Tuesday 19th July: Expository writing

Yesterday we took an assessment to test our intelligence. You can take it if you click here: test your type of intelligence

In a class we have several types of students, with different interests and level of knowledge, but also with different styles of learning. Every student can do anything, but why some students excel in some areas and are less achievers in others?

Until know, the educational system has boosted the linguistic and the logical/mathematical intelligence, but how we could help our students to achieve the objectives of the course? The answer is taking advantage of their strong points and trying to improve the weaker ones. For this reason, we as teachers must create a range of activities as large as we could in order to let our students learn using all their capabilities. After taking this assessment, students can realized that they are unique, no less intelligent than that classmate sitting next that usually have better marks.

How can you as a teacher improve this intelligences? Writing a report of the lab they do, is a good way to develop the ability to use the language to express their thoughts. The logical-mathematical intelligence is useful to analyze problems logically and solve them. For those students who have a special skill in the composition or appreciation of music, you can ask them to create a composition based on a topic you have explain in class, or give them the chance to do an oral presentation through the music. The students with a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence can use their facility to coordinate movements to make demonstrations to others or lead them in a physical challenge like building a project. Those who are specially good at the recognition of the space, can be selected to lead the group during a visit. The ones who has a great interpersonal intelligence can lead groups of work, because they have the capacity of understand other people. The students with a naturalistic intelligence and are more in tune with nature are highly aware of the changes to their environment, so they are good investigating the natural phenomena.

Monday 18th: MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

According to Howard Gardner, there are eight Multiple Intelligences in children. The second week of the course we should design and make a Roller Coaster in order to calculate the speed and acceleration of roller coasters. This lab is very complete because there are a lot of different intelligences involved in it. Let me explain to you why.

Linguistic: After doing the roller coaster they have to report what they have done, explaining with all the details how they created it, how much time it took them, which materials they used, what results they obtained, etc...
Logical-Mathematical: The students will need to put into practice their previous knowledge of Physics. in addition, they will have to analyze problems logically, and investigate issues scientifically.
Spatial: In order to create the roller coaster, they will have to realize about the measures that all the apparatus will have, and the position where they will have to collocate each part, so the ball could get as much speed as possible.
Bodily-Kinesthetic: This is a hand-on project, so they must relate the mental activity (the design, the idea of what they want to make) to the physical activity (the handling of the instruments and materials they have to do).
Musical:
Interpersonal: As they have to work in groups, they have to develop the capacity to understand the intentions and desires of other people. Every work-in-group activity is essential to learn how to work effectively with others.
Intrapersonal: Despite the fact that this is a work-in-group activity, every student have to think about the project, what he or she can do to support other people's ideas.
Naturalistic: They have to be aware of the natural phenomena that happen in their environment and learn about their experiences to put them into practice.

Friday 15th: 10 STEPS TO GET A LUNCH AT ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY

1. Get to the "Under 55 Cafeteria", located in 55 E Monroe St.
2. Enter the building and take the escalators downstairs.
3. Turn to the left.
4, Pick up a tray
4. Walk around and explore the kinds of  food you can order.
5. Make your selection.
6. Order your food to the waiter.
7. Wait until the waiter gave you the food.
8. Take a cup and choose a beverage.
9. Put the glass under the dispenser and push the buttom.
10. Choose a table to sit at.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL!

Thursady 14th: GOOSE ISLAND

Today we have gone to a brewery where some local beers are made every day, that is located near Armitage station on brown line. You can go there and watch the brewing process and enjoy a wide variety of beers that have been produced on-site.

A worker of the pub, has explained to us the basic ingredients of beer, which are water; a starch source, such as malted barley, which is able to be fermented (converted into alcohol); a brewer's yeast to produce the fermentation; and a flavouring such as hops. A secondary starch source may be used, such as maize (corn), rice or sugar. He has moved on to explain the brewing process, which include malting, milling, mashing, boiling, and fermenting.

After that, we have gone downstairs and they have given us four types of beer to taste:

The fist of the four was 312. It's an American Style Wheat Ale, 4.2% with a hazy straw color, light orange hop aroma, fruity ale flavor, and creamy body.

The second one was Green Line, which is an American Style Pale Ale, 5% with a honey color, bright american hop aroma, citrus flavor, light crisp body.

The third, Honker's Ale is an English Style Bitter, 4.3% with a golden sunset color, fruity hop aroma, biscuity malt flavor, soft body.

And the last one, the India Pale Ale, or IPA is an English Style India Pale Ale, 5.9% with a honey color, grapefruit aroma, fruity hop flavor, dry body.

My favourite of all is the second one, the Green Line because its taste, but specially because of the flavour that was great.

In Madrid we have some places similar to this, when you can have fresh beer, so it wasn't new for me, but we had fun and enjoy with the classmates and teachers.

WEDNESDAY 13th July: NATHAN DOLENCE FOR PRESIDENT

In the next election for president of the USA everybody should vote for Nathan Dolence because he is the master of communicators I have ever known in all my life, he is good-looking, and clever.

Even though the current president is doing very well and he is supported by part of the population, he has suffered a decrease in his popularity that makes necessary to change the person who leads the country to a higher position, and Nathan Dolence (Nat for his fellows) is our man.

Since I met him, I was sure that he was going to become a prominent person in the near future. He is so charismatic, and such a good communicator, that every word that he said sounds like the absolute truth. In addition, he has been a model for us, and he inspires confidence, which is the most important quality that a president must have.

Moreover, we are living in a time when image is so essential for politics than you cannot avoid taking it into account, and Nathan is the one who can fulfill this condition. The majority of women would vote for him. The youngest women would do it because they wish to marry him, and the oldest ones because they would like to become his mother -in-law.

In addition to these reasons, the most relevant of the three given is that he is an extremely intelligent person. He has developed such a brilliant career, that if you ask to anyone who had worked with him, they would say that he is the cleverest, the sharpest, the most understanding and the most judicious, as well.

Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th July: CHICAGO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Today we have visited the Chicago's Children Museum, located at Navy Pier. From all the exhibitions or activities you can find there, I would choose some of them that are connected with the field of science, such as the inventing lab, the rocket science and the water ways, despite the fact that they are more aimed at children up to ten years.

In the inventing lab you can invent your own flying machine and send it soaring two stories high, engineer an alarm clock to wake the sleeping teddy bear, and scoot down the Grand Piano Slide. From this exhibit, I could take the idea of the four steps of the Computer Challenge: 1. Play, 2. Build, 3. Test, 4. Change

In the waterways you can explore the power of water as you control the flow with pulleys, wheels, and pipes or navigate your boat through the locks and dams of the mighty river. This activity could be useful for learning some concepts related to fluids dynamics, such as the Archimedes Screw.
Other activity I could use in my classes with older students could be the rocket science. They could be asked to measure the time that the rocket last in falling again, and calculate the initial speed. Changing the inclination, they could calculate the initial speed also, but applying the equations of the parabolic movement.

Thursday 7th July: WHITE SOX vs. MINNESOTTA TWINS

Today we have gone to the US Cellular Field, which is the home of the White Sox, a local baseball team. When we have entered the stadium I have been impressed by the music, the friendly atmosphere, and the huge amount of kioks selling food and beverages and as aresult, the smell along the corridor.


I hardly ever go to this kind of events in Spain because I'm not a supported of any team, so it was a new experience for me, but in this case with a sport that is still difficult to understand for me.
When we have gone to walk around and see the field from other points of view, the corridor was full of people buying food and drink, and I have thought that most of the people didn't care a lot about what was happening in the field (well, actually, the White Sox where loosing the game). I think that is just a social event where people go to meet some friends and have a good time. Maybe this is different in Spain, where people suffer a great dissapointment if their team looses a game.

When a player hit the ball so far than it came to the stands, someone from the  public sitting on a row in front of me caught the ball and I took this picture:

It has been a good idea to go closer to the area where the players are because from that place you can see the game better than from our sites.

The White Sox were loosing the game 2-6 when we have decided to leave the field. It was 9 pm and we needed to catch the train to go back home.