Blog #1 (FS18)

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Permalink Reply by David Vazquez on September 22, 2018 at 7:49pm

This week in class, we were able to do a lesson based on learning profiling for the class. My colleague that presented with me was Margarita, and we made a lesson based on Hispanic Heritage month. Our lesson consisted of getting students to understand professions in target language, Spanish. They were also supposed to learn about different people from the hispanic community that have changed the lives of many Americans. We were able to bring learning profiling by using the five senses of students. For example, some students are visual learners, while other learn through hearing and so on. So a video, pictures, sound, and reading was used for the conformality and understanding of the lesson for differentiated students. I found this lesson interesting because we were able to teach while making sure that no student would be left behind. For example, different ways of teaching were used to suit every student. The students also learned about different people who were born here in the United States with hispanic backgrounds that really left a mark here in this country. One can say that getting students to be more active as in, for example, some students learn better when they stand up and walk around. Getting students to speak and communicate with each other helps students no matter what condition they are in to learn. Culture could have been more incorporated into this lesson by adding more famous hispanic people. A video showing how the month is celebrated would have definitely gotten the students attention. The lesson was strong for the class because they were able to get a better understanding of learning profiling. They understood it better because the terminology of five senses was used to clarify it better. My colleagues were able to get an idea of how to teach a differentiated student. New ideas were given for their future careers.

Permalink Reply by Oscar Bustamante on September 23, 2018 at 8:31pm

Hi David,

I liked your presentation which was very dynamic and culturally oriented and coincided with mine which also was based on the Hispanic heritage month. With regards to learning profile approach I understand that one as a teacher has to give students the freedom to choose to work either individually or by groups, and consider their cultural background and gender. He/she must also consider the degree of difficulty that each student may have in understanding some material in class. In that sense it would have been a good idea to show an activity in the Practice section rather that in the Presentation in where you could have asked each student his/her preferred way to work in class so in that sense the differentiation is accomplished because the material is suited for each student's need. As I said, I liked your presentation for its dynamism and cultural content. Congratulations to both of you.

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Permalink Reply by Oscar Bustamante on September 23, 2018 at 7:05pm

Hi all!

My partner Gloria and I made a lesson focused in the interest approach and addressed to Spanish Level 3 students. The strongest part of our lesson was the Presentation section that began with the statement of our objective which was the use of the present perfect tense of some regular verbs. After that, we proceeded with the lesson. We believed we caught the students' interest by asking them what they knew about the Mexicans in Staten Island and their culture and way of living while some images about this matter were displayed. The students got 'hooked' with the lesson when a video about Mexicans in Staten Island was played after asking them to take notes of the verbs in present perfect talked in the video while it was being played. Then, we proceeded to make a little review of the grammar part of the lesson. After that, we continue by explaining the second and third parts of the lesson which were the Practice and Production parts respectively. We showed an activity of the Practice part that consisted of 7 fill-in-the-blank exercises with their respective expected answers. Although we made emphasis on culture in the Presentation part of the lesson in order to motivate students and wake up their interest, we could have done more. We could have shown students how the taught subject connects with their particular interests. For example, by asking them what else they would have liked to know about Mexicans in Staten Island or in other counties, or perhaps, by asking them what particular experiences, if any, they have lived with Mexicans near them. Another approach would have been by showing some Mexican dance or music to them in order to reinforce the cultural part of the lesson. This way we would have understood  their interests more deeply and aligned our class with topics that really interest students in order to get to differentiate their particular interests for a more effective class.

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Permalink Reply by David Vazquez on September 23, 2018 at 7:54pm

Hello Oscar,
I feel like you and Gloria did a terrific job when it came to getting the interest of students. For example, you used Staten Island as an example. If you teach a class here in the inland, students will connect with the lesson. The majority of hispanics here in the island are Mexican, which was another great way you connected with the students. One can say, that a video showing dances would've been a great idea. The part that you said that you should've asked the students what they would like to learn sounds very smart because students will be extremely interested in the lesson knowing that, it's what they really want to learn. Overall great job.

Permalink Reply by Maria Sciortino on September 24, 2018 at 7:17am

As David already mentioned, it was a great idea to choose a video regarding life of Hispanic people in Staten Island. Since it is easier to relate to the place in which one lives, the video was right on target with the objective set forth. I would have added some more videos which could have linked other aspects of Hispanic people living on the island and other boroughs. I liked the fill the blank activity, and as I suggested in class, instead of giving the answer after the activity, I would have divided students in pairs making them work together. One student (of the pair) would have had the answers (shuffled) while the other had the fill in the blanks activity sheet. I enjoyed your teaching-slice. Great job!(128)

Permalink Reply by Maria Rodriguez on September 27, 2018 at 9:53pm

Oscar, I give you extra credit because you and your partner had some technology difficulties at the beginning of the presentation. However, both of you did a wonderful presentation because the material presented was appropriate for the students’ interest. The video clip provided cultural information about how Mexican’s immigrant had contributed in the socioeconomic development in Staten Island. Also, the implementation of some cognitive skills into the lesson allow students to understand better the content of the lesson. In the future lesson, both of you could implement more material related to the topic. So, students can have a better understanding of the topic.
(103)

Permalink Reply by Maria Sciortino on September 24, 2018 at 11:06am

The micro-teaching lesson was very well structured and the topic was on point considering that the lesson was differentiated according to student readiness. Both approaches "simple to complex" and "dependent to independent" were clearly presented even without aiding an explanation. All the activities you presented included culture and communication, and most of all you were able to stimulate students' attention. In fact, students were engaged from the beginning to the end of the lesson with great enthusiasm. This was a job very well done. (85)

Permalink Reply by Gloria Payne on September 27, 2018 at 9:05pm

Hi Mary,

You and Mary did an excellent job. Both of you created a great teaching slide. I like the weather activity that you guys did. Your lesson plan was based around the weather, which you were able to phrase into questions to the class. You guys clearly promoted group participation. In my opinion, you reached your goal which is communication. I love your Spanish teaching.  Overall, the lesson went well. word count ( 59)

Permalink Reply by Margarita Mejia-Ramos on September 27, 2018 at 9:41am

Hello Xochitl,

The microteaching that you and your partner presented demonstrated was very interesting. You have done what was excellent. It was noticeable that the goal you wanted to accomplish was differentiated instruction by readiness, where one focuses on their students' needs and challenges them as the lesson goes on. As one has learned, one must always try to include all of the five C’s, you and your partner had achieved this by including culture and most importantly when connections were made with communities. Demonstrating the effects that the hurricane had in Puerto Rico made the students feel more connected with the disaster.

(103 words)

Permalink Reply by Maria Rodriguez on September 27, 2018 at 9:51pm

Xochitl, I like your presentation. You and your partner did a great job because your presentation had the 5Cs. Through, the video clip students had the opportunity to visualize and understand the new cultural input in the target language. Also, the implementation of cooperative learning in one of the activities allow students to communicate and understand the new knowledge of the target language. Also, the implementation of the cognitive skills promoted students’ better understanding of the new input of the target language. (82)

Permalink Reply by Maria Sciortino on September 24, 2018 at 6:36am

The teaching slice that Maria and I created had, as a topic, the season and the weather with the expression relative to weather description. We introduced our lesson through the use of a communicative teaching strategy. We incorporated, as much as we could, communication in the activities we presented to the class; allowing students to use communication skills to answer the questions of the first activity; to use conversation since they worked in a pair during the second activity. We also encouraged to work in pairs for the production phase, allowing students to conversate and to choose their own country to do the reportage.
The activity was strong because students could directly relate to their culture by using, for example, their own native country to create a reportage of five days forecast. Hence, the entire lesson was connected directly with the culture which students are familiar to. The micro-lesson was interesting because it showed a real weather forecast in the target language.
We could have introduced more culture by showing additional videos about specific periods of the year to reinforce the concept we introduced in our presentation, ie. the fact that seasons are opposite for countries in the different hemispheres, showing how in December people from New York celebrate their holiday while it is snowing, meanwhile people from Perù celebrate the same holiday by going to the beach.
To differentiate the instruction, we would have to make some of the activities a little easier for students in needs. We could have created activities that had more pictures incorporated, to give a visual help and make students circle the right answers by using the pictures. We could have paired students in need with other students that could have helped them. We could have provided a graphic organizer that would have allowed the student/helper to fill it up with important words about the weather and the seasons while the video was on and during presentation time. The students/helper could have helped the other students do the activity.(339)

Permalink Reply by David Vazquez on September 24, 2018 at 11:17am

Hello Maria,
Your presentation was very well presented. We really learned a lot that day. Not only did you teach Spanish but some science as well. You guys did a terrific job in your goal which was communication. The reason is because you guys promoted group work, participation, and talked to the students as they were doing the activity. Your right about when you say you could have showed videos of how other countries celebrate the holidays in different seasons. That could've promoted lots of culture. Not only was communication something you guys hit, but also interest because even I was amazed on how scientific the lesson was. Overall the lesson was great.

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