Today I dropped Spanish 4 and man, it's nice to have some more time for catching up. I love Spanish 4 and I love the type of work that they get to do, but I really need to focus on finishing out Spanish 1. For example, this morning was kind of pathetic as far as lessons go. Most of it had to do with the fact that I planned too much for yesterday, so the beginning of the period was playing catch up. I wanted to do a speaking activity and work on an essay as well, but 2nd period only got so far as planning the essay. THEN, I forgot to make some kind of graphic organizer to make it easier, and I wasn't exactly sure of what I wanted in the essay... I shouldn't be making these kinds of mistakes at the end of my teaching semester! So, luckily I had time to draft up an organizer for 4th period, and my expectations are much more defined now. Unfortunately this means I have to play catch up again with 2nd period so that they can be on the right track for the assignment. This was a great example of how poor planning just makes more work for you in the long run... ugh.
Almost done with today, just hoping that 4th period goes better than it did yesterday. My last Tuesday of teaching, woo!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Oooh boy. Today was interesting because my CT was absent and we had a sub come. By having a sub come, I mean I basically locked the man in the teacher's lounge because I was not about to let my Spanish 1's know that she wasn't there. Lucky guy got paid to sit around and read a book all day, haha. I was super nervous about not having my CT to turn to if something went wrong, but after I calmed down I realized it wasn't that much different from the other days when I'm basically in the classroom by myself with the students. 4th period was nuts today, but the ones who acted up are paying for it with lunch detention...
This is my final full week teaching, and I'm letting Spanish 4 go officially on Wednesday, although I'm sure it will be mostly my CT who does the talking tomorrow. I'm relieved because now I don't have as many preps to plan for, and I've got to get through Chapter 4B with Spanish 1 this week, then up until they take their test on Tuesday.
Tomorrow, we've got a LOT of speaking practice and a the beginnings of an essay, plus some more new stuff to learn that, because of their behavior today, we didn't get time to do today. Ugh. We are all in for a crazy week...
This is my final full week teaching, and I'm letting Spanish 4 go officially on Wednesday, although I'm sure it will be mostly my CT who does the talking tomorrow. I'm relieved because now I don't have as many preps to plan for, and I've got to get through Chapter 4B with Spanish 1 this week, then up until they take their test on Tuesday.
Tomorrow, we've got a LOT of speaking practice and a the beginnings of an essay, plus some more new stuff to learn that, because of their behavior today, we didn't get time to do today. Ugh. We are all in for a crazy week...
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Hello world! Today started off icky, but got a lot better. I feel like the more depressed/nervous I feel in the morning, the better the day ends, or the more excited/happy I feel in the morning, the worse the day ends. So, I've come to mildly enjoy being grumpy in the mornings for that reason, haha.
Spanish 1 was learning about para + infinitives, continuing with question words, and working on stem-changing verbs again. They also had a vocabulary quiz. 2nd period was frustrating because I had 2 kids who were the biggest Negative Nancys ever. One of them, I'd go by and tell him to start working on the warm-up, and all he would say was "but I never do those!" Yeah, I know. I manage to get him to take a notebook out and he just sits there, like taking a notebook out should get me off his case. I don't think so! He also sighed and moaned through the whole quiz, then was trying to look on some other person's quiz, so I took his up. Finally I had to just send him out of the room, although upon talking to him later, he had no idea what he did wrong. Kind of impressive how someone can be so unaware of their own behavior. After he left, the whole atmosphere of the class got a lot better though, so I hope they feel prepared for their quiz on stem-changers tomorrow.
Again, 4th period was on top of their game, answering my questions relatively easily, working hard on their work, everything! If you had been there Monday, you would not have thought this was the same group of students. Tomorrow we're working on a reading in cooperative learning groups, as well as a drawing activity (trying to incorporate more learning styles and different ways of expression), so I think that should be fun :)
Spanish 4 was good. There warm-up was kind of fun, where they had to chose a topic about what they would do if... they were the president of the US and wanted to make citizens' lives better, or what they would do to prevent their child from growing up to be a criminal (we've been talking about juvenile violence). It's a good chance for them to be creative while using si clauses.
We also have a "Lab Day" every Wednesday where the students must direct themselves to complete assignments and mastery tests of grammar concepts throughout the semester. It's really quite a genius idea that my CT set up, because it's one less day you have to plan for Spanish 4, and the students have deadlines to meet with the assignments, so they're always working diligently. So, I got caught up on some grading (although there is still PILES of things to work on) and wrote some quizzes.
The time between the end of school and about 6pm always seems to fly by the fastest. I do try to leave by 6 because I'm secretly afraid that I'll get locked in the school (not that it would matter that much cuz I live there anyway). Still have some grades to finish up tonight, but I feel prepared for the lessons tomorrow. Yay!
Spanish 1 was learning about para + infinitives, continuing with question words, and working on stem-changing verbs again. They also had a vocabulary quiz. 2nd period was frustrating because I had 2 kids who were the biggest Negative Nancys ever. One of them, I'd go by and tell him to start working on the warm-up, and all he would say was "but I never do those!" Yeah, I know. I manage to get him to take a notebook out and he just sits there, like taking a notebook out should get me off his case. I don't think so! He also sighed and moaned through the whole quiz, then was trying to look on some other person's quiz, so I took his up. Finally I had to just send him out of the room, although upon talking to him later, he had no idea what he did wrong. Kind of impressive how someone can be so unaware of their own behavior. After he left, the whole atmosphere of the class got a lot better though, so I hope they feel prepared for their quiz on stem-changers tomorrow.
Again, 4th period was on top of their game, answering my questions relatively easily, working hard on their work, everything! If you had been there Monday, you would not have thought this was the same group of students. Tomorrow we're working on a reading in cooperative learning groups, as well as a drawing activity (trying to incorporate more learning styles and different ways of expression), so I think that should be fun :)
Spanish 4 was good. There warm-up was kind of fun, where they had to chose a topic about what they would do if... they were the president of the US and wanted to make citizens' lives better, or what they would do to prevent their child from growing up to be a criminal (we've been talking about juvenile violence). It's a good chance for them to be creative while using si clauses.
We also have a "Lab Day" every Wednesday where the students must direct themselves to complete assignments and mastery tests of grammar concepts throughout the semester. It's really quite a genius idea that my CT set up, because it's one less day you have to plan for Spanish 4, and the students have deadlines to meet with the assignments, so they're always working diligently. So, I got caught up on some grading (although there is still PILES of things to work on) and wrote some quizzes.
The time between the end of school and about 6pm always seems to fly by the fastest. I do try to leave by 6 because I'm secretly afraid that I'll get locked in the school (not that it would matter that much cuz I live there anyway). Still have some grades to finish up tonight, but I feel prepared for the lessons tomorrow. Yay!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Ay ay ay
It has dawned on me that I had completely forgotten about this blog for the past month or so... Oops. Seriously, things have been crazy, but I regret not writing my thoughts down, because it would've been nice to go back and see how I felt as it was happening (although I'm sure you could track down my fiance or friends if you want a full recounting, because goodness knows I ranted to them enough). So, I have about 2 weeks left of student teaching, therefore I will try to recount every day in order to make up for lost... entries. Well, at least it will be a nice way to look back on my days.
We are in Chapter 4A in Spanish 1, and today we talked about question words. We made a big chart on the board with all of our question words, talked about which ones had elements that would transfer to the answer (ex. ¿Con quién? is going to have "con" somewhere in the answer), came up with sample questions and the corresponding answers for them. For guided practice, the students were given sentences and told to fill in the missing question word based on the context. Then, they had some independent practice with a communicative "fill in the gap" activity. 2nd period was dead asleep (despite my efforts) for most of the period and so struggled with the speaking task, but 4th period was on top of their game and they found it fairly easy. We also watched a video from the textbook series that featured kids from Spain, and the students thought their lisping was hilarious. So now, I told them, they can tell if someone is from Spain by the way they talk!
In Spanish 4, we wrote summaries of No oyes ladrar los perros using vocabulary words and without looking at the book, learned about si clauses (si yo fuera tú, lo haría; si hubiéramos tenido el dinero, habríamos ido a España), talked about an online blog assignment in Spanish, and introduced a new project where they have to write their own song using all of the subjunctive clauses. A full period, to say the least! They were giving me evil eyes by the end... well, it is an honors class!
I also had a meeting with my supervisor and we mapped out all of the things I need to cover in or before my final observation. I have about 8 things to secure, but hopefully they won't be too difficult to fit in.
Sadly, today was my last day actually teaching Spanish 4. I will be supervising them until next Wednesday, but there isn't any more new content that I have to teach. Sad :(
Spanish 1 tomorrow will be working with para + infinitive constructions, continuing with making questions, and stem-changing verbs. And a vocab quiz! We sure do have a full week.
We are in Chapter 4A in Spanish 1, and today we talked about question words. We made a big chart on the board with all of our question words, talked about which ones had elements that would transfer to the answer (ex. ¿Con quién? is going to have "con" somewhere in the answer), came up with sample questions and the corresponding answers for them. For guided practice, the students were given sentences and told to fill in the missing question word based on the context. Then, they had some independent practice with a communicative "fill in the gap" activity. 2nd period was dead asleep (despite my efforts) for most of the period and so struggled with the speaking task, but 4th period was on top of their game and they found it fairly easy. We also watched a video from the textbook series that featured kids from Spain, and the students thought their lisping was hilarious. So now, I told them, they can tell if someone is from Spain by the way they talk!
In Spanish 4, we wrote summaries of No oyes ladrar los perros using vocabulary words and without looking at the book, learned about si clauses (si yo fuera tú, lo haría; si hubiéramos tenido el dinero, habríamos ido a España), talked about an online blog assignment in Spanish, and introduced a new project where they have to write their own song using all of the subjunctive clauses. A full period, to say the least! They were giving me evil eyes by the end... well, it is an honors class!
I also had a meeting with my supervisor and we mapped out all of the things I need to cover in or before my final observation. I have about 8 things to secure, but hopefully they won't be too difficult to fit in.
Sadly, today was my last day actually teaching Spanish 4. I will be supervising them until next Wednesday, but there isn't any more new content that I have to teach. Sad :(
Spanish 1 tomorrow will be working with para + infinitive constructions, continuing with making questions, and stem-changing verbs. And a vocab quiz! We sure do have a full week.
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