Sunday, December 3, 2017

Lesson Plan Supplemental Materials

I created a lesson plan for a high school Spanish class learning about vocabulary related to clothing. My lesson plan addresses the following Common Core Standards:
1. Derive meaning from messages and texts using listening, reading and viewing strategies.
2. Understand new words, phrases, sentences or the main idea with the help of visuals and graphics that accompany texts.
3. Make use of print and digital resources to understand the meaning of new words and expressions.

Students will go on a scavenger hunt to find the Spanish equivalent of the English words on the worksheet below. The worksheet is full of vocabulary students will learn in this lesson. After they complete this and we have a day of studying and reviewing in class, students will take the quiz below to assess their knowledge of the lesson. A lot of the same vocabulary from the worksheet is featured on the quiz. Towards the end of my lesson plan, I talk about having resources available for struggling students. To do this, I created a series of flashcards on Quizlet to help students memorize the vocabulary. All of the possible vocabulary students will need to know is in the Study Set. Here is the link to the Quizlet Study Set: https://quizlet.com/224198025/spanish-vocabulary-la-ropa-flash-cards/

 

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Reflective Wrap-Up

When I think of the classroom I will have in the future, what that looks like entirely depends on the school. Schools in nicer districts would definitely have access to iPads, smart boards, and etc. But in schools with less funding this many not be the case. If students did not have the ability to utilize resources like these, I don't think it would greatly hinder my classroom in particular, because I want to teach Spanish and that is not something that technology benefits as much as other subjects in the classroom. If my students do have access to technology, I imagine most of the homework given would be online rather than on paper. Aside from that, I don't know how much technology would realistically be utilized. 
I plan to be working with high school students or possibly late middle school. I think the biggest challenges with incorporating technology would be applicable in more poverty stricken areas. Places where schools don't have the funds available to increase use of computers, smart boards, iPads, and etc. Online homework would also be a problem if students didn't have access to a computer at home. There are always going to be problems with students home situations and other difficult subjects. I think the key is to make sure students know that you are there to help, but setting very distinct boundaries and knowing what the national, state, district, and individual school policies are when it comes to the specific situation. The same applies to handling the use of social media. As a teacher, I will be abiding by the laws and rules put in place for my own protection.
Most of the things we've discussed I have been familiar with, but there have still been things that I have learned throughout this semester that I will be able to use in my professional career. I definitely think that Prezi is a cool tool to use. I was already aware of Pinterest and I love the great ideas I find on there. When it comes to technology, I think my biggest fear in the classroom is that we lose the purpose in things with too much of it. There are lots of ways that technology improves student learning. The tech tools we discussed are a great example of these, as are smart boards and the capabilities they have. I'm excited for the direction we are heading and the capabilities we will have in the future to improve education!



Monday, November 6, 2017

Classroom Design

Before I did this assignment, I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted my classroom laid out. I knew I wanted my students at tables as opposed to desks so that they are close to each other for conversing in Spanish. I created a room with tables surrounded by chairs for students. I'm an incredibly organized person so I added quite a bit of storage and shelves behind my desk to keep everything in order. I like having a fairly open room so that it doesn't feel cramped or stuffy.

Since I am going to be teaching a Spanish class, I won't really be needing a lot of computers in my classroom. I added a few so that if they were needed for projects, writing, and etc. my students would have them available. I put the projector facing the 'front' of the classroom where I would be teaching. I would also love to incorporate a Smartboard into the classroom even though that wasn't an option on Classroom Architect. This a pretty good example of what I want my classroom to look like.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Pinterest in the Classroom

I absolutely love Pinterest and I have already created boards for my future teaching endeavors so this assignment was nothing new to me. As an educator, I believe I will use Pinterest for student activities, classroom ideas, tips and hints for teaching, and a whole lot more. The strengths of Pinterest are the easy to use nature of the network, the easy organization, and finding things are very easy. I honestly can't pinpoint any challenges of Pinterest because I feel that everything is laid out and created very nicely. Pinterest is one of my favorite past times and one of the first places I go for help or ideas. I would definitely recommend Pinterest to Teachers and Educators.

Lesson Plan Supplemental Materials

I created a lesson plan for a high school Spanish class learning about vocabulary related to clothing. My lesson plan addresses the followin...