Curriculum Development
Note: These three lessons are listed in the order they were taught, but were not taught on consecutive days.
Lesson Plan #1
Date: Monday, September 22, 2008
School: Bellevue High School
Student Teacher: Meg Anderson
Number of Students: 32
Proficiency Level/Class: Spanish II
Estimate Time of Lesson: 50 minutes
ACTFL National Standards:
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
Theme/Context: Chapter One vocabulary for school supplies, locations and subjects.
Performance Objectives/Outcomes: Students will begin to identify school-related vocabulary terms. Students will draw a representation of vocabulary. Students will use the vocabulary in verbal and written exercises.
Previous Content Knowledge/Skills Needed: Familiarity with present tense verb conjugations used to write complete sentences for exit slip.
Resources/Materials: Worksheets, mini-whiteboards, Smartboard.
Assessment: Informal assessment of drawings, to make sure they are done and that they represent the correct word. Informal assessment of students’ recognition of vocabulary words. I will put a an image of a vocabulary term on the SmartBoard and ask students if it is X or X. Students will write their answer on a whiteboard and hold it up to be checked. Exit slip that assesses student understanding of vocabulary introduced as well as gives me a sense of their ability to construct a sentence in Spanish.
Learning Activities:
The class will begin with attendance and “temperature-taking” to discover the mood of the class. The students are divided into two groups to go on a tour of the school. One group is led by my Cooperating Teacher, and one is led by me. Each student is given a sheet of paper with squares on it and asked to bring a pen or pencil[1]. My CT and I each carry a small whiteboard and a marker. The students follow my CT or me around the school. We stop at various locations (about 15 in all) and point out different vocabulary words from Chapter One of Paso a paso II (el auditorio, el escenario, la cafetería, el aula de clase, el asiento, el armario, el gimnasio, la oficina, el laboratorio, el edificio, clases de literatura, geografía, álgebra, biología, química, historia, el pasillo). On my whiteboard, I write the vocabulary term in Spanish. I instruct the students to write the word on their paper and draw a representation of it in one of the squares (wherever they wrote the word). I model a drawing on my whiteboard. I check each student’s paper to make sure it has the word and a drawing. I also remind students to speak in Spanish and that the drawing should be detailed enough to eliminate the need for an English translation on their paper. We go from place to place until the paper is filled with vocabulary words from the chapter.
The purpose of this activity is two-fold. First of all, it occurs during the second week of school and gives the students, mostly freshman, a chance to familiarize themselves with the school building. It is also a chance for the students to get outside at the end of a very warm day. Second, the drawings give the students a resource to study for upcoming tests and quizzes. By drawing their own pictures, students personalize the information. They also learn a method they can use to represent Spanish words without translating them into English. The students understand what an armario (locker) looks like and don’t need the English word next to the Spanish term in order to remember it. The act of drawing also engages kinesthetic learners who need to do something active to best absorb information.
After returning to class the students take out their own mini-whiteboards, markers and erasers. I use the SmartBoard to project an image of one of our vocabulary term. I ask the students to identify it. For example, I might show a picture of a laboratory and ask ¿Es el laboratorio o el gimnasio? The students are asked to write the answer on their whiteboards and hold them up for me to see. I quickly check each one and then ask for a volunteer to share the answer. This activity gives the students a chance to work on their oral comprehension, as well as form another visual association with the word. They are also practicing their spelling, and answering questions, hopefully in complete sentences.
Finally, the students chose one location on their vocabulary sheet from the first activity. Each student is given a half sheet of paper and asked to write a location from the vocabulary and a complete sentence telling what one would do there. For example, one student might pick el aula de clase and write Yo estudio historia en el aula de clase. There are numerous options for correct answers.
I choose to do this assessment to get an idea of my students’ abilities to write complete sentences in Spanish. This was the first class that I taught during my student teaching experience and I was unsure of the level of many of my students, especially in terms of their written work. These exit slips gave me an idea of where each student stood in terms of spelling skills, conjugation skills and sentence structure.
How does this lesson accommodate diverse learners?: This was the very first lesson I taught during my student teaching. I was not yet aware of what specific accommodations my IEP students would need. I learned about these during subsequent meetings with counselors and parents. This lesson includes visual, auditory and kinesthetic input in order to engage as many different learning styles as possible. Students are supported during the review activity by the limited number of answers to choose from in each question. Students personalized the material by drawing their own representations of the vocabulary terms. They were encouraged to cut up their vocabulary sheets and use them as flashcards to study for tests and quizzes.
How could I modify it to better accommodate diverse learners?: Were I to teach this lesson again I would provide students with written instructions on their papers as well as the oral instructions they were given. I would also give one example drawing on their sheet so that they could see what was expected of them. Though I did draw a picture on my whiteboard, some students didn’t understand that they should transfer that to their own paper until the third or fourth place we went.
Lesson Plan #2
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
School: Bellevue High School
Student Teacher: Meg Anderson
Number of Students: 32
Proficiency Level/Class: Spanish II
Estimate Time of Lesson: 90 minutes
ACTFL National Standards:
Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
Theme/Context: Regular present tense verbs, tan+adjective+como, Chapter One vocabulary.
Performance Objectives/Outcomes: Students will demonstrate knowledge of present tense verb conjugations through review exercises and quiz. Students will practice the construction “tan+adjective+como” in both written and verbal contexts. Students will practice circumlocution with Chapter One vocabulary. Students will demonstrate knowledge of vocabulary definitions through crossword puzzle.
Previous Content Knowledge/Skills Needed: Present tense verb conjugation (-AR, -ER, -IR) used to write sentences on quiz and dialogue script.
Resources/Materials: Whiteboard, Smartboard, mini-whiteboards, quiz, Paso a Paso II textbook, crossword puzzle handout.
Assessment: Quiz on present tense –AR, -ER, -IR verb conjugations. Dialogue script turned in that included tan+adjetivo+como construction. Crossword puzzle with Chapter One vocabulary. Informal oral assessment of dialogues.
Learning Activities:
The class begins with a warm up question to gauge the class mood that day. We address the fact that there will be a quiz that day. We will spend ten to fifteen minutes practicing for the quiz beforehand. Each student will have a whiteboard, marker and eraser at their desks. I write a practice verb on the board similar to the ones that will be on the quiz. Students conjugate the verb on their whiteboard, in the yo, tú, él/ella/usted, nosotros and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms (five total; the vosotros form is not taught at this school). The students then turn to check their work with a partner. This gives them a chance to make corrections and ask a peer for help if necessary, rather than always relying on the teacher. The students then lift up their boards so that I can see them. I do a quick check of each board and tell the student if they have an error. In order to keep the activity moving quickly, I do not tell them what the error is. They must ask a partner if they need help. I re-check the students that need it.
The next activity is the quiz. The quiz consists of five verbs. The students are given a verb chart with spaces for each of the five conjugations[2]. The students are also required to write one sentence with each verb (five sentences total) on the back of the paper. Each verb chart is worth 1 point. The whole chart must be correct to receive a point because the objective of the quiz is mastery. These verbs need to be memorized. Each sentence is also worth one point and is marked incorrect if the verb is incorrect. The quiz is worth ten points total. Because the quiz is graded quite strictly, students have the opportunity to retake the entire quiz if they do not like the score they received. They must study overnight and take it again as soon as possible.
After the quiz, the students take out their Paso a paso II textbooks and turn to pages forty-two and forty-three[3]. The students first read the pages to themselves. I ask students to raise their hands and show how much they think they understand on a scale of one to three, one being “I don’t understand anything”, two being “I get the gist of the dialogue” and three being “I understand nearly everything being said”. The majority of students held up a one or a two. I then asked two volunteers to read the two parts, Marianela and Pablo, aloud. As they read, we stopped at various words and discussed them. I pointed out “salir” a verb that had come up in class before, but that we hadn’t studied until now. I asked if any student could demonstrate “salir” for the class. One student mimed walking, a pretty good representation. I then used Total Physical Response to act out the action of “salir”. I packed up a few things, said “Adios” and left the classroom, closing the door behind me. I then came back and asked what I did. One student said, “Va a la puerta”, which was more or less correct. I asked another student to demonstrate what I had done so that I could repeat the word while he was doing it. Based on a show of hands, I asked students to tell me if they understood “salir”. I was confident that they had a basic knowledge of “salir” and that we could expand upon that knowledge over the next few days, as it came up more and more in the textbook. We also stopped to talk about the phrase “tan bonita como”, an example of the construction I really wanted to focus on in our dialogues. I asked students to think of other comparisons we could use to compare Marianela to the other woman in the dialogue. Students offered a list of adjectives and then used them in complete sentences. After the reading, I again asked students to show me their level of understanding using one, two or three fingers. This time the majority of the students had twos, with some threes. I asked two students who held up threes to come up to the front of the class and act out the scene as dramatically as possible, as though they were part of a telenovela. They did so and it was very dramatic. After their performance, the majority of students held up threes. The purpose of this exercise was to give the students the opportunity to read a (very) short story in Spanish and use some methods to dissect it. The class found that by focusing on a few problems areas and spending some time breaking them down, they were able to understand the entire story better. Each time we re-read the story the students understood more.
The scene in the book is a cliffhanger. The students’ next task was to finish the scene in pairs, with one person playing Marianela and one playing Pablo. Each person must have two lines, with the dialogue consisting of at least four lines total. Each person must also use the construction “tan + adjetivo +como” at least once. I assigned the pairs. I circulated the classroom while the students wrote and I helped pairs that were struggling. I asked students that finished early to try to memorize their dialogue for extra credit. Students were supposed to alternate writing lines so that each person did an equal amount of work. During this exercise, students practiced writing the construction “tan + adjetivo +como”, one of the main grammar objectives of the chapter, as well as practicing writing in complete sentences, using descriptive vocabulary words, and working in pairs.
After they finished writing, pairs volunteered to act out their dialogue. I asked them to make it as dramatic as possible, in keeping with the telenovela theme. After each pair performed I asked for volunteers to repeat one of the examples of “tan + adjetivo + como” for participation points. This helped keep students who weren’t performing engaged and attentive for their peers’ presentations. Each group was required to perform so that they had a chance to practice their verbal skills. This also gave me the opportunity to hear from students who did not often participate voluntarily. This activity took place during a block period. It can be difficult for students to stay focused during these long periods. This activity had several components and students were able to move around and talk during part of it, which is important for keeping the energy level up on long days.
Next the students returned to their seats for a new activity. I had each pair of students turn their desks so that they were facing each other as well as opposite sides of the classroom. I put two lists of Chapter One vocabulary words up on the opposite boards so that only one student could see each list. Students were explicitly instructed to not look at the other list. Students began at the top of the list and using body language and any Spanish knowledge they had, attempted to describe the first vocabulary term to their partner. Essentially, they were playing Taboo, using circumlocution to talk around the word they were not allowed to say. When their partner had guessed the vocabulary word, it was his or her turn to describe the first term on their list[4]. Each list was completely different. The students continued switching off until each list was finished. The purpose of this exercise was for students to learn to express themselves even if they do not know the exact word they want. Often, students try to translate directly from English and get stuck when they cannot come up with the exact word they want. This exercise teaches students to use all their resources to describe a term. We always tell students that if they were dropped out of an airplane into Argentina, “¿Como se dice ‘broken leg’ en español?”[5] is not going to help them at all. Therefore, we do not allow this term in the classroom.
Finally the students practiced the Chapter One vocabulary by completing a crossword puzzle[6]. The puzzle clues consist of definitions or descriptions of the vocabulary words in Spanish. Again, this activity helps the students connect Spanish equivalents to the terms, rather than translating them into English. They also practice the correct spelling of the terms. The students work by themselves, using their book as a resource if necessary and then check their work with a partner. During the last five minutes of class students volunteer to write an answer on the board. The students should then self-correct their own answers. In-class corrections give students a chance to ask questions. It also allows the opportunity to practice being accountable for information, as the answers might be wrong if students do not change them themselves.
How does this lesson accommodate diverse learners?: My IEP students were allowed extra time on the quiz as per their accommodations. I allowed all students to retake this quiz for a higher grade if they were unsatisfied with the first grade received. The reading portion of the lesson was broken down into several parts. Difficult vocabulary and new concepts were explained as we went. Students brainstormed examples of “tan+adjective+como” as a class before breaking off into partner work. The seating chart in this class staggers higher and lower achieving students so that those who struggled had a peer resource and those who excelled could practice teaching the concepts to other students. I chose the partners for the dialogue based on this information. The circumlocution exercise lets students practice their vocabulary skills as well as hone other methods of communication, such as body language.
Lesson Plan #3
Date: Monday, October 6, 2008
School: Bellevue High School
Student Teacher: Meg Anderson
Number of Students: 32
Proficiency Level/Class: Spanish II
Estimate Time of Lesson: 50 minutes
ACTFL National Standards:
Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
Theme/Context: Direct object pronouns (DOP), the verb “conocer”.
Performance Objectives/Outcomes: Students will begin to use direct object pronouns in speech and written work. Students will use direct object pronouns with the verb “conocer” to discuss people they do or do not know.
Previous Content Knowledge/Skills Needed: Present tense verb conjugations. Some knowledge of preterit form of “comprar”, which the students have been briefly introduced to. They will cover this more in the next chapter.
Resources/Materials: Question note cards, Smartboard, conjugation worksheets, whiteboard, post-it notes for exit slip.
Assessment: Informal oral assessment throughout the verbal activities done in class. Written assignment using the DOP and the verb “conocer” in the present tense. Exit slip to assess the quiz review.
Learning Activities:
The class begins with an implicit introduction of the direct object pronoun, or DOP. As students enter the classroom, I give five of them note cards with questions on them. I tell them that I will ask if anyone has any questions for me at the beginning of class and that they should raise their hand and ask me the question. An example would be, “Señorita Anderson, ¿dónde compraste tu camisa?” I would reply, “La compré en el J. Crew outlet en Tulalip.” Even though the students are not necessarily sure what the questions mean, they can still read them off the paper. Rather than introducing a new concept through lecture, the students see how easy it is to form the question and understand the answer. They know all the vocabulary and most students quickly realize that the “lo”, “la”, “los” or “las” that I insert in the sentence takes the place of the article, such as la in place of camisa in the example above. We quickly run through five examples and then I show the form on the SmartBoard. The use of the DOP becomes even clearer when I put up a SmartBoard document with the questions and the answers side by side. Students can see that the word camisa disappears in the response and that la is added in its place. I ask the students what each sentence has in common and they respond that the article of clothing is removed and lo, la, los, or las is put in its place.
I then ask students to talk to each other, and ask similar questions about where they got their backpacks, socks, shoes, shirts, etc…using the direct object pronoun in place of the noun in their response. I circulate the classroom while students practice this and make corrections when necessary. I explain that the DOP was a sort of shorthand they should use when talking about the same noun over and over again in consecutive sentences. After each question, a pair of volunteers models what they have done, with one asking the other where they bought their shirt, etc…and the other responding, then asking the partner the same question.
After we practiced using the direct object pronoun with objects, I wanted students to practice it with people. We first discussed the verb “conocer”, which most students are familiar with from Spanish I. One student volunteered the “yo” (I) form of conocer and used it in a sentence to demonstrate the meaning. I gave students verb conjugation charts[7] with the verb “conocer” on it. They worked with their partner to fill out the chart. I then asked for four student volunteers to write the four remaining conjugations, tú, él/ella/usted, nosotros and ellos/ellas/ustedes, on the board (the yo form was already there). Students were then asked to self-correct their charts based on the corrections on the board. This is an important skill for students to practice. They often have the opportunity to self-correct in-class work before turning it in, and can sometimes retake quizzes that they self-correct in tutorial. Many students struggle with this skill and either do not do any corrections at all, or only do a few. This is also a time for students to ask questions if they are unclear about something on the board and I feel it is very important to do so. The students then keep these sheets in their binders and use them to study for tests and quizzes.
After reviewing the verb “conocer”, we used it with the direct object pronoun. First the students made a list of Spanish teachers on the board. They then asked me if I knew each teacher. I asked them the same question. The students then turned to their partner and asked them if they knew the teacher. An example would be “Conoces a la Señorita Anderson?” “Sí, la conozco”.
We discussed why we used “la” or “las” with female teachers and “lo” or “los” with male teachers or groups of male and female teachers. The students made the connection between the –o ending being masculine and the –a ending being feminine. We continued our discussion about teachers we knew and incorporated some of the Chapter One vocabulary, asking if students knew who worked in the office, who the new principals were, who worked in the library and if we knew them, etc…Students practiced using “conocer” and the DOP in pairs and then shared their answers for participation points.
To assess the students understanding of the direct object pronoun, I wrote four questions on the board[8]. Students were expected to respond to them using the “yo” form of “conocer” (conozco) and the correct DOP (lo or la). The students had time to write their answers in class. Four students volunteered to write their answers on the board. The students then had time to self-correct before turning their work in to me. The purpose of this assignment was for students to write the constructions they had been practicing verbally during the class period. It also gave me a resource to look over so that I could see which students might still be struggling with the concept. I evaluated the students on the correct form and spelling of “conocer” and the correct DOP (lo or la).
How does this lesson accommodate diverse learners?: I thought carefully about which students to give my question cards. I wanted to make sure that some lower-status students who often hesitate to participate would have the opportunity to do so in a more supported manner than they usually do. Students worked in pairs to practice first in a low-stress environment, and then volunteered answers or examples when they felt comfortable. I also called on some students who are unwilling to participate without some prodding. After we reviewed the answers as a class, students had the opportunity to self-correct their written work before turning it in.
How could I modify it to better accommodate diverse learners?: Participation points make up 20% of students’ grades in Spanish, as per the World Language department policy at this school, and oral proficiency is the greatest focus of the class. I try to call upon a variety of student volunteers each day so that everyone has the opportunity to earn points. Sometimes, in my efforts to help my students’ grades, I neglect to call on the quieter students who may not volunteer initially. I want to make sure I interact on a personal level with each student each day. Not everyone is going to put themselves out there and I need to make sure that I am cultivating those relationships as well as the relationships with my more boisterous students.
[1]See Lesson 1, Artifact 1 in the Curriculum Development Artifacts section.
[2]See Curriculum Development Artifacts Lesson 2, Artifact 1 for the quiz format.
[3]See Curriculum Development Artifacts Lesson 2, Artifact 2 for the text of the pages.
[4] Words on whiteboard: el reloj, el armario, la computadora, la literatura, el álgebra, la geometría, la biología, la historia, el informe, la prueba, el bufet de ensaladas, la cafetería, el escenario, el mapa, la grapadora, el asiento, el proyector. Words on Smartboard: la bandera, el bolso, el laboratorio, la página, la geografía, el alemán, el francés, la química, la materia, la oficina, la pared, el director, auditorio, el sacapuntas, el sujetapapeles, la diapositiva
[5]Translation: How do you say ‘broken leg’ in Spanish?
[6]See Lesson 2, Artifact 3 for the crossword (crucigrama).
[7]Lesson 3, Artifact 1
[8] ¿Conoces al presidente Bush? ¿Conoces a Angelina Jolie? ¿Conoces a la Sra. Graeber? ¿Conoces a Harry Potter?
