Using Time Toast for the first time to celebrate the Women's Day

To celebrate the International Women's Day we could see in English and Spanish Language the life of very influent women in the world. Here is one of them.

This is the link:
https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2204104/edit

a. The learning objectives for the activity were the following:

• Know the most relevant events in the life of one of the most important women in History for celebrating the International Women’s Day
• Read a text and extract essential dates in her life
• Create an online timeline using Time Toast
• Collaborate in group to organise the dates
• Present the timeline to the rest of the class

The most important advantages of using this tool with children in the early years of Primary have to do with motivation and quick results. With a few clicks they can see attractive results: pictures, presentation of the information, the timeline... Their work has fast results. 

b. The steps you followed to set up the activity:

First of all, I started with a Power Point presentation about Mother Teresa. After that I showed them the time line about her life and told them they were going to do a similar one working in groups and using the new tool.

After, this presentation we practised some important vocabulary such as: was born, died, awarded the nobel prize... in order to be able and ready to understand the text where they have to extract the information for design the time line. We learn the vocabulary using images and also TPR and movement for verbs and actions.

The next session were dedicated to explain in the whiteboard how Time Toast functions. After that, we read a short adaptation of the text: https://www.ducksters.com/biography/mother_teresa.php

Each pupil in the group has a role following Kagan’s methology.

The ones more advanced in English and ICT were in charge of searching the pictures and upload the images for the timeline, because is a demanding task and I though not all the pupils would be able to do it and we did not have so many sessions and time to do the activity because of the exams.

The timelines only had four points because I think the tool and the process is a little bit demanding for my students due to their age.

At the end, each student in the group introduced a point of the Mother Teresa’s life. 

c. Any problems and how you and the students solved them

My role during the activity was a facilitator and a guide. I am used to work in groups and the best thing to avoid most of the doubts is model the task at the beginning of the lesson and structures it in different and clear steps. I always write down the steps on the blackboard to be followed by children. This is a way of scaffolding them. The biggest problem was with the searching of the pictures, keep them in the laptop, search in the folder and upload them. I help them to do it and children help each other, but it was a little bit difficult for me. 

Also, we had a problem with the uploading of the pictures. We couldn't uploaded. I though it was for the school Wifi, but I tried at home and I couldn't do it.

d. The students’ reaction – how did they feel about using TimeToast to complete the task?

They felt very motivated and exciting of completing the time line, because they are not used to have the laptops in the classroom and complete final task on line. Also, they felt very proud of seeing how they finished their task with the pictures, dates and lines. A very motivating and team-building task.

e. Some things that you would change / improve next time

Next time I will change some of the assigned roles in order to all of my pupils learn how to do all the parts of the task and I will give them a previous workshop related to how download and keep in the folder the pictures. I think this was the biggest problem, apart from the pictures uploading. 

f. At least 3 ways that the use of TimeToast helped you achieve your learning objectives

I am totally convinced they are not going to forget this activity due to the use of this tool and I love the way they had been engaged during the task. This tool has helped me to prepare the celebration of the International Women’s Day. It is true that in my classroom my pupils are not very familiar with laptops and maybe all of us were focus on technology rather than content, but I think this is just only the starting. In general, this tool has been a motivating way for children to learn.  
Through the use of this tool, students could read the text searching for information with a good motivation of completing the time line. Also, this tool gave them the opportunity to collaborate actively with the rest of the partners, even with other groups.