Quince

Today the period was spent first going over homework and then going over the test that they took yesterday. My ideal school would have a block system. I like the block
system better for Spanish because more can get done in class. With the block system
reviewing homework wouldn’t take up half the period so you’d still have time to
go over homework answer questions and then go over new material and start on the
new homework in case the students have issues. I believe that it’s easier to
absorb the language with block system because you’re dealing with it for a
longer period of time. With the period split like it is right now for Spanish right
about when your brain gets used to the language again the class period is over
and that’s rather useless. I’d like a principal that cares about the students
and cares equally about all aspects of learning. The 100% technique is used
sometimes but that’s really it. Most techniques are not used at all which makes
me wonder what the class would look like if they were used.

14

Todays lesson was ensuring that the students understand the vocabulary from the new chapter and have ways to remember them. I feel like the thing that has reaffirmed I'd like teaching is that it's never boring. It's most definitely not just a desk job and there's never a dull moment. Every single class is different and unique and they're different EVERY day. I really like that because I would not be content being in a job doing the same thing every day. The thing that has made me question teaching is I don't know how I'd handle a crazy class. Often in class when stuff gets out of hand the teacher either doesn't get it back under control or yells to get them to pay attention. I don't think I'd be okay with either of those strategies so I don't know what I'd do. The teacher teaches for different learners by using different ways to teach lessons every time, switching it up.

trece

The lesson today was over adding 'isimo' to the end of adjectives to have it mean very ____. The rest of class was spent reviewing for the test tomorrow so they played jeopardy with vocab, ser and estar, culture and sentences as the catagories. Important dates are written up on the board so the class knows when their quizzes and tests are. Also every day there's a DO NOW. The 100% strategy was followed, she waited until all students had paper on their desks and nothing else. Technology could be used to play review games online, take notes on the computer. As a review the teacher could have a fake test online and have the students see how they'd do so they'd know what they need to focus on. Student's are partially engaged, they're doing individual teams so everyone is on their own team so everyone's listening but there's not much insentive to do well and pay attention. If there were prizes for winning I think the class would be more engaged. When I was in Spanish the teacher would either have candy, pencils, stickers, or weird random things like silly putty. Another option would be awarding extra credit to whomever wins. This keeps the students more involved and excited about learning and doing well. Cooperative teaching is in use today with the teacher asking questions and the students answering.

12

The lesson today was reviewing estar versus ser and also using emotional words. The learning goal was that all of the students would be able to complete the worksheet with accuracy to show that they understood the lesson. The teacher used the hundred percent technique minimally but it was effective. When she asked the students to take out their stamp sheet and their homework the students all did so immediately, 100% compliance. When asked to clean off their desks some of th students did not do so immediatlely, and others placed their items next to their desk instead of underneath them. The teacher reminded the class what they were supposed to do and waited for them to comply. Most of the time the 100% is not tested, the teacher does not wait or ask for students to do something before she started talking. It seemed to still work well though because when she did ask something or say something even if the kids were talking they did what was asked. The DO NOW technique is in use but doesn't work well because the kids just mess around. The fast transitions works well, student's do it automatically and with minimum time lost. However, during transitions the students are usually still talking which gets them off subject. The student's asked why they'd use ser in the sentence for the homework. The class asked each other how to best answer the questions on the work sheet. 100% compliance is necessary because otherwise the authority of the teacher is put in question and classroom order is lost. If student's don't think they HAVE to do what the teacher asked then they mostly likely won't. If student's don't do what the teacher asks then they might as well not be there, nothing will be accomplished or learned in the classroom.

11

Today's class time was spent going over homework from yesterday over the verbs ser and estar this took about half of hte class period. The rest of the time was spent playing a game. Cooperative learning was used because the student's had to work as individuals and as a team. They played with fly swatters and had to go up to the board and hit the correct tense of the verb. The bell ringer is still used every day as one of Lemov's strategy. Student's were assessed in the game by whether or not they could quickly identify/identify at all the different tenses of the verbs. There wasn't much positive reinforcement that went on, some of the students blatantly said "i don't know this, so you better just go fast and get it" to the person they're competing against. One team had 4 and the other had 0 points at one time and so there was positive reinforcement from the winning team but the other team thought they sucked. The teacher didn't really encourage the students.

diez!

Today's class period was spent reviewing for a quiz that they have tomorrow. The only learning that happened was the teacher would call out words and hold up the cards and the class would repeat them. There was a DO IT, which she calls a bell ringer where the students every day come in and translate the sentence from spanish into english. Student's are being assessed as a class. The class was pretty hectic today and it didn't seem like the teacher had a lot of control.

9

The lesson today was just reviewing for the vocabulary quiz
that the class has on Thursday. Everyday the class comes in and sits down in
their assigned seats to do the “bell ringer” and write down the culture fact of
the day. This is important because it sets a habit that the class knows to do
everyday and gets them focused before class starts. This isn’t actually as
effective as it should be though because they know the teacher will just tell
them what it means so they don’t usually do it before class starts. The teacher
tries to do things that keep the class involved because they don’t focus very
long but the call outs get a little hectic. For this class I would try to put
in more hands on activities to keep them more focused.