a girl ''has to play'' with dolls or kitchens in order to play a role as a housekeeper.

✔️ Treasure Hunt: it's a different method to teachand develop new practical skills trying to find hidden objects. These objects would be the resources given by the teacher to develop the task and finally answer a big question

📂 F A C I L I T A T O R

Hello everyone, I am Mª Ángeles Alonso and I am the facilitator in this week, Hope you enjoy it ☝


This week the task was a little different because the Star of the week had to talk longer than usual and in front of the whole class. We have to admit that at first this scared us a little.

On Monday after Linda explained us the task, we distributed the roles, and regardless of the role that we had, our task for this day was to find two countries apparently equal in order to compare them.The next day, on Tuesday, we had our strong day, we rent a cabin to work.

Firstly, we wrote the main ideas on the blackboard (countries, projections and media examples) and then we divided the different types of projections in order to find information about them and then explain that information to the rest of the group. Right after, all of us helped to write the speech and once finished, we heard Carmen read it to check if we did not spend the 8 minutes.This time we did not carry any poster or anything because we thought it would be complicated to handle the PowerPoint and the poster at the same time.

All of us are very hardworking so, we never have difficulty to divided the task. 

Plan to meet is is not complicated because we eat in the university on Tuesdays and the afternoon is dedicated exclusively to carry out the task that we bring prepared of the previous day.

📈 A N A L Y S T

Hi ArchiLearners!! 🙋🔨

My name is Carmen Albaladejo and this week I am the analyst of Architeachers.To my mind, this is a really important role because you have to assess your mates, so you have an important responsibility. Moreover, not only you have to be honest with them, also you have to be honest with yourself which, in some cases, it is a little bit difficult but I am going to try to do my best.

Firstly, we were not really involved with the task because we did not like too much the topic but also because we had not really focused on what the task was about. At the beginning, we believed that the task was focused on Geography so our first impression was : "this task will be so boring"," I do not like the topic" and so on. Fortunately, Rajae, one of the ArchiTeachers, studied this course last year and she helped us to see the task with a different point of view. She explained to us how Media are not neutral using different examples, such as how Spaniards see Romanization and how Moroccans see it? It was on this moment when we understood the objective of the task and we started thinking on possibles ways to resolve it. So, I consider that to have a person who has experience in this course was really helpful to us in order to guide us for solving the task.

Probably, the best part of this activity has been to realize that "Media are not neutral" it means that lots of things that surround us not show the reality as it is actually. Starting with the flashcards that the kindergarten´s teacher use so as to teach you the animals to advertisements of McDonald's.

Maybe, the worst part of this task is that was really difficult to do it in a creative way, so we did not use scissors, glue,cardboards and so on.😌

To sum up, I want to say that all of the components of the group have worked really hard and they also did their best. Moreover, I need to say that we are a really organized and engaged group and I would like that this good vibes continue until the end of the course. On the other hand, I wanted to say that we worked all together even though each of us has her own role because we believed that working on that way we will get better results.


So, ArchiLearners we are waiting for you here next week. I hope you have enjoyed this post.😊

📃C U R A TO R

Hello ArchiLearners!!

I´m Dolores and this week I am the curator of Architeachers.

I have added the references that we have used to our Tree mind map. 

Here you can see the result!

Have a nice week 

See you soon 🔨👷

📷 J O U R N A L I S T

Hi architeachers! I am MªÁngela. 
On Monday we distributed the roles, and this week I will play the role of JOURNALIST📹. I love this role. So I will explain you how our heavy  week has been also become so funny😝

On Monday afternoon, everyone at home looked for information about the task. So on Tuesday (which is the day we stayed to do the work) we shared our ideas and the information we had found at home.

After analyzing several options, we finally chosen: Cuba 🆚  Italy

In addition, we clarified our ideas on what to expose and learn for this task.

We had an entertaining afternoon but we also worked hard.

To help our star to present, we decided to make a Power Point with photos so that she supported in them.

Some of us searched for media photos. Others of us searched and edited photos of the maps. And while, others of us were looking for the table that Carmen would comment on the presentation. Our star rehearsed and wrote Wednesday's presentation.

The day of the presentations arrived!  Carmen was nervous but we reassured her, we would know she would do great. The teacher chose the order according to the ages of the Analyst. We touched the number 3.

We photographed all the exhibitions. In general our companions did well, with more or less nerves, but they did well.

CARMEN MADE IT GREAT! Just as we expected.

See you next week architeachers!

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