Smethers’s Blog

The Spanish 3 classes began by reviewing the subjunctive, focusing on the use of expressing emotion. They were given a worksheet on the subjunctive and were given about 15 minutes to complete it. After going over the front of the worksheet, they watched a video, created by the Realidades textbook publisher. They watched a segment about the subjunctive and I believe it was quite a stupid, yet funny video that helped the students visualize how and when to use the subjunctive. They then watched a segment on the uses of “por” and then took notes after that about the differences of when to use “por” and when to use “para” and how they both mean “for” but are used in different contexts to convey different meanings. She had a document on the projector that explained and listed the differences and several examples and told them to take out a sheet of paper to make a graphic organizer to organize the information. I think it would have been more helpful if she had already had a sheet with POR on one side and PARA on the other so that they could just start writing the examples and fill it out according to how she wanted the information divided. They then did an activity from the textbook with Ms. Pickens and then ended the class period by working with a partner on a worksheet about “por” and “para” and deciding which one to use in each sentence. They also had to explain why they chose the word that they did. One thing that I disagree with in her classroom is how she generally sits at her computer responding to emails when the students are working on an assignment. I feel that she should be walking around to not only monitor the students but to make sure that she is there to answer any of their questions and to help them when they need it. Deciding when to use “por” and “para” is an extremely difficult lesson for students, and one that I even still stumble on, so I feel that this was definitely a day when she could have been more accessible to the students and their questions. After first period, Ms. Pickens told me that this was a perfect example of a lesson plan NOT working and needing adjustments because she could tell that the students left the class not understanding what they were just taught. Second period, she started the class with the subjunctive video and then wrote an example on the board before giving them the subjunctive worksheet to try introducing the material in a different way.

One thing that amazes me is how little students remember, which I predit will be VERY frustrating for me. I feel that students need many examples and explanations to understand a concept and to not give up in frustration. When I walked around and helped them with simple questions, I feel that they seemed to understand more and wanted to keep working on the assignment instead of sitting at their desk frustrated because they don’t understand something. Ms. Pickens got frustrated because the students are having a very difficult time with the lesson but I simply feel that the students need more reiteration because half the time they are not listening or they need to be told something several times in order for the concept to make sense.

Third period, Ms. Pickens was really not feeling well so I taught “por” versus “para” which was somewhat overwhelming to me because I know it is such a difficult lesson and the two classes before really struggled with it. The students also were not in the mood to do schoolwork for some reason; perhaps because it was a very cold and gray Friday. I went over the rules with them on the board and then gave them examples, which was somewhat hard because I can usually decide between the two by simply listening to which one sounds better in the sentence. After I explained the rules, I started them on the worksheet and did the first few with them to get them started. We ran out of time before I could go over the entire worksheet with them.

Ms. Pickens’ AP classes performed some of their skits at the beginning of class and while a few were rather boring, most of them were very entertaining. The students were told to memorize the skits but most of them had to look at a piece of paper to remember their lines. After their skits, they read a passage out of their literature book, Abriendo Paso. They read the story “Casa Tomada” by Julio Cortazar, which I thought was incredible because I read this story last year in one of my 4000 level Spanish literature classes! They were to read the story in a group or with a partner and had a worksheet, with questions written in English, to complete in Spanish. She sat at her computer while the students worked for about thirty minutes and then went over the answers with a document on the projector that contained several bits of additional information about the story that the students wrote down because it would appear on their test. I found it interesting that she never mentioned the author’s background or anything about the text because I know in my college class we spent at least two classes discussing this story and the author’s history because he is such a famous author. After discussing the story, the students were given a worksheet on sequencing and the imperfect subjunctive for homework. She was grading some of their skits and videos and it seems that she does not follow much of a rubric because she just gives them a grade and writes down on a sheet of paper as she watches them and then gives them their grade at the end of the period. I thought the students would surely try to argue their grade if they were simply given a number out loud without any explanation or written comparison, but honestly they never argued them.

During Ms. Pickens’ planning period, I helped her create some practice worksheets and documents to display on the projector because the students definitely need more help with the subjunctive and with choosing between “por” and “para”. She can move so quickly through Microsoft Word! We thought of examples and created about three worksheets together in no time. She also typed up a piece of paper to give them on Monday with all of the differences between “por” and “para” and when each one should be used (i.e. POR-by means of communication or transportation; PARA-intended recipient or destination).

Throughout the day, I noticed so many of the students using their phone and I think this will be such an annoyance to me when I become a teacher next year. Students were checking their phones to look at their progress reports that were sent via email. I will definitely make sure that I have a rule in my classroom about the use of cell phones because class is not a time to be texting or checking email. All of the students have them with them and I think that this will be a challenge for me in the future because Ms. Pickens struggles with this already.

I enjoyed this experience so much and I already feel that I am close with the other Spanish teachers because at the beginning of the day and in between classes, we stand in the hall together and talk. We talk about the classes and about Spanish, but they also tell each other about their days outside of class which I find so interesting. They do not treat me any differently and I really apprecate them acting like I am just another teacher. One of the teachers taught us a new word because she is studying to be a nurse and a medical translator and the word is: otorrinolaringólogo, which is the Spanish word for an ear/nose/throat doctor. I am excited to work with Ms. Pickens next semester because she lets me teach and does not try to chime in while I’m teaching, which is why I think the students respect me and listen to me as well as they do.

Ms. Pickens was sick today, which was actually quite ironic because I feel that I have recently had a dream about Ms. Pickens being sick one day and me having the responsibility of taking over her classes. There was a substitute teacher today, but she was very nice and let me pretty much take over the class. I spoke with several of the other teachers and they said that I could definitely do whatever I wanted to in the class today because Ms. Pickens said the day before that she didn’t care what they did (she was obviously extremely sick!). For the first three periods, I led the students in an activity from the book which had them choose between two words which would better complete the sentence. I had them share their answers to earn “puntos” just like Ms. Pickens would. I then explained the writing activity that I created to them. They were to pretend that they were suscribing to eHarmony and creating their profile page that would be displayed to all of the members. They were to write a minimum of five sentences using characteristics and qualities that they look for in their ideal girlfriend/boyfriend. This activity put to use the vocabulary words for this chapter and also incorporated phrases that trigger the subjunctive, which is definitely something for them to incorporate into their writing. They seemed to really have fun with this activity; regardless of the fact that it involved writing! They asked me how to say certain things but for the most part worked by themselves. I wish the students would get more creative, but the majority simply sticks to using model sentences with the exact same vocabulary that is in the book. I told them that they had to turn in the writing assignment before they left class and when they finished, they were to take a crossword puzzle that Ms. Pickens left for them to complete for homework and bring to class the next day.

Her AP classes had a vocabulary quiz today so I gave them the first five to seven minutes of class to study and then I passed out the quiz. The quiz consisted of twenty five matching words on the front and thirty English to Spanish fill in the blank translations on the back. The students seemed very perplexed about this format and said that the fill in the blank translations were extremely hard for them. After the quiz they were to work on a worksheet that practiced the perfect tenses. They seemed to not have much difficulty with the worksheet and worked diligently the remainder of the class.

I truly enjoyed being in charge of class today. I was quite nervous at first and was not sure if I should stray away from the plans that Ms. Pickens left for the substitute, but I figured today would be a great opportunity to test my skills in the classroom. Teaching once again felt very natural to me and I was blown away by how responsive and respectful the students were to me. I understand that she is teaching juniors and seniors who pretty much CHOOSE to be in her class, but they were still very respectful considering they know I am simply a student teacher. They did all of their work and never gave me a hard time. Towards the end of the period the students would start asking me personal questions, especially about college. They all wanted to know what UGA was like and asked me numerous questions about college–which I honestly LOVED answering. I enjoyed sharing and showing my personality with them and actually engaging with them instead of sitting off at a desk in the front of the room. The substitute that was technically in charge of the class today was a cute mother of a girl at Mill Creek and helped me a lot on explaining how the community interacted with the school and with the students and spoke to me about many assets of the community because she has lived here for almost twelve years. Overall, today was an excellent day. I felt as though I was a real teacher and I felt proud of myself for being flexible with the way the day turned out and managing the class well. The students were truly great to me and did everything that I asked them to do.

Ms. Picken’s Spanish 3 students began the last chapter of the semester today. She told all of her classes this at the very beginning to give them some final motivation to end this semester well. She reviewed vocabulary that the students had already learned that would pertain to this chapter: the chapter about relationships with others. After reviewing vocabulary, she moved right on to a book activity that had the students practice saying sentences with reflexive verbs. She then showed them an overhead with words to describe peoples’ faults in their personality, responses, and expressions and action verbs. The students then used this information in a speaking activity in which they walked around to seven different people, told them something and waited to hear their expression in return. She then moved on to the activity that I would be teaching during her third period class: an activity about using reflexive verbs to describe what people do to each other (i.e. talk to each other, play with each other, hug each other). After this activity, the students worked on workbook pages that would be taken up the next day. While they worked on this assignment, she walked around and showed them their test grades, but did not give the actual tests back.

Third period came around and I began to get some butterflies in my stomach about teaching this TINY activity. It was not much to teach but I was still nervous because I hadn’t taught in a high school classroom before. When I rang the bell to bring them back from their speaking activity, it was my time to shine! Right away I felt relieved because all my life, I grew up playing school in my basement and because of this “practice,” teaching feels so natural to me. Throughout the lesson, I only struggled on drawing the chart that Ms. Pickens uses to show them the different subject pronoun placements but that was not a big obstacle. I also felt that when I teach a grammar lesson, I will need to review the conjugations simply to feel more positive that my conjugations and accents are correct. Other than these two things, I felt completely assured in my ability to teach this lesson. One of the students asked a question and I answered it, which made me feel even better. After I taught the students about this meaning of the reflexive verbs, I led them into their next activity and helped them with the first example which laid out my expectations for them in this assignment. Ms. PIckens also did not chime in at all which made me happy that there was no information that I left out and she felt that I did a good enough job to let my teaching suffice. It definitely was not as scary as I had imagined and the students did an excellent job of sitting quietly and listening to me teach. After the lesson, Ms. PIckens made me feel so relieved because she told me that I did a wonderful job and that it seemed as if I had been doing this for years!

The AP classes started by writing a list of the irregular participles and then reviewed them as a class. She then put up a document of sentences all written in different perfect tenses and they had to translate them into Spanish. The students then learned the different between the present perfect subjunctive and the pluperfect subjunctive tenses. This is what Ms. Pickens wrote on the board for her examples:

Sra. Pickens has studied–Sra. Pickens ha estudiado

I hope that Sra. Pickens has studied–Espero que Sra. Pickens haya estudiado

Sra. Pickens had studied–Sra. Pickens había estudiado

I hoped that Sra. Pickens had studied–Esperaba que Sra. Pickens hubiera estudiado

The students then did a speaking activity where they responded with one of these subjunctive perfect tenses. The students then did more practice by completing an overhead assignment where they had to decide whether to use the present perfect in the indicative or the subjunctive mood. She says that every tense has an alter-ego and she calls this the subjunctive, which I think is a cute way to say what the subjunctive is. The remaining ten minutes of class she let the students work on their skits that they are performing for the class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Today, Ms. Pickens’ first three periods, her Spanish 3 classes, took a test. She reviewed the vocabulary words before the students were given the test by presenting a Power Point that had the Spanish word presented first, followed by the English translation. She would preface each word by saying if they needed to know it or not, which I am not a huge advocate of, because if she says that it will not be on the test, then the students look away and do not even bother knowing the word. She also reviewed grammar for a few minutes, emphasizing the types of verbs they needed to know how to conjugate. She gives an answer sheet followed by the actual test. She also issued Progress Reports to her students to take home. I also did not feel that students should have been lining up at the door to wait for the bell because I could tell that it was very distracting to the students who were still testing and I do not feel as though it was fair to those who take a little longer on their test to not have the same quiet environment that was provided earlier in the period. I can already tell that Ms. Pickens does her best to have all of her students succeed in her class because she provides them with many hints and for example, this morning a student came in to make up a quiz, and she told him that if he didn’t tell anyone, she would give him the “easy” quiz–which was simply the same quiz that everyone else had already taken.

During third period, I went and observed Mr. Smith, the department chair’s Spanish 4 class. The students had vocabulary words written on the board for them to copy down as soon as they walked in. The students were given a piece of text and were asked to read the title and think about what they think the article will be about. He told the class that he chose the assignment because it is very relevant to what is going on in our country right now and that he found an article about Obama on a Spanish newspaper’s website. The students were to follow along with him as he read the article and then debate their ideas about politics and our country’s political status at the moment. I enjoyed how he created an open environment with his class and how he shared the floor with his students. The debate got somewhat heated because he asked questions such as, “Who think we should/should not be in Iraq?” and other such emotion-based questions. Overall, the students did very well with the debate and could negotiate and share their ideas with one another very level-headedly.

In Ms. PIckens’ AP classes, she had them working on their skits for the entire period because they are presenting them next week and today would be their last day to rehearse them with their group members. She has “Candy Friday” every other Friday where she gives her AP classes a piece of candy. This was something cute and easy, but the students really seemed to enjoy and look forward to this day. I wish she would introduce me somewhat more in depth to her classes because when she actually introduced me to her fourth period class, they all started asking me questions about UGA and actually knew who I was and what my purpose was in their school. For the skit, each student is to write ten sentences based on a situation in their book. They must each use a prop, but she told them the creativity of their skit is up to them.

As I walk through the halls, I notice that so many of the students have iPods and seem to violate school dress code. It seems as though they are not intimidated of the school rules whatsoever.

Towards the end of the day, Ms. Pickens shared with me her organization methods of keeping all of her documents in order. She is VERY organized and I love that because I am definitely OCD as well. She let me watch her enter grades into her gradebook program and also let me watch her send grades out to all the parents of her students. She keeps her documents organized by keeping them all in folders, depending on what document it is. She has folders for EVERYTHING. She has folders for her classes-one for AP and one for Spanish 3. Within each class folder, there are folders for each chapter and each chapter has a folder for grammar and one for vocabulary. She has folders for each chapter that includes games, assessment, worksheets and activities, and Power Points. She also has folders for other documents such as beginning and end of the year documents and odds & ends. I admire her organization because it helps to make her job much easier. During her planning period I also helped her watch her Spanish 3 classes’ videos which were quite humorous! They were to make a video which includes advice about how to succeed in a new school–which they were to give to a new student at Mill Creek. A group of boys did the most incredible video! It was so fun to watch how creative students can get and I look forward to becoming a teacher and watching my students not only learn Spanish, but enjoy and have fun with it!

Today was quite an interesting day at school because it was the day after the new President-elect was decided. Upon entering the front office, I heard the main secretary on the phone with a worried parent who thought their child was not safe at the school for some reason. The principal gave a reassuring speech after the moment of silence reminding the students that regardless of which candidate they support, we are all Americans and should therefore all support the future of our country and its leaders. Ms. Pickens’ Spanish 3 classes have a test on Friday so they pretty much reviewed the subjunctive the entire period. I enjoyed the acronym DISHES that she uses to help the students remember which verbs are irregular in the subjunctive mood. The students did a speaking activity in which they used the problems that she wrote on the board to give advice to their peers about what to do to solve the problem. They then did a listening activity where they listening to a person call in to the doctor and explain their problem and listen to what advice the doctor gave this patient. The students then had to decide if the advice was logical or illogical.

During second period, I went and observed Profe Thigpen’s Spanish one class. He is quite a unique teacher to say the least. He used the phrases “right on” and “rock out” many times throughout his class and you can definitely tell that having fun with the language is his top priority. He began his class with reminders about dates and such and then gives a tip of the day on how to learn a second language. The students then had to translate two sentences from English into Spanish and one of the words in his sentences was “Sick nasty!” which required the translation of “Qué asco” which I thought was a funny interpretation but most definitely fit his personality. His class is far more noisy that Ms. Pickens’ and even when he was speaking, several students were still talking amongt themselves. His students were using the language lab today and it was such an exciting lesson to observe! These bins come down from the ceiling and each student has a headset that has a microphone attached. Through the teacher’s computer, he or she can pair up students and when they speak into the microphone, they are speaking to this designated person only. The teacher can listen to their conversations, chime in to the conversations, record the conversations for assessment, etc.

When I returned to Ms. PIckens’ classroom third period, I paid more attention to the students during the speaking activity and realized that they need to be heavily monitored or else they will not do the activity. I feel that the students need to be watched for the majority of the time or else they will get off task. During this period, she talked to me about their Results-Based Evaluation System Individual Goal Plan which teachers have to complete once each year. Their plan must include the teacher’s goal, their rationale for this goal, and then strategies for implementing this goal. They must evaluate this goal in the middle of the year and then write a conclusion at the end to accurately assess whether or not they achieved this goal. The conclusion includes an implementation plan, baseline data (i.e. statistics), indicators of the students’ success, and tools and methods to measure this success.

Her AP students went over their homework assignment and then worked on a worksheet about sequencing, which was introduced to them on Monday. It was so funny to me to notice how little the high school students listen and how she will repeatidly say something and without a doubt, a student will ask her a question about something she said numerous times beforehand. After thsi worksheet, the students learned the perfect tenses and went over the structure and formation of them and how they coordinate with the participles to become a compound tense. The students were then issued a double-sided worksheet to practice the perfect tenses and Ms. Pickens modifies the worksheets and tells them which numbers to skip because these are concepts that they have not gotten to yet.

At the end of the school day I interviewed on of the Assistant Principals, Mr. Brian Stiltner. After we spoke for a while I asked him what he enjoyed most about his job and he showed me something that I will never forget. He prefaced his answer by stating that “this is realyl cheesy” and after saying this he pulled out a card. He said he has had this card ever since 1992 and one of his students (he used to be a History teacher) gave this to him to thank him for believing in her and helping her to turn her life around. He told me that this is what he enjoys most; the relationships that are built with the students and the role model that you are to a child who may not have anyone else to look up to. He gave me very inspiring advice and told me more information about the Mill Creek community and the school itself.

Overall, this was an excellent day at school. I can already tell that I am becoming more and more comfortable in the school setting the longer I participate in this practicum. I think it is a great opportunity for us to get our feet wet and get advice from many different sources.

Today was such an excellent first day of my first true experience in a high school classroom. I grew up in a high school classroom because my mother taught high school Science, but it is truly a completely different experience now. I still cannot get over the fact that I am about to be THE TEACHER instead of the student that I have been for my entire life. Mill Creek is a beautiful, fairly new school in Gwinnett County and it is an understatement to say that it is a big school. My mentor teacher, Ms. Pickens, informed me as we were walking through the crowded hallways, that it is the largest school in the state of Georgia. I can definitely believe it–there are over 4,000 students!

I arrived at the school around 7:00 and could tell right away that Ms. Pickens was going to be a wonderful mentor teacher because she is so willing to let me participate and open to letting me experiment within her classroom. She is so friendly and truly a personable teacher with her students. She is the AP coordinator at the school and therefore teaches AP and both Honors and Academic Spanish 3 classes. Today, as she informed me, was an unofficial senior skip day-quite early in my opinion-but nonetheless, there were about ten or so students missing from each class. Her first three periods are Spanish 3 and they were in the computer lab today. She says that it is very hard to get time in the computer lab but wanted to give the students a break. She is a strong advocate of using technology in her classes. All teachers at Mill Creek have a web page accessible through the school’s website, and she uses her for many purposes. Her students logged on to her web page and did a Day of the Dead activity that involved them answering questions based on the research they found on several given websites. After they completed this activity, they played games online to practice the subjunctive mood because they have a test on Friday. I knew from the very beginning that Ms. Pickens is a very laid-back teacher because she did not walk around and monitor that the students were actually doing the activities on the internet and she would even blatantly hear noises from another online game and simply tell the student to mute it. I was watching the students and only a handful were actually doing the subjunctive activities–the rest were on other web pages or playing other games that were clearly not educational. She did not speak hardly any Spanish, which I am not very fond of. Besides giving sporadic commands, she did not speak Spanish at all. Fourth and fifth periods are her AP classes and she definitely used more Spanish, but did not speak it entirely. She first showed a Power Point presentation about the subjunctive and sequencing and then gave the students a worksheet to complete. After giving the students time to work on the assignment, she simply read the answers to them. I felt as though she needed to ask if the students had any questions or assess them somehow to ensure that they understood the concept. She is very open with all of her classes and speaks to them in a very personable manner and definitely tries to use their language. She is extremely carefree in that she does not care if students walk in after the bell rings and allows the students to pack up and line-up at the door before the bell rings to signal the end of the class period.

Sixth period is their ACT period which consists of an advisement period that allows students to study, read, do homework, and be advised about their future. She is not an avid fan of this program because she thinks it is simply a waste of a lot of the students’ time, but it is definitely a solution to the problem that there were too many students and not enough time during the regular school day for them to all eat lunch. Her planning period is seventh period and this is when we spoke about her lesson planning. She plans for the entire year and saves her lesson plans on a Word document. She simply goes back and looks at what she did on that particular day and modifies it based on what worked best and if this lesson would still pertain and function the same this year.

I am much more at ease simply after the first day because I am coming to realize that teachers are not expected to know everything. I am definitely not fluent in Spanish and this idea frightens me so much. I want to feel as though I am a well-qualified teacher and I do not feel this way right now. Ms. Pickens put me at ease and said that the first year is all about learning and becoming confident in your job. She says that as a teacher, you need to portray an image of a learner as well so that the students realize that you are also always learning new things and new words in the language and you can learn together as a class. She is easy to admit that she does not know something and will simply look it up and not sweat it. She was extremely comforting because I worry all the time about not knowing something when I become a teacher.

I am eager to continue with this practicum and am excited to interview the teachers and the department head later this week. I am fortunate that I have a teacher who is willing to let me not only mirror a single activity, but an entire lesson. I hope that at the end of these two weeks I feel more confident in my ability to teach in a high school setting because these students are so fun to work with and eager to learn if the teacher provides the information in a innovative and exciting way.

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