Unit: Musica y Baile

Music and Dance

We’ve gone through multiple versions of our dance unit.  We tried to make it culturally focused on dances, but found the students’ interest and engagement was divided.  We decided to focus on creating an authentic task for what our students would really do in their lives.  

This is for our 10th graders, a level 3 Spanish class.  We teach in block schedule (80 min) and meet every other day.

They post everything..so why not have them post about their experience?  Do they have a concert experience?  Some do, some don’t…either way we’ll make a unit that gives them tons of these experiences! So we didn’t lose culture…we are focusing on pop culture and we know they love music! We're going to fill their brains with stories and experiences about concerts!  We started many days with Senor Wooly Una Cancion Original but didn't require anything with it...just wanted it to get stuck in their heads!

I am really proud of this unit.  I set up the typical IPA a bit different than normal in the fact that we began with a presentational performance.  However, this is not the beginning of the year, we know our students’ abilities and this is in their performance ability.  We used this text (I’ll admit it’s a slightly modified authentic resource…I’m always aware of our mental and time limits!) as a springboard and I kept asking about it all unit long. 

The PowerPoint for the unit

Task: I can share details about my concert experience.

We share this with the students from the very beginning and remind them on a regular basis when we unpack the daily learning target and how it connects to the big picture.

Overall Plan (* = graded work)

Day 1: Connections to music unit

Day 2: Introduction to Artists * (writing IPA)

Day 3: Justin Bieber story

Day 4: Justin Bieber story * (“vocab” focus)

Day 5: Alvaro Soler La Cintura story

Day 6: Alvaro Soler La Cintura lyrics focus

Day 7: Alvaro Soler Puebla story

Day 8: Alvaro Soler Puebla point of view * (“grammar” focus)

Day 9: Alvaro Soler Puebla Dance

Day 10: Chino y Nacho Niña Bonita Concert

Day 11: Nacho “Concert” * (Reading IPA)

Day 12: Events and emotions  

Day 13: Beyonce “Concert”

Day 14: Story Ask and Write together (to serve as “review”)

Day 15: Evaluation*

Day 16: Celebration

Unit: Involucrado para mejorar la comunidad

This unit is soooo great....it feels so authentic!

I've always loved it. (here's our old version that is solid)..but my colleague and I have made some tweaks that are really powerful to create flow as we guide our students to the final evaluation.


First change:  Rename it (again)!  Involucrados para mejorar la comunidad
I wanted to showcase our goal (create a proposal to our partner college to help communities in need of assistance), so the name makes more sense.  I do one daily translation a day and that's with our daily learning target and sometimes I build the title into that procedure.  I just use my magic pointer finger (which requires English which is normally a no-no) and point to what they translate...and I focus on morphemes a lot.  So for example when we translate para as "in order" I immediately put my pointer on the "ar" in mejorar and pause while they say "to" before moving to the root verb and they say "better".

Second change:  Use an authentic photo for my cover page.
No more cute clip art if I can help it.  I want true representation of the target culture and that's great fodder for communication.  We spoke about it various teams throughout the unit because there's a lot going on.  They also asked questions (!!!) about it.  I will promote and encourage authentic questions ALL THE TIME because they are an absolute essential skill for intermediates.

Third change:  re-evaluate our mini themes to ensure that we are giving examples of ways that communities are being helped so the students have a foundation of ideas (and tons of tons of input based on #authres).

Viva El Toro

Our second unit of the year for 10th grade is a reader and our goal is an interpersonal assessment.  We read Blaine Ray's Viva el Toro (and hopefully we'll get the new edition next year!). This unit has definitely shifted and grown as we've incorporated IPAs to be our structure for a unit.  There are so many fantastic authentic resources that support bullfighting and I'm sure that we'll include more in the future.  We wanted to structure this similar to a Socratic Seminar in which students referenced different resources to link them together.  We set our goal for Intermediate Low and try to model and encourage effective communicative skills throughout the lesson and also focused on asking questions on a regular basis.  We set daily learning targets and try to hold the students accountable each day with closure in regards to that goal. 

Playlist

My Five Favorite Lessons

Following Martina's lead of #MyFive, I'm sharing my top five fave lessons that I think are useable with all units.

1. Beanie baby toss
1 did my mariposa lesson in my unit called perspectivos de muerte that we studied to align Día de los Muertos. It's a lesson plan format I'll copy again because it engaged students and increases their level of accountability.

Teacher provide hook. in this case we did a Mariposa hand clap (just replace chocolate)  https://youtu.be/zWCLNACNObg

Teacher provide first round of comprehensible input. I pulled out my objects with butterfliesbutt at a time and gave input and asked questions (pics below)

Beanie baby toss as a class:  class stands in circle and give one word you associate with mariposa when you get beanie baby.

Teacher provide more input. I created a "book" and had students readalone before more comprehensible input and engagement via plickers 

Beanie baby toss with partner (same as before but not each student shares out more)

2. Salad bowl

Martina shared this 8 years ago. Carrie Toth describes with pictures on her blog post. It is fin and really gets the vocab into their heads!

3. "Close Watch"
When we have students read, we do a lot to get them to do a close read. I started doing that with videos this year as well. Whether it is a music video or not, the first viewing requires students to watch and write on whiteboards all they can see in Target language. They write nouns, actions, people, etc. Teacher calls on everyone to report out a word and then writes on front board. Watch again to try to get five more. Teacher can pause video and provide more CI and refer to the words the students provided.
The next watch can then be specific to your goals of the video.

4. "What's that?"
Gather around table in the middle to see what teacher has. I leave all objects in the giant "pot" for an suprise element.  As I pull out, I describe and ask some questions (thinking about giving them ideas and vocab they'll need for next idea)

Then hand out sentence strips (aka sentence starters) and students form their sentence when ready and teacher can elaborate or comment on students sentences when appropriate

5. Achi Pachi

Trick them into practicing questions through repetition.  My friend Senorita Walpole wrote a blogpost about it

My 5 Blog post Influences

Here's my top 5 Blog posts that had a huge impact on my classroom:

1. Encouraging L2 from students
La Maestra Loca Points System
Huge game changer and easy to implement!

2. Sentence stems

THE THREE-STEP SYSTEM FOR GETTING STUDENTS TO DO THE TALKING

Such an easy trick to prepare students to participate in a group conversation. No more crickets!

3. CI Tips
Notes from NTPRS 2017
high-leverage strategies ...those yielding amazing results with minimal effort

4. Deskless
Joining the trend!

Benefits of going deskless

5. Vocab List-Less

I saw Amy Lenord present this idea at ACTFL 2016 and was inspired!  I have really tried to lessen the list and depending the unit may have no list!  Added support from Carrie Toth

Spanish 5: Perspectives of Death

I wanted to make this unit to align with the PERSPECTIVES of Day of Dead. For the last few years, it was on family traditions, but we wanted to tweak this to give the students more to talk about in their final interviews.

We also set our goals on creating experiences and going slow.

Overall plan:  Perspectivos de Muerte

1. Vamos a Morir (movie talk and song analysis)
2. Holiday Comparison (show clip from El Libro de Vida)
3. Art: Jose Guadalupe Posada (IPA reading)
4. Cemeteries (stations, including a chat station with teacher)
5. Mariposas
6. Ofrenda (lots of hands on stuff)
7. Perspectives of Death (Octavio Paz quote)
8. Work day 1
9. Work day 2
10. Interview & on-demand writing

I would love to add a day about the parade in Mexico City.  I had no idea about this.  Hollywood actually inspired the new tradition.  Prior to 007, there was no official parade in DF and the parades were in small towns.  I feel like this could be a rich discussion.  

RESOURCES

Choice HW (this was quickly made, so it’ll have to be added to as I collect more #authres)

Youtube playlist

Cuentos y Leyendas

This is our intro unit for Level 3, 10th Grade.  We make the goal clear from the beginning with our students.  We're doing a unit in which they'll have to retell a story popular in the Hispanic culture at the end at Intermediate Low.  So we created a unit with Backward Design in order to build them towards a successful presentation. We set daily learning targets and try to hold the students accountable each day with closure in regards to that goal. 

Soy Yo additions

I am still very happy with my level 5 intro unit, but as we do, had some areas I wanted to improve in.  So using my unit, I think the big changes were to "pelo malo" and Frida Kahlo.

1. We wanted to spend more time actually talking about Pelo Malo so we could try to get to perspectives...this is always a work in progress, right?  Identifying products and practices is fairly easy (not for all in the target language!)

a. To better prepare, we changed the "world beauty" article to focus on African influences.  I did take this article and (eek!) altered it to make a (practice) interpretive article!  It's too long for my goal.  I want them reading authentic, but I don't want to overwhelm them and I want to stay true to my goals.

Frequent Feedback #4

My last post (for now) on feedback!

Feedback FROM the students

I want the students to give me feedback so I know what works, what they like and what they don't like.  So here are two ways that I can do that.

• Using an idea from @lamaestraloca for her classroom management system   
  
  That sign was so that we could identify certain characteristics that we want in our intermediate-level students. Making Connections is one that we have also. We reward away when they ask questions make comment and connections.  But regarding feedback FROM the students, it's just something that I make myself build in my lessons.  After I introduce or use something such as an #authres or an activity, I pause, point to the sign and ask students if they'd like to comment, question or opinion about it.  Now...it's in L2 and it's in front of the class, so I know I don't get full disclosure, but it sets the tone that I want their feedback and I encourage L2.  So maybe a student says I don't like the song.  I can ask if it's too slow or too fast or the wrong style and then I can ask if other students agree.  I reward points for those that speak up (ultimately giving them a celebration of some sort at the end of the unit if they make the goal) and get some insight into their opinion.
• I've blogged about my unit reflections before.  It's just another opportunity to get insight from them for my personal planning.  

I like my unit reflection.  It’s feedback for me about the students overall take-aways and their opinion of the unit.  It’s also a way for me to keep identifying the cultural Ps.  Sometimes my students tell me this is stressful, though they say it lightheartedly.  I don’t know why…it’s in English and there’s no grade!

Frequent Feedback #3

Self-Reflection
Students need to take time to do some self-reflection, goal setting and self-analysis.  Probably one of my number one additions this past year came after #ACTFL17 where I heard multiple speakers say that they have their students record themselves and then scribe it.  It didn't wow me at first and I really thought the students would despise it...but I was wrong.  Well, some students despise it, but many tell me they glean insight from it. So Alyssa Villareal @Villarreal6585 was so very kind to lead me to the Shelby County Schools' website (being updated here) that has sooo much that they share and I was able to get their transcription document.   I actually plan to make an interpersonal and a presentational form but one thing at a time!  I use flipgrid for this.  
1. Students record themselves (I'm working on asking them to respond to 3 prompts to show them the need to SUSTAIN their performance)
2. Students transcribe their performance....all the uuummms....pauses and reformulations.  
3. Students self-evaluate based on the descriptors...using evidence! 
4. Students set a goal
5. Students re-record and submit.

Frequent Feedback #2

Proficiency level goals

• We have goals set up for our levels.  I teach levels 3, 4 and 5 (though this year I'm taking a break from 4 and it's only my second year with 3 after a loooong hiatus).  We've set goals.  They *must* be performance goals although we use the word proficiency.  None of us are trained nor do we have any assessments that are independent of the curriculum.  

https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ACTFLPerformance_Descriptors.pdf

So, we share with our students the year-long goals.  

Level 3:  Intermediate Low (knowing some students are stepping into IM characteristics but not consistently)

Level 4:  Intermediate Mid

Level 5:  Intermediate High

And many of the teachers in my department have proficiency walls. With this, I can pause (when appropriate) to share out how a student's output met certain characteristics.  Or when I give directions for an activity and share the goals, I can refer to the goals meeting those characteristics.  

I have shared this before..but I wanted it to be prettier and after a few years working with it, I wanted to make some tweaks.  So feel free to use!  (Please know that my descriptor strength is at Intermediate and not Novice)  

• Weekly written assignment:  This is not new.  There are multiple schools of thought on homework, but I've received enough feedback from students to keep doing this.  They have weekly homework and must respond to a prompt that can vary from generic communicative practice (introduce yourself, you family, etc) to topic relevant to interpretive based.  Some weeks require oral response (flipgrid) and some are written.  They complete it and it's a 100% (that goes in the administrivia category which is only 10%!)  I then give feedback in the form of stars and steps based on the proficiency level goal.     
  

Frequent Feedback #1

I'm in mid-summer....but other teachers are posting about their back-to-school plans and I can't help but read them and think about next school year.  I'm really interested in focusing on being a coach to my students and providing feedback to them.  Feedback can take sooo many forms.  I'm going to do a few posts about giving them feedback in order to help students move forward in their path to proficiency!

 I want my class to feel relaxed but fun! So I'm going deskless this year!  I think the set-up sets a certain tone that this class is different.  And I can change the arrangement easily....circle talk, rows, teams!

Spanish 3: Salud y Medicina

Salud y Medicina

We created this unit to fit into our “health” unit.  In order to have a cultural lead that would engage students, we focused on the topic of “curanderos”.  We knew that we would have access to #authres to support this and that the topic would be interesting to students as they learn something new.  Our old way of performing skits in the doctor’s office was not realistic for most of our students nor was it an opportunity for them to feel like they were learning anything more than simulated uses of Spanish.  Curanderismo is a topic in which they are willing to discuss because it’s new and different to them.

Unit: Las Riquezas de Colombia (updated)

I've taught this unit for a few years, so it's a pretty solid unit at this point.  This year I did some tweaks that felt like the icing on the cake!

Per the UBD (Understanding by Design) framework, I shared the long-term goal of the unit.  I reminded on a daily basis the long-term objective and how the day's goal was connected.

We would be studying about different aspects of "lesser developed country" and the need to help a community and specific focus on children.

Unit Reflections

I'm reading The Keys to Planning for Learning right now in order to participate in #langbook chat. In finishing up chapter 3 #langbook chat about Lesson Design,@MmeCarbonneau posed the prompt about reflection.

I like my unit reflection.  It’s feedback for me about the students overall take-aways and their opinion of the unit.  It’s also a way for me to keep identifying the cultural Ps.  Sometimes my students tell me this is stressful, though they say it lightheartedly.  I don’t know why…it’s in English and there’s no grade!

I collect them, read all of them, make some comments so they know I’m not wasting their time and write down any ah-ha’s in my unit plan. 

So here’s access to many of my docs.  Some are level 4 and some are level 5.  They vary because the summative goal changes (mode and task type) and the content changes.

Feel free to use and modify.  I got the proficiency level reflection from @WLClassroom.

Unit: Poder de Solidaridad

I made some modifications from my unit last year, including the name, but there's a lot of the same.  A huge modification was changing my final assessment...it was lacking

something before.  My own children were working on their (5th grade) book report at home and that's when it hit me.  I have a lot of icons and symbolism in this unit, so I'd conclude with a Mystery Bag interview.  (I created a back up for students who "forgot")

Pinterest board
Youtube playlist
Youtube videos
Choice HW

Unit: Comunidades

I LOVE teaching this unit.  It started out from the textbook as En La Ciudad and as I worked to implement IPAs I focused on transportation and it was ok...not compelling though.  Then at ACTFL 2016 I got the inspiration I needed.  Megan and Kara from The Creative Language Class presented about making a meaningful curriculum and they shared this image and I was in!  If I was hooked, I new I'd get my students wanting to talk about this.

Goal Setting & Reflecting

I want my students to 

• know that I set daily targets each day so that our lessons have a purpose.
• reflect on their own learning towards that goal.
• set their own goals for the class and share those goals with me.
• evaluate their own efforts in class.
• create a plan or action steps to meet that goal and I want to hold them accountable to reflect on that.
• let me know what works and doesn't work in my class so I can plan accordingly.  

Therefore, I created a daily "participation" form. 

Unit: Tradiciones Familiares

Our level 5 is tied to a textbook, but we have the power to add/subtract/modify to meet our needs.  I'm very thankful for that.  I really don't like using a textbook, but can appreciate the need to find a common way to tie multiple schools together.  I also believe that textbooks were designed for teachers and schools to use the parts that fit their needs, NOT to do every activity in their.  They are speaking to a national audience and populations vary immensely across the nation.
To take advantage of Day of the Dead, I changed the order and decided to squeeze in more culture with unit 4. I shifted the focus to family traditions.

Unit: Sentir y Vivir / Soy Yo

This is a unit for level 5 students who are returning from summer break and I anticipate the majority to have a baseline of developing Intermediate-Mid.  So as we get back on track to get them to a continuous proficient level of Intermediate-Mid this year, we're starting off with a unit to let them talk about themselves and to finish with creating a Frida-inspired self-portrait that they can describe to an audience.

Let me also tell you that Kara Jacobs has a great unit that could be used for this simliar theme connecting to the AP theme Belleza y Estetica.  She's got free stuff to use...I wanted to use her ideas but have other themes to touch upon so time doesn't allow.