Listening to my classmates describe their lesson-plans across a variety of subjects tonight during literacy class, I noticed that while they did a great job designing their lessons in such a way that helped their students access their prior knowledge to the content, the lessons did not seem to help students access their prior knowledge in terms of their existing schema (personal experiences/student background connected to content). “Prior knowledge” seemed to be limited to the scaffolding technique of bridging (connecting students’ prior knowledge of content to new knowledge of content). And the scaffolding technique of schema building (connecting students’ prior experiences with content in connection to new knowledge of content), seemed to be lacking.
For example, one of my classmates created a very thoughtful lesson plan that connected students’ prior knowledge of math slopes to the equation y = mx +b. While this helps students bridge their prior knowledge of math slopes to the new knowledge they will learn, this aspiring math teacher could also allow students to discuss their experiences with slopes outside of the classroom as an introduction to the lesson on slopes. As a high school student, this would have allowed me to connect slopes to my personal experiences with snow skiing, which would have helped me to more deeply conceptualize the abstract line/slope on a x/y axis, thus making it more accessible and meaningful to me.
In my Chinese class yesterday morning, I led a reading session about two students who discussed their university majors, what career path they hoped to pursue, and finally the influence that their parents have had on these decisions/aspirations. After I finished the reading lesson, my cooperating teacher asked me whether I gave my students a chance to access their prior knowledge to the content before requiring them to read the text. While I previewed the text with my students by allowing them to comment in Chinese on the pictures around the text and then make predictions about the text, I did not provide an opportunity for schema building by allowing them to discuss the majors that they hoped to study, the future careers that they hoped to pursue, and finally the influence that their own parents had in their lives with respect to these decisions/aspirations.
This morning, I decided to give them this opportunity. I had my students pair up and discuss in Chinese these three key aspects of the text for three minutes. Then I called on several students to share with the class what they learned from their respective partner. One student commented in Chinese how her partner wanted to become a doctor because her [living] grandfather currently has an incurable disease, while her other grandfather passed away due to an incurable disease when she was a little girl. As a result, she wants to become a doctor in order to research cures for these diseases. Another student commented that his respective partner also wants to be a doctor, but only because his parents are forcing him to study medicine so that he makes a lot of money. By allowing my students to access their existing schemas with the content, the text became much more meaningful, and I noted that the level of engagement in the lesson was far greater than the previous day.
Moving forward, I hope to be more proactive with respect to allowing my students to access the content not only by bridging their prior knowledge to the lesson’s objective, but by allowing them to connect their existing schemas to the content as well.
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According to Godin, our current educational system discourages students from being risk takers and instead encourages conformity and obedience. Even Harvard produces far more business consultants than it does bootstrapping entrepreneurs. I like to consider myself to be somewhat of a risk taker. For example, never having stepped foot in Asia, I decided to take my wife and move to Beijing, China the month after I graduated from college. While there, I decided to create my own line of electric bikes and market them back in the States. I travelled all around China by myself to connect with Chinese-speaking manufacturers, learn the ropes, the language, the business, and the culture, and I had a blast while I was at it! When I received backlash from people back home, I became even more determined to succeed. As a teacher, I hope to instill a sense of risk-taking in my students as I take risks in class. I do so each time I design my lessons in such a way that forces me to try something new. Sometimes it is integrating new pieces of technology that I have been wanting to show my students how to use. Other times it is through making silly videos of myself and being brave enough to let my students watch them. This might sound strange, but I love making mistakes. I find that in doing so, my learning is far deeper than when everything seems fine and perfect. I also hope to create an environment in which my students feel okay with making mistakes . . . an environment in which students know and understand that failure is not getting knocked down, it is staying down. Tonight I joined other world language teachers in a Tweet Chat. The energy was so high. I made some great new connections, and I learned so much about what and how other world language teachers are currently teaching! Why does school persist to focus on yesterday's needs? "We're facing a significant emergency, one that's not just economic but cultural as well. The time to act is right now, and the person to do it is you." I had an experience last week in my Action Research class that fueled my optimism for the future of our education. As I sat with four classmates and our Action Research mentor, I listened to their inspiring and innovative ideas. Interestingly, a common theme that I noted was that each AR proposal was about letting the teacher become the guide on the side, rather that the sage on the stage--a significant transformation of the role of the teacher. We were re-imagining education with forward-thinking, innovative ideas, but most importantly, we were re-imaginging classrooms that are compatible with relevant 21st century skills. One classmate talked about how he plans on observing what happens to student learning if he allows students to use any and all resources around them, all the time, including surrounding peers and the Internet and all of its unlimited resources. I listened as each classmate defined school as place where learners are connected to learners, not simply taught in isolation. As Godin puts it, the "new job of school . . . is not to hand a map to those willing to follow it, but to inculcate leadership and restlessness into a new generation. Our students are expert at consuming online content. They are well versed in all the latest apps, and they are very familiar with online tools and technology. What they need is to learn how to connect with and contribute to online communities that allow like-minded learners to share ideas, grow as professionals--learners connecting with learners. As teachers, our rising generation of digital natives needs us to be there for them to model good digital citizenship and help them develop 21st century literacy skills. They need teachers who can convert their skills of online content consumption into skills of online participation and contribution. They need teachers who can help them learn and unlearn. Or as Will Richardson puts it, they need teachers who can help them become "expert learners" equipped with 21st century tools. In Stop Stealing Dreams, Godin argues that our current system of education was built for an era in which the industrial revolution depended on obedient workers to realize mass-production. This system has been in place now for nearly 100 years. According to Godin, it is reflected in our obsession for standardized testing, straight rows of desks in our classrooms, and the obey-me-or-else attitude of an unfortunately large number of American teachers. This system, Godin argues, has turned our education into a factory. Whenever I run into people whom I have not seen for a long time, the conversation typically goes something like this: Friend: “What are you doing these days?” Me: “I’m a high school teacher.” Friend: --Awkward silence and then a forced “Good for you!” On one occasion, I ran into the same friend a couple of months later, and the conversation went something like: Friend: “Are you still teaching?” Me: “Yes.” Friend: --Awkward pause-- “I just always figured you would do something more meaningful with your life . . . like teaching is sort of beneath you, don’t you think?” It pains me to post these conversations for my fellow teachers to read. But something tells me that they have also had similar experiences and conversations. To be fair, these friends I run into are speaking from their own experience and background with traditional education based on standardized testing and traditional teaching methods--can I expect them to respond any differently when they themselves went through a system that likely sucked out any air of creativity in their own learning experience? I agree with Godin in that changing school does not involve “sharpening the pencil that we’ve already got.” In other words, school is not broken, it is working just as it was designed to work. The current educational system does not need to be improved, it needs to be changed all together. This is why I love surrounding myself with like-minded teachers at USD, at my current student-teaching placement, and online via my PLN (personal learning network). It is energizing to go onto Twitter and find so many explorative teachers who are so positive, who share so many amazing resources, and who are searching for and experimenting with forward-thinking and progressive ways that transform the educational experience in meaningful, productive ways. There has never been a more exciting time to be a teacher. The challenge before us is great. It is a challenge that requires creativity, innovation, and forward-thinking minds. We are truly at the cusp of something amazing. Teachers across the nation and even across the world are connecting, sharing, exploring, and searching for ways to change the system. For me, exploring ways to use technology in the classroom is invigorating. I get so excited about it. It is electrifying. Next time I run into a friend who asks me what I am doing these days, I am going to respond, “I am currently transforming the educational experience for students. What about you?” After I read Why School, I felt so pumped on edtech that I went straight to my mother-in-law, determined to help shed light on the value of social media and modern technology. I tried my best. How was Will Richardson able to articulate it to me so clearly? Then again, I was already sold on technology. I embrace it. So rather than selling her solely on the concept of micro blogs and participating and contributing in community discussions of hundreds, thousands, and in some cases even millions of people, I started selling the book to her. "If anything, just read it. I implore you!"
It is clear that not only the world, but education is becoming more and more tech progressive. The vibe is energizing. It's exciting! I am totally sold on it. Yet as I read My School, Will Richardson was able to shift my perspective towards edtech even further. It stoked a flame in me that is peeking my interest in technology and inspiring me with new ideas that I will be trying out in my own classroom. These ideas are liberating in thought, constructivism, and creativity. While those from my generation or prior were raised with traditional education that more often than not dulled creative minds, it can be very challenging to make the shift towards sharpening our students' minds with creativity and technology integration. Yet our rising generation of digital natives needs us to be there for them to model good digital citizenship and help them develop 21st century literacy skills. They need teachers who can convert their skills of online content consumption into skills of online participation and contribution. They need teachers who can help them learn and unlearn. Or as Will Richardson puts it, they need teachers who can help them become "expert learners" equipped with 21st century tools. My current placement, Del Norte, is on a trimester system. Last week brought the beginning of a new trimester along with a new cooperating teacher for me. I learned so much from my last cooperating teacher. I highly appreciated his routine 'think aloud" he provided for me so as to let me enter his thought process and reasoning for making all of the various pedagogical decisions he made on a near minute-by-minute basis. I also learned so much from him in terms of student-led discussion, teacher-led discussion, classroom management, group quizzes, and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, my new cooperating teacher is directly next door to my last cooperating teacher's classroom so we can stay in touch! My new cooperating teacher is equally as awesome! Her students and I highly appreciate the structure and organization of her classroom along with her structured consistency and daily routines. Yet there also seems to be a perfect balance of allowing the students to anticipate what they are expected to do as soon as class begins every day and knowing where to find the homework assignments and past in-class assignments, and mixing up the modalities of instruction in such a way that keeps all the students on their toes, thereby raising the level of classroom engagement and enthusiasm.
I am also continuing to teach my fantastic group of Chinese students every morning who are now in Chinese 8. Their Chinese teacher is such an asset to the school. He has single-handedly developed their Chinese program from scratch, and he now has classes in place from beginning-level Chinese up to AP Chinese. He has done this by himself with no external support (with the exception of my support every morning in Chinese 8). I am so impressed with the level of differentiation he provides as well as the extremely well selected group of texts that he has chosen for his students. Not only are they developmentally appropriate and accessible, but they also stretch and challenge the students' level of vocabulary, cultural awareness, and depth of Chinese literature. What an awesome opportunity to work along side such wonderful mentors. I highly look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that await me at Del Norte! My current placement is well equipped with state-of-the-art technology, but that does not mean that all teachers can be seen masterfully commandeering each one of these tech-tools. I sense enough tech-frustration as it is from other teachers just by walking into the workroom as I wait in line to use the colossally over-sized printers and Xerox machines (not that I am not grateful for them). If most teachers feel that the learning curve for those state-of-the-art printers is fairly large, I am certain that there is also a large number of teachers at my placement who are feeling pressured and overwhelmed by the looming presence of the Promethean Board and the projector, the Docucam, the Synergy and Learning Point network, and the computer lab. The World Languages Department has its own computer lab, and each language teacher is expected to use the lab once a week on their assigned day. Several of the teachers find that they do not know how to use the language lab very effectively, and they are eager to receive further training. The language lab is mainly used for interactive group listening and speaking activities as well as for Rosetta Stone (a software that students could easily access from their handheld devices within the walls of their own classroom). For now, the language lab is merely substituting the technology that could otherwise be readily accessible on the handheld devices stowed away in the students’ backpacks back in the classroom.
In terms of the tools in my classroom, the Promethean Board is normally used to show videos, give presentations, keep a record of the daily agenda, and display the desktop on the Promethean Board and interact with it. The Docucam is used to display worksheets onto the Promethean as well as convert them into interactive activities or display text from a book during classroom read aloud sessions (the teacher follows the text with a pen so students can follow along). Synergy is primarily used to take attendance, for grade-book management, and to share files within a department. Student records are also accessible within Synergy. I have also seen my teacher keep notes of specific students through Synergy, and the students’ parents have immediate access to whatever the teacher writes in those notes. As for my students, while nearly every single pupil has a technological device in hand, they do not seem to use it outside of their trendy social apps, Facebook, Snap Chat, text messaging, and music. As for their idea of research, info is merely a “Google” click away. As the world around us moves forward with technology, students expect teachers to show them how to be effective digital citizens, and while our classrooms our filled with tech tools, we eagerly await to access them in ways that not only enhance learning in the classroom, but completely redefine the educational experience. I have recently been trying out strategies in my classroom that I have been learning from my readings from my various classes at USD. One particular strategy that resonated with me can be found in Weinstein’s research of Middle and Secondary Classroom management (1996)—Recitation and Discussion.
According to Weinstein, most teachers confuse what they believe to be classroom discussions with what she refers to as recitations. A typical recitation is conducted as follows: the teacher initiates the interaction by asking a question, a student responds, and the teacher then evaluates the response or follows up in some way. This pattern is called I-R-E or I-R-F: Initiate, Response, Evaluate/Follow up. While this pattern can be effective at the beginning of the school year when the teacher is trying to gauge the student dynamic before strategically re-arranging the seating chart, critics of this pattern argue that I-R-E calls for the teacher to play an overly active/dominant role in the discussion while the students play a very passive one. Furthermore, they argue that there is lack of interaction among students and an emphasis on lower-level thinking—factual information and declarative knowledge. On the other hand, teacher-led discussions are typically initiated with a question and then allow a number of students to respond to each other. The discussion is generally slower paced, stimulates thinking, problem solving, and causes students to consider implications. Recitations and teacher-led discussions, however, have similar downsides. Some of these weaknesses include unequal participation (there are many more silent students than there are students who participate), and there is difficulty in monitoring understanding (a few responses cannot represent collective understanding of the class). According to Weinstein, the approach that best allows for higher-level thinking is found in student-led discussion in which the teacher acts as a facilitator rather than a questioner. In other words, the teacher steps aside as the traditional “sage on the stage” and transitions into the “guide on the side”. The teacher has an end-goal in mind, and his/her role is primarily to limit group size, ensure that students not begin to monopolize discussion, ensure that the discussion stays within the scope of the end-goal, and to encourage students to provide supporting evidence for opinions. Recently, I have been applying the student-led approach in my Chinese class, and I have been extremely impressed with the outcome. I present the learning objective and reading assignment to my students, and then I let them decide how they will manage the discussion. They quickly organize the order in which they will read aloud, and then they begin reading. During a typical day, when a student does not recognize a Chinese character, s(he) looks up to me for guidance, however during my student-led discussions, my students take more time to think about the character through context, and if they cannot figure it out, their peers will step in and help them out. During homework corrections, my students discuss their responses with each other and compare answers. When their written responses vary, they negotiate meaning and discuss until they come up with an agreement. At first the student-led approach was challenging as I was tempted to step in and interfere with the discussions. As I resisted this temptation, however, I discovered that I was able to assess the extent of their knowledge and skills much more accurately. I had the end-goal in mind, and I would only step in when the students were outside the scope of the objective. At the end of their discussions, I posed a few questions about the text at hand, and I let the students discuss their responses in Chinese. Again, I only listened. I was so impressed with their responses! To be fair, I have the advantage of leading a fairly small group of students during the Chinese student-led discussions. During my Spanish class, however, while I have managed to transition from I-R-E to teacher-led discussion, I find that the student-led approach is much more challenging to implement effectively with 36 students. I am still in the process of training my students how to shift from the I-R-E culture to the student-led approach. In my Literacy class at USD, we have been learning about taking what would otherwise be considered dry, inaccessible content, and turning it into reader-friendly, accessible, actionable, and meaningful text. So I decided to try out some of these concepts. I selected a developmentally appropriate text to work with, and I began to think about ways in which I could situate it into a larger context and then gradually redirect student focus back to the scope that is found within the text. As an objective, I aligned the assignment with one of the Common Core standards of determining central ideas or themes of a text and analyzing their development and summarizing the key supporting details and ideas. To further help my students access the text, I provided visuals that came to my mind as I read the text, thereby “previewing” the text as a class and allowing my students to make predictions about what they would find in the reading before releasing the responsibility of reading over to them. I highly enjoyed designing this lesson. My cooperating teacher described the lesson as follows:
"The lesson that Sean developed around a reading from our text was excellent. He took time to reconfigure the actual text, numbering the paragraphs and adding photographs to make it more comprehensible and attractive to students. He also took time to make a Prezi to introduce the material and help to put it in context. A significant focus of the standards for World Languages is culture and the Hispanic world. Sean’s Prezi did a good job of helping students see the big picture. The Prezi also had good slides to help students shift their focus to Puerto Rico. After this introduction, students read the material with three distinct goals in mind. First was reading for the central idea. Sean had students take turns reading the material at their tables. Second, they were supposed to read for key points. They read individually and highlighted key vocabulary. Finally, students were given questions in English to answer, showing their comprehension of the material. This kind of reading activity was engaging for students, helped them learn about culture without realizing they were “fulfilling” the standards and employed numerous strategies which our faculty recently learned about in mini-workshops on our professional growth day. Such strategies are often used with AVID students and are very effective for almost all learners. As a follow up to this activity, Sean presented an outstanding example of a project that students have the option of doing for a quiz grade. The project is a travel brochure and his mock-up with instructions has made it very easy for students to follow and the corrections are minimal for me, the teacher. Numerous students are taking advantage of this learning opportunity. Finally, at our next professional growth day, the department chair persons from our five high schools will be presenting strategies that support the ELA Common Core and the also the ACTFL standards. Among these I am tasked with showing and explaining effective reading strategies. My department at Del Norte was so impressed with Sean’s lesson that they encouraged me to include it as an example on that district wide professional growth day in November. I’m sure that our many Spanish teachers will see the value in it and make their own similar reading lessons in the very near future. AWESOME JOB!, Sean." --Lisa (pseudonym)
“How are you doing in this class?” “I’m not doing perfect, but I’m doing good. But to me it’s perfect. Because a perfect person would probably get straight A’s. But for me, I usually get D’s, but now I’m getting mostly B’s and a few C’s…I’m pacing myself, and I have a C in Spanish right now.” “Which class do you spend the most time on outside of school? Why?” “Probably English—actually probably math. Because I was put in a lower math class before, and now I have been placed in a higher math class, but the people who are in charge of my IEP expect me to do poorly. But I’m doing really well right now, so I’m going to prove them wrong. A lot of people think poorly of me and have low expectations. When I come across something I’m good at, they are all shocked.” For the last couple of years, Lisa has had an IEP. Her mother, however, refused to have her daughter be labeled as an “underachiever”, and she therefore brought in lawyers to the district in order for her daughter’s IEP to be removed—as a result, Lisa does not currently have an “active” IEP. Lisa’s MAPs reading score is 210, and her Star rating is Basic. She has not yet taken the CAHSEE. Lisa rarely participates in class, and her Spanish 6 quiz/test scores are consistently lower than those of her peers. I have also noted that she rarely completes her homework assignments. In class, Lisa seems to struggle with following instructions; however, I have noticed that when she does take time to read the instructions, she is very capable of following them. I recently noticed that Lisa was copying one of her peer’s homework assignments before class. I approached her after class and let her know that what I noticed. I also let her know that I was surprised because I know she is capable of accomplishing each assignment. To my surprise (this was before our interview), Lisa began to thank me, and she told me that most people have low expectations of her. “Lisa, I fully expect you to achieve high scores in this class. I have noticed that when you put in a little effort, it really pays off for you! How about we take a look at the instructions for tonight’s homework assignment”. As we reviewed the instructions, Lisa suddenly said, “I know this stuff! I can do this!” Moving forward, I intend to regularly check to ensure she has read and understood instructions before tackling assignments both inside and outside of class. As I continue to show Lisa that I have high expectations for her and show her that I am going to hold her accountable (because I know she is capable of achieving high scores), my hope is that she will want to make a greater effort in our Spanish class, and that her Spanish scores will improve. --Jake (pseudonym) “How much time per day do you spend on this class outside of school?” “I think I should have a lot more time to study, but I just do the homework, and then I’m done with it. I don’t like homework cuz I feel like I can be doing something else, like marching band. I’m also on the wrestling team. I have a bunch of other stuff too. I’m trying to participate in things. But I’m definitely not studying as much as I should be.” “Do you prefer to work individually or with a group?” “Work in a group. If others have the same problem, you can work it out together. And you aren’t afraid to ask the teacher because you aren’t the only one with that question.” “Who is your favorite teacher? Why is he/she your favorite?” “Mr. Williams. He is a really funny teacher but he is also serious. He makes the class interesting. He himself gets into it. English. It is his personality. I also did cross fit with him in the mornings. So he knows how to push me inside and outside of the classroom.” Upon checking Jake's grade record, I discovered that he was consistently receiving high grades up until last year when he began receiving D’s and F’s. His Star scores are “basic” (none of his other standardized test scores were available for view). During class, he rarely begins an assignment unless I personally help him get started. As for homework, he almost never turns it in, and he consistently performs very poorly on his quizzes and tests. When I asked my cooperating teacher regarding this Jake’s sudden drop in performance with respect to his grade record, I was informed that Jake’s father passed away last year—this has and a tremendous impact on his study habits and his presence of mind during class. During our interview, I learned that Jake rarely has time for Spanish outside of class as he keeps very busy with extracurricular activities. He participates in a very regimented marching band, he wrestles, and he also participates in other sports programs. He enjoys working in groups and bouncing ideas and questions off of teammates. Jake also revealed that he likes a teacher with a sense of humor but who also knows how to push him. Moving forward, I feel tempted to “feel sorry” for Jake and simply lower my expectations due to his father’s passing. But at the same time, I understand that Jake is looking for someone to “push” him—he does not want to be left behind. He needs someone he can count on. I hope I can be that person in his Spanish class. I intend to build rapport with Jake in such a way that I can “push” him in ways that help him stretch and grow academically. --Betty (pseudonym) “How much time per day do you spend on this class outside of school?” “My study habits right now are kind of bad, so I probably only spend like 20min a day, if that…so not that much. I wish I could spend more time, and I feel like I would do better. But it is hard with sports and all my other classes.” “Do you prefer to work individually or with a group?” “I prefer to work in a group because you can hear everybody’s ideas and opinions, and that helps me. It is an easier environment to work in. By myself I get stuck and can’t think of anything.” “Who is your favorite teacher? Why is he/she your favorite?” “Ms. Carillo, I feel comfortable asking her questions. She is always willing to work with you or help you reteach something. She makes you feel comfortable when you need help. Chemistry.” Betty is very well behaved during class, she regularly turns in her homework, and she makes an effort to complete assignments during class. However, when I check in with her during class assignments, she often struggles to keep up with her table peers. I have also noted that she consistently receives low quiz and test scores in our Spanish class. During our interview, I discovered that she is very busy with extracurricular activity. She is a cheerleader and participates in a variety of sports programs. As a result, she does not have much time to dedicate to her outside classwork—this is directly reflected in her Spanish performance. I also learned that Betty prefers to work in groups so that she can share opinions and ideas with her peers. This seems to motivate Betty, especially when she feels “stuck” and cannot move forward. To my surprise, Chemistry is currently Betty’s favorite subject. This surprised me because this is a subject that requires relatively more time and effort on the part of the student outside of class—a commodity that Betty can hardly afford. However, the reason Betty likes Chemistry so much is that her Chemistry teacher is approachable and patient. Betty feels that this teacher cares about her success—she strives in an environment in which questions are welcomed. Moving forward with Betty, I would like to provide more opportunities for her to work in groups in which she feels safe and comfortable and can bounce ideas and questions off of her peers. I also plan to regularly check in with her and provide opportunities for her to ask me questions, even if that means “re-teaching” material. Quite frankly, most of the questions Betty asks me are also questions that most of the other students in the classroom have as well, and I would therefore like to help Betty understand that she is not alone with her questions. And I would like to be a teacher that she can count on to feel comfortable enough to approach me with any questions she may have. A common theme that I noted among these students is the correlation between their performance—scores—and the amount of time they put into Spanish outside of class. Something that puzzles me, therefore, is how to “compete” with these students’ busy schedules outside of class; i.e., while I can control the effort I spend “checking-in” and differentiating to meet students’ needs, I am not sure how much control I have on how much time they put into our Spanish class once the bell rings. As a high school student, I recall feeling that the texts that were used in class for reading assignments were often blocky and lengthy. The register of language also seemed inaccessible, and extrapolating meaning from the text meant sifting through thick, dense paragraphs that often delved into tangential ideas and diverted from core concepts. Fortunately, philosophies of education have and continue to evolve, as do teachers.
Recently, I have had some interesting experiences at my placement with respect to the types of text that are being used in the various classrooms that I am working with. Yesterday, for example the Chinese teacher requested that I take over his class for the first 20 to 30 minutes while he helped another teacher in the language lab. Before he left, he showed me a digital file in which he had stored several images of text in Chinese social settings that he had either taken pictures of himself and or downloaded from the Internet. These images/texts were very true to what you would find if you were walking down a typical street in Beijing, and as I searched through them, a flood of memories from my personal experiences in Beijing came to mind. The text and images that the teacher chose impressed me not only because of their authenticity, but also because of how the teacher was able to identify pieces of text from which the students could glean incredibly useful and relevant information in very meaningful, authentic contexts. Mr. Tu asked me to choose a few images that resonated with me and then to share my experience with the class in connection to the key vocabulary, rich social context, and the cultural commonalities and differences that could be observed. I chose images that enabled me to share about some interesting/comical experiences I had with Chinese medicine and with elevators in Beijing. While the context of the images may sound simple, the images were very rich in culture and allowed us to compare and contrast our own culture to the social aspects that were unique to Chinese society. And while the text was short, it stretched the students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary, and cultural awareness. With regards to the varying levels of Spanish classes that I observe, the approach to text has also proven to be very effective. The department has adopted a series of textbooks that have been carefully crafted to help teachers scaffold their instruction. This publisher also offers a series of textbooks from beginner to advanced with a universal design that helps students feel familiar with the language learning process as they upstream through Spanish. One critique that I would give this textbook, however, is that it tends to treat the learning process of Spanish like a tourist getting ready to go on a vacation to a foreign Spanish speaking country—hit the sites and then return home. While the readings can be fun and interesting, this approach tends to be biased to the “American perspective”; it focuses too much on what makes us different from the Spanish-speaking world, which can make the students feel distant and disconnected from Spanish. The students therefore could benefit deeply from supplementary texts that bring in a variety of historical and cultural perspectives that cause the students to consider our world as a global community of which we are all global citizens. Of course no textbook is perfect, and the teachers in my department are quick to recognize that. While the textbook is treated as a valuable resource, it is by no means the single source of text that the teachers use. More often than not, actually, the teachers do supplement the textbook by carefully selecting their own texts to bring to class. For example, several of the teachers use lyrics from popular Spanish music as text. Other teachers bring in popular Spanish magazines that represent what is current in the Spanish-speaking world. And other teachers bring in a number of classic Spanish and American children’s storybooks from which students can select stories that they find interesting and meaningful. In the upper-level Spanish classes, the students explore excerpts of classic Spanish literature and learn to compare and contrast the writing styles among prolific Spanish writers. The foreign language department at Del Norte is a fun an exciting place to be as the teachers fill their classrooms with their culturally diverse experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. As I continue to work with the teachers and with the students, I look forward to exploring the various resources and texts that the teachers bring in to class and to discovering ways in which I can further help my students connect with the world around them. The nature of instruction in a foreign language high school classroom is very dynamic. On the one hand, a major focus is placed on essential conversational skills in the target language; on the other hand, foreign language instructors commonly use specific academic language to deconstruct abstract linguistic concepts, and each student’s ability to internalize this academic input largely determines their likelihood to succeed. Furthermore, while academic language differs from the every-day language that the students are learning, the academic language is constantly being woven into the instructional language, which the students are expected to use to develop literacy in the target language. Therefore, the students who master the academic language are far more likely to succeed during classroom instruction, group activities, home work assignments, and finally on formative and summative assessments.
In my classroom, as the teacher models both correct and incorrect ways to produce linguistic concepts, the students learn receptively by receiving the information as they listen to the teacher’s oral instruction, by following along a visual representation via PPT, and finally through reading on a print-out. Once the teacher has finished giving instructions, the students are then expected to learn productively by producing what they have just learned both by discussing in groups as well as through a variety of writing assignments and or activities. I often rove around the classroom during activities to take note of the varying levels of output quality among my students. Yesterday, as the teacher was going over the answers to a work sheet with the class, I noticed that one student in particular had not even begun to work on the assignment. She sat quietly, unsuspectingly. Had I not taken the time to take a closer look at her paper, she would have easily fallen through the cracks that day as the class moved forward. In order to gauge how much the student understood, I asked her a few questions regarding the new concepts, to which she could not provide the answers. The objective of the lesson was to learn correct usage of indirect object pronouns (IOPs) and direct object pronouns (DOPs). I figured the root of this student’s problem lied in the obscurity of the academic language. So I tried to explain the instructions in terms that she could understand. “All we are really doing here is two things: First, we need choose among ‘le’ and ‘les’—one is singular, and the other is plural. And the main object in each sentence tells us which one to choose. If the main object is singular, we choose ‘le’, or if it plural, we choose ‘les’.” The student was following this explanation, so I proceeded: “Second, we need to put the ‘le’ or ‘les’ into the sentence. And we can either put it before the first verb in the sentence or attach it to the end of the second verb in the sentence.” Then I paused to check whether the student was still with me—she looked confused, and after a brief moment of thought, she asked, “what’s a verb?” Clearly, the level of academic language used in class was not aligned with this student’s level of comprehensible input. I then took time to break down the meaning of a verb as well as a noun, after which we proceeded with the worksheet assignment. To my satisfaction, the student had grasped the concept! And when the teacher called on volunteers to provide answers, she raised her hand with confidence. As I observed the other foreign language teachers last week, I took note of the different ways they introduced academic language to their students. One teacher would call on at least two students to explain to the class in their own words their understanding of the academic language being taught. And the teacher would only move forward after at least two students had successfully paraphrased the new concepts to the class. I found this strategy to be very helpful as the students would use language that was in line with their peers’ zone of proximal development. Another teacher I observed used a physical object to help her students understand the new concepts—in this case, she used a tennis ball to show the meaning of IOPs and DOPs. The teacher had written the word “Direct Object” on the tennis ball, and she would toss it to a student and say, “I throw the ball”. When the student caught the ball, s(he) would raise it up for the class to read the words, “Direct Object”. Then teacher would say, “Throw the ball to John”, after which she would explain that the direct object—the ball—had been thrown to the indirect object—John. This tangible aid packed the academic language with meaning as well as engaged the students in the activity. Yet another teacher put academic language to music so that it would stick in students’ minds through a catchy jingle. Academic language clearly poses a formidable challenge to each student’s academic success. And I feel fortunate to have teachers who are modeling for me a variety of ways to help students develop essential conversational skills as well as conceptualize and learn the academic language that they will need to succeed as they upstream through higher levels of foreign language acquisition. As I continue to observe and teach, I feel motivated to explore new ways in which I can help my students develop essential language skills as well as acquire the academic language that will refine their understanding. My experiences at Del Norte are proving to be extremely valuable to my growth and development as a teacher. As I rove through different classrooms and observe the various teachers in the World Languages Department, they graciously welcome me and integrate me into their classrooms. I am currently conducting my student teaching work at Del Norte High School, which is part of the Poway Unified School District. However, this is not my first experience with Del Norte. Last school year I had the opportunity and privilege of substitute teaching at Del Norte, during which time I was able to establish a rapport with students and faculty. I feel delighted and very fortunate for the opportunity to return to Del Norte and to work along aside teachers whom I consider great mentors. |
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