EL NIÑO QUE NO APRENDE DE ACUERDO A SU POTENCIAL

Misión: Excelencia en la educación

Por Raquel Munitz

Declaración del Consejo Mexicano de Optometría Funcional:

    “Se estima que actualmente 1 de cada 4 niños en edad escolar sufre problemas de la visión no diagnosticados, mismos que afectan su funcionamiento en la escuela y fuera de ella, dado que muchas habilidades visuales son necesarias para aprender correctamente en el salón de clases; las deficiencias de una o más habilidades visuales pueden contribuir al funcionamiento académico pobre.

    60% de lo que el niño aprende en la escuela se procesa a través del sistema visual. Incluso un problema de proceso visual de menor importancia interferirá con un niño  o adulto al tratar de desarrollar su potencial.“

    Por tanto, es importante conocer que buena  Vista y  buena Visión no son sinónimos; se puede tener buena vista y no buena visión.

    Definición de buena Vista:  Ver con claridad a una distancia de 6 metros la línea 10 en  una cartilla diseñada y estandarizada para medir agudeza visual. La Vista Perfecta corresponde a 20/20 .

    Definición de buena Visión: Ver claro (enfoque) y sencillo (fusionar cada una de las imágenes recibidas por ambos ojos y crear la 3D), a todas las distancias, en todos los puntos de la mirada y por el tiempo suficiente, para recabar la información recibida por el sistema visual.

    

    Al niño que tiene dificultades en clase es importante valorarlo para explorar si tiene buena vista y si tiene buena visión.

    La  evaluación de la vista la puede hacer una enfermera, educadora, maestra, o cualquier persona que esté entrenada para observar la respuesta del individuo a la Cartilla de Agudeza.

    Una vez que se ha determinado que el alumno valorado SÍ tiene buena vista y que, a pesar de esto, no puede desempeñarse con eficiencia en el salón de clase, se debe sospechar que existen Problemas Visuales Funcionales que deberán ser apropiadamente evaluados por un profesionista especializado en la atención Funcional del Sistema Visual: Éste profesionista es un Optometrista de Desarrollo o Conductual, quien evaluará las siguientes funciones del sistema visual :

Agudeza visual,

Eficiencia del sistema oculo-motor,

Eficiencia del sistema de Enfoque,

Eficiencia del sistema Binocular,

Habilidades Viso-Perceptuales.

                                                                                                  

    Una vez que se ha practicado la Evaluación Visual Funcional, el Optometrista de Desarrollo decide si es necesario el uso de lentes  que permitan buena vista de lejos y de cerca y, en algunos casos, el inicio de un programa de Terapia Visual.

 El abordaje de Tratamiento denominado Optometría Funcional está documentado desde el año 1937 por el Dr . Skeffington, a quien se considera el padre de la Optometría Funcional y, a partir de él, por un gran número de Optometristas en todo el mundo que se han especializado en la práctica de esta disciplina.

    Para mayor información consultar las páginas de:

1. COVD   College of Vision Development,
2. COMOF  Consejo Mexicano de Optometría Funcional,
3. Y numerosas publicaciones como Total Vision Dr. Richard S. Kavner & Lorraine Dusky.
4. 20/20 is not enough Dr. Sheinman,
5. Y la muy famosa y reciente  publicación en el New York Times: Stereo Sue.

Quedo a sus ordenes Raquel Munitz Psic. NDT COVTT NVPT.

raquelmunitz@yahoo.com

 

The Value of Cultural Immersion and Competency
for Teachers from the USA

Mission: Excellence in Education

& World Understanding
By Harriet Guerrero

Teacher training is always constant. We are always learning something new, seeing new trends and adapting them to specific needs in the classroom.

One way that my team has been contributing to this is a workshop offered in Cuernavaca during the summer for teachers on how to integrate Mexican culture and history into the classroom. This is geared to teachers from the USA who either teach Spanish or who teach other subjects and have students from Spanish speaking backgrounds in their classrooms.

The teacher needs to understand the students and the students need to understand the teacher!

The program includes intensive Spanish language at different levels, presentations on topics such as the Mexican Family,  “Día de Muertos”, the Virgin of Guadalupe,  Mexico’s Gifts to the World, Celebrations in Mexico, such as the Christmas Posadas, Baptisms, Quince años, Semana Santa.  In other words, understanding Mexico through its traditions, celebrations, and history.

We get out of the classroom and visit places such as downtown Cuernavaca and its museums and historic sites. We also visit Xochicalco, Taxco, Tepoztlan, places in Mexico City such as the Museum of Anthropology, Bazaar Sabado, Templo Mayor, Teotihuacan, the murals in the National Palace and much more. All of this to give people more than just an introduction to Mexico.

The Cuernavaca Children’s Mission offers tutoring for Mexican children twice a week in downtown Cuernavaca and many of the teachers have participated in helping children to succeed and graduate from ‘secundaria’ and ‘prepa’.  

We also ask people that come to Cuernavaca to bring a bottle of vitamins to donate to the VAMOS program. The children that come to their programs are given a meal and a vitamin.  Sometimes this is the only meal they have during the day.  The results have been amazing. Our school has been collecting vitamins for them for over 15 years now.

These comments from some of the participants say it better than I can:

Tina:

I was delighted when I won the a scholarship through the Ohio Foreign Language Association to study at the Cemanahuac Educational Community of Cuernavaca, Mexico. Was further delighted to find out that there was a two-week program exclusively for educators. Although my expectations were high, my experience was even better than I imagined. I attended classes, stayed with a host family, and participated in organized trips both in Cuernavaca and to other towns. Perhaps best of all, I was able to meet passionate Spanish teachers from all over the United States.

The teachers and staff were kind and helpful and the class sizes were small and adapted to my level and interests. They also were tireless in planning activities that were enriching to us as teachers, such as a field trip to an educational center in a rural Xochicalco underground cavern town, a trip to a teacher supply store, opportunities for intercambios, and much more.

I think for many safety is a concern when considering a trip to Mexico. I took basic precautions such as guarding my purse in public and not walking alone late at night. That being said, I never felt unsafe. Everyone I interacted with was kind and helpful and no one made me feel uneasy for any reason. The staff was there to help us feel comfortable in our surroundings and to answer any questions that we had about this issue. Please do not avoid this wonderful country because of safety concerns!

Michelle:

When I first received information I received a scholarship to study in Mexico, I was very nervous about what it would be like. Contrary to popular belief and what the media presents, my experience in Mexico was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I had opportunities to connect with teachers from 16 states as well as native Spanish speakers from Mexico. It was a fast-paced trip, filled with information about the past and present culture and history of Mexico. We had short afternoon and full day trips to visit beautiful places around Cuernavaca. I had opportunities to practice my vocabulary and grammar in the morning, and then culture sessions about different topics within Mexican culture. I connected with my housemates and my lovely host mother, Lorena. I learned that while we may have many differences, it's our job as teachers to bring back the culture of Mexico to our peers, family, friends, and students in order to build bridges, not walls. I can't wait to go back to Cuernavaca. :)

Chelsea:

My time at Cemanahuac was incredible! I learned more in two weeks than I have in years of continuing education classes. I am not a Spanish teacher--I teach Special Education, but there is a large Spanish-speaking community within my district that I felt I could better serve by learning more about Mexican culture and improving my Spanish.

This program greatly improved my ability to interact with my students and their families, and I couldn't be more grateful for my experience. We learned about the language and the culture, both inside of the classroom, and out. Among my favorite memories are hiking Teotihuacan, baking ‘pan dulce’ at Ocuituco, exploring Taxco, climbing the Piramide del Sol, and going to the temazcal. The experiences I had in Mexico and the fellow teachers I was privileged to share my time with are once-in-a-lifetime memories. I can say with 100% certainty that being at Cemanahuac made me not only a better teacher, but also a better person.  

Harriet Guerrero

ADK Eta chapter Mexico

Cuernavaca, September 2017

Hike up to the Tepozteco pyramid

Cooking class at the Fundación Rayuela in Ocuituco

The classroom

Trying on Frida's necklaces in Taxco

Welcome luncheon at Casa Hidalgo on the zocalo.

Creative Writing, a way to enjoy literature

2017 Educational Symposium – New Orleans, USA

AKD INTERNACIONAL –  ADK ETA Cuernavaca, México

Creative Writing, a Way to Enjoy Literature

Mission:Excellence in Education

by Marli Camargo

Purpose

The purpose of this workshop is to undertake some reflection concerning the importance of creative writing. We will explore how teachers can develop and teach a creative narrative, based on their own environment for children and adults.

What is Literature?

According to the Dictionary of literary terminology, literature is:

• An act of communication between the emissary (author), the message (text), and the receptor (public).
• Art, reading and writing, and also the basic disciplines of culture: Grammar and rhetoric.

    – Calderón, 2000 (Breve diccionario de términos literarios)

What matters to the reader?

According to Proust, what matters to readers are:

"...words that cause emotions like anguish, a feeling of rejection, darkness, being abandoned."

These kinds of words matter to all humans, from the duchess, the princess, the diplomatic, the writers, the soldiers, the painters etc.

   – (Hiriart, page 10)

Through creative writing the reader can:

• Travel among the words;
• Meet the main protagonists;
• Experience the environment;
• Visit faraway places or the same space where you are, while traveling back and forward in time;
• Reflect, live, create and give their own opinion.

Basic elements to help practice writing:

• Reading constantly;
• Using the words in an artistic way;
• Identifying the meaning;
• Identifying the content.

How to approach creative writing?

Sensorial memory

Use words as:

1- Onomatopoeia  (imitate the sound)  

2- Symbols –  (ex: - citizenship of heaven)

3- Abstracts thoughts- (thinking that is coherent and logical).

How to approach curiosity in writing?

• The secret of writing;
• The details ( people, the actions, the thoughts, the desire);
• Figurative language:

1. similes (like or as),
2. metaphors –make one from yourself,
3. Images –example: children´s books.

How to feed the muse?

• Experiences from our own lives;
• Our reactions towards these experiences;
• The facts, names, dates,  emotions, passions, memories, etc.

For example:

1- The excitement of reading different poems or exploring old libraries;

2- Note keeping;

3- Starting from “..I remember... ”

Where can I get inspiration?

• the diversity of people’s lives;
• the weather;
• the flavors of the food;
• the culture (traditions, the beliefs);
• the place you live.

Example: Simple things like onions (see Pablo Neruda, The Onion).

The writing adventure

I would compare the process to a journey of traveling to somewhere for the first time.

For instance, having only a slight idea about the place that you will be to visiting.

According to Bachelard, the writing adventure is “..to experiment the sensations and emotions that the person has felt in relation to the place where she is”.

– (González, 9)

Creative writing

Brings a sense of belonging to the place such as:

A city, the streets, the plazas, the historic centers and the neighborhoods;

It creates a sense of identity;

Making you or the reader a part of the community.

The importance of space in creative writing

In creative writing you can create your own space;

Space gives us the power to be near the people of the community and also to show our identities to other communities;

Gives the opportunity to learn about heritage, natural resources and the regions where you come from or live;

It involves different sectors such as: cultural, touristic and social.

Creative writing and the sustainability

Creative writing has sustainability because the author can cooperate with the community in different ways like the work with:

• Illustrator and editorials;
• Government and micro-entrepreneurs;
• Schools and families;
• It encourages the writer to involve him/herself to different sectors such as cultural, touristic and social;
• Schools, families, and hospitals;
• Government.

How to apply it to children's literature?

Have a look to the author´s book  "Cuernavaca - The Eterna Primavera", by Marli Camargo.

Conclusion

Through creative writing many things can happen:

• You can become famous and travel around talking about it;
• cooperate with a sustainable society;
• teach children and adults  how to do that;
• Adults  can be encouraged to write and involve themselves to different sectors, such as cultural, touristic and social;
• It encourages the writer  to involve him/herself to different sectors;
• It creates a sense of identity;
• It makes you, or the reader, a part of the community.

Bibliography

Calderón, Demetrio Estébanez, 2000 Breve Diccionario de Términos Literarios – Alianza Editorial

Hiriart, Berta Guijosa Marcela, 2015 Taller Escritura Creativa – Paidós, México

González, Diego Sánchez; Moreno, Luis Angel,  2014 Identidad y Espacio Público – Gedisa Editorial, Barcelona

Camargo, Marli, 2012 Como o turismo pode ser usado para a aprendizagem da cultura mexicana na região de Cuernavaca, Morelos – Universidad de León, España

Natural Leadership Just Flows

Sisterhood in ADK-ETA Cuernavaca Chapter

By Rebeca Olagaray

    Much has been said and written about leadership: team leadership, autocratic leadership, transactional, transformational, laissez-faire, cross-cultural, leadership skills, leadership qualities, leadership in management… and the list goes on, and on. It seems to be that whenever leadership becomes the topic of a conversation everybody has something to say.

    Every field of human activity has its naturally gifted people, and leadership is not an exception.  Sometimes we end up in a Leadership position because it is required of us during a life situation or... we just have the talent for it and enjoy being a Leader.

    Teachers are leaders, and our teaching style has a direct impact on our pupils. So we should ponder learning more about the Leadership to polish the skill. As democracy has won territory and society has become more and more aware that we all have the same dignity as human beings, we have also become aware that it is a must to consider inclusiveness, horizontal relationships, respectfulness, and empowerment, to improve our teaching and leadership style –just to mention some qualities.

    Also, it happens to be that –unless the chapter has many members– in ADK most of us have the opportunity and responsibility to be the leader for two years. Former leaders are there to nurture, guide, and counsel when needed. On the other hand, there are times when we find ourselves taking on other roles in our community and have the opportunity to support the captain of the ship.

    Natural leaders are those who are confidently being themselves and others simply follow. They don’t need authority to be heard. They are born with a special talent for developing from within the abilities and strategies of leadership.

    Our dear sister Yolanda had that talent. She would always be emphatic, inclusive, egalitarian, and empowering. Whenever she spoke we would certainly listen because she would always listen and be observant of what was going on before she spoke, and then would she effectively communicate to us her wisdom, encouraging our Chapter to follow and fulfill our Mission as ADK’s members.

Sweet Yolanda, honest and clear,

always loving, always welcoming, beautiful, and nice.

Informed and cultivated lady,

who nurtured us with wisdom and intelligence.

We deeply and lovingly respect and admire you.

Great leader, you gave us light.

Kindly sharing with us your knowledge,

would continuously set the path to be taken,

by presenting us facts with lucid and keen objectivity.

Now you have reunited with your husband, your beloved companion of life.

But you have left us your manners, your ways,

those that have proved to be so good to us.

God bless you for all the good you have done,

for your disinterested participation on life

to make things good and better.

Thank you for sharing yourself with us.