18_5_7_EDU_entrevista

 

Student Helena Moro (6th year Primary Education) and former student María Percaz (Magisterio Primaria '17) have designed Triviuma project educational aimed at promoting the learning of spelling among 5th and 6th grade students. Although this year the work has been carried out with these two courses, the authors say they want to continue working to adapt and modify the project to make it extensible to the entire primary stage. They themselves approach us to project through the following interview:

How did the idea come about?

M: This project arises during the internship we did in the same high school during the 4th year of Teacher Training. The purpose of the practicum was to make a project of research-action, that is, to detect a need in the school and make an action plan to solve it.

During the conversations we had during the breaks, we came to a double conclusion that motivated the creation of Trivium. On the one hand, that nowadays spelling is an aspect of language that is quite neglected, that is not given specific time on classroom and that, in general, students do not like it. In addition, we agree that nowadays children do not play as much classic games that were part of our childhood, such as "family letters" or "Who's Who".

H: The idea took shape thanks to the guidance of the language teacher at high school Miravalles, M.ª Ángeles Sánchez-Ostiz, who is an associate professor at the university. As she has been at classroom for many years and knows the students, she is mainly in charge of assessing whether the contents and dynamics are appropriate, and whether they will work well with the groups.

What are its objectives?

H: We have focused all our work on four fundamental objectives: to improve and develop spelling through playful and manipulative study; to expand students' basic vocabulary; to generate spelling awareness through meaningful learning....

M: The fourth and last one is the most important for us. From Trivium we want to encourage an active and positive attitude towards the use and study of spelling, turning this area into a motivating aspect for the students. In fact, when project was created, this was our main goal goal. We thought that, if we were not able to improve academic results in subject spelling, at least we were looking to modify the perception that students have of it.

What methodology does Trivium use?

M: Trivium employs an educational methodology that seeks to give spelling the importance it requires within classroom. Therefore, this aspect is taken into account on a daily basis in language classes and is reinforced, in our case, once a week, with what we call the "Spelling School", a space dedicated entirely to working on spelling. The students, following the line of work cooperative, rotate through different areas of work, each of them with a different game. As we have already mentioned, the playful element is very present in Trivium through the classic games modified for learning spelling, which contributes significantly to fostering students' motivation towards subject.

H: In addition, this year we have introduced roles to make this dynamic much more functional and, above all, orderly. The roles are functions that each student fulfills within the team. We have five fixed roles (volume controller, rules and points controller, instructions controller, material controller and animator) and one extra role (joker) for groups with more members. The truth is that this dynamic has worked very well this year, the students have loved it and have also been able to evaluate their performance within the team thanks to the book of evaluation where everyone scores the effectiveness with which they have fulfilled the role.

M: The purpose of this methodology is that students, through play, acquire an active and autonomous attitude and, in addition, that they are responsible for their own learning.

There is a website where both students and teachers can find materials, isn't there?

H: That's right, we are aware that nowadays, if you are not in the digital world, it is very difficult to go far and get your work known. That is why we bought a domain and created the project website ( https://www.proyectotrivium.com/ ).

M: Actually, the website aims to reach more people quickly and efficiently, and makes it easier for the outside world to get to know project, how we work, what's new... That's why we added a blog to our website where we upload news on a weekly basis.

H: We want it to become a communication platform between teachers, parents and students where progress can be collected, new ideas and experiences can be contributed... We believe it can be a motivational source towards learning spelling for those who visit visit.

In addition, there is an Olympiad, what does it consist of?

H: Last year, the Olympiad was the final activity of our internship. Now that we have configured ourselves as project, we propose it as the final activity of all the work done during the course. One of the main differences with respect to the previous year is that the phases and tests that compose it have changed to make it more dynamic and fluid, where the teachers will also have a fundamental role. All the tests have been supervised by the jury, which is made up of three university professors.

M: We want it to become an activity that, leaving aside the competition, encourages motivation and makes students see the importance of spelling in contexts other than school. In addition, this year several companies have wanted to collaborate with us to provide materials and prizes for all the students who participate. In addition, the university has provided the space to carry it out, something that makes special illusion to students because it is an important and valued institution among them.

Who can participate in this Olympiad and how can they do it?

M: After the good results obtained last year, we wanted this year to be open to all schools that want to participate, regardless of whether they have worked with Trivium or if they have studied spelling in depth. Therefore, from here, we want to encourage schools to sign up for the Olympiad next year, as it is a good way to motivate students to see the importance of spelling and to spend a pleasant afternoon with other students and teachers.

H: Signing up for the Olympiad is very simple. To facilitate the process, there is a form of registration on the website of project. In addition, you can also send an e-mail to triviumproyecto@gmail.com to sign up or apply for for information. We are happy to accommodate all requests.

What are the results of this project?

M: It was fortunate that this internship coincided with my last year of degree program and therefore, with the completion of the TFG. I chose to do a research on the functioning and effectiveness of Trivium, as this could reinforce the project. To this end, throughout the year I gave tests, in this case dictations, to the 5th grade students of Education Primary who were participating in the project. After several months of work, the tests showed that all the students either remained stable at a minimum percentage of absences or improved notably, but none of them got worse.

H: Following this dynamic, this year we also followed up with four dictations. One of them was used as a pre-test and post-test to see if there is an improvement on the part of the students. In addition, there were two intermediate dictations that allowed us to evaluate an individual progression. We passed the last dictation a week ago, and all the ones we have corrected maintain the same trend as last year.

Do you plan to expand project to other schools?

M: Yes, that would be great and we would love it. This year, thanks to the University, schools were sent an informational email from both project and an invitation to participate in the Olympiad.

H: Yes, in fact several of these schools contacted us at contact , so we went to the schools to give them more information about project and the Olympiad. We really like the contact staff with the teachers, especially to show them that it is feasible to work on spelling and that very good results can be obtained.

M: We hope that next year many more schools will work with this methodology and give spelling the opportunity to have a prominent place in the teaching and, of course, get motivated students to study it.