Teaching Spanish in the Inclusive

ClassroomLynne Sanders

Rutgers Phase 1

Spring 2015

Lo general… The general purpose of the following lesson was to help students to

be able to create a poster presentation describing who they are by identifying themselves using Spanish adjectives.

The timeframe for the lesson was 6 days.

The class was composed of 7 students ages 14 and 15 all currently enrolled in the 8th grade.

Of the 7 students, five have IEPs, three are heritage speakers of Spanish, one student has a one on one, and all have been removed from the traditional school setting because of behavior issues.

The average English reading level of the class is 4.8.

There are normally five adults in the class including myself.

On any given day there are several students missing for a multitude of reasons.

Día uno… The topic was introduced with a review of the verbs SER and

ESTAR. Students previously learned how verbs are conjugated and they also learned that there are two verbs for the English equivalent ‘to be’.

We watched the following video that describes the difference in usage in order to provide examples of proper SER usage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHxnqP9Dh9o We then made a chart outlining the usages of SER and copied

it into our notebooks. Students were asked to list any words they could think of in

English or Spanish to meet each category description. Differentiation: Hispanic students were challenged to list 5

words in Spanish. Some students were allowed to use dictionaries. Other students worked with their one-on-one to create their list.

Día dos… We again reviewed the use of the verb ‘to be’, but

this time specifically the verb SER. We watched the following video that specifically

targets the proper conjugation of SER: http://

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=princess+of+ser&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=4E10384C356AE614F1B24E10384C356AE614F1B2

Each student placed examples of their words from yesterday on the board and we decided whether each word fit the application of SER.

Differentiation: Hispanic students were addressed and required to respond only in Spanish. Other students worked with their one-on-one or staff.

We reviewed the idea of a cognate and asked for examples.

We presented posters and focused on examples of the cognate adjectives as a group.

Students were paired in leveled groups with more advanced or heritage speakers working together, on-level students paired, and students with one on ones working with their assigned staff.

Students were given ten minutes to identify as many cognates as possible.

Students were asked to list their findings in their notebooks.

Fist bump out the door: One adjective that you learned today that describes you.

Día tres…

Do now: list your group’s favorite or most interesting finds from yesterday on the board.

We presented teacher example of ultimate goal: create a poster identifying ten adjectives that most define who you are. We also presented alternate options.

Step one: students created a list of their ten adjectives using any of the resources in the room…lists from the board, posters, dictionaries or adults.

Step two: Students presented list to teacher for review. Some were redirected to check for accents, spelling, or understanding.

Step three: After receiving teacher signoff, students were given their poster board to begin creating posters.

Fist bump out the door: One adjective that you learned today that describes the teacher. Careful now!!!

Días cuatro y cinco…

Do now: finish artwork. Students were asked to present their posters to the

class telling us which adjectives they found to identify themselves.

All posters were displayed around the room. Fist bump out the door: If you had to pick one

favorite word to describe yourself, what would it be?

Día seis…

La estrategia diferenciada…There were opportunities to differentiate throughout the lesson.

Heritage speakers were required to work as much as possible in Spanish in order to challenge them at a higher level.

Students who were generally on level were encouraged to ask questions to heritage speakers and paired with them to practice pronunciation.

Some students were assisted one on one to prepare lists.

They were also required to produce fewer words on a day to day basis.

Some students were held to higher standards of pronunciation and accentuation and some were graded based on completion of the project.

Some students were allowed to use the dictionary for assistance.

Several students were allowed to work on their projects in their homeroom in order to complete the work in the timeframe established.

El mentor…Typically, my mentor attends and participates in this level Spanish class on a daily basis. His observations were as follows:

lesson was well planned and took the appropriate amount of time.

played Spanish music in the background as students worked on certain segments of the project. Good classroom management technique.

students seemed to work well together in the groups assigned.

as students competed their projects, they were able to hang up their own poster on the wall.

advised that some students complete their project outside of the class. Adjustment made.

appropriate redirection as needed.

positive reinforcement using easily understood cognates.

excellent differentiation techniques, challenging some students to higher level but not losing others.

La introspección…My thoughts: in general, I was pleased with the way the lesson flowed.

This was an introductory lesson that was taught to a fairly new group of students, so I was able to use the activity to learn about who these students are and introduce myself.

Students were able to accomplish the overall goal of being able to identify ‘quien soy’.

The objective was concrete and measureable and connected to prior knowledge well.

Some level of differentiation was accomplished in that the requirements and the timeframes for each requirement were adjusted to meet the needs of each student.

I would have liked to spend more time on the actual pronunciation of the vocabulary and will work to incorporate that function better in the future.

Some students finished fairly quickly and I need to make an adjustment to address that need. I think that adding more words or the spoken component should address that need.

Los recursos…I used the following resources to aid in the preparation of this lesson plan:

The posters purchased from Teacher’s Discovery were the basis for the idea.

The videos are all found on either youtube.com or teachertube.com and have been compiled over the years that I have been teaching.

I found it helpful to create my own website in order to quickly reference my materials in different teaching scenarios. As I teach at different levels and in different schools, it helps to be able to access things quickly via internet and also provides a useful tool for my students.

http://spanishismylife.wikispaces.com/

Al final…I learned a lot from this lesson:

It helped me refocus on teaching younger students and meeting the needs of children in the inclusion classroom. As a specialist and a college professor, I did not often previously have to make the adjustments that I now need to make on a daily basis.

I am learning that building a relationship with these young students and gaining their trust is critical in the learning process—especially in the environment in which I teach.

I have also been challenged to hold high standards for students that have often been discounted as unable to perform.

I have enjoyed having a mentor with many years of experience who gives me frank and useful assistance.

I look forward to helping my school build a better program to meet the unaddressed needs of my student population and helping them acquire not only content knowledge, but learning strategies as well.

Requirements BEGIN WORK ON GROUP PRESENTATIONS BEGIN WORK ON PROJECTS

demonstrating competencies relative to Standard 4: Content Knowledge.

Project will address Differentiating Instruction.

The expectation is that projects will include (1) a lesson plan incorporating the assigned instructional concept, (2) student work products reflecting that candidate has applied the concept during instruction, (3) reflection on your implementation (4) collegial input from a mentor, peer, or supervisor (5) useful resources to support peers with practice integration (e.g. websites, toolkits, affinity groups), and anything relevant that will add value for your colleagues.

In short, this assignment requires you to plan a lesson with your mentor or other colleague, deliver it, collect work samples from students, reflect on your practice, and discuss resources you used to support your professional learning about this topic. Candidates are free to present the project content as desired. Some may choose traditional delivery methods such as posters or PowerPoint presentation, while others may want to try something more creative, i.e., creating a google site or video documentary to showcase their work.

Projects will be graded using provided RUBRICS.