Unit: Las Riquezas Naturales en Colombia

 

In my level 5 class, we are aiming for Intermediate High as the goal for the course.  Of course, the individual students vary, but I want Intermediate High to be known as I do my research for what authentic resources and what content I choose.

We teach a chapter entitled "Las Riquezas Naturales" and I was looking for a more focused approach as I designed my IPA and after collecting a lot of authentic resources and trying to determine what cultural aspect would be interesting to the students, I decided to focus on the landmine epidemic in Colombia.

Every unit, I aim to use art and music as authentic resources and cultural insight and I felt that I was getting something in this direction through Juanes.  I watched the movie Living on One Dollar with my 9-year daughters one day and knew I had to us
e it in the classroom. The movie shows the reality of true poverty in a country in Central America and is very inspiring to want to help to make a change.  So I was also aware of the nonprofit organization Kiva where people ask for loans.  Some other bloggers have created a project with it also.  Putting this together with a Colombian focus gave me a true vision for the unit.  I knew that I had to get the students to see the beauty in Colombia and the harsh reality that citizens face.  So my backward design and path of study has settled on the following:
(we meet on block schedule.  80 minutes every other day)

UBD

I am in the process of re-working my units because I want to LEAD with culture.

For many years I polled students regarding what they wanted more in class and they always said more culture.  I struggled with this because I didn't know what culture to give them beyond the "cultural Friday" bits.  It was basic!

Then I started letting #authres take the lead and I realized I was missing out.  So as I continue this journey, let me show you the forms that I've created to hold myself accountable as I plan:

unit template

Unit: El Valor de la Idea

Our textbook, Imagina, has a chapter called El Valor de la Idea
I took this opportunity to show how groups have been able to overcome and work in solidarity.
I was able to get some inspiration from Kristy Placido, Srta Dentlinger and Martina Bex as well as my colleagues as this is a college-credit bearing class and I got to work with a group for planning.

Here's my planning for this this:

Proficiency Wall

I think that being aware of the proficiency levels allows us to guide our students in their growth. It's our job to know what those descriptors are (which in itself can be convoluted when you start analyzing samples of their work) and to know what students should be focusing on to go to the next level.

And....students need to know the jargon also.  They need to hear it, see it, be aware of what they can truly work on in order to improve.  So I have a proficiency wall that I display.  I teach grades 11 and 12 so I want them to see lots of pieces...but maybe your students need to see less.

Either way, I'm sharing my grid (which is kind of like my key...see below) and my blown-up version so you can print out your own or save and modify.

  

Speaking Modes

Using the IPA guideline proposed by ACTFL and has really led me to acceptance of different skills in speaking modes.  Presentational mode and Interpersoal mode are quite different.

When I give time for students to prepare, they can focus on creating a clean message and ensure they use effective grammar and vocabulary.

When I ask students to converse with another speaker, they start out strong in regards to grammar and vocabulary, but those elements tend to quickly disintegrate as the focus is on the message and the fact that they don't have complete control over the conversation.

So I realized that I needed to use different rubrics.  And I need to make them aware that we focus on different elements in the different modes.  So I made a checklist for them to use.