March 22, 2011
The first half of the week has gone pretty well. We are working with new material, mainly vocabulary and culture. My students acted shocked when their desks were rearranged and some made sure to tell me their opinions (both positive and negative). It is going to take some getting used to and transition time. Now that the students are in groups there are more opportunities for communication practice, which is both a positive and a negative within itself. I need to make sure students are communicating with each other in SPANISH. Obviously, the goal of learning a new language is to communicate and use it effectively. But this is a huge challenge that I have faced in Spanish II. The students feel restricted with their level of knowledge, so they resort to English, but they know more than they think. I need to help them believe that they know more and they are full capable of communicating ideas in Spanish.
Another goal I have been working on this week is getting my resume finalized and ready to go. Thanks to my colleagues and friends who have given me great tips and advice with my resume! I am also making sure that I have everything lined up for graduation requirements, signed up for the ceremony (yes, you have to register for graduation, etc.). I think I am pretty much set, still need to purchase my cap and gown though. I also registered for the BSU Teacher Fair and began making a profile on the DOE website and looking at their job postings. I have a feeling a lot of big changes are going to be happening soon. I am anxious and excited to see where God will lead me and where I will be come August.
On the downside, just as I am finally building relationships with colleagues/other teachers, my time at CHS is running out. I am thankful for a wonderful group of teachers that I have been able to work with during this experience. They are all supportive and encouraging.
March 25, 2011
The second half of the week went well. On Thursday the students were in the language lab to record themselves for a 3rd quarter oral assessment. After a few technical difficulties got worked out, everything went well. Everyone then worked on a mini-project for my LAMP. The chapter we are studying now is about Cuzco, Peru. Students did some more research about the city and wrote some sentences about it. The purpose of this activity was to practice the process that they are to use when completing their semester two project. I think it was helpful for the students to practice on Cuzco, and work with a partner for collaboration help.
Friday our main focus was to continue working with the culture section about Andean music. We watched some videos to see authentic examples of the instruments and listen to the music.
Next week we only have four school days and then spring break starts. I have a feeling it is going to be a quick week packed with information we are trying to cover before they go away for a week and don't use or think about Spanish ☺
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Week 10
March 16, 2011
This week has been flying by! On Monday and Tuesday we did conferencing with the students to prepare for their test. We did this before the last exam as well. The students had to prepare a composition before class and they brought it up to John and I and we made corrections. The students then had to correct their errors and continue bringing up their essay to us until they got the “stamp of approval”. This is a great learning process for the students because they will write a similar composition for the test and this time around they have feedback and they have to search for the corrections.
After being in the classroom for more time, (10 weeks, ah!) I have noticed how much other “things” teachers must squeeze into their days minus just their lessons and teaching their lessons. I am constantly writing passes for students to make up work, rewriting quizzes, planning ahead, finding pencils for students who don’t have one (do they ever remember?!), standing in the halls between passing periods, taking the attendance on the computer during class/changing the attendance when students come late with a pass, running to the copy machine, finding dry erase markers that work, and the list goes on. There are so many “little” things that occupy time and I am finally getting to the point where they are coming more naturally and I don’t have to think about it all as much. So, that is a relief!
March 18, 2011
Yesterday I reviewed with my students and then they tested on the most recent material, all of which I had taught them on my own. I was kind of nervous to see how the students would do compared to past scores. I am still working on grading the essay section of the test and will have them done for Monday. I am so thankful that my CT is helping me with grading. We have a lot of assessment this week besides the test, so he is definitely a blessing.
Today the students completed the formative for the third quarter. This assignment is a quick check to see if students are at where they should be for Spanish II. All Spanish II students took this assessment, which asked the students to write five sentences using the preterit tense. I also explained the project for semester two. We then had to swap out our textbooks and change them for the new books. We had about twenty minutes to begin working with the new vocabulary for my section of the LAMP project. I have been wanting to rearrange the seating chart and desk arrangement, so after school today I moved the desks into “pods”. I assigned the students to their new seats and tried to mix up the order and have student sit by different people than normal. We will see next week how the new seats go and how/if it changes the classroom atmosphere.
We have two weeks left until spring break and then after break I really only have three more weeks left of student teaching. It is going by so quickly!
This week has been flying by! On Monday and Tuesday we did conferencing with the students to prepare for their test. We did this before the last exam as well. The students had to prepare a composition before class and they brought it up to John and I and we made corrections. The students then had to correct their errors and continue bringing up their essay to us until they got the “stamp of approval”. This is a great learning process for the students because they will write a similar composition for the test and this time around they have feedback and they have to search for the corrections.
After being in the classroom for more time, (10 weeks, ah!) I have noticed how much other “things” teachers must squeeze into their days minus just their lessons and teaching their lessons. I am constantly writing passes for students to make up work, rewriting quizzes, planning ahead, finding pencils for students who don’t have one (do they ever remember?!), standing in the halls between passing periods, taking the attendance on the computer during class/changing the attendance when students come late with a pass, running to the copy machine, finding dry erase markers that work, and the list goes on. There are so many “little” things that occupy time and I am finally getting to the point where they are coming more naturally and I don’t have to think about it all as much. So, that is a relief!
March 18, 2011
Yesterday I reviewed with my students and then they tested on the most recent material, all of which I had taught them on my own. I was kind of nervous to see how the students would do compared to past scores. I am still working on grading the essay section of the test and will have them done for Monday. I am so thankful that my CT is helping me with grading. We have a lot of assessment this week besides the test, so he is definitely a blessing.
Today the students completed the formative for the third quarter. This assignment is a quick check to see if students are at where they should be for Spanish II. All Spanish II students took this assessment, which asked the students to write five sentences using the preterit tense. I also explained the project for semester two. We then had to swap out our textbooks and change them for the new books. We had about twenty minutes to begin working with the new vocabulary for my section of the LAMP project. I have been wanting to rearrange the seating chart and desk arrangement, so after school today I moved the desks into “pods”. I assigned the students to their new seats and tried to mix up the order and have student sit by different people than normal. We will see next week how the new seats go and how/if it changes the classroom atmosphere.
We have two weeks left until spring break and then after break I really only have three more weeks left of student teaching. It is going by so quickly!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Week 9
March 8, 2011
At the beginning of this week I tried some new games and activities with my students and they went over pretty well. As a review warm up I created a matching type game with index cards and put students into groups and each group got an envelope of cards and had to put the information together with the correct category. I also borrowed mini dry erase boards from another teacher and worked with those. Each student got to use a board and a marker and we practiced conjugating ER/IR verbs in the preterit. It was an easy informal assessment for me. I was able to see pretty quickly if students were getting the conjugations or still struggling. And the students liked having something tangible to hold and play with. We are planning to test next week so we have mainly been doing a lot of practice lately and reinforcement activities. The grammar has been getting more and more challenging and often times it just takes practice and different types of input to help students and to allow the material to “click”.
March 11, 2011
The second half of this week went smoothly. I was able to include some more technology in class this week and the students seemed to really like it. On Thursday we were in the language lab and for part of the class students were able to play some “videogames” I found online that practice the grammar skills we had been working with. They seemed to enjoy them. On Friday we used the Clickers again and the students were excited when they walked into class and saw the Clickers sitting out.
I have really been working on my pacing and including a variety of activities within a class period. I was the pacing of the class to feel as though “it went by quickly” for the students. I don’t want them to be sitting in their desks with bored looks on their faces and eyes glancing at the clock every minute. So for now, my challenge is to make the class as interesting to 15 year olds as I can. I try to do 4-5 activities in a normal class period to keep things moving. Also, by including technology, songs, relating the material to their lives/pop culture I think I have been getting better at this. Of course, there will always been some students who choose to not be engaged, but I am trying hard to reach all students.
At the beginning of this week I tried some new games and activities with my students and they went over pretty well. As a review warm up I created a matching type game with index cards and put students into groups and each group got an envelope of cards and had to put the information together with the correct category. I also borrowed mini dry erase boards from another teacher and worked with those. Each student got to use a board and a marker and we practiced conjugating ER/IR verbs in the preterit. It was an easy informal assessment for me. I was able to see pretty quickly if students were getting the conjugations or still struggling. And the students liked having something tangible to hold and play with. We are planning to test next week so we have mainly been doing a lot of practice lately and reinforcement activities. The grammar has been getting more and more challenging and often times it just takes practice and different types of input to help students and to allow the material to “click”.
March 11, 2011
The second half of this week went smoothly. I was able to include some more technology in class this week and the students seemed to really like it. On Thursday we were in the language lab and for part of the class students were able to play some “videogames” I found online that practice the grammar skills we had been working with. They seemed to enjoy them. On Friday we used the Clickers again and the students were excited when they walked into class and saw the Clickers sitting out.
I have really been working on my pacing and including a variety of activities within a class period. I was the pacing of the class to feel as though “it went by quickly” for the students. I don’t want them to be sitting in their desks with bored looks on their faces and eyes glancing at the clock every minute. So for now, my challenge is to make the class as interesting to 15 year olds as I can. I try to do 4-5 activities in a normal class period to keep things moving. Also, by including technology, songs, relating the material to their lives/pop culture I think I have been getting better at this. Of course, there will always been some students who choose to not be engaged, but I am trying hard to reach all students.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Week 8
March 1, 2011
After having a week off of school everyone was readjusting to a normal schedule and remembering what we had been studying before our “break”. We spent the beginning half of the week continuing to work with vocabulary and culture that we had been studying.
I have been working hard on keeping my student’s focus and interest. This is definitely a challenge because 15 year olds have a lot of things on their minds, and Spanish is usually at the top of the list. I have been trying to create and do multiple activities so that the students do not get bored of one thing. I think that I did better with that this week. Students seemed to be more interested. I also have been trying hard to relate the information to their own lives and to get invested in their lives. The students enjoy talking about themselves, their likes and dislikes, etc. It is difficult with Spanish 2 because the students can only express so much with their limited language skills. So I have been trying to make the information personal and interesting to my students.
March 4, 2011
This has been a long week. We had our first full week in a long time, and I was pretty exhausted. The students are doing great catching up and keeping up with the new information. We have been working on vocabulary, culture and grammar this week. Today John and I experimented with iClickers and were able to use them with the students for a fun activity. The language department has two sets of iClickers that can be used. The students really enjoyed using the technology and trying something different. I think we will use them again this week because they enjoyed it and it was a great review activity for the culture we had been studying. There were some technical difficulties during first period but it all worked out the rest of the day. With stuff like that we just had to work on our feet and luckily we had second period prep so we were able to play with it then.
I have still been working on my LAMP and should be starting that in the near future. Once I have that unit taught and the BSU side of it turned in I will feel a lot better and relieved. This week is Ball State’s spring break, but I have my high school’s spring break the first week of April.
After having a week off of school everyone was readjusting to a normal schedule and remembering what we had been studying before our “break”. We spent the beginning half of the week continuing to work with vocabulary and culture that we had been studying.
I have been working hard on keeping my student’s focus and interest. This is definitely a challenge because 15 year olds have a lot of things on their minds, and Spanish is usually at the top of the list. I have been trying to create and do multiple activities so that the students do not get bored of one thing. I think that I did better with that this week. Students seemed to be more interested. I also have been trying hard to relate the information to their own lives and to get invested in their lives. The students enjoy talking about themselves, their likes and dislikes, etc. It is difficult with Spanish 2 because the students can only express so much with their limited language skills. So I have been trying to make the information personal and interesting to my students.
March 4, 2011
This has been a long week. We had our first full week in a long time, and I was pretty exhausted. The students are doing great catching up and keeping up with the new information. We have been working on vocabulary, culture and grammar this week. Today John and I experimented with iClickers and were able to use them with the students for a fun activity. The language department has two sets of iClickers that can be used. The students really enjoyed using the technology and trying something different. I think we will use them again this week because they enjoyed it and it was a great review activity for the culture we had been studying. There were some technical difficulties during first period but it all worked out the rest of the day. With stuff like that we just had to work on our feet and luckily we had second period prep so we were able to play with it then.
I have still been working on my LAMP and should be starting that in the near future. Once I have that unit taught and the BSU side of it turned in I will feel a lot better and relieved. This week is Ball State’s spring break, but I have my high school’s spring break the first week of April.
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