Strategy 8- Web Quest (Assessment)

   As described by Pastore, "WebQuests are meaningful web-based activities designed to challenge the learner's problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills.  WebQuests have become popular with teachers because they help them integrate the Internet into the curriculum through a 6-step model that has been field tested and proved successful through a wide range of grade levels and subjects." These assessments can be used in different ways at different times.  


Bibliography: Pastore, Raymond S. "Finding, Creating, and Using WebQuests." Http://teacherworld.com/webquest.html. N.p., n.d. Web.

    When I would use a Web Quest as an assessment would be after we have studied something cultural and its something that I believe students would be interested in exploring the subject further. Students are using 21st century skills by using technology but also looking and trying to more than what is presented to them in class. They have the ability to discover new things and even teach the teacher about their findings. An example would be of when I gave a lesson about "La Alhambra" and my trip there. I explained several interesting facts and at the end as the ticket out the door I asked students to write down three things they learned and if they would visit La Alhambra one day. My last request was for them to write down any questions or final thoughts about La Alhambra. To my surprise there were many more questions than final comments. This would be an ideal time to further explore La Alhambra. I would compile a list of questions that they asked me and make take them to the computer lab so they can find the information and then their assessment would include a presentation about the new findings. They would also have to search for something similar to La Alhambra in the United States and state the similarities and the differences.

Strategy 7- Assessment (choice boards)

Choice board would typically be assigned at the end of a unit when they have had enough skills develop to successfully develop each assessment. Students are given a board with different choices  of assignments and they can pick the one they want to do.

This would be most appropriate at the end of unit, because like said above, students by then have gathered enough skills successfully complete each task. They will have a much higher chance to complete it with high success if they already have developed the skills necessary. This would be appropriate in any classroom because all our students are different. This should be used for assessment because it fits with different types of learning and abilities for students. If crafted carefully, this has the potential to fit everyone's needs. Some students that are more artistic can choose the activities that require something artistic and a student that prefers to write can construct something the has to do with word. An example of this is when I was taking AP English 11. We had to use 100 words that would most likely appear on the AP Exam. She gave use different options and I choose one outside of the choice board and she approved. I did a paper quilt using 100 of the words and in the back there was the definition and an example of the use of the word. Now that I look back, maybe it wasn't the easiest way to study these words but it sure let me use my creativity at that time.  I believe even though these may be harder to grade, they are a good way to see and get to know students. 

Text 8- Qué cosas dice mi abuela (Gender, culture)

   This book goes through a series of common phrases in the Spanish language. A boy is narrating the what the grandma does for him and his siblings and along with this he mentions all the popular sayings like " con el tiempo y la paciencia se adquiere la ciencia", something that a Latina Grandmother would say. He mentions that she wakes them up to go to school and helps his little brother put on his clothes. He then mentions that she helps him get on the bus. They get home from school and then she has the food ready fro them. She then helps them with homework and other tasks. And again, with all this, she is giving them advice along the way. 


Annotation: Galan, Ana, and Pablo Pino. ¡Que Cosas Dice Mi Abuela!: Dichos Y Refranes Sobre Los Buenos Modales. New York: Scholastic, 2011. Print.

T          This is a very simple book but I believe it has very important lessons from it. First students get to see the importance of women in the a Latino society where it is primarily patriarch-tic. Often times we have the idea that Latin American countries is like "macho land" and this is true but I believe that women play a very important role in the family and this book does a good job demonstrating the importance of women. Besides this, students also get to compare the difference of what their grandmother does for them in the United States or other countries and what grandmothers in Latin American countries do and believe in as well, something that my OSTE has told me that is crucial in doing. She told me that there was a standard that required this and bringing in books like this would be beneficial for them. I believe that sayings send an important message of what society believes in, in other parts of the world. 

  

Text 7- El arbol generoso (ability)

    This book is fairly popular in English. It is The Giving Tree. The book starts off when the boy talks to the tree and plays with the trees branches but as he grows older, he needs more things. He decided that he needed things so she let him sell her apples. When he becomes an adult he needs a house and she tells him he can use her branches to build the house. Then he wants a boat and cuts her trunk. Then he just needs somewhere to seat and uses her stump. These were all in different stages of his life and after everything the phrase "And the tree was happy"

Bibliography:
Silverstein, Shel. El Arbol Generoso. N.p.: Evil Eye Music, 1964. Print.

     I believe this is a beneficial book to read in Spanish class for several reasons. It is simple and it students can identify with the book because they have read it before. This will give them a background reference and can help them decipher the meaning of the book or certain phrases. There are also very useful illustrations that can be very good context clues. But the most important thing of all is the being able to distinguish between the preterite and the imperfect. This is something that can be hard to understand for native English speakers and this book does a very good job at helping students distinguish between them. It the end of the day, the ability to do this in Spanish class will be essential and helping them by giving them something they are familiar with is even better.

Strategy 6- Diverse learners

As described in the Culturally Responsive Instruction, being able to reach out into the community and to families and bring back this cultural information would be greatly beneficial for students, especially diverse learners.

This should be done as much as possible because I believe this helps tremendously with diverse learners. We learn about other cultures and we don't ignore them as much because we know that maybe one of our students represent this culture. It is helpful to do this too because when teachers are able to build that connection with students, they feel more comfortable to raise their hand to ask a question or give their opinion of some sort. When a student identifies with the content, that gives them the power of knowledge, that then turns into motivation. It shows that you care enough to put in this extra effort to get to know families and communities. When I was in high school, every time they said something I would pay extra attention to, no matter if it was good or bad. I heard it the msot in my Spanish class. Mrs. Leiva would constantly talk about hispanics in a positive way, something that I wasn't used to hearing back then. Sometimes I would hear connotations in the hall such as "beaners" and "wetbacks" that hearing positive things from Mrs. Leiva about my culture made me feel good and made me want to come to class. She didn't go on to meet my mom but a couple times that year, but the fact that she knew Spanish like me also made me feel comfortable. So reaching out is not a waste of time, you are actually just making a diverse learner learn a little more. :)


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Strategy 5- Diverse learners

Definition: On page 51 in Meltzer's text it states that, “to help students learn more from texts, instructors should explicitly teach the “decoding” of discipline-specific text type.” This includes the forms and the patterns of writing something that a mainstream student is already used to but something that a diverse learner may not be used to. There are also text features like, graphics, chapter headings, glossaries, and chapter summaries that can be very useful for diverse learners if they knew what they were for and how to use them.

I believe this strategy of decoding and helping students understand should be used in almost all occasions. Often times as described in Meltzer's text, teachers tend to assume that everyone knows how to use a glossary or what to use it for. We tend to forget to remind students that they find specific topics with the index and so on. This is because we are in a "mainstream" classroom in which sometimes diverse learners are ignored because standards are set lower and believe they will never learn these things. I believe this is one of the easiest things to do for all students because it is basic knowledge, that if repeated it won't hurt anyone, but reinforce it. Not only teaching that glossaries exist, but also that there is a pattern usually to stories; beginning, middle (plot climax), end. Although it would also be important to point out that not all text follow this same structure. An example of this would be when my cooperating teacher introduced the textbook the class would be using for the year. She made sure to go over different repeated activities they would see and the extended glossary of words they could potentially have problems with. She indicated where they could find a short summary for a couple text that students might have the most difficulty with. I believe this was helpful because she had at least one ELL student in her class and maybe they knew these existed, but maybe they didn't. So going over the different features of the textbook they will be using for the whole year would be helpful for all students and would not be singling out any particular group.

Text 6- Frida (Gender, culture)

  This book tells the life of Frida Kahlo in a very innocent way. She really enjoyed painting. She was living a normal life as a teenager until she was in a horrible accident that left her almost without being able to walk. She went through different surgeries that made worse or better her pain. She would then paint her depression and her feelings until she had the courage to show these paintings to the most famous painter of the time, Diego Rivera. She would then go on to marry him.


Citation: Winter, Jonah. FRIDA. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1 Feb. 2002. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

    I believe that the life of Frida is important for many reasons. Not only was she a very famous painter, but she was also a women activist. She wasn't afraid of being different in a very macho Mexican country. She was the one in a family picture that would dress as a man out of all her sisters and her dad was okay with it. I don't know if I would mention this in class, depends on the maturity of the class, but she was also bisexual, even when she was with Diego Rivera. Today we are so caught up with what we can and cannot wear as a woman or as a man too. I saw recently that they were making fun of a little boy because when asked what he wanted to be for Halloween he said Elsa. I see nothing wrong with that. I just believe that society imposes so many things on us because they believe a gender should act a certain way and I believe we all think like that at times. She also really suffered because she couldn't have children. This was important because it is said that if you can't have children then you are worthless as a woman. You can see her suffer because of this in several of her painting. And even though she was a more "liberal" woman she still valued the opportunity to have children.  She is such an interesting woman that breaks the norms in several aspects and does so much even with her limited ability to move. But Frida, with this book, gives the essentials of her life without going into too many details, only the ones that I would pick and choose to share to the class.