Teaching Spanish in the
Inclusive Classroom
Lynne Sanders
Rutgers Phase 1
Spring 2015
Lo general…
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The general purpose of the following lesson was to help students to be
able to create a poster presentation describing who they are by
identifying themselves using Spanish adjectives.
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The timeframe for the lesson was 6 days.
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The class was composed of 7 students ages 14 and 15 all currently
enrolled in the 8th grade.
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Of the 7 students, five have IEPs, three are heritage speakers of
Spanish, one student has a one on one, and all have been removed
from the traditional school setting because of behavior issues.
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The average English reading level of the class is 4.8.
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There are normally five adults in the class including myself.
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On any given day there are several students missing for a multitude of
reasons.
Día uno…
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The topic was introduced with a review of the verbs SER and
ESTAR. Students previously learned how verbs are conjugated
and they also learned that there are two verbs for the English
equivalent ‘to be’.
We watched the following video that describes the difference in
usage in order to provide examples of proper SER usage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHxnqP9Dh9o
We then made a chart outlining the usages of SER and copied it
into our notebooks.
Students were asked to list any words they could think of in
English or Spanish to meet each category description.
Differentiation: Hispanic students were challenged to list 5
words in Spanish. Some students were allowed to use
dictionaries. Other students worked with their one-on-one to
create their list.
Día dos…
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We again reviewed the use of the verb ‘to be’, but this
time specifically the verb SER.
We watched the following video that specifically targets
the proper conjugation of SER:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=princess+of+ser&F
ORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=4E10384C356AE614F1B24E10
384C356AE614F1B2
Each student placed examples of their words from
yesterday on the board and we decided whether each
word fit the application of SER.
Differentiation: Hispanic students were addressed and
required to respond only in Spanish. Other students
worked with their one-on-one or staff.
Día tres…
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We reviewed the idea of a cognate and asked
for examples.
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We presented posters and focused on
examples of the cognate adjectives as a
group.
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Students were paired in leveled groups with
more advanced or heritage speakers working
together, on-level students paired, and
students with one on ones working with their
assigned staff.
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Students were given ten minutes to identify
as many cognates as possible.
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Students were asked to list their findings in
their notebooks.
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Fist bump out the door: One adjective that
you learned today that describes you.
Días cuatro y cinco…
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Do now: list your group’s favorite or most interesting finds from
yesterday on the board.
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We presented teacher example of ultimate goal: create a poster
identifying ten adjectives that most define who you are. We also
presented alternate options.
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Step one: students created a list of their ten adjectives using any
of the resources in the room…lists from the board, posters,
dictionaries or adults.
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Step two: Students presented list to teacher for review. Some
were redirected to check for accents, spelling, or understanding.
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Step three: After receiving teacher signoff, students were given
their poster board to begin creating posters.
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Fist bump out the door: One adjective that you learned today that
describes the teacher. Careful now!!!
Día seis…
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Do now: finish artwork.
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Students were asked to present their posters to the class
telling us which adjectives they found to identify
themselves.
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All posters were displayed around the room.
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Fist bump out the door: If you had to pick one favorite
word to describe yourself, what would it be?
La estrategia diferenciada…
There were opportunities to differentiate throughout the lesson.
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Heritage speakers were required to work as much as possible in
Spanish in order to challenge them at a higher level.
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Students who were generally on level were encouraged to ask
questions to heritage speakers and paired with them to practice
pronunciation.
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Some students were assisted one on one to prepare lists.
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They were also required to produce fewer words on a day to day basis.
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Some students were held to higher standards of pronunciation and
accentuation and some were graded based on completion of the project.
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Some students were allowed to use the dictionary for assistance.
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Several students were allowed to work on their projects in their
homeroom in order to complete the work in the timeframe established.
El mentor…
Typically, my mentor attends and participates in
this level Spanish class on a daily basis. His
observations were as follows:
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lesson was well planned and took the appropriate
amount of time.
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played Spanish music in the background as
students worked on certain segments of the
project. Good classroom management technique.
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students seemed to work well together in the
groups assigned.
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as students competed their projects, they were
able to hang up their own poster on the wall.
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advised that some students complete their
project outside of the class. Adjustment made.
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appropriate redirection as needed.
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positive reinforcement using easily understood
cognates.
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excellent differentiation techniques, challenging
some students to higher level but not losing
others.
La introspección…
My thoughts: in general, I was pleased with the way the lesson flowed.
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This was an introductory lesson that was taught to a fairly new group of
students, so I was able to use the activity to learn about who these
students are and introduce myself.
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Students were able to accomplish the overall goal of being able to
identify ‘quien soy’.
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The objective was concrete and measureable and connected to prior
knowledge well.
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Some level of differentiation was accomplished in that the
requirements and the timeframes for each requirement were adjusted
to meet the needs of each student.
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I would have liked to spend more time on the actual pronunciation of
the vocabulary and will work to incorporate that function better in the
future.
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Some students finished fairly quickly and I need to make an adjustment
to address that need. I think that adding more words or the spoken
component should address that need.
Los recursos…
I used the following resources to aid in the
preparation of this lesson plan:
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The posters purchased from Teacher’s
Discovery were the basis for the idea.
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The videos are all found on either
youtube.com or teachertube.com and
have been compiled over the years that I
have been teaching.
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I found it helpful to create my own
website in order to quickly reference my
materials in different teaching scenarios.
As I teach at different levels and in
different schools, it helps to be able to
access things quickly via internet and
also provides a useful tool for my
students.
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http://spanishismylife.wikispaces.com/
Al final…
I learned a lot from this lesson:
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It helped me refocus on teaching younger students and meeting the
needs of children in the inclusion classroom. As a specialist and a
college professor, I did not often previously have to make the
adjustments that I now need to make on a daily basis.
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I am learning that building a relationship with these young students and
gaining their trust is critical in the learning process—especially in the
environment in which I teach.
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I have also been challenged to hold high standards for students that
have often been discounted as unable to perform.
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I have enjoyed having a mentor with many years of experience who
gives me frank and useful assistance.
I look forward to helping my school build a better program to meet the
unaddressed needs of my student population and helping them acquire not
only content knowledge, but learning strategies as well.
Requirements
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BEGIN WORK ON GROUP PRESENTATIONS BEGIN WORK ON PROJECTS
demonstrating competencies relative to Standard 4: Content Knowledge.
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Project will address Differentiating Instruction.
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The expectation is that projects will include (1) a lesson plan incorporating the
assigned instructional concept, (2) student work products reflecting that
candidate has applied the concept during instruction, (3) reflection on your
implementation (4) collegial input from a mentor, peer, or supervisor (5) useful
resources to support peers with practice integration (e.g. websites, toolkits,
affinity groups), and anything relevant that will add value for your colleagues.
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In short, this assignment requires you to plan a lesson with your mentor or other
colleague, deliver it, collect work samples from students, reflect on your practice,
and discuss resources you used to support your professional learning about this
topic. Candidates are free to present the project content as desired. Some may
choose traditional delivery methods such as posters or PowerPoint presentation,
while others may want to try something more creative, i.e., creating a google site
or video documentary to showcase their work.
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Projects will be graded using provided RUBRICS.