teachinglanguage-blog

[teachinglanguage-blog]

It's been awhile...

...but things have been fantastic!  Throughout the year, I have tried a lot of new things and solidified them and make them part of the daily routines, other things...well, we tried it once or twice and it just didn't work.  So what has made things so awesome?

Class jobs : Talk about a lifesaver!! Not only is the attendance done everyday, but now I don't have to even think twice about some of the other tasks that happen like passing out papers or erasing the board!  The kids know when they need to step up and help.  (Not to mention, it looks good for EET Evaluations!)

Trivia Review : Want to know what the kids understood and what needs to be retaught?  Trivia review is a great way to do it.  It's set up the same way you would do trivia at a bar/restaurant, but it uses questions from the unit.  Kids are able to work in groups and wager points to win prizes at the end of the game. Bonus questions usually have to do with giving as much of a certain type of vocab as possible. 

Interactive Notebooks : Anything we do in class (except for tests/quizzes) goes into the students' notebooks on specific pages.  Everything is numbered and dated so that students can be directed to certain pages to find notes or homework more quickly.  This also helps with checking for homework on stamp sheets so that I can tell the kids to turn to a specific page for me to check.  It also helps keep vocab nice and organized, too :)

Stamp sheets : Rather than having to collect homework everyday and lose it in the depths of my room, students keep all homework in their notebooks.  While they work on bellwork, I come around and see that they have finished the homework.  This gives me a quick glance to see if they understood the material or not and then give them a stamp (usually worth 5-15 points depending on the assignment).  At the end of the unit, points are counted up and given as a homework grade.  Anything not previously stamped gets stamped when notebooks are collected without consequence.  If homework is not glued in or I can't find it in any pockets, the assignment receives a zero.  

More awesome to come later on :)

[teachinglanguage-blog]

Trying out the class jobs

This week in class we tried a few new things to see how they would help the class run.  On Monday, I introduced the kids to the Class Jobs board.  Let me tell you, those middle schoolers were so excited to have jobs to do, that you would have thought I told them they ran the class.  Each Friday we pick new people for the following week so that everyone gets a chance to help with the class. Some jobs are more helpful than others, but the idea is that all students will get a chance to do everything at some point throughout the year.  

Lector(a) del Objetivo: This is my objective reader.  At the beginning of each class, this person helps the rest of the class figure out what we will be focusing on for the day and will help make sure we stay on track and hit that objective.  

Asistencia: This person takes attendance for me.  Instead of stopping class every time a kid walks in my door, this person does it for me - it's a wonderful thing :)

Materiales: This person passes out any materials we need for the day.  Lately we've been working on Don Quixote comics so we have needed colored pencils, markers, etc., so this person makes passing things out much easier. Which brings us to...

Papeles:  Rather than taking a minute or two to pass out papers, it's done for me while I'm explaining the task that the students will be working on (that way I don't have to try and do two things at once). 

Borrador(a): In-between parts or at the end of the lesson, this person erases the board - a very coveted job.

Libros: Responsible for making sure all books are passed out and put away by the end of the period. 

Líder de Línea/Luces: Mainly for lunch period, but they lead the line and make sure lights are out before we leave the room. 

Mensajero(a): If we need anything from outside of the room, this person goes and gets it - nice for the kids who can't always sit still, even if they aren't the best kids in the class but mean well. 

Basura: The selling point for this is that the kids get to be bossy and decide if the class can leave when the bell rings. If the floor is dirty, they have their classmates pick up trash, fallen markers, etc. so that the room still looks nice and clean. 

So far, the jobs have been very helpful - I'm hoping that when EET stuff rolls around they find it to be helpful, too ;)

[teachinglanguage-blog]

And we're off with Lunes Culturales

So far this year is much easier to get rolling with compared to last year.  Having a lot of the same kids definitely helps!  This year we are trying a couple new things to help the class be more interesting and make the most of our time together.  

Lunes Culturales is the first new thing we have started.  We started our first one with "La Feria de Malagá" where we did a pre teaching and after, the students created a brochure talking about what would happen if Tampa were to have a fair like Malagá's.  Students needed to include a history of how the fair came to be and activities and food that would be included.  On the front of the brochure, they needed to create something that would indicate that there was some type of festivity going on in the city.  The brochures weren't bad, but some certainly stood out from others.  The idea behind "Lunes Culturales" is to help build on Common Core, even if it is a little bit, and help students with basic skills that are sometimes taken for granted.  This assignment opened my eyes in the sense that I found out that some of my kids are not amazing writers, even though they are in a high school level class in middle school.  A lot of these Mondays are definitely going to have a focus in writing production so that I can do my part to help make them better :)

[teachinglanguage-blog]

¡Bienvenidos al año nuevo!

It’s the start of a new year, which means a whole new approach with all new classes!  After lots of reflecting on my classes from last year, I was able to find what worked and what didn’t work, and I think this year my kids are in for a killer year!  

Over the summer I took a reading competency class and had a huge revelation - I’m teaching my kids the exact same thing, but in a new language.  Why not add that to what I am already teaching? So throughout the year there will be a more “elementary” approach to teaching reading in Spanish that will help my kids increase their comprehension skills.  I also created a “Mezcla” or “Scramble” board for my students to use when they finish classwork early so that they can use letters to find words and play with letters.  

Another avenue that my kids will discover this year is the culture that goes with the language.  Last year the main focus was to get the grammar done, but this year my goal is to make the grammar work with the culture AND infuse reading opportunities in English and Spanish.  Hopefully by doing this, I can spark a love not only for the language, but for the people and countries that speak Spanish so that as the students get older they can go out on their own and learn more about things we have talked about.  We’re starting the year with “La Feria de Málaga,” so hopefully this sparks the fire for them.  

Hopefully the year grows and evolves into what I’m looking for and even more!

[teachinglanguage-blog]

Teaching Language

Back in the day, the big push to learn language was through doing lots of repetition and worksheets, hoping that things would literally be "drilled" into students' heads.  Now that I am the one teaching Spanish and my kids are learning from me, I have found that doing the worksheets and repetition can get pretty boring, pretty quick.  Right now I am on a quest to find new ways to get my students (and myself) re-engaged with learning Spanish.  Notes sometimes are fine, but students also need time to really see that in practice.  A lot of the ideas that I have been finding have been found on Pinterest, but originally geared towards elementary school students who are just starting to learn parts of speech, new vocabulary, etc.  A lot of these principles can be tweaked and used in the language classroom since our students (generally middle school and high school) are starting at about the same point in their language adventure as elementary students.  

I'm still relatively new to teaching - this is my second full year in the classroom.  Luckily this works to my advantage because I can still shape my lessons to help my students be successful rather than saying, "Too bad - I'm doing my job guys. Why aren't you?" like many teachers do.  

Hopefully the quest for higher mastery will result in my students understanding and comprehending more, but we shall see throughout the rest of the school year and years to come.