worksample

Western Oregon University

Work Sample

Eduardo de Jesus Hernandez Herrera Tigard High School 2011

1

Table of contents

Setting Pre-Assessment Rationale Goals and Objectives Lesson Plans Post-Assessment Assessment Analysis Overall Reflection

2

Setting

3

The Community The city in which I will be teaching my lessons is Tigard, Oregon, which is in Washington County. The population estimates are around 47,994 (2005-2009 American Community Survey 5 Year Estimates, U.S Census Bureau), 47,460 (as of 2009 by the Portland Research Center at Portland State University), and 47,495 according to an estimate presented by the official website of the city.

There are 23,758 males (49.5%) and 24,236 females (50.5%), which is a similar representation of the United States, male (49.3%) and female (50.7%). The majority of the population in Tigard is white (83.9%), which is considerably higher than the percentage of white population in the United States (74.5%). The percentage of African Americans in Tigard is extremely low (1.1%) in comparison to the percentage of African Americans in the United States (12.4%). The median age in Tigard (35.9%) is very similar to the median age in the United States (36.5%).

ACS Demographic Estimates Male Female Median Age Under 5 years 18 years and over 65 years and over White African American American Indian and Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander Some other Race Two or more races Hispanic or Latino

Tigard 49.5% 50.5% 35.9% 6.6% 74.9% 9.8% 83.9% 1.1% 0.03% 6.6% 0.7%

United States 49.3% 50.7% 36.5% 6.9% 75.4% 12.6% 74.5% 12.4% 0.8% 4.4% 0.01%

4.0% 3.4% 12.2%

5.6% 2.2% 15.1%

The percentage of Hispanics or Latinos in Tigard, Oregon, (12.2%) is slightly lower than the percentage of Hispanics or Latinos in the United States (15.1%).

The percentage of Asians, (6.6%) Native Hawaiians (0.7%) and American Indians (0.3%) is similar in Tigard, Oregon, to the percentage of Asians, (4.4%) Native 4

Hawaiians (0.1%) and American Indians (0.8%) in the United States.

In conclusion, the city of Tigard, Oregon, has a higher percentage of whites than the average of the United States. The city of Tigard, Oregon in comparison to the United States has a similar percentage of Hispanics, Hawaiians, and American Indians.

However, Tigard, Oregon has a very low presence of African Americans in comparison to the rest of the country.

The economic characteristics of Tigard show a higher Median Household Income ($63,554.00) than the average for the United States ($62,363.00). The Median Family Income of Tigard ($83,149.00) is $20,786.00 higher than the average of the United States ($62,363.00).

Economic Characteristics

Tigard

United States

In labor force (population 16 years and over) Mean travel time to work in minutes (workers 16 years and over) Median Household income (in 2009 inflation adjusted dollars) Median Family Income (in 2009 inflation-adjusted dollars) Per Capita Income (In 2009 inflationadjusted dollars) Families Below poverty level Individuals Below Poverty Level

71.6%

65.0%

22.7 minutes

25.2 minutes

$63,554.00

$51,425.00

$83,149.00

$62,363.00

$31,542.00

$27,041.00

5.7% 9.0 %

9.9% 13.5%

In regards to social characteristics, the average household size of Tigard (2.57) is very similar to the average of the United States (2.60). The Average Family Size in Tigard (3.17) is also very similar to the average of the United States (3.19).

However, when it comes to individuals with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher, Tigard (38.1%) has 10.6% higher than the average of the United States (27.5%).

Social Characteristics Average household size Average Family Size High School Graduate of Higher

Tigard 2.57 3.17 93.1%

United States 2.60 3.19 84.6%

5

Bachelor’s Degree or Higher Civilian Veterans (civilian population 18 years and over) Foreign Born Male, now married, except separated (population 15 years and over) Speak a language other than English at home

38.1% 9.9%

27.5% 10.1 %

14.5% 54.9 %

12.4% 52.3%

20.1%

19.6%

When it comes to owner occupied housing units, the city of Tigard (61.5%) has -5.4% less than the percentage of the United States (66.9%).

This information becomes relevant to my classroom because it shows me that more than half of the population own their own home, therefore I do not expect a lot of students will need to move to different housing and hence out of the school.

I have seen schools districts where the owner occupied housing units percentage is considerable low, and many students drop out of school in the middle of the school year. This causes teachers to lose connections with their students and also to modify curriculum instruction to accommodate new students that come from other school districts.

The Median Value of the Housing Units of Tigard ($320,000) is $135,000.00 higher than the average of the United States ($185,400.00). This information is useful because it shows that the School District may have more resources for school materials than other school districts. However, there is always a gap between the more expensive owner occupied housing units and the community that lives on a limited income. For instance, having students that come from families that have different incomes may impact my curriculum instruction by either having students that do not have enough resources to purchase books or that come to school without eating breakfast. Furthermore, being in a school district that has enough resources may impact my daily instruction by having the ability to make copies for students in order to enforce their learning, getting extra school 6

supplies for art projects, and so on.

Tigard has different resources available for the community. The Arts Resources in Tigard is a committee that promotes professional Art through the Broadway Rose Theatre, which supports the school’s music and theater groups.

How is this information relevant for me as a teacher?

All this information is relevant for me as a teacher in this community in terms of impacting my daily instruction. I may have the freedom to assign different projects that may be connected to the Arts Resources of Tigard. I may contact the Broadway Rose Theatre to see if there are any live theater shows that show Spanish culture, or live theater shows that may help students gain exposure to Spanish. I previously taught Spanish at Growing Seeds and I took students to various live shows at Milagro Theater in the Portland School District. The live theater shows incorporated important elements of Spanish speaking cultures and they were 50% in Spanish. Students gained exposure to Spanish, learned about cultural elements of Spanish speaking countries, and enjoyed themselves.

Many students come from families that may be very well educated, with household income higher than the United States average. I can predict that many students come from families that give a high value to education. However, I have to remember that each student is an individual and comes from a very a unique background, therefore I can not assume that all students come from similar homes.

Tigard supports reading programs for kids and teens through the library during the summer as well as swimming programs through the school district.

As a teacher, I may have the freedom to assign extra credit activities using the 7

programs that the school district offers through the library. The Tigard Tualatin school district offers the Oregon Mentor Intercambio Program. The Intercambio is a middle school and high school, school-based mentoring program that exists primarily to identify and support minority students of Latino origin in the Tigard-Tualatin School District.

Through a curriculum of peer mentoring, Intercambio seeks to develop the kind of social skills and sense of connection that increase success at school and in the community at large. For the Intercambio program, high school students participate as mentors for class credit once or twice a week to prepare for their meetings with middle school students.

Including activities of this nature may enrich my curriculum instruction, help students gain exposure to the Hispanic community, and help develop ties in the community.

The School District Community The Tigard-Tualatin school districts has 17 schools, there are 10 elementary schools, K-5; 3 middle schools 6-8, and two high schools, one middle and high school alternative school, and one charter school.

The School Community There are approximately 2,000 students. Tigard High School has a principal, 2 associate principals, a school psychologist, 93 classroom teachers, 9 special education learning specialists, 2 ELL teachers, and one instructional coordinator. Four credits per semester is the maximum load for students. Tigard High School offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) and classes are offered in Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Sciences, and Visual Arts, as well as in German, French, Japanese, and Spanish.

Students are also able to take college credit with support of Portland Community College and Portland State University.

8

Most students are White, (around 70%) Hispanic students are 16%, African American 2.2%, Pacific Islander 7.3% and American Indian around 0.8%.

The Classroom Community The classroom in which I will conduct my work sample is fairly large and has a considerable amount of light. There is a big window next to the teacher’s desk that allows students to see the outside and know if it is rainy, sunny etc. The walls are covered with bulletin boards, maps, posters, and calendars that help students keep track of their assignments and birthdays. A big whiteboard is located on the north side of the room, and students are able to check the date and their daily homework at the lower

right

corner

of

the

whiteboard.

The east side of the room contains

a

bookshelf with a variety of classroom materials including, pencils, pens, art supplies, and Spanish and English magazines. On the west side of the room there are bookshelves and binders where the teacher stores homework pending to be graded, homework that has been revised, and two teaching assistant desks, where students from Tigard High School complete assignments provided by the teacher.

The students are seated in desks arranged into 12 different rows that face the 9

teacher. The teacher conducts her classes with her teaching materials located at the center of the classroom, allowing her to have more proximity with the students.

As far as technology, there is a document camera, DVD player, a CD player, two laptops that the teacher uses to create lesson plans, to keep track of students’ attendance and academic records and to communicate with parents via email and Esis.

Ms. Montgomery is a Spanish teacher that speaks three languages, Spanish, English and French. Ms. Montgomery is a highly educated teacher that has a Doctorate.

(J.D. Juris Doctorate) Ms. Montgomery is a caring teacher, and I have not seen any class management problems. She is in fact, extremely organized not only in terms of school supplies but also in terms of being very disciplined. She is very good at giving instructions and incorporating games in the classroom that help students reinforce certain materials.

Students seem to be extremely respectful.

There are 16 female students and 18 male students. Seven students are TAG in Academic Math, six in academic reading, five are intellectually gifted and four have TAG potential in academic reading.

There is a student that has ADHD. He has special modifications that include assigning him appropriate seating for best learning and allowing him to leave the room for short periods of time to release energy. This student is also TAG in academic math, academic reading, and intellectually gifted. I have noticed that he needs to feel challenged everyday in school, since he has shown me a photographic memory by learning new words and rules almost immediately. He plays the guitar, and I have shared with him a couple of Spanish songs. He is always willing to participate in new activities.

He was a teacher assistant of Ms. Montgomery and he is very cooperative. Since he is 10

always so fast at finishing activities in the classroom, he has been given an alternative assignment of translating a book. He seemed very enthusiastic by getting that alternative assignment. I had never seen a student in a Spanish II class taking the effort and initiative of translating a book.

There is a student with reading and writing disabilities, and he needs extra time for long writing assignments. However, he does not have any language, study habits, or math problems. I have seen him doing really well on tests and providing correct answers in the class. I just have to think of him when students are taking notes, or are assigned writing activities and give him extra time.

There is another student that has a learning disability in getting his ideas organized. He has problems taking long term tests. He also struggles with writing, conventions, and spelling. The school report says that he prefers to not have modified work because he feels stigmatized. His report says that he benefits from copies or notes.

He has expressed to me that he likes to have songs in the classroom because he feels engaged. I told him that I was going to try to find academic songs. He was placed on special education, but a few days ago he was removed from the program. He still struggles with writing and exams. I feel like he will need some time transitioning from having special accommodations.

There are two students that have maintained a 4.0 GPA since they joined Tigard High School. They always turn in their homework and seem to have big support from home.

There are three Hispanic students in the class, and two Asian Americans. There are a group of students that have expressed interest in learning with songs. There are many students that participate in the choir, one student has given music guitar 11

presentations, and a couple of students play the guitar. I believe that incorporating songs in the curriculum can be an asset to incorporate different abilities of the students.

Differentiated instruction must be a priority, since there are many students that are TAG in reading and writing and other students struggle with writing and note taking.

The learning goals that I have set up for this work sample do not require a lot of writing, but they do require a high level of reading comprehension. It may be challenging to achieve those goals, since some students have reading comprehension disabilities in their own language, but I do not believe that it is impossible to achieve. I believe that songs, oral drills, videos, working with pairs, and listening comprehension activities must be included in the curriculum in order to reach those students that have different learning styles.

It appears that many students get support from their parents. I had the opportunity to meet many parents and they showed a high level of interest towards checking the progress of the students. One day a student forgot his homework at home, and his mother brought the homework to school so that he could still turn in his assignment and get full credit.

There are classroom assistants for the second, third, and fourth period. They are assigned a variety of administrative tasks, such as grading exams and homework using a key, creating flashcards, organizing classroom supplies, recording homework, updating calendars, and so on. Teacher assistants are extremely helpful; they seem very motivated every day, have a strong attention to detail and are always eager to take on new assignments. Teacher assistants are assigned responsibilities in grading homework, always under supervision of the teacher. Homework is graded based on accuracy and effort. If students turn in the homework accurate and on time, they get full credit. Grades 12

of homework assignments, quizzes, and exams impact lesson planning. If students are doing poorly in homework assignments, quizzes, class participation, and exams, then lesson planning is modified in order to help reinforce a certain topic.

The environment of the class is very quiet. Students are extremely respectful and I have not had any issue with class management, which may help me to focus more on the quality of lesson planning.

Factor Readiness: Skills

Relevant Information 6 students are TAG in academic reading, 4 have TAG Potential in Academic Reading, and some student may require extra time for this type of assignment.

Implications For Instruction There are many students that are above average level. When creating lessons, provide opportunities for students using Differentiated Instruction, including the theory of Multiple Intelligences of Howard Gardner.

Note taking: skills

Some students struggle at note taking and putting their ideas organized.

In terms of ethnicity I haven’t seen many African Americans, Hispanics or Asian American students.

Realidades 2 is the official text of Spanish 2. However, in Spanish 1 students only complete 6 chapters of Realidades 1 instead of 9.

There is no logical sequence in the curriculum of Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 in Tigard High School.

Provide copies of lesson plans for students, or make the notes available to them.

Include information of cultural aspects of Spanish speaking countries in order to increase cultural awareness.

The curriculum has to be adapted since the textbook of Realidades 2 for Spanish 2 assumes that students already know the content of Chapters 7, 8 and 9 of Realidades 1.

For lesson planning, it is necessary to review content of Realidades 1 in order to adjust the sequence of the lessons. In many cases it is necessary to create new material in order to create a logical transition.

Diversity: Resources: Textbook

Having a variety of students with different skill levels and different learning styles 13

gives me the opportunity to use the Theory Multiple Intelligences of Howard Gardner when creating lessons. For instance, if I teach a lesson on irregular verbs of the preterite, I may read a story using irregular verbs (linguistic intelligence), provide formulas for the construction of irregular verbs (logical-mathematical intelligence), use laminated pictures in lessons when telling stories or phrases that include irregular verbs (spatial intelligence), have students listen to a song and sing a song that includes irregular verbs in the preterite (musical intelligence), have students read aloud a story using irregular verbs (intrapersonal intelligence), use physical actions and have students move their bodies or use gestures when saying certain sentences in Spanish that require the use of irregular verbs (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence), provide opportunities for student to work in pairs or groups using irregular verbs (interpersonal experience).

Tino, what about your focus group and individual student?? YIKES!

14

PreAssessment

Pre-Assessment In order to create lesson plans of the unit, it was necessary to provide a pre15

assessment instrument. The results of the pre-assessment would be used to measure students’ prior knowledge and create the lessons based on what students already knew.

The results of the pre-assessment helped me to see how much time students needed to spendt on each topic.

I created a pre-assessment that would measure three different aspects: a) vocabulary of chores, the city, doing errands, community stores, and services, b) Direct Object Pronouns, and c) conjugation and meaning of irregular verbs of the preterite.

It was necessary to created a pre-assessment because I needed specific and concise information about specific vocabulary words, verb conjugation, and use of Direct Object Pronouns. The test needed to include all topics that were going to be taught, and it needed to be short so that it would not interfere with the regular instruction of the students.

This pre-test was delivered in a written format. Most tests in the class are delivered this way, and I decided that I would not change the routine of the classroom, since it seems to be working well for the students. The Pre-Assessment has 50 short questions and each question was worth one point. The first section required translating nineteen words about chores, places in the city, and running errands from English into Spanish.

The first section would help me measure knowledge based on the teaching standard: SL. PS3.PR.01: identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts, since basic vocabulary and phrases are the foundation of identifying ideas from simple texts.

The second section required students to conjugate four irregular verbs into the 16

preterite and write the meaning in English for each verb in the infinitive. In this section students were required to find the right form of each irregular verb that goes with each subject pronoun. The goal of that section of the pre-assessment was to identify which mistakes were made in the conjugation of specific verbs in Spanish in the preterite, as well as to see if students could identify the meaning of irregular verbs. I decided to directly include verb conjugation in the preterite since it is a basic foundation of a language. By testing verb conjugation, I would identify if students had basic foundations of the teaching standard: SL.PS4PW.01: create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics.

For the third section of the test, I decided to use the Assessment Strategy Multiple Choice in order to measure students’ ability to identity the correct use of Direct Object Pronouns.

The third section of the test evaluated students on how to properly translate sentences from English to Spanish using Direct Object Pronouns. I should mention that one of the questions of the third section had a printed error. Students needed to substitute the bold word for a Direct Object Pronoun, but by mistake a different word was bold causing a bad elaborated question. Therefore, I had to eliminate that question when grading each test so that the pre-assessment would show accurate results. For the postassessment, I will try to get support from my mentor teacher in order to determine any possible flaws. Also, I am also planning on taking the test myself. By taking the test, I 17

will go through each question not only as an examiner, but also as a test taker. Seeing an evaluation from both perspectives may help me find more details, and improve the quality of the assessment.

This exam was given to students on a Friday, one academic day before the lesson plan would start. However, I would have the weekend to make changes to the preassessment if they were necessary. Prior to taking the pre-assessment, students were told that they were going to take a test that would measure their knowledge on topics that were not taught yet. Students were also told that they were not going to be graded on the results of the test, so that they did not need to worry about their grades. However, they were instructed to do their best. Students were very cooperative. The pre-assessment was administered before the test of Chapter 2A, Realidades 2. After students finished answering the pre-assessment, they started taking the formal exam for Chapter 2A, Realidades 2.

The difficulty level of the questions increased as students progressed in the test.

This method of assessment that gradually progresses from vocabulary, to irregular verbs, finalizing with Direct Object Pronouns helped me identify which areas students need more help in.

The results of the pre-assessment allowed students, my mentor teacher, and me to get a good idea of what students needed to study for on the final, and to help them 18

familiarize with the format of the assessment.

The first nineteen questions presented vocabulary that was going to be taught in the lessons. The first nineteen questions also included verb phrases that are used for chores, running errands, community stores, and services. I created the pre-assessment evaluation using simple questions. Questions 19 to 47 are specific about verb conjugation and translation from Spanish to English for the infinitive of each verb.

Finally, questions 48 to 50 included Direct Object Pronouns and were delivered using the assessment strategy Multiple Choice. Six different options were given to the students for each answer, reducing the possibilities that students would guess the correct answer.

Pre-Assessment Analysis and Results There are 34 four students in the class, 16 female and 18 male. The column named TAG indicates students that are Talented and Gifted: a (0) indicates that they are not talented and gifted, a (1) indicates that they are Talented and Gifted in Academic Math, a (2) indicates that they are talented and gifted in Academic Reading, a (3) indicated that they are Intellectually gifted, and a number (4) indicates if they have TAG Potential. I decided to include all theseis students in subgroup for analysis, since they all have special talents.

Pre assessment Results Student Number

Tag

Gender

Ethnicity

PreAssessment Score 100

19

1

1

Male

Hispanic

25

2

0

Female

non Hispanic

2

3

0

Female

non Hispanic

8

4

0

Male

non Hispanic

4

6

0

Male

non Hispanic

6

7

3

Female

non Hispanic

12

9

0

Male

non Hispanic

16

11

1, 2, 3

Male

non Hispanic

33

12

0

Male

non Hispanic

21

14

0

Female

non Hispanic

22

15

4

Female

non Hispanic

12

16

0

Female

non Hispanic

2

17

0

Male

non Hispanic

22

18

4

Female

non Hispanic

12

19

4

Male

Hispanic

47

20

3

Male

non Hispanic

12

21

1, 2

Female

Hispanic

9

26

0

Female

non Hispanic

9

27

0

Male

non Hispanic

0

28

0

Male

non Hispanic

20

30

0

Female

non Hispanic

11

31

0

Male

non Hispanic

8

32

0

Female

non Hispanic

15

Averages

14.26

You need to have a graph that shows the visual comparison of the test scores‌

I was debating whether include a student that a TAG in Academic Math but not TAG in Academic Reading. I decided to include him in the sub-group analysis since he has shown to be a fast learner, and I decided to include him to do a close analysis of his progress. The third column indicates the ethnicity of students classified as Hispanic or not Hispanic. The information that I got from the school would not provide more details in 20

that regard. However, that information may influence learning if Hispanic students have ties with the Spanish speaking community, helping them gain exposure to the language outside of the classroom. Good point!

Some students missed the pre-assessment, and other students missed the post assessment. Those students that either missed the pre-assessment or the post assessment are not included, since their learning gains can not be incorporated because there is no data to compare pre and post assessment learning.

TAG Students Results Pre-Assessment Student Number

TA G

Gender

1

1

M

H

25

7

3

F

N-H

12

11

1, 2, 3

M

N-H

33

15

4

F

N-H

12

18

4

F

N-H

12

19

4

M

H

47

20

3

M

N-H

12

21

1, 2

F

H

9

Averages

Ethnicity

Preassessment Score 100

The groups of students that got the highest score in the pre-assessment happened to be included in the TAG roster.

20.25

Student 19 showed the highest score (47) in the pre-assessment. He is male and has a TAG potential in academic reading. He never 21

misses an assignment; he always shows an outstanding interest in the subject. Maybe having a high score is due to his individual interest in learning. When we practice translation exercises in the classroom, he always participates and he rarely makes mistakes. He has said that he has some relatives that speak Spanish. In addition to his high level of dedication, maybe he benefits from being exposed to Spanish outside of the classroom. Even though the unit has not been taught yet, he answered correctly many words on the vocabulary section. Student 19 is of Hispanic ancestry. In addition, Student 11 scored 33 points. He is male and has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is also TAG in academic reading, academic math, and is intellectually gifted. Student 1 scored 25, he is male, TAG in academic math. He has shown an outstanding interest in learning Spanish.

He was a teacher assistant of the Spanish class. Many times when he sees me, he surprises me by saying idiomatic expressions in Spanish that he has learned with his Spanish speaking friends. He has told me that he has many friends that speak Spanish and they teach him Spanish words. I think that his high interest in Spanish and some exposure outside of the classroom helped him get the second highest grade in the pre-assessment.

Student 1 scored 25 points, he is male, and TAG in academic math. He is often quiet in the classroom. He always turns in his homework assignments. Maybe some of his prior knowledge is due to taking other Spanish classes, or outside exposure to the language.

Do you have an individual student who you focused on?? How do you interpret the data of the other students? What does this information tell you about how you will approach your lesson plans –what and how you will teach?

22

Rationale 23

Rationale My mentor teacher and I carefully reviewed the content of Spanish II in order to determine what I would teach for my work sample. We decided that I would teach Chapter 3A of Realidades 2. There are specific adjustments that were made in order to enrich the curriculum and emphasize those areas where students need more practice and support.

The purpose of the unit is to teach students to talk about doing errands, community stores, and services. Students will also give information using direct object pronouns and use thirteen irregular verbs in the preterite. Students will listen and watch a video about errands, and give information about buying things using irregular verbs and direct object pronouns. Some exposure to other Spanish speaking countries will include comparing the city of Portland with Buenos Aires in a brief introduction to the chapter.

These contents are important to teach because running errands, buying things, naming community stores and services using irregular verbs and direct object pronouns are real world connections that every foreign language learner needs to know when traveling to other countries or when providing information to a Spanish speaking person.

As far as Oregon Teaching Standards of foreign language, this unit help students “Create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics�

24

(SL.PS4PW.01 Presentational Mode: Writing) “Identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts” (SL. PS3.PR.01 Interpretive Mode: Reading) “use memorized words/signs,

phrases

and

expressions

in

everyday

situations”

(SL.PS1.IS.01

Interpersonal Mode: Speaking) and “Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations” (SL.PS1.IL.01 Interpretive Mode: Listening) The unit that I will teach outlines the foundations and grammatical formulas needed in order to properly conjugate irregular verbs in the preterite, and to correctly use direct object pronouns. Lesson planning focuses on practice of vocabulary, and will include activities such as simulating real life conversations using communicative pair activities. Furthermore, there are videos presented and audio listening activities accompanied by comprehension worksheets that help students to be exposed and immersed in Spanish. All of these activities of the unit build understanding of the Oregon Teaching Standards of Foreign Language, since they are basic foundations and elements of communication needed in everyday life.

Because Spanish II is a language class and each student comes from different backgrounds, there are different levels of oral, written, and spoken proficiencies.

However, as a diverse class, some students need more reinforcement with their writing; others with their reading comprehension, and finally other students need more help with their verbal comprehension and listening. As stated earlier, seven students are TAG in academic math, six in academic reading, five are intellectually gifted and four have TAG potential in academic reading. There is a student that has ADHD. There is a student with reading and writing disabilities, and he needs extra time for long writing assignments. On the other hand, there are two students that have maintained a 4.0 GPA 25

since they joined Tigard High School. Differentiated instruction must be a priority, since there are many students that are TAG in reading and writing and other students struggle with writing and note taking. Having such a variety of developmental needs, learning styles, and different abilities in Spanish forces me to not only make sure alternative activities are available for those students that need additional challenges, but also diversify activities in everyday lessons to make sure that all students are challenged in a variety of ways. As stated earlier, including as many levels of human intelligence that Dr. Garner describes in the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, may help to keep all students involved in every activity.

There are many students that participate in the choir, one student has given music guitar presentations, and a couple of students play the guitar. Some of the students have expressed interest in learning with songs and music.

I believe that incorporating songs in the curriculum can be an asset to incorporate different abilities of the students. Realidades 2 has songs that include verb conjugation, direct object pronouns, and vocabulary of running errands and stores and services. Those songs can be included in the curriculum and help challenge those musical learners.

Students need to take Spanish I in order to be admitted to Spanish II. The preassessment results showed a class average of 14.26% for all students, and a 20.25% for TAG students.

Spanish II follows a logical sequence of Spanish I. Spanish II introduces new topics and vocabulary, and uses vocabulary that has been taught in Spanish I. Since students were never introduced to anything related to irregular verbs in the preterite, direct object pronouns, vocabulary of stores, community services or running errands, it was at some degree expected that students were going to get such a low score on the pre26

assessment. Lesson plans will be implemented assuming that students have no prior knowledge of the unit, since the class average of 14.26% is not significant to implement changes.

Based on the textbook Realidades II, personal teaching experience, and mentor teacher’s advise we decided the order and sequence of the lessons. From my perspective, it is a logical sequence of instruction to start with chores, then move to parts of the house, afterwards to vocabulary of doing errands. After vocabulary has been used to a certain degree, students are introduced to irregular verbs in the preterite, and finally direct object pronouns are taught. Furthermore, under advice and direction of my mentor teacher lesson plans for the work sample were created at least a week in advance.

After lessons are taught, a careful review of grammar writing exercises will be done. Oral drills, different individual and group activities will be implemented in order to help students achieve Oregon State Standards of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Assessments in the form of vocabulary quizzes, verb conjugation recognition, having homework assigned everyday, corrected, graded and recorded will help both teacher and student enhance, recognize and respond to learning.

Students will be assigned homework, practice, cues and questions. With these instructional strategies, students will have the opportunity to review grammar rules and ensure correct use through homework and practice. This way, lessons contribute to achieve state standards: SL.PS4PW.01 Create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics.

Also, readings have been assigned for both

classroom activities. Therefore, there is a large contribution to help students Identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts (SL. PS3.PR.01.)

In order to assess student knowledge through formative assessment I have used 27

the Assessment Strategy Multiple Choice Assessments.

These Assessments will be

administered to students in the forms of Quizzes and Pruebas. Quizzes will be focused on recognition of verb forms and vocabulary, and Pruebas will evaluate spelling, translation, and correct use of words and rules in context. Multiple Choice Assessments will help measure both standards: SL. PS3.PR.01 Identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts and SL.PS4PW.01 Create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics. The assessment strategy shows at what percentage the goals have been met, through correct conjugations of verbs of indicative and simple tenses.

When I graded the pre-assessment, I noticed that students needed to learn grammar rules without any prior knowledge. The pre-assessment results showed in the sections of vocabulary, irregular verbs in the preterite and direct object pronouns that students got some answers right in some questions but failed to get the answer right in other questions. Therefore, all students needed to review all rules of grammar and conjugation, as well as vocabulary.

My mentor teacher told me that the amount of students in the class that are TAG in mathematics, reading, intellectually gifted and with academic reading TAG potential is unusual. Some students in this classroom finish their tasks faster than any other classroom. In fact, Ms. Montgomery says that she has never had a class like this in her 14 years of teaching experience, since most students seem extremely quiet and are fast learners. However, there are other students that have challenges in note-taking and other students need extra time for completing assignments.

Many students have expressed their interest in working in group and pair activities. It works out well, because group and pair activities can be extremely helpful to 28

practice verbal communication, and to help students to interact with each other, mixing different learning styles, levels and abilities in writing, reading, listening, and speaking in Spanish.

I decided to focus on verbal practice and group activities, since many students seem to be gifted in writing and reading. After I can focus my goal on helping students gain verbal fluency. Furthermore, group activities will help students interact with each other and feel more comfortable with their peers. Certainly, this does not mean that I will not be implementing writing strategies, since writing activities are used on a daily basies.

Readings and articles from the textbook Realidades 2 and from the Workbook Realidades 2 will be implemented since these books have a logical sequence of vocabulary, and content.

These forms of literacy help reinforce the use of verbs and vocabulary taught in the lessons. All readings have a logical sequence of teaching that help students learn and reinforce what they already know.

Each form of literacy helps students use the material learned in stories, articles, videos, and songs. Also, students can improve their reading skills and get familiarized with correct spelling and grammar through readings.

I have taken readings from Realidades 2, since those readings have a logical sequence of vocabulary taught. For instance, initial readings use only regular verbs, then as students’ learning progresses, additional readings use irregular verbs in a gradual manner.

29

Goals

and

Objectives 30

LESSON PLAN DAY ONE Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After creating vocabulary flashcards, warm up exercises, verbal practice, and correcting chores and rooms vocabulary, students will correctly answer 7 out of 9 related questions provided on a worksheet.

Objective 1.2 After creating vocabulary flashcards, and reading pages 132 and 133 of the textbook Realidades 2, students will be able to correctly answer 5 out of 6 questions related to places of the community and running errands provided in page 133 of the textbook.

Goal # 2: Interpersonal Mode: Speaking SL.PS1.IS.01 Use memorized words/signs, phrases, and expressions in everyday situations.

Objective 2.1 After creating vocabulary flashcards, warm up exercises, and correcting chores and rooms vocabulary, in a group activity students will use memorized words to provide at least 10 correct answers out of 15 questions in a class activity.

31

LESSON PLAN DAY TWO

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction and classroom practice of Ser/Ir in the preterite tense, students will be able to correctly identify the uses in 10 out of 12 questions provided in page 56 of the textbook Realidades 2.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening (Students can comprehend verbal or signed language from authentic and other sources (e.g., TV, radio, video, digital or live presentations).

SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions, and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations.) Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics. Understand a short series of simple directions Objective 1.1 After reading practice, creation of vocabulary flashcards, filling in vocabulary lists, and a reading activity in pairs, students will watch the video: Realidades 2, ¿Qué hiciste esta mañana? and will correctly answer 80% of questions provided in page of 46, 47, and 48 of Realidades 2, Writing, Audio and Video Workbook.

LESSON PLAN DAY THREE Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

32

Objective 1.1 After a warm up, and a flash cards presentation, activities in the classroom and homework, students will correctly answer 80% of questions related to Ser and Ir provided in page of 56 of Realidades 2, Practice Workbook.

Objective 1.2 After a warm up, homework and class practice, students will take a recognition quiz of Chores, the preterite forms of Ser and Ir and will provide at least 80% correct answers.

Objective 1.3 After a warm up, an inductive activity that shows pictures of rooms, and homework, students will create a draft of their ideal house, labeling at least 20 items in Spanish.

LESSON PLAN DAY FOUR

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction of thirteen irregular verbs in the preterite, using the stem of each irregular verb, students will fill in a verb chart with the correct form of each verb that goes with all subject pronouns. Students should have at least 80% of accuracy in their answers.

Goal #2 SL.PS1.PW.01 Write symbols/characters, basic high-frequency words and memorized phrases.

Objective 1.1 After instructions, filling a verb chart, and repetition, students will be able to sing an educational song that includes the stem of 13 irregular verbs.

Goal # 3: Interpersonal Mode: Speaking SL.PS1.IS.01 Use memorized words/signs, phrases, and expressions in everyday 33

situations.

Objective 1.1 After creating vocabulary flashcards, instruction, warm up exercises and corrections of vocabulary, in a pair activity students with memorized words will ask and answer at least 10 questions using irregular verbs and vocabulary of places in an accurate manner.

LESSON PLAN DAY FIVE

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After practice students will correctly answer 80% of questions of a worksheet that includes all irregular verbs taught and Quehaceres.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations). Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics, understand a short series of simple directions and Goal # 3: Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IS.01 Use memorized words/signs, phrases and expressions in everyday situations After reading practice, creation of vocabulary flashcards, filling in vocabulary lists, and a reading activity in pairs, students will practice an audio listening activity Realidades 2, and will correctly answer 80% of the questions contained in activities 5, 6, and 7 provided in page of 49 and 50 of Realidades 2, Writing, Audio and Video Workbook. ____

LESSON PLAN DAY SIX 34

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction of direct object pronouns students will correctly answer five out of seven questions that require proper use of direct object pronouns provided on a worksheet.

Goal #2 SL.PS1.PW.01 Write symbols/characters, basic high-frequency words and memorized phrases. Make lists of familiar objects and vocabulary, spell familiar words using the target language alphabet.

Objective 2.1 After instructions, warm up exercises, and homework, students will be able to play Whiteboard Verb Conjugation, a drill game that requires correctly conjugating irregular verbs in the preterite tense with 6 subject pronouns.

LESSON PLAN DAY SEVEN Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Irregular Verbs in the Preterite in the preterite tense, students will be able to score at least 80% in a quiz.

Objective 1.2 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Spanish vocabulary of running errands, students will be able to correctly score at least 80% in a quiz Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday 35

expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations). Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics and understand a short series of simple directions and Goal #2 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 2.1 After instruction and writing students will participate in whiteboard practice of irregular verbs providing at least 80% of accurate answers in a class activity.

LESSON PLAN DAY EIGHT Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Direct Object Pronouns students will be able to correctly respond at least 80% in a writing exercise.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations). Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics, understand a short series of simple directions.

Objective 2.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Direct Object Pronouns students will be able to provide at least 80% of correct questions in an orals drill.

LESSON PLAN DAY NINE Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from 36

familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction of irregular verbs students will be able to correctly answer the test of chapter 3A proving at least 80% of accurate answers.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations).

Objective 2.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice students will listen to a song and will be able to identify words to fill in blank spaces with Direct Object Pronouns with at least 80% in accuracy.

37

Lesson Plans

38

LESSON PLAN DAY ONE Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After creating vocabulary flashcards, warm up exercises, verbal practice, and correcting chores and rooms vocabulary, students will correctly answer 7 out of 9 related questions provided on a worksheet.

Objective 1.2 After creating vocabulary flashcards, and reading pages 132 and 133 of the textbook Realidades 2, students will be able to correctly answer 5 out of 6 questions related to places of the community and running errands provided in page 133 of the textbook.

Goal # 2: Interpersonal Mode: Speaking SL.PS1.IS.01 Use memorized words/signs, phrases, and expressions in everyday situations.

Objective 2.1 After creating vocabulary flashcards, warm up exercises, and correcting chores and rooms vocabulary, in a group activity students will use memorized words to 39

provide at least 10 correct answers out of 15 questions in a class activity.

Materials. ●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Whiteboard

●

Document Camera

●

Projector

●

DVD Program, Temas 3 Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Chores and Rooms Worksheet

●

Oral Practice, Comunicativo Worksheet

Procedure

A. Anticipatory Set, Motivation or Hook: (5 minutes) Write Quehaceres Domésticos on the board. Ask students if they can describe in Spanish which household chores they like to do and which ones they do not like to do. Tell them that at the end of the day they will be able to describe household chores in Spanish.

B. Teaching.

(80 to 90 minutes) 40

B1. Warm up:

_________

_(10 minutes)

Have students take out their workbooks Realidades 2 and quietly do the exercise on page 49 in “Quehaceres.” Place key on document camera, go over instructions and uncover the first answer of the exercise as an example. Then, circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the entire vocabulary list done. However, students have until the end of the day to turn in vocabulary flashcards. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector. Take attendance and stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using seating charts that are located in the gradebook. After flashcards have been stamped, ask students to place their flashcards on the desk for the assistant to correct and record.Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections of warm up and homework:

____ _

(15 minutes)__

Pass out red pens. Tell students to correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. No erasing wrong answers, just writing in correct ones.

Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer. Their assignment for the weekend was: Filing in vocabulary lists, creating flashcards for all the vocabulary of chapter 3 and at least 10 flashcards for Repaso of chapter 3A. Vocabulary lists are corrected in this activity. Put the vocabulary list under the document camera. Repeat words out loud in Spanish, students repeat in Spanish, then say the word in English (students do not say the word in English.) Instruct students to write additional notes for their vocabulary lists, as necessary. When done, collect red pens.

B3. Introduction to Chapter 3A

(7 minutes) 41

Have students take out their textbook and turn to page 129 and 130. Read the Fondo Cultural Buenos Aires Section outloud while they follow along. When done reading each sentence in Spanish, call on volunteers to translate each sentence into English to make sure everyone understands. Provide translation from Spanish to English for new vocabulary. While translating and discussing the differences, ask questions that compare the city of Buenos Aires with the United States in order to involve students’ imaginations in the activity.

B4. Videohistoria- Lectura Pages 132 and 133 and Answer Activity 3. ( 15 minutes) Have students turn to page 132 and 133 in their texts. Have students find their Cocodrilo Partner (class has been organized with different partners at the beginning of the school year, if there are any students left over, just assign them a pair to work with, or have one of the assistants work with them.) Explain that students need to take turns reading aloud each one of the eight dialogues of the story. Students can use a dictionary in order to assure full understanding of each conversation. Students need to fully understand each dialogue before they move on to the next. Then, they should write the answers in Spanish on a separate sheet of paper to the six questions from activity 3 on page 133.

After about 10 minutes, go over students’ answers using the key.

B5. Inductive Intro: Quehaceres y cuartos: Visuals, House floor

(8 minutes)

Place picture of a house on the document camera. Then, in Spanish only, talk about the chores that you do in each of the rooms of your house. Point at each room and name the chore that you do. Name at least ten different household chores.

B6. First Part Communicative: Los Quehaceres

(10 minutes)

Students may once again work with their previous partner to do the communicative activity. Give blue hand out. Using the blue handout, students must match each quehacer 42

domĂŠstico with each picture.

B7. Wrap up/homework options

(5 minutes)

Assign Hoja blanca-white sheet of Quehaceres domĂŠsticos for homework tonight.

Students should use vocabulary lists at home or in class for questions about new vocabulary. Provide one example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

C. Group application B4. Videohistoria- Lectura Pages 132 and 133 and answer Activity 3. ( 15 minutes) Refer to B4 Instruction for details.

D. Independent Application.

Homework will be assigned and collected the next day in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

Showing pictures to the students of the house and ask them if which chores they can do in each room.

5. Meeting varying needs.

This is an in-class writing and listening assignment. There are no physically handicapped students in this class. All students will work with a partner in order to ensure that everyone that has different reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities contributes 43

to help their peers. There are five intellectually gifted students that may have a different learning approach and have the opportunity to help with their peers in-group activities.

There are six TAG students in academic reading and four with TAG potential in academic reading. Creating pair activities may help the learning environment of the class.

Also, the inductive introduction of household chores using visual aids may help introduced new vocabulary to visual learners. There is a student that struggles taking notes and has expressed a preference for individual learning. The activity of working in pairs may help a student that has ADHD, since I have noticed that he shows high interest in-group activities. I have seen him very engaged when working with other students.

According to the multiple intelligences theory of Dr. Gardner, interpersonal experience is a way in which some learners can exceed. Certainly, I have seen that interpersonal experience is a positive experience for this student because it helps him to socialize with his peers, and helps him improve and practice Spanish pronunciation.

Assessment: Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to the pair activity and classroom interaction.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the homework provided. The responses of the assigned homework will demonstrate in which areas each student needs support.

Reflection: Overall, objective 1.2 seems to be achieved, since I collected the sheets and most students were able to provide accurate answers. Objective 1.2 will be measured once students turn in their homework. Objective 1.2 was not met because there was not enough time to 44

work on the Communicative activity. There were some changes made since some activities took longer than what I initially planned. For instance, homework corrections took longer because it was also an introduction to new vocabulary.

Since there was not enough time to implement the communicative activity, I will implement it later this week so that students can have the opportunity to do an oral drill and pronunciation.

Since this is basic vocabulary, I hope that students will have the opportunity to use it in real life situations. I learned that I have to come up with ideas of teaching a lesson that may reassemble life experiences as much as possible. Also, since this is a ninety-minute block, classes have to include a variety of listening, speaking, writing and reading activities so that students can be engaged and we can take advantage of the time.

Having students working in pairs reading outloud worked well for them. Many of them seemed very concentrated working on their pronunciation. Furthermore, many of them were able to translate the sentences pretty quickly and accurately. Showing the picture of the house and asking students to come up with chores that go into each room seemed to motivate the classroom well. I will try to incorporate pictures in future lessons, since many students in the class seem to be visual learners. Unfortunately, the closure was not implemented, but in future lessons I will put more emphasis in this important aspect of the lesson.

45

LESSON PLAN DAY TWO

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction and classroom practice of Ser/Ir in the preterite tense, students will be able to correctly identify the uses in 10 out of 12 questions provided in page 56 of the textbook Realidades 2.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening (Students can comprehend verbal or signed language from authentic and other sources (e.g., TV, radio, video, digital or live presentations).

SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions, and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations.) Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics. Understand a short series of simple directions Objective 2.1 After reading practice, creation of vocabulary flashcards, filling in vocabulary lists, and a reading activity in pairs, students will watch the video: Realidades 2, ¿Qué hiciste esta mañana? and will correctly answer 80% of questions provided in page of 46, 47, and 48 of Realidades 2, Writing, Audio and Video Workbook.

Materials.

46

●

Laminated Pictures

●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

DVD Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

DVD Player

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Whiteboard

●

Document Camera

●

Projector

●

DVD Program, Temas 3 Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Chores and Rooms Worksheet

●

Vocabulary flashcards

●

WAVA pages of Realidades 2.

Procedure

A.

Anticipatory Set, Motivation or Hook: (10 minutes)

Vocabulary Flashcards:

( 10 minutes)

Hold up one card at a time with Spanish side out. Make sure all students can see them.

Repeat out loud in Spanish. Reading it from the front card moving it to the back of the stack. Students will repeat the word(s) out loud in Spanish, then in English. Students may need a little prompting on the English, as they have just started this lesson.

B.

Teaching.

(80 to 90 minutes) 47

B1. Warm up:

_________

( 10 minutes)

Put big laminated color pictures of a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, dining room, hallway, garage, living room, and yard on the board. Have students take out a sheet of paper, and instruct them to discuss and identify which chores correspond to each picture. Students must describe household chores in Spanish and translate them into English. Go over instructions and provide an example. Then, circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the entire hand out done. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector. Take attendance and stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using seating charts that are located in the gradebook. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections of warm up and homework:

____ _

(15 minutes)__

Pass out red pens. Tell students to correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. No erasing wrong answers, just writing in correct ones.

Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer. When done, repeat the same procedure to correct the homework. Their assignment last night was to fill in blank spaces for the right Quehacer in Spanish and translate sentences. Put the homework key on the document camera. Call on volunteers to read their answers before uncovering the key. When done, collect red pens and homework.

B3. Video: Pages 46, 47 and 48 of Workbook Audio and Video Activities.

Have students take out their WAVA packets, turn to pages 46, 47, and 48 and be ready to 48

do video comprehension exercises Actividad 1, 2, and 3. Actividad 1 should be done before watching the video as a warm up. Read instructions, and provide one example.

Allow 5 minutes, then ask for volunteers to read their answers. Answers will vary slightly. After getting six answers from students play the video ¿Qué hiciste esta mañana? from chapter 3A of Realidades 2 (capítulo 3A) and make sure all students are paying attention. Students should work on Actividades 2 y 3 while they watch the video.

Then, go over the answers as a class, place the key on the document camera and uncover each answer after students provide their answer.

B4. Short Story: Introduction to Ser/Ir Pretérito.

Ask students to put everything away except a pencil and a piece of paper, but instruct them to not write anything down and just listen. As an introduction to the Preterite, read a short story in Spanish and model with actions using Ser and Ir in the preterite form. Use laminated pictures of kitchen, dorm, garden, etc. The story has Ser and Ir used in different contexts. The story uses the verb Ir to describe that a person is going to different places and the verb Ser to describe that one person was responsible for doing household chores. Since both verbs Ser and Ir are the same in the preterite, ask students if they can guess the translation from Spanish to English for each verb.

B5. Instruction: Ser/Ir Pretérito.

Ask students to take out a sheet of paper for notes. Write on the board Ser and the subject pronouns in Spanish. Then, as a class write the correct form of the verb Ser for each subject pronoun. Afterward, write the verb Ir and all subject pronouns on the board. Ask students if they can guess the forms of the verbs. Explain that in the preterite, the forms 49

of Ser are the same as the forms of Ir. The context makes the meaning clear. Also show that Ir is often followed by “a” but ser is not. Provide 3 examples.

B6. Práctica

(8 minutes)

Have students take out their textbook Realidades 2 and turn to page 140. Students need to complete sentences with the missing forms of the verbs Ser and Ir. They must write the answer in Spanish to 10 questions of Actividad 15 on a separate sheet of paper. After about 10 minutes, go over students’ answers using the key. Then, collect the separate sheet of paper to verify their answers.

B7. Wrap up/homework options

(5 minutes)

Assign page 56 of workbook Realidades 2 and translate it for homework tonight. Students should use their notes at home or in class for questions. Provide one example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

C. Group application Not applicable.

D. Independent Application.

Homework from page 56 is assigned and collected the next day in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

Ask students what is the conjugation of Ser and Ir. Sing a quick song that will help students memorize the conjugation, then ask students to repeat after you the song.

Afterward, I will ask what usually comes after the verb Ir. 50

5. Meeting varying needs.

There are three students that have difficulties with note taking. For those students that struggle with note taking, there are copies of the lesson available. Creating two activities with laminated pictures would help students being introduced to new vocabulary.

Furthermore, there is an inductive activity that is presented before the instruction of Ser and Estar. In the inductive activity I tell a story and model with action using new vocabulary using laminated cards. Both activities may help those students and other visual learners learn new vocabulary. Furthermore, playing the video of Realidades 2, Chapter 3A may help visual learners retain new vocabulary. While watching the video, students are required to fill in blank spaces of comprehension exercises that consist of matching pictures with dialogues. With the comprehension exercise of the video, excessive writing is eliminated and comprehension through listening is emphasized. I have noticed that those students that struggle with note-taking, seem to be very engaged when there are activities that include visual aids. Today’s lesson will certainly benefit those students that struggle with note taking.

Those Intellectually Gifted students may develop a higher level of comprehension for the story and the video, and the TAG students of Academic Reading may have a high level of retention for foreign languages. I will monitor them closely for each activity.

Assessment:

Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to page 140 of the textbook Realidades, the warm up and the video 51

activities.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the homework provided. The responses of the assigned homework will demonstrate in which areas each student needs support.

Reflection: For the anticipatory set, the flashcards seemed to help students being introduced to new vocabulary and chores in Spanish. Some students were faster than others in providing the English word for each Spanish word. This means that some students learn vocabulary faster than others. Even though many students learn words faster than others, I have to find a balance and activities in order to help the entire classroom and each individual to achieve the goals of the unit. It is challenging, since some students seem very interested in improving their pronunciation, and other students seem more interested in learning the meaning of each word.

For the warm up activity, when using laminated pictures many students seemed to be engaged in looking for the right chore in Spanish for each visual. Using visual aids for reinforcing vocabulary seems a powerful learning tool that I will try to use for future lessons. Overall, looking at the homework, most students provided accurate answers. I noticed that during the inductive activity of telling a story, most students seemed engaged. I noticed that most students were very responsive with eye contact.

Even though the instruction of Ser and Ir was a new topic for the students, many students answered that there is usually an a after Ir. Furthermore, many of them said that context helps clarifying the differences in meaning between the preterit of Ser 52

and Ir in a conversation or in writing.

LESSON PLAN DAY THREE Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After a warm up, and a flash cards presentation, activities in the classroom and homework, students will correctly answer 80% of questions related to Ser and Ir provided in page of 56 of Realidades 2, Practice Workbook.

Objective 1.2 After a warm up, homework and class practice, students will take a recognition quiz of Chores, the preterite forms of Ser and Ir and will provide at least 80% correct answers.

Objective 1.3 After a warm up, an inductive activity that shows pictures of rooms, and homework, students will create a draft of their ideal house, labeling at least 20 items in Spanish.

Materials. ●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Whiteboard

●

Document Camera 53

●

Projector

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Chores and Rooms Worksheet

●

Vocabulary flashcards Procedure

A. Anticipatory Set, Motivation or Hook: (5 minutes) Ask students if they can guess which chores are made in the kitchen, bedroom and garden. Tell students enthusiastically that today they will draw a house. Ask students if they can guess what the house will be for.

Teaching.

B1. Warm up:

(80 to 90 minutes) _________

( 10 minutes)

Hand out students a worksheet that includes the irregular verbs Ser and Ir, as well as Quehaceres. Students need to choose the right form of the verb Ser/Ir, and translate into English. Place key on document camera, go over instructions and uncover the first answer of the exercise as an example. Circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the entire page 56 of the workbook done and translated. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector. Take attendance and stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using seating charts that are located in the gradebook. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections of warm up and homework:

____ _

(15 minutes)__

Pass out red pens. Tell students to correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. No erasing wrong answers, just writing in correct ones.

Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual 54

students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer. When done, repeat the same procedure for correcting the homework. Their assignment last night was to do page 56 of textbook and translate it. Put the homework key on document camera. Call on volunteers to read their answers before uncovering the key. When done, collect red pens and homework.

B3. Vocabulary Practice. My ideal house, Rough Draft Give students a yellow worksheet that has instructions on how to create a house labeling all items in Spanish. Students must create a draft. Instruct students to take out a sheet of paper and a pencil. Students need to create a house that will include the following words in Spanish: living room, room, hallway, bathroom, garden, garage, bed, kitchen, dining room, curtains, dishwasher, door, mirror, couch, table, chair, desk, car, cat, refrigerator, book, dishes, glasses, a patio, and stairs. Students can include extra words. Each student must do a rough draft on the back of the paper and label all items. When done, students need to show the teacher the draft.

B6. Recognition Quiz:

Ir, Ser

(8 minutes)

Have students put everything away with the exception of a pencil. Instruct them to make sure there is nothing tempting in or around their desks. Hand out exams.

B7. Wrap up/homework options

(5 minutes)

Assign page 51 of textbook and translate section B for homework tonight. Students should use their notes at home or in class for questions. Provide one example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

55

C. Group application Refer to B3 and B4 for details D. Independent Application.

Students create a draft of a house. Students are able to use their drawing skills and their creativity. Homework of page 51 is assigned and collected the next day in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

Ask students if they can come up with one chore that can be done in the living room. Ask students if they can come up one chore that can be done in the bathroom. Repeat this process with four more parts of the house.

5. Meeting varying needs.

This is an in-class writing, and drawing assignment. There are no physically handicapped students in this class. There is a student that has attention deficit disorder (ADHS.) Today’s class includes a drawing assignment that may help the student to have a least restrictive environment. I have noticed that the student seems shows a high level of progress when he has an opportunity to use his creativity. For him and for other students that struggle with note taking, this offers a different alternative to link vocabulary with visuals. For the quiz, there is a student that is allowed to take the test in a different room, following some accommodations required by law. There are no specific accommodations for TAG students for today’s lesson plan. However, it is expected to see higher participation from them for each activity. Printed handouts for the warm up, and 56

expectations of the house draft are given in order to help those students that struggle at taking notes during class time.

Assessment:

Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to the warm up, and their house drafts.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the quiz provided. The responses of the assigned homework will demonstrate in which areas each student needs support.

Reflection: I was very impressed to see how students were able to provide the right answer for the warm up identifying the right form and translation for the verb Ser and Ir after one day of instruction. Overall, after reviewing the quiz, homework and house drafts, I think that students met the objectives of today’s lesson. After I reviewed the homework that was already corrected by the students with red pen, I noticed that most of them provided 80% of accurate translations and answers. Also, for the quiz, most students scored higher than 80% in the quiz. I did not make any changes to the lesson as I was teaching it, since everything seemed to go pretty well. However, after I created the lesson plans for the week, my mentor teacher advised me one day before that we needed to change some activities in order to have more student centered activities. However, I would probably had changed the order of the activities of today’s lessons. I would had given students the 57

quiz first before the house draft. This way, students could have taken more time for the quiz, and would have worked on the draft of the house without thinking about the test. If students hadn’t learned the material I would have looked for activities that would reenforce vocabulary and Ser and Ir. I learned that many students in the class learn better when new subjects are taught using art-oriented activities that promote their creativity. Anticipatory set and closure are important activities that hook students in the lesson. It has helped to keep students engaged and intellectually stimulated.

58

LESSON PLAN DAY FOUR

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases, and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction of thirteen irregular verbs in the preterite, using the stem of each irregular verb, students will fill in a verb chart with the correct form of each verb that goes with all subject pronouns. Students should have at least 80% of accuracy in their answers.

Goal #2 SL.PS1.PW.01 Write symbols/characters, basic high-frequency words and memorized phrases.

Objective 2.1 After instructions, filling a verb chart, and repetition, students will be able to sing an educational song that includes the stem of 13 irregular verbs.

Goal # 3: Interpersonal Mode: Speaking SL.PS1.IS.01 Use memorized words/signs, phrases, and expressions in everyday situations.

Objective 3.1 After creating vocabulary flashcards, instruction, warm up exercises and corrections of vocabulary, in a pair activity students with memorized words will ask and answer at least 10 questions using irregular verbs and vocabulary of places in an accurate manner.

Materials. ●

Guitar

●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall 59

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Document Camera

●

Projector

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Oral Practice, Communicative Worksheet

●

Vocabulary flashcards

●

Whiteboard

Procedure A.

Anticipatory Set, Motivation or Hook: Communicative Pink and white sheets: Where did you go? Where were you?

(10 minutes)

Instruct students to have a pencil ready, vocabulary list and verb chart ready. Have students work with their Hippopotamus partner. If there are any students left over, just assign them a pair to work with. Give students a white sheet and a pink sheet. Each couple should have a white sheet and pink sheet. Students are required to ask each other different questions of locations and irregular verbs. Afterwards, students need to write down the answers provided by their partner using the correct forms of Hacer, Estar and Ser in the preterite. Working in pairs asking questions in the past helps students stimulate prior knowledge. Furthermore, it helps students prepare for today’s lesson. Then, collect worksheets and homework for grading and recording.

B.

Teaching.

(60 to 80 minutes)

B.1 Buque de Guerra.

60

Give students Buque de Guerra worksheets. The game is played on four grids, two for each player. On one grid the player arranges ships and records the shots by the opponent.

On the other grid the player records his/her own shots. Each ship occupies a number of consecutive squares on the grid, arranged either horizontally or vertically. After the ships have been positioned, the game proceeds in a series of rounds. If a ship occupies the square, then it takes a hit. The player's opponent announces whether or not the shot hit one of his or her ships and then takes a turn. When all of the squares of a ship have been hit, the ship is sunk. After all of one player's ships have been sunk, the game ends and the other player wins. Students take turns calling out verb forms and chores in Spanish that go with the subjects provided. If students get a hit, they can take another run. Players need to keep track of their enemy´s ships and their misses on their sea. Students will say in Spanish: 1. ¡Hundiste mi barco! for ¡You sank my ship! 2. ¡Golpe! for ¡hit! and will mark it with an X, 3. ¡Agua! for water 4. ¡Cartucho sin bala! for empty shell, which means that the enemy gave an incomplete or incorrect verb form, and students do not have to tell whether they are hit or not by the other player. FUN GAME!!!!

B2. Instruction of Preteritos Irregulares

( 10 minutes)

Give students a blue handout that contains the following verbs in English that are irregular in the preterite: to put, to be able, to know, to come, to have, to be, to walk, to want, to say, to tell, to bring, to translate, to make, to watch, to give to hear, to read, to believe, and to fall down. The blue sheet also contains blank spaces for the infinitive, stem, and endings for each verb. Place the blue sheet on the document camera, ask students the infinitive of each verb in Spanish and write it down after they have provided the answer. Students should know the meaning of each verb in Spanish. If students hesitate in providing the meaning of some verbs, provide the answer and have all the 61

students write down the Spanish verb. Then, provide the stem of each irregular verb for the preterite along with the endings. Have students use a red pen to put a little star before decir, traducir and traer, since they have a different conjugation for the third person in the plural form.

B3. Verb Chart Fill in of Preteritos Irregulares

( 10 minutes)

Have students take out their green verb charts and have them conjugate the first thirteen verbs using a pencil. Give them eight minutes to fill in their verb charts and circulate the classroom to see if students need help. Then, place the verb chart key on the document camera and have students compare their verb conjugations and correct their answers if necessary.

B4. Song: La cucaracha de verbos

(15 minutes)

Give students a yellow handout that has the lyrics of a song that helps students memorize the irregular stem for each verb of the preterite. Read the lyrics one time with them and have them repeat each word. Then, take out your acoustic guitar and instruct students to listen to the tune and rhythm of the song. Sing the song two times, then have students repeat each phrase after you. Organize three different groups of the class based on the location of their desk. The first group will be the students that seat on the right side of the classroom and will have around ten students. The second group will be the students that seat on the back of the classroom, with about 12 students. Finally, the third group will be the students that seat on the right of the classroom with about 12 students. Tell students that there will be a contest in which each group will compete to sing the song. Then, the whole class vote for the best group of singers. Finally, have the whole classroom sing the song.

62

B6. Assign homework

(5 minutes)

Assign irregular preterite flashcards of Irregular Preterite Verbs. Students must create flashcards using the thirteen irregular verbs learned in today’s lesson. On one side of the flashcard, students must write the infinitive of the verb. On the other side of the flashcard students must write the English translation and the conjugation with all subject pronouns.

Provide 1 example.

C. Group application Refer to B1 and B4 for details D. Independent Application.

Homework is assigned and collected the next day in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

The closure of today’s lesson is having the whole class singing the educational song La cucaracha de los verbos that includes the stems of fifteen irregular verbs. The objective of the song is to help students familiarize with irregular verbs, by having more exposure to them. The objective of today’s lesson is to introduce students to the form of the verbs.

Tomorrow’s lesson will help students to familiarize with the meaning. This is a summary of the lesson and helps students for the next day.

5. Meeting varying needs.

This is an in-class writing and singing listening assignment. There is a student that has attention deficit disorder (ADHS.) The oral activity practice called Communicative, for this particular student, according to the multiple intelligences interpersonal experience will help him to be successful, because facilitates a positive experience providing him the opportunity to interact with his peers. There is a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder, 63

and two students with a learning disability in writing and spelling. These three students struggle with conventions, spelling, taking notes. Some accommodations required by law for these students include copy of or partially completed notes in core classes. Therefore, the instruction of Irregular Verbs is given in a sheet of paper that is already printed.

Students only need to fill out some blank spaces with answers that are provided by the teacher during instruction. There are five intellectually gifted students in the classroom.

Six students are TAG in academic reading and seven in academic math. Furthermore, there are four students with TAG potential in academic reading. This impacts my Spanish instruction in the sense that I have to create activities that stimulate all types of intelligences in order to reach all students. Today’s class includes a communicative activity reviewing irregular verbs, Buque de Guerra (social and interpersonal experience, and interpersonal intelligence) an educational song (musical intelligence.) In addition, all students will work with a partner in order to ensure that everyone that has different reading, writing, speaking, and listening abilities contributes to help their peers.

Assessment:

Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to the communicative activity, the writing practice of irregular verbs, and the singing activity.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the homework provided. The responses of the assigned homework will demonstrate in which areas each student needs support.

64

Reflection: The objectives were met, since most students were able to not only fill in the verb chart very accurately, but also to compete against each other singing the educational song. Originally, changes were made when I was teaching, since filling the verb chart seemed to be fundamental prior to singing the song. Even though the lesson plan was created one week before, my mentor teacher advised me to create some changes the day of the lesson. Since there was too much writing in the original lesson plan, changes were made in order to improve it and diversify activities.

I would probably have changed the activity of the Buque de Guerra. The Buque de Guerra has vocabulary of some irregular verbs and chores. I would have included the 13 irregular verbs in the Buque de Guerra. If students hadn’t learned the concept of irregular verbs, I would have prepared a different explanation for the lesson of the next day and make adjustments as necessary. In the future, I will try to include more educational songs, since the song was a success. The song seemed to help students’ motivation and interest while reinforcing irregular verbs. I learned that grammar instruction can be fun and engaging if it is taught in a thoughtful and creative manner.

65

LESSON PLAN DAY FIVE

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After practice students will correctly answer 80% of questions of a worksheet that includes all irregular verbs taught and Quehaceres.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations). Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics, understand a short series of simple directions and Goal # 3: Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IS.01 Use memorized words/signs, phrases and expressions in everyday situations After reading practice, creation of vocabulary flashcards, filling in vocabulary lists, and a reading activity in pairs, students will practice an audio listening activity Realidades 2, and will correctly answer 80% of the questions contained in activities 5, 6, and 7 provided in page of 49 and 50 of Realidades 2, Writing, Audio and Video Workbook.

Materials.

•

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

•

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

•

Markers

•

Pencils 66

•

Red, black and blue pens

•

White board

•

Document Camera

•

Projector

•

Vocabulary Flashcards

•

Worksheet of Chores and Rooms

•

Vocabulary flashcards

•

DVD Realidades 2.

Procedure

A. Anticipatory Set, motivation or hook: (10 minutes) Vocabulary Flashcards:

( 10 minutes)

Place vocabulary flash cards on the document camera. Make sure all students can see them. Repeat out loud in Spanish. Students will repeat the word (s) out loud in Spanish, then in English.

B. Teaching.

(80 to 90 minutes)

B1. Warm up: Page 57 of workbook Realidades 2, and finish Buque de Guerra ( 15 minutes) Have students take out their workbook Realidades 2. Have students turn to page 57. In Section A students need to complete conversations between Rosa and her friends with the missing forms of the verbs estar, poder and tener in the preterite. In Section B students need to complete a conversation between Tomás and Clara with the missing preterite forms of the verbs estar, hacer poder and tener. Place key on document camera, go over instructions and uncover the first answer of the exercise as an example. After students 67

have finished page 57 of their workbooks, they can start working on the Buque de Guerra activity that was given yesterday and finish it. Circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have all flashcards finished with all verbs accurately conjugated.

Instruct students to have all flashcards in their desk with the Spanish side out. Make sure all students wrote down the conjugation for each verb along with English translation of the infinitive. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector.

Take attendance and stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using seating charts that are located in the gradebook. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections of warm up and homework:

(15 minutes)

Pass out red pens. Tell students to correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. Put the key of page 57 on the document camera. As a class, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer.

When done, repeat the same procedure for correcting the homework. Their assignment last night was to create flashcards conjugating irregular verbs. Put the key of homework on document camera. Call on students using the seating chart to read their answers before uncovering the key. When done, collect red pens and the front card of irregular verbs that has the stamp in order to record in the gradebook.

B3. Audio activity: pages 49 and 50 Actividades 5, 6 and 7, tracks 7, 8 and 9 of Realidades 2 Audio CD

(8

minutes)

Instruct students to put everything away except a pencil. Hand out worksheets for audio activity. Provide instructions. In activity 5, students listen to different conversations and must write down the name of the person under the picture that best illustrates the activity.

In activity 6, Felipe has been trying to catch up with his friend Moises all day as he asks 68

people where they saw Moises last, students must write the time and place each person mentions underneath each picture. Students must also organize each picture chronologically writing the number that corresponds to each graphic. In activity 7, students must complete each sentence with the appropriate word. After listening to the CD tracks, place the key on the document camera, and call on volunteers to read their answers before uncovering the key.

B4. Assign homework

(5 minutes)

Assign Pรกginas Amarillas for homework tonight. Students need to conjugate each verb with the subject provided and translate each phrase form Spanish to English. Students should use their notes at home or in class for questions. Provide 1 example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

C. Group application Refer to B4 for details.

D. Independent Application.

Homework of Yellow pages is assigned and collected the next day of class in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

Ask students the stem of irregular verbs in the preterit. Ask the stem for Tener, Estar, Ser, Ir, Decir and Venir. Review rules for the preterite of irregular verbs as a class.

69

5. Meeting varying needs.

Today’s lesson will be great for three students that benefit with activities that promote interpersonal intelligence. Both the communicative activity that reviews irregular verbs, and the Buque de Guerra allow students to stimulate social and interpersonal intelligence.

On the other hand, playing the audio activity of Realidades 2, Chapter 3A challenges learners from a different perspective by stimulating linguistic intelligence. While listening, students are required to fill in blank spaces of comprehension exercises that consist of matching pictures with names. With the comprehension exercise of the audio activity, excessive writing is eliminated and comprehension through listening is emphasized. I have noticed that those students that struggle with note taking seem to be very engaged when there are activities that challenge them in alternative ways. In addition, all students today will work with a partner in order to ensure that everyone that has different reading, writing, speaking and listening abilities contributes to help their peers.

Assessment: Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the audio activity and the Buque De Guerra Game.Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the yellow sheets provided for homework.

The responses of the assigned homework will demonstrate in which areas each student needs support.

Reflection: I believe that having students working on the Buque de Guerra after finishing the warm up of the workbook went really well for them. For the warm up, there are usually 70

individual writing activities, but today’s lesson included an activity where students worked in pairs, focused on practice of verbs in the preterite and chores. When correcting homework, I noticed that some students had a considerable amount of mistakes conjugating irregular verbs in the preterite. I went over each flashcard, and I did not stamp the homework until students corrected it. I think it was good for students to have immediate feedback of their homework. Then, having students work on the Audio listening activity in order to practice their listening comprehension skills went really well.

Students were able to have writing practice of irregular verbs, and listen to them in conversations that simulated real life scenarios. On the other hand, because there were so many flashcards to correct, it was not possible to have students work on the white boards verb conjugation contest. For the homework correction, I asked one of my students for help checking the homework. The student did a great job checking at possible errors in the homework of other students. The student assumed a great role taking responsibility in that task. I checked the students’ homework after she reviewed it in order to have more accuracy, and everything really well. After checking the homework, I noticed that the majority of the students provided correct answers. For the listening activity, almost all students provided correct answers as well. Therefore, I believe that the lesson goals were achieved today.

71

LESSON PLAN DAY SIX Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction of direct object pronouns students will correctly answer five out of seven questions that require proper use of direct object pronouns provided on a worksheet.

Goal #2 SL.PS1.PW.01 Write symbols/characters, basic high-frequency words and memorized phrases. Make lists of familiar objects and vocabulary, spell familiar words using the target language alphabet.

Objective 2.1 After instructions, warm up exercises, and homework, students will be able to play Whiteboard Verb Conjugation, a drill game that requires correctly conjugating irregular verbs in the preterite tense with 6 subject pronouns.

Materials. ●

Small whiteboards for students

●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Document Camera

●

Projector 72

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Chores and Rooms Worksheet

●

Oral Practice, Comunicativo Worksheet

●

Vocabulary flashcards

●

Whiteboard

Procedure A. Anticipatory Set, motivation or hook: (5 minutes) Ask students if they can guess what we are going to do with the small whiteboards today. Students should know the answer, since they have played this game before.

Then, if nobody can guess, tell students that we are going to have a contest at the end of the day after homework corrections using the whiteboards.

C. Teaching.

B1. Warm up:

(60 to 80 minutes) _________

( 10 minutes)

Ask students to take out a sheet of paper, their calendar and homework. The warm up requires students to complete 11 sentences. In order to complete each sentence students must conjugate one irregular verb in the preterite. Students must translate each sentence.

Place the warm up on document camera, go over instructions and write down the first answer of the exercise as an example. Students must write down the sentences in their sheet of paper. Circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the entire yellow sheet of irregular verbs of the preterite finished. Students that did the homework everyday of the week were not required to bring the homework today.

Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector. Take attendance and stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using a seating 73

chart that is located in the gradebook. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections of warm up and homework:

(15 minutes)

Pass out red pens. Tell students to correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. No erasing wrong answers, just writing in correct ones.

Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer. When done, repeat the same procedure for correcting the homework. Their assignment for the weekend was to conjugate verbs and translate sentences on a yellow sheet. Put the homework key on the document camera. Call on students using the seating chart to read their answers before uncovering the key. When done, collect red pens and homework.

B3. Whiteboard Practice Verbos Irregulares:

(10 minutes)

Students need to put everything away. Have students work with their Hippopotamus partners again. Instruct students to get a whiteboard, one eraser and one marker per couple. Students listen to the teacher say a verb, and conjugate the verb with each personal pronoun on their whiteboard. The first couple that completes a verb conjugation with no spelling errors scores three points. Other pairs that are able to complete a verb conjugation with no errors score two points. Then, if students make mistakes in the verb conjugation and are able to correct them, they score one point. Students can keep track of their points on the left button corner of the whiteboard. Students do not need to write down each subject pronoun after a verb is given. However, students are expected to conjugate the verbs in a certain order. On the left side of their whiteboard, students must conjugate singular subject pronouns. On the right side of their whiteboard, students must conjugate plural subject pronouns.

74

B4. Instruction: Direct Object Pronouns:

(25 minutes)

Students need to put everything away except a pencil and pens. Handout a green sheet that contains subject pronouns and direct object pronouns in English. Ask students how to say I in Spanish, then write down the word in Spanish on the green sheet. Repeat the same process for all subject pronouns. Then, ask students if they know the right translation for each Direct Object Pronoun. Write down each Direct Object Pronoun and have students take notes.

B5. Green Sheet of Direct Object Pronouns:

(25 minutes)

Go over rules of placement, gender and number of Direct Object Pronouns. Teach that when there is only one verb, the Direct Object Pronouns must be placed before the conjugated verb. When there are two verbs, the Direct Object Pronoun can either go before the conjugated verb or attached at the end of the second verb. Have students answer the 10 examples provided on the green sheet of paper. Allow 5 minutes, then, place the key on document camera. Call on students to read their answers before uncovering the key.

B6. White Sheet of Direct Object Pronouns:

(25

minutes) Give students a white sheet of paper that has eight divisions. Then, place your sheet of paper on the document camera and instruct students to write down singular object pronouns on the left side of their paper and plural object pronouns on the right side of the paper. Provide instructions of the activity. If you say Lápiz students must substitute lápiz for a direct object pronoun by placing their index finger in the appropriate direct object pronoun on their paper. Stand in front of the classroom and provide 12 examples. Check students’ answers after each example by checking where their index finger is placed on 75

their paper.

B7. Assign homework

(5 minutes)

Assign blue sheet of direct object pronouns. Students must replace the underlined word or words with the appropriate Direct Object Pronoun (DOP) and rewrite each sentence in as many ways possible. Then, students must translate each answer. Students should use their notes at home or in class for questions. Provide 1 example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

C. Group application Refer to B3 and B4 for details D. Independent Application.

Homework is assigned and collected the next day in order to assess individual learning.

D. Closure.

Refer to B6. White Sheet of Direct Object Pronouns for details.

Having students use their finger to locate the correct direct object pronoun helps them to both have visual and kinesthetic association with Direct Object Pronouns. Also, students’ participation has seemed very high in this type of activity.

5. Meeting varying needs.

Today’s class includes the Whiteboard verb conjugation contest and the closure activity of the white sheet of Direct Object Pronouns. These are activities that create a fun environment and that help students to have some degree of body movement and 76

certainly will help those kinesthetic learners. These activities will help my student that has ADHD to have some body movement and release some extra energy. The activity of the white sheet of Direct Object Pronouns, will allow students with learning disabilities in writing and spelling to challenge their body-kinesthetic experience. For the whiteboard activity, having ten TAG students in different areas and four students with TAG potential, working with a partner for the white board activity, will ensure that everyone that has different reading, writing, speaking and listening abilities contributes to help their peers.

Assessment:

Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to the white board game, the writing practice of Direct Object Pronouns, the responses to the white sheet of direct object pronouns and the warm up.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the homework provided. The responses of the assigned homework will demonstrate in which areas each student needs support.

Reflection: 77

The whiteboard activity went extremely well. Students seemed very enthusiastic about competing against each other. Also, it helped them to carefully review proper spelling for each verb. Students were focused not only in providing answers quickly but accurately as well.

For the practice of Direct Object Pronouns, students were able to use the white sheet and place their index finger on the right answer. It was a fun activity that allowed students compete against each other and reduce excessive writing. Certainly, I will include activities like this in the future, because it helps students to be motivated and focused on new subjects. For today’s lesson I believe that students were able to meet both objectives, since the whiteboard was a success for them. At the beginning, many students were making mistakes. At the end of the game, students almost did not make any mistakes and were a lot faster proving answers. For the direct object pronoun activity, students were able to provide correct answers for the classroom practice as well.

78

LESSON PLAN DAY SEVEN Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Irregular Verbs in the Preterite in the preterite tense, students will be able to score at least 80% in a quiz.

Objective 1.2 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Spanish vocabulary of running errands, students will be able to correctly score at least 80% in a quiz Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations). Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics and understand a short series of simple directions and Goal #2 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 2.1 After instruction and writing students will participate in whiteboard practice of irregular verbs providing at least 80% of accurate answers in a class activity.

Materials. ●

Quiz of Irregular Verbs and running errands vocabulary

●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

DVD Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall 79

●

DVD Player

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Whiteboard

●

Document Camera

●

Projector

●

DVD Program, Temas 3 Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Vocabulary flashcards Procedure

A. Anticipatory Set, motivation or hook: (5 minutes) Vocabulary Flashcards:

( 10 minutes)

Hold up one card at a time with Spanish side out. Make sure all students can see them.

Read out loud in Spanish. Reading it from the front card moving it to the back of the stack. Students will repeat the word (s) out loud in Spanish, then in English.

B. Teaching B1. Warm up:

( 40 minutes) _________

( 10 minutes)

Have students take out their practice workbooks and turn to page 55. Students need to fill in the blank spaces with the correct Direct Object Pronoun. Go over instructions and show the first the first answer of the exercise as an example. Then, circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the entire handout done. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector. Take attendance and stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using seating charts that are 80

located in the gradebook. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections of warm up page 55 of workbook and homework blue sheet of Direct Object Pronouns:

____ _

(15 minutes)__

Pass out red pens. Tell students to correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer. When done, repeat the same procedure for correcting the homework. Their assignment last night was to fill in blank spaces with the right object pronoun and translate sentences. Put the homework key on the document camera. Call on volunteers to read their answers before uncovering the key. When done, collect red pens and homework.

B.3 Whiteboard Practice Verbos Irregulares:

(10 minutes)

Students need to put everything away. Have students work with their partner of choice.

Instruct students to get a whiteboard, one eraser and one marker per couple. Students need to listen to the teacher say a verb, and conjugate the verb with each personal pronoun on their whiteboard. The first couple that completes a verb conjugation with no spelling errors scores three points. Other pairs that are able to complete a verb conjugation with no errors score two points. Then, if students make mistakes in the verb conjugation and are able to correct them, they score one point. Students can keep track of their points on the left button corner of the whiteboard. Students do not need to write down each subject pronoun after a verb is given. However, students are expected to conjugate the verbs in a certain order. On the left side of their whiteboard, students must conjugate singular subject pronouns. On the right side of their whiteboard, students must 81

conjugate plural subject pronouns.

B4. Prueba: Irregular Verbs and Running Errands Vocabulary

(15 minutes)

Have students put everything away with the exception of a pencil. Instruct them to make sure there is nothing tempting in or around their desks. Hand out pruebas.

B5. Todo lo que hice

(10 minutes)

After students are done taking the quiz, they need to grab a worksheet called Todo lo que hice. Students need to write a short description of their activities yesterday or last weekend. Students must use at least 5 reflexive verbs (daily routine) and 10 chores or other activities. (which include at least 5 irregular preterite verbs.) First, they must write the description using the yo form, then they have to rewrite the story substituting the subject pronoun.

B6. Wrap up/homework options

(5 minutes)

Assign pink page for homework tonight. Students need to find the right Direct Object Pronoun and write it down. Students should use their notes at home or in class for questions. Provide one example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

C. Group application Refer to B4 for details D. Independent Application.

Quiz is reviewed carefully in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

Whiteboard practice. Students show a correct verb conjugation using white boards. Refer to B.4 Whiteboard Practice Verbos Irregulares, for details.

5. Meeting varying needs.

82

Assessment: Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to whiteboard practice, warm up, and corrections.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the homework and quiz.

Reflection: The whiteboard practice before the quiz helped students review material prior to taking the test. Students seemed very excited to have an activity that would help them get more practice and have fun at the same time. Some students finish the quiz in 10 minutes, and other students took more than 20 minutes to finish it. Students were able to grab a worksheet that contained irregular verbs in the preterite after the quiz in order to have a smooth transition. After looking at the quizzes, I notice that most students did well on it.

Certainly, incorporating fun educational activities helps to create a fun and engaging learning environment, and helps students to increase their learning gains. Certainly, incorporating more fun educational activities in future lessons will be one of my top priorities. Especially taking into account that both objectives of having more than 75% of correct answers in a quiz and being able to play whiteboard irregular verb practice providing at least 80% of accurate answers were achieved.

LESSON PLAN DAY EIGHT 83

Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Direct Object Pronouns students will be able to correctly respond at least 80% in a writing exercise.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations). Recognize vocabulary related to familiar topics, understand a short series of simple directions.

Objective 2.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice of Direct Object Pronouns students will be able to provide at least 80% of correct questions in an orals drill.

Materials. ●

Communicative worksheet

●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

DVD Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

DVD Player

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black and blue pens

●

Whiteboard

●

Document Camera

●

Projector 84

●

DVD Program, Temas 3 Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Vocabulary Flashcards

●

Chores and Rooms Worksheet

●

Vocabulary flashcards

Procedure A. Anticipatory Set, motivation or hook: (5 minutes) Vocabulary Flashcards:

( 10 minutes)

Hold up one card at a time with Spanish side out. Repeat out loud in Spanish.

B. Teaching B1. Warm up:

_________

( 10 minutes)

Give students a white sheet of paper of Direct Object Pronouns of me, te, and nos. In Section A of the white sheet, Carlitos is talking with Ernesto, his older brother, about taking the driving test. Students must complete their conversation by writing the correct Direct Object Pronoun in the spaces provided. In Section B, students must answer three questions about themselves. They must write complete sentences using the direct object pronoun. Go over instructions and show the first answer of the exercise as an example.

Then, circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the entire handout done. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector.

Stamp last night’s homework while students are doing the warm up using seating charts that are located in the gradebook. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group.

B2. Corrections: warm up white sheet of direct object pronouns and homework pink sheet of Direct Object Pronouns:

____ _

(15 minutes) 85

Pass out red pens. Students correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary to spend more time. Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer.

When done, repeat the same procedure for correcting the homework. Their assignment last night was a pink paper in which students needed to fill in blank spaces with the right Direct Object Pronoun and translate sentences. Put the homework key on the document camera. Call on volunteers to read their answers before uncovering the key. When done, collect red pens and homework.

B.3 Communicative Direct Object Pronouns and Preterite White and Pink Sheets (10 minutes) Instruct students to have a pencil ready, vocabulary list and verb chart ready. Have students work with their Cocodrillo partner. If there are any students left over, just assign them a pair to work with. Hand out communicative worksheets. Student A will have a white sheet. Student A will ask seven questions to student B. Student B must look at his/her communicative pink handout, look for the graphic that corresponds to each question to see whether he or she must answer the question with a positive or negative answer. If the graphic that corresponds to the question is marked with an X, then the student must answer the question negatively. Students must write their name and their partner’s name on the worksheet. If a student responds providing an incorrect Direct Object Pronoun, then the other student must record the answer in order to verify accuracy. Then, I will place the key on the document camera and have students correct their answers. Students will review preterite, direct object pronouns and vocabulary.

B4. Song and Worksheet: Chores with Sr. Wooly

(10 minutes)

Have students put everything away with the exception of a pencil. Give students a 86

handout that has the lyrics of a song “Tengo que hacer los quehaceres” in Spanish. The handout has 16 blank spaces that need to be filled in with vocabulary of chores in Spanish. Play the song and students must fill in the blank spaces. Students may have to listen to the song two times. Then, place key on document camera and show the correct answers. The third time students may try to sing along with the song.

B5. Audio Listening Activity: Realidades 2, Actividad 8 y 9 WAVA

(10 minutes)

Have students take out their audio packets. In activity 8, Eric went to Mexico for the summer; he brought his high school yearbook with him so that his host family could see what his school was like. When playing the audio, students listen as Eric´s host parents look through his yearbook and reminisce about their own high school days. They will ask each other if they remember certain events from their past. Students must match their memories with the corresponding pictures. They will hear the conversation twice. Then, on activity 9, students listen as each person of the audio tell a friend what he or she had to do yesterday but just was not able to. As they listen to each conversation, they fill in the grid with short phrases. They will hear each conversation twice. Then, place key on document camera and review the answers as a class.

B6. Wrap up/homework options

(5 minutes)

Assign white pages for homework tonight. Students need to find the unscramble phrases and translate. Students should use their notes at home or in class for questions. Provide one example. Students may work quietly (alone) until the bell rings to finish their homework.

C. Group application 87

Refer to B.4 Communicative Direct Object Pronouns and Preterite White and Pink Sheets for details D. Independent Application.

Homework will be carefully collected and reviewed the next day.

E. Closure. Ask students what are the direct object pronouns. Then, ask students who can remember three Direct Object Pronouns. Finally, ask students who can tell you the rules for Direct Object Pronouns.

5. Meeting varying needs.

Playing the audio listening activity of Realidades 2, Chapter 3A may help linguistic learners retain new vocabulary. While listening to the conversations, students are required to fill in blank spaces of comprehension exercises that consist of matching pictures with dialogues. With the listening comprehension exercise, excessive writing is eliminated and comprehension through listening is emphasized. I have noticed that those students that struggle with note-taking, seem to be very engaged when there are activities that include pictures or visual aids. Today’s lesson will certainly benefit those students that struggle with note taking.

Those Intellectually Gifted students may develop a higher level of comprehension for the communicative activity. I will monitor them closely for each activity. There is a student that has attention deficit disorder (ADHS.) Today’s class includes an educational song. There are two kids that know how to play the guitar and one of them has showed me that he has practiced songs from class at home. Students can have alternative activities using extra learning resources and have some fun.

88

Assessment: Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to communicative, warm up, and corrections.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the responses of the homework and quiz.

Reflection: I created a communicative activity using pictures and direct object pronouns. My mentor teacher helped me providing feedback and some corrections to the activity. I think that combining pair work with oral drills and pictures helped students be engaged, focus and motivated. Direct Object Pronouns may be a heavy topic to teach, but it was simplified in such a way that students were able to not only learn the concept but also use direct object pronouns in an oral drill.

The song provided a fun learning environment. Some students seemed very shy at the beginning and some of them said that the song was “too cheesy�. However, after playing the song one time, students said that they wanted to hear the song more times.

The third time that I played the song, students seemed very enthusiastic and most of them were singing.

I noticed that many students that are usually quiet and passive were actually involved and engaged for the song and the communicative activity. Certainly, pair activities and group activities will take priority in future lesson plans.

LESSON PLAN DAY NINE Goal #1 Interpersonal Mode: Reading and Writing SL.PS1.IR.01 Identify some common words, symbols, phrases and cognates from 89

familiar material.

Objective 1.1 After instruction of irregular verbs students will be able to correctly answer the test of chapter 3A proving at least 80% of accurate answers.

Goal #2 Interpretive Mode: Listening SL.PS1.IL.01 Demonstrate understanding of some words/signs, (phrases, everyday expressions and simple statements on a limited range of familiar topics in everyday situations).

Objective 2.1 After warm ups, games, and classroom practice students will listen to a song and will be able to identify words to fill in blank spaces with Direct Object Pronouns with at least 80% in accuracy.

Materials. ●

Senor Wooly CD, La Bufanda

●

Laptop

●

Textbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

Practice Workbook Realidades 2, Prentice Hall

●

DVD Player

●

Markers

●

Pencils

●

Red, black, and blue pens

●

Whiteboard

●

Document Camera

●

Projector

●

Vocabulary Flashcards 90

●

Worksheet of Vocabulary

●

Vocabulary flashcards Procedure

E. Anticipatory Set, Motivation or Hook: (5 minutes) Vocabulary Flashcards:

( 10 minutes)

Hold up one card at a time with Spanish side out. Make sure all students can see them.

Repeat out loud in Spanish.

B. Teaching B1. Warm up: “No lo tengo” song__

_(Inductive)

( 10 minutes)

Instruct students to have a pencil, homework, and calendars ready. Tell students that you will play a song and instruct students to listen to the song and try to understand the lyrics because they will be working on a listening activity. After playing the song one time, give students a worksheet that contains incomplete lyrics of the song “No lo tengo.” In order to complete the lyrics of the song students must find the Direct Object Pronoun that matches the direct object. Play the song, circulate the room, and start stamping the homework and calendar. After the song has been played one time, give students the Direct Object Pronouns worksheets. Go over instructions and show the first answer of the exercise as an example. Then, play the song again, circulate the room, stamping only the homework of those who have the gold sheet. Homework stamp and inkpad are located next to the overhead projector. Stamp last night’s homework while students are listening to the song. Allow 10 minutes or so, then use the written key to correct the work as a group, and ask students if they would like to listen to the song one more time.

B3. Corrections of warm up and homework:

____ _

(15 minutes)__

Pass out red pens. Students correct the warm up with red pen to see where it is necessary 91

to spend more time. Put the warm up key on the document camera. Using the seating chart, call on individual students for each of the answers, and then uncover each answer.

Repeat the same procedure for correcting the homework. Their assignment last night was a gold paper that reviews all content of chapter 3A. Put the homework key on the document camera. Call on volunteers to read their answers before uncovering the key.

When done, collect red pens and homework.

B.4 Video Canción Irregulares Pretérito: ¿Quién robo el banco?

(10 minutes)

Give students copies of the hard cloze sheet. Students should peruse the word bank as a guide. All words in the word bank are used, but some are used more than once. Play the video, and have students filling in the blanks. Depending on how well they do, I might play the video twice. Then, the third time have students read the song lyrics or sing along with the video.

B6. Prueba (test):

(30 minutes)

Instruct students to put everything away except a pencil. Students must look in and around their desks to make sure that there is nothing tempting for them or neighbors.

Give tests of Chapter 3A. When students are done, they can collect vocabulary lists and start filling them in.

B7. Wrap up/homework options

(5 minutes)

Students need to fill in vocabulary lists of chapter 3B. Vocabulary lists contain vocabulary that is used in chapter 3B. Students are also required to create flashcards for each word that is on the vocabulary list. There are sixty-six words in Spanish on the vocabulary lists. Students are provided a blank sheet and a master copy that contains the translation for each word.

C. Group application 92

Not applicable.

D. Independent Application.

Tests and homework is carefully reviewed in order to assess individual learning.

E. Closure.

Today it is an exam day and students have the last thirty minutes of the class to work on it. Some students finish the exam in fifteen minutes, and other student take more than thirty minutes to complete it. Therefore, the closure activity will be watching the music video of regular and irregular verbs in the preterite. Students are engaged while they review regular and irregular verbs. Refer to B.4 Video Canción Irregulares Pretérito: ¿Quién robo el banco? for details.

5. Meeting varying needs.

Playing the musical video of Realidades 2, ¿Quién Robo El Banco? Helps my students exercise their linguistic intelligence and musical intelligence. TAG students will be challenged to use their linguistic intelligence. Visual learners are able to see a musical video that tells a story. Therefore, material is presented not only challenging students to use their musical intelligence, but also presenting vocabulary and verbs in a meaningful context. As I have stated previously, I have seen my student that has ADHD, the one that has Autism Spectrum Disorder, and those students that struggle with note taking engaged when songs implemented in class. According to the multiple intelligences theory of Dr. Gardner, musical intelligence challenges almost all individuals. Certainly, I have seen that many students singing educational songs after I have introduced them. I will offer the website and the chords to those students that are interested in other learning resources, so they can have extra learning resources and have some fun.

Assessment: 93

Informal: My informal assessment will consist of monitoring student’s progress on the responses to the warm up, corrections and listening abilities.

Formal: My formal assessment will consist of a careful review of the homework and the test.

Reflection: The activity of completing the lyrics of a song with direct object pronouns seemed to work great. Many students were singing parts of the song using direct object pronouns the second time I played it. The song included basic vocabulary that is used everyday in the class, such as pencil, pen, whiteboards, etc. It was a fun way to review Direct Object Pronouns before the test. I notice that those students that like music were very excited.

They asked me several times to play the again, and they were singing and reading the lyrics when I played the song. I checked their worksheets and most of them provided correct answers.

It was a great idea to introduce a music video to help students review irregular verbs. Students seemed to have a lot of fun both listening to the song and watching the video story. Even after class, I heard some students singing parts of the song.

The objective was of listening was met, but the objective of having students answer the test providing at least 80% of accurate answers was not met. I have to look for key elements that caused students not to achieve the both objectives.

94

Post Assessment

Post Assessment For the Post-Assessment instrument, my mentor teacher recommended that I use the formal test for Chapter 3b. The pre-assessment only used 50 questions, and the Post95

Assessment included 86 questions. I thought it was a great idea to use the main test because I would be able to measure the exact impact of the lessons in the entire curriculum. Many questions of the pre-assessment were included, and more questions were added in order to have a more holistic assessment. The post-assessment was also delivered in a written format.

With the help of my mentor teacher, part of the test was created using the test generator of Realidades 2, and three different versions of the test were created. Each version of the test had the same questions but in a different order. Having different versions of the test eliminated chances that students would be tempted to look at their neighbors’ answers. The test was administered on a written format and many questions from the pre-assessment were included.

First off, I needed to correct the question from the pre-assessment that had a bad elaborated question in order to get 100% accuracy for both the test and the results.

A description of one test will be made, since all versions of the tests have the same questions delivered in a different order. Reading comprehension was measured by the first five questions. These were questions where students were asked to indicate if a sentence or statement was logical or illogical by marking “true” or “false”. These first 6 questions relate to my lesson goal where students are required to identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts (SL. PS3.PR.01). Similarly, the next 19 questions were delivered using the assessment strategy multiple-choice, in order to measure reading comprehension more precisely. There are questions that assess how much students know the vocabulary used in the chapter and whether or not they can identify ideas in sentences.

Questions 6 to 25 also provide four possible answers to properly build a sentence.

96

Students were asked to identify the word that best completed the statement or answer in the question. Students needed to choose either a noun, verb in the preterite, or present and to determine the right form of the verb that matched the subject in the sentence. Since these questions evaluate sentence construction on a very basic level, these questions relate to my lesson goal where students are required to create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics, (SL.PS4PW.01) identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts, (SL. PS3.PR.01) demonstrate understanding of some words/signs (SL.PS1.IL.01) and obtain information from simple text, often using contextual clues (SL.PS2.IR.01).

The third section of the test evaluated students on how to properly translate Direct Object Pronouns from English into Spanish. This section was included in the preassessment and the previously mentioned bad elaborated question was corrected for the post-assessment, so that I would get accurate results. Since Direct Object Pronouns are a basic foundation in the construction of sentences, this section related to my lesson goal where students are required to create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics (SL.PS4PW.01) and identify a limited number of common words, symbols and cognates (SL.PN.IR.01).

The fourth section required translating from English to Spanish 10 words about chores, places in the city, and running errands. Since basic vocabulary and phrases are the foundation of identifying ideas from simple texts, this section related to my lesson goal where students are required to identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts (SL. PS3.PR.01) and identify a limited number of common words, symbols and cognates (SL.PN.IR.01).

The fifth section required students to conjugate verbs in the preterite and write the 97

meaning in English. The goal of that section was to identify if mistakes were made in the conjugation of specific verbs in Spanish in the preterite, as well as to see if students could identify the meaning of irregular verbs. This section related to my lesson goal where students are required to use memorized words/signs, expressions or phrases (SL.PN.IS.01). Furthermore, by testing verb conjugation I would identify if students had basic foundations of the teaching standard: SL.PS4PW.01: create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics.

Finally, the sixth section of the test required students to fill in the blanks with the correct form of the irregular preterite verbs. Students needed to identity the form of the verb that matched the subject pronoun. This section relates to my lesson goal where students were required to write symbols/characters, basic high-frequency words and memorized phrases (S.PS1.PW.01) write from memory some high frequency words, phrases and simple sentences and questions (SL.PS2.PW.01).

I reminded the students several times that they could take their time in order to get accurate results. Students were given more than thirty minutes to complete the test, and some of them finish in fifteen minutes. My mentor teacher took the test and she took ten minutes to complete it. She thought that students should have at least three times more than her to complete it. I took the test and it took me twenty minutes to complete it.

Post-Assessment Results

Student Number

Tag

Gender

Ethnicity

PostAssessment Test-

Post TestPercentage 100%

98

85 Pts Totals 1

1

Male

Hispanic

67.5

79.41%

2

0

Female

non Hispanic

64

75.29%

3

0

Female

non Hispanic

41

48.23%

4

0

Male

non Hispanic

51.5

60.60%

6

0

Male

non Hispanic

36

42.35%

7

3

Female

non Hispanic

68

80%

9

0

Male

non Hispanic

43

50.58%

11

1, 2, 3

Male

non Hispanic

80

94.11%

12

0

Male

non Hispanic

37.5

44.11%

14

0

Female

non Hispanic

79

92.94%

15

4

Female

non Hispanic

46.5

54.70%

16

0

Female

non Hispanic

42

49.41%

17

0

Male

non Hispanic

65

76.47%

18

4

Female

non Hispanic

84

98.92%

19

4

Male

Hispanic

82

96.47%

20

3

Male

non Hispanic

63

74.11%

21

1, 2

Female

Hispanic

70

82.35%

26

0

Female

non Hispanic

77

90.58.%

27

0

Male

non Hispanic

38.5

45.29%

28

0

Male

non Hispanic

58.5

68.82%

30

0

Female

non Hispanic

52

61.90%

31

0

Male

non Hispanic

50

59.52%

32

0

Female

non Hispanic

58.5

69.64%

58.89

69.28%

Averages

Student 5 could not take the pre-assessment because she was gone for a week in Mexico. Student 13 did not take the post assessment either. Student 27 took the postassessment two days after and I was able to include him in the record.

Then, the results of the post assessments for students 8, 10, 22, 23, 24 25, 29 were not included because they missed the pre-assessment and unfortunately, their learning 99

gains can not be included because there is no data to compare their pre and post assessment learning.

Class Average –Pre Assessment and Post Assessment Does the last column represent learning gains? It is hard to tell based on the way it is labeled.

Student Number

Tag

Gender

Ethnicity

PreAssessment Score 100

PostAssessment Test85 Pts Totals

Post TestPercentage 100%

1

1

Male

Hispanic

25

67.5

79.41%

2

0

Female

non hispanic

2

64

75.29%

3

0

Female

non hispanic

8

41

48.23%

4

0

Male

non hispanic

4

51.5

60.60%

6

0

Male

non hispanic

6

36

42.35%

7

3

Female

non hispanic

12

68

80%

9

0

Male

non hispanic

16

43

50.58%

11

1, 2, 3

Male

non hispanic

33

80

94.11%

12

0

Male

non hispanic

21

37.5

44.11%

14

0

Female

non hispanic

22

79

92.94%

15

4

Female

non hispanic

12

46.5

54.70%

16

0

Female

non hispanic

2

42

49.41%

17

0

Male

non hispanic

22

65

76.47%

18

4

Female

non hispanic

12

84

98.92%

19

4

Male

Hispanic

47

82

96.47%

20

3

Male

non hispanic

12

63

74.11%

21

1, 2

Female

Hispanic

9

70

82.35%

26

0

Female

non hispanic

9

77

90.58.%

27

0

Male

non hispanic

0

38.5

45.29%

28

0

Male

non hispanic

20

58.5

68.82%

30

0

Female

non hispanic

11

52

61.90%

31

0

Male

non hispanic

8

50

59.52%

100

32

0

Female

non hispanic

Averages

All

15

58.5

69.64%

14.26

58.89

69.28%

students

showed

an

average

improvement of 55.02%. While it is a big improvement, it is not as high as I expected.

After a careful review of the responses provided by all students on the Post-Assessment, my mentor teacher and I decided to deeply analyze the results of the test. First, most students did not have significant problems providing correct answers to the first section of the test True and False. This section of the test required students to indicate whether the sentence was logical or illogical.

Second, most students did not have significant problems providing correct answers to the second section of the test of Multiple Choice. This section of the test required students to identify the letter of the choice that best completed the statement or answered the question. While most students did not have major problems in this section, there was a question in which most students got a wrong answer. The question required students to identify whether Ser or Estar was the correct answer in the past tense for describing a characteristic. I believe that the question was a somehow confusing for the students. Because of that question, no student was able to score 100%.

101

Third, most students did well on the section of Direct Object Pronouns, with the exception of student 30.

Fourth, the section where students were required to translate vocabulary from English into Spanish caused several problems. Students 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 27, 32, were the students that had more problems in that section. Writing activities were reduced in the lesson planning. Maybe more writing and reading exercises should have been implemented.

Fifth, both sections about conjugating verbs in the preterite were the parts of the exam where most students had problems. Students 2, 6, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17, 28, 30, 31, 32 were the students that showed more mistakes in the section of conjugating irregular verbs.

Particularly, almost students

all had

problems spelling the

verb

leer

because of the accents.

My conclusion was that the verb leer and many irregular verbs were introduced to the students just a few days before the test, therefore students did not have a chance to assimilate and learn all irregular verbs in a natural manner. My mentor teacher also concluded that students did not have enough time to 102

practice the form and use of irregular verbs in the preterite. My mentor teacher and I decided to create additional activities for future lessons in order to reinforce practice of irregular verbs in the preterite.

The groups of Students that do not have TAG findings showed an average improvement of 51.17%.

TAG Students Results

Student Number

TA G

Gender

Ethnicity

Preassessment Score 100

Postassessment test(85 pts)

Post testpercentage 100%

1

1

M

H

25

70.12

79.41%

7

3

F

n-h

12

68

80%

11

1, 2, 3

M

n-h

33

80

94.11%

15

4

F

n-h

12

46.5

54.70%

18

4

F

n-h

12

84

98.92%

19

4

M

H

47

82

96.47%

20

3

M

n-h

12

63

74.11%

21

1, 2

F

H

9

70

82.35%

20.25

70.45

82.50

Averages

TAG students showed an average improvement of 62.25 %.

Student 1 was a

very interesting case. He only has a TAG in academic math, but I decided to include him in the analysis to see if he is also very good in a foreign language. Some days this student seems very focused and other days he seems disengaged. He had one of the highest scores in quizzes, but he shows several problems in the section of conjugation irregular verbs in the preterite. His learning gains were 54.41.12 %.

Student 7 had learning gains of 68%. She is intellectually gifted. At first, I was concerned 103

that she did not have a higher score in the final. Then, I looked into her previous notes, and it seems like she has been falling into pattern of making some mistakes in the tests.

She missed more than twelve questions for the exam of chapter 2A. While her learning gains are still high, I was expecting to see them higher.

Student 11 had learning gains of 61.11%. He has ADHD, academic TAG in mathematics, reading, and intellectually gifted. He missed one question that several students missed. The test generator or Realidades 2 created the question in which many students showed errors, however, my mentor teacher and I reviewed it, and we did not think there were any mistakes on it. On the other hand, the question confused many students. Student 11 learns so fast that is very challenging to keep him on task. He has a photographic

memory

and

finishes all the assignments in such a short amount of time. My mentor teacher assigned this student an extra activity of translating a book from Spanish into English. The student loved the challenged and is taking a step beyond what it is expected in the curriculum.

Student 15 presented learning gains of 42.70%. She is often quiet and has a potential in TAG academic Reading. She is often quiet, respectful and shy, but always engaged in all activities. She sits in the back of the classroom and even though she missed two assignments in the second week, she still managed to have a high score in the test.

As the chart shows, student 18 presented the most drastic learning gain of 86.92%. She missed the same question that many students missed; otherwise she would have a perfect score. She is often quiet, and always engaged in all activities. She always 104

raises her hand when she has a question, and did not miss any homework assignment. She has an academic reading TAG potential.

Student 19 presented learning gains of 49.47%. While he got the highest score in the pre-assessment, he did not get the highest score in the post-assessment. He is always on task, and always turns in his homework. He did not miss any homework during the weeks of the lessons. He had problems in the fifth and sixth part of the exam conjugating verbs in the preterite, especially with accents with leer and creer. I believe that he would get 100% if he had more time to study.

Student 20 presented learning gains of 62.11%. He is intellectually gifted. I was expecting to see a higher score from him. However, he told me that he did not have time to study the night before because he had too much homework in other classes. He always participates in the classroom and he never seems shy to say words in Spanish aloud.

Student 21 presented learning gains of 61%. She has a TAG in academic reading and another one in academic math. She did not miss any assignment. She scored 32 out of 36 in a quiz of vocabulary and ser and ir, and 19 out of 26 in a quiz of irregular verbs.

She had problems in the section of the exam where students needed to conjugate irregular verbs in the preterite. Certainly, I should have paid more attention to the second quiz in order to help her reinforce spelling of irregular verbs.

My biggest disappointment was to not give students more time to study irregular verbs in the preterite, since most students failed in that section of the test.

Most students did good well on the first section therefore, the objectives of create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics, (SL.PS4PW.01) identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts, (SL. PS3.PR.01) demonstrate understanding of some words/signs (SL.PS1.IL.01) and 105

obtain information from simple text, often using contextual clues (SL.PS2.IR.01) were met.

Most students did well on the third section of the test that evaluated students on how to properly translate Direct Object Pronouns from English into Spanish. Therefore, the goals of create/compose simple original sentences and questions on very familiar topics (SL.PS4PW.01) and identify a limited number of common words, symbols and cognates (SL.PN.IR.01) related to Direct Object Pronouns were met.

Most students did well on the fourth section that required translating from English to Spanish 10 words about chores, places in the city, and running errands.

Therefore, the goal of using vocabulary of chores, places in the city and running errands identify main ideas and some details from short simple texts (SL. PS3.PR.01) and identify a limited number of common words, symbols and cognates (SL.PN.IR.01) were met.

However, the goals of using irregular verbs in the preterite achieve the goals use memorized

words/signs,

symbols/characters,

basic

expressions

or

high-frequency

phrases words

(SL.PN.IS.01). and

memorized

write phrases

(S.PS1.PW.01) of section five and six of the test were not met.

Even though those goals were not met analyzing each test, I was pleased to see all the above goals were achieved by the majority of the class.

106

Final 107

Reflection

I have been working as a teacher for more than eight years. For five years I taught both local and international students in Guatemala and for three years I taught in the United States at Portland Community College, at the Montessori of Alameda, and at Growing Seeds with preschoolers. I have had the opportunity to see teaching from very different angles. My view of teaching is as an international student that is eager to share his culture. Second, I see teaching as a foreign student that is eager to learn different 108

aspects of American education from a prospective teacher’s perspective. It is my desire that all of those diverse experiences will be transmitted to my students when I am teaching. Furthermore, this is my first time teaching at the High School level in the United States in a class with 34 four teenage students. A big challenge!!

Looking at my learning gains, in my second lesson, I shared a short story in Spanish and modeled with actions using Ser and Ir in the preterite form. I used laminated pictures of kitchen, dorm, garden, etc. It was impressive to see how students were extremely engaged when I told and modeled the story. By using laminated pictures along with a story, the lesson followed principles of spatial intelligence and linguistic intelligence. Dr. Gardner suggests incorporating eight different uses of intelligence in each lesson. I saw my student that has been diagnosed with ADHD, the student that has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, my students that struggle with notetaking and all TAG students extremely engaged in this activity. Probably the success of the lesson takes place because it stimulated both spatial (picture) intelligence and linguistic intelligence.

Furthermore, telling a story followed principles of TPRS, (Teaching Proficiency through reading and story telling). According to Ray (date), the creator of TPRS, the use of repetition, reading, gestures, and storytelling in foreign language classes has been highly successful because it helps students acquire involuntary mental rehearsal. For instance, a group of 6th graders reached a level of Spanish knowledge and fluency considered higher than college level, after only 30 hours of study with TPRS based instruction. (Rowan, 2010) On my sixth lesson, for the practice of Direct Object Pronouns, students used a white sheet divided in eight sections with Direct Object Pronouns. When I asked a 109

question, students needed to place their index finger on the right Direct Object Pronoun.

This activity was a success that allowed students to compete against each other. It also took advantage of Spatial and bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence. According to Dr. Gardner in Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences spatial intelligence takes place when individuals deal with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize wit the mind’s eye. He affirms that spatial people are good with puzzles. On the other hand, bodilykinesthetic intelligence ("body smart") takes place when individuals use their body motions. They learn better by involving some level of muscular movement. Individuals learn best by doing something physical (Gardner, 1983.) Certainly, incorporating those elements of intelligence helped the activity succeed.

On the forth day of the lesson, students sang a song called La cucaracha de verbos in order to reinforce instruction of irregular verbs. I used my acoustic guitar and sang the song two times with the students. Then, there was a contest in which each group of students competed to sing the song. Then, the whole class voted for the best group of singers. This activity was an amazing success. The next day a student came up to me and said: “I have been practicing the song at home, and I think that I know additional chords that may sound really well for this song.� Then, after class he showed me how he could sing the song of La cucaracha de verbos and play the guitar. Another student told me that many students told him that we had a very fun class. Many students learned irregular verbs in a very fast way. I attribute part of that learning gain to music. Salcedo (date), for her doctoral thesis The Effects Of Songs In The Foreign Language Classroom On Text Recall And Involuntary Mental Rehearsal investigated the effects of music in remembering vocabulary from a foreign language. Salcedo concluded that the use of music helps students gain memory of text. Furthermore, music is a very efficient way to 110

stimulate language acquisition. (Salcedo, 2002) Another successful activity that comes to my mind is when students were assigned an extra credit activity of creating a house. First, they worked individually on the draft, then some of them worked on the final project in pairs. The goal of the activity was to associate chores with visuals of the house. Students were graded on their creativity. The activity was a success. Some students worked in pairs and created a physical house using wood or other materials. Students were able to use and show their art and creativity and combine it with foreign language learning. Certainly, I should include more art activities in the curriculum. According to Maxine (date), in Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change, art needs to be implemented in order to stimulate student’s creativity and schools should be places in which students cultivate their individual skills by applying art and their imagination to their learning process. (Maxine, 2000) Rupert (date) in Creativity, Innovation and Arts Learning,Preparing All Students for Success in a Global Economy affirms that integration of art into the curriculum helps students develop their imagination, enhances their creativity, serves as a primary source of motivation, and improves their skills and competitiveness in a global economy.

(Rupert, 2010) According to Watkins (date) in Writing creatively in a foreign language when students are taught a foreign language with an approach that enhances their creativity, students not only generate more enthusiasm in their assignments, but the foreign language becomes a preferred medium for self-expression. (Watkins, 2010) I should mention that my mentor teacher was unable to be in the school for two days. She gave me full responsibility of the class and I had support from a substitute 111

teacher. The first day was very challenging with two classes. Some students were talking and were very disruptive. When I came home, I almost could not sleep thinking of why I had so many issues with class management. It was very hard to explain, because I was alone with the students before and I did not have any issues. However, the following day, I told students their behavioral expectations at the beginning of the class and both classes went extremely well.

When I look back at the lesson planning and instruction, I also have a few regrets.

I should have included more storytelling in the curriculum along with songs, since many students expressed their interest in learning with stories and songs. Unfortunately, since this is a new method of instruction I need to spend the time to research more songs and stories that can be incorporated in the curriculum.

Another regret is not achieving the goal of having the majority of the class score 80% in the post-assessment. This tells me that some adjustments in lesson planning should have been made. For instance, teaching irregular verbs and providing an exam to a class of 34 students in such a short period of time without enough practice was one element that lead to not achieving the goal of having a class average of at least 80% in the post-assessment. In the future, I will include more activities that will help students grasp the material.

After all, my learning gains have been extremely high. I feel that in this short period of time I have gained a vast amount of knowledge and maturity. I have had the opportunity to apply new instructional theories and I look forward to more growth as a professional in the United States. I thank my mentor teacher Ms. Montgomery, my supervisor Ms. Eckles and my students.

112

Bibliography •

Gardner, Howard (1983) Frames of Mind, Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Basic Book Publishers, New York.

•

Green, Maxine (2000) Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change, Jossey-Bass, Inc Publishers, San Francisco, California.

•

Robinson, K (2001) Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, Oxford, 113

United Kingdom, Capstone Publishing Limited •

Rowan, Karen (2010) Realidades TPR Stories for Realidades, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

•

Ruppert, Sandra (2010) Creativity, Innovation and Arts Learning,Preparing All Students for Success in a Global Economy, AEP, Arts Education Partnership, 2010. > http://www.aeparts.org/files/Creativity_Commentary_02-03-10.pdf< (June 1, 2011) (p 2-3)

•

Salcedo, C (2002) The Effects Of Songs In The Foreign Language Classroom On Text Recall And Involuntary Mental Rehearsal, Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Louisiana State University, Louisiana, 2002 >http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-1111102204823/unrestricted/Salcedo_dis.pdf< (June 1, 2011)

•

Watkins, J. (2010). Writing creatively in a foreign language. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT2009 Conference Pro-ceedings. Tokyo: JALT. (page 2,3)

114

115