Education Philosophy

There are two things that I have always been sure of. The first is that I have wanted to minor in Spanish as a college student because I absolutely loved learning the language and sharing it with anyone I could. Like most students, I initially struggled with choosing my major. After taking two years of Spanish at the university level, I excelled in my classes and I discovered that I wanted Spanish to be my primary emphasis of study.

The second thing that I was always sure of was that I loved school. I have always loved school for as long as I can remember. I love the environment, the material, and even the anxiety. Most of all, I love learning. If I had to pick one theme to sum up the meaning of my life, it would be that I want to learn as much about the world, the things in it and around it, and those things not apparent that surround it. I will never fully learn or understand everything but what better place for me to expand my knowledge than the classroom?

The key to my education philosophy is to maintain a classroom environment where a student craves to learn ( just as I crave) and to have active participation that comes with understanding that mistakes are ok. One way to create that environment is to show the passion I have for what I teach and for overall learning. I am eager to teach Spanish to my students and since I have that devotion, it is likely that they will share that same enthusiasm. Showing my passion for the subject matter can be as simple as smiling when I teach or as structured as implementing activities that genuinely engage my class in the elements and culture influencing the Spanish language. Giving students the opportunity to listen and experience first-hand accounts of cultural perspectives throughout the school year provides a direct connection to what they learn and the world around them. As the students advance in their language capability, inviting speakers who will speak their native Spanish contributes to more exposure of differing accents and terminology while being temporarily immersed in a new culture. That is the type of authentic experience and positive learning atmosphere that I hope to provide my future students.

I remember the first time someone spoke Spanish with me outside of the classroom. I was astonished at how much I could understand (and how much I couldn’t). It is vital to a student of a second language to know that making mistakes is normal and that I, as the teacher, will make mistakes but when you learn from that mistake, the new knowledge in imprinted. Once the student achieves that understanding, they begin to participate more without being self-conscious and participation is necessary in order to effectively learn a language.
I also believe that it is crucial to make Spanish relevant to their life as a student as well as a future adult in order to foster higher learning. The best way to do that is by engaging individual interests during classroom activities that demonstrate the standards of second language education. Spanish, for example, has compositions that are necessary and the students will make them congruous by using verb tenses and conjugations involving a subject that they specifically enjoy. If a student enjoys soccer, for example, they can write an essay about fútbol and do additional research on Spanish vocabulary involving soccer and it’s placement within Latin-American culture. It gives the student some control over what they are learning without straying from the educational standards.
Furthermore, encouraging parental involvement in the classroom is a contributing aspect of education. Today, in a classroom of 25-30 students, there is most likely a parent who can speak another language such as Spanish. I would like to invite them as a volunteer to share their experience with speaking two languages which would provide the students with continued language acquisition.

Technology is vital to learning a second language as well. Using up-to-date programs that provide audio and visual activities in class promote the four main aspects of learning any language: Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. Today, students can be more engaged in the technology that they use every day and we can access great features such as those listed below that I plan to utilize in my classroom. Even better, most are free of charge!

· Podcasts with native speakers
· News articles published online in Spanish
· Live web-conferences with students in Spanish speaking countries
· Enjoyable videos pertaining to Spanish culture and language

With technology comes an additional point to my educational philosophy. It is important for me to engage in continued learning in order to provide my students with the highest quality education. I am adaptable to change and enjoy learning new teaching techniques and technology that fosters any type of effective learning.

Another indispensable aspect of my education philosophy is acknowledging the importance of learning a second language, the opportunities it will bring a student, and it’s needed placement within a student’s educational experience. Not only does knowing two languages open doors for job opportunities but science indicates that higher cognitive development takes place when you learn an additional language. For example, you become more aware of your native language and gain better listening skills. Learning a second language has also been shown to increase scores in other subjects, such as mathematics, as documented by the College Entrance Examination Board. It is imperative that I communicate these valuable attributes of secondary languages to students, their parents, and their school in order to justify the class as a valuable elective.

In closing, by supplying a stimulating environment while imploring the students’ interests, by maintaining educational standards, by showing students my passion to teach and learn, and not only understanding the subject matter but the matters of my subjects, I will provide my students with a meaningful education and experience that I can only hope will stick with them for as long as it has for me.

Kuna School District - Schoolmaster

Kuna School District Parents,

I would like to invite you to explore our exciting tool for communication between teachers, students, and parents. Schoolmaster™ is the innovative software used for our Student Information System (SIS) which boasts features to keep you, as the parent, informed on your student's scholastic progress. Schoolmaster™ enables us to track grades and attendance, communicate this data to parents using an online portal called PASS (Parental Access Support System), and so much more. See the list below for features pertaining to parents.

Parents Can Access:

• Academic Plan
• Attendance
• GPA History
• Messages
• Progress Reports
• Schedule and Classes
• Test History
• and Much More!

I would encourage you to check out this interactive Demo for PASS. Use the Login and Password shown on the first page.

http://www.schoolmaster.com/products/PASS/web_demo/smframe.htm

In addition, the Kuna School Distric has developed a module tailored to our parent's in order to aide them in using this tool. View the PDF below.

http://www.kunaschools.org/resources/documents/PASS/PASS%20Guide%20for%20Parents.pdf

I will be using the academic plan quite a bit to keep you updated on what we are doing with Spanish throughout the year. I will also be messaging parents through PASS to sign permission slips for our 2 culture field trips. I will update progress reports 2 times during each semester so please utilize them and encourage your student with the feedback given!
Login information will be given to you at your scheduled Parent-Teacher Meeting in 2 weeks.

For more in depth information about Schoolmaster™, please visit:
http://www.schoolmaster.com/

Sincerely,
Sra. Jennifer (La Maestra Buena) Violette

Spreadsheets in the Classroom

Mr. Oliver's Pumkin Project

I was very interested to see how a teacher could creatively adapt a spreadsheet for a classroom of early elementary students. I really enjoyed Mr. Oliver's lesson on Pumpkins and the relation between there weight and how many seeds they have. The classroom of 2nd graders were attempting to answer the question, "Do larger pumpkins have more pumpkin seeds?"

Using spreadsheets (quite cute I might add), students gathered information about the weight, counted seeds, and even had predictions. In the end, students could compare their data to other groups and see the relationship between the pumkin weight and amount of seeds.

Mr. Oliver was able to integrate counting in 10's and technology use in the classroom of 2nd graders! I was aprhensive at first because the students were restless during the directions portion of the assignment but WOW did the get in to it! I can't imagine my little sister, who is in the 2nd grade, using bar graphs and spreadsheets. I am impressed.

Adaptation

As far as implementing the use of spreadsheets similar to this one, I think it would be an intereting idea to compare words in Spanish, English, and a few common Latin based languages in order to view cognates. Cognates that are words that you can understand in another language because they are so similar to your native language. In English and Spanish for example:

television = televisión
phenomenal = fenomenal
immigration = inmigración
clear = claro

By creating a table, we can keep track of those types of words and possible predict what we think could happen by the end of the semester. We could answer questions like, "How many cognative word will we have learned by the end of the semester?" or "Based on cognates, theoretically would it be easier to learn multiple languages after mastering 2?

I think it would give language students an opportunity to understand how most western languages are truly rooted and adapted from Latin and each other.

I really enjoyed checking out School Spreadsheet Safari also because it has great links to activities using spreadsheets as well as simple resources for understanding terms and usage within Excel. Check it out!

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110054/

Juegos para la Clase

I was definitely looking forward to this weeks assignment but when I started to do it, it was extremely time consuming and frustrating. Mostly because I teach an elective course... Spanish. Surpsrisingly, I struggled with finding ANYTHING relevant to my classroom. I even tried to shuffle my way around it.



First, I searched Spanish. Nothing.

Then, English. Nothing. (Rationale being that in order to understand a new language you have to understand your own.)

Music. Nothing worthwhile. (Rationale being that language and music are linked to the same area of the brain.)

Then Spain, Mexico, South America, Maps, Foreign, Language. NOTHING.

There was even hope when I found a game about Aliens speaking their own language but it wasn't.



So then I strayed from all the listed sites to find some games on my own. Not necesarily embedable but still worth while. I will link one of them below:



Cocina con Abuela (A cooking game that would be fun during that section of the text)

http://pbskids.org/mayaandmiguel/espanol/games/cooking/index.html


However, I must stick to the assignment and I found a fun alphabet game. There is no sound but what I found myself doing, was saying each letter out loud in Spanish before I allowed myself to click on the corresponding letter. It was a blast and gave me practice with my Spanish letter sounds. See the game from addictinggames.com below:

http://www.addictinggames.com/alphabethunter.html
(I wanted to embed but there wasn't an embedable code and I tried using the html I know of to embed and it just popped up with an X.)

This may be a strectch but I think it is worth the alphabet practice.

If I had really bad taste... I could post the game about illegal immigrants from Mexico trying to out run the police.

Classroom Nettiquette

"Nettiquette" de Esta Clase

~*~

It is important to protect and respect each other while in cyberspace. It sounds like a self-explanatory situation but the smallest changes and awareness with what we online can streamline the process and make it far easier to understand each other. :-)

Una Guía Para Usar la Red Informática

~*~

Communication

• Keep emails/messages short and concise. It is important to understand that people value their time and do not want to sift for valuable information.
• Even though it may seem like it saves time and space, using too many acronyms (e.g. BRB, LOL, TTYL, etc) can cause confusion and distraction. It is ok to use them once in awhile as long as they are widely known and appropriate.
• Refrain from using CAPS to emphasize a word. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING. Try using an italicized word or underlined work instead.
• Control your "forwards." Yes I know it's funny and I have received it from 12 of my other friends but excessive forwards can become overwhelming in any mailbox.
• Please include a subject in the subject line when sending messages. It helps with visual scanning and effiency.

Respect and Privacy

• Treat others as you would want to be treated. This is a day-to-day value and one that should be used online. It is important to not bully or discourage others. If you experience this or have questions, you can see me confidentially or email me.
• Do not give personal information online. If someone asks for your address, phone number, social security number, or anything similar, do not give it to them. We will not be using any sites that require this information.
• Ask questions! I continually learn new things from you and you should share these tips with your fellow students.
• Be patient and helpful to those who are new at using certain online tools.
• At no point is it acceptable to share or read personal accounts from other students unless there is specific permission to do so. You all know the importance of privacy :-)

Remember: What you do and say will represent you not only in life, but online. All life's core rules and school rules should be observed when participating in online environments.

YouTube Playlist

On my YouTube Homepage I decided to make 3 separate playlists in order to separate content for my future students of Spanish. The playlists I created are:

Spanish Mini Lessons
Spanish Funny Tidbits
Cultural Videos from Spanish Speaking Countries

I decided to do this for students who want to view certain types of videos. The mini lessons are videos that may aid a student in further understanding of certain topics we have covered. The current playlist can be viewed here:



The Spanish Funny Tidbits will be for some comic relief (in Spanish of course) and will be fun for students to relax while listening to the language they are learning. See some here:



The last category I created was Cultural Videos from Spanish Speaking Countries. I want students to gain a new cultural perspective about the countries that speak the language we are learning. Watch these cultural videos here:



To make these playlists, I created a homepage through YouTube and compiled my favorite videos thus far. After choosing my favorites, I added them to the separate plalists that I just told you about. I hope that you explore this tool and create your own page of favorite videos for your future students to utilize!

Jigsaw Method

If I had a topic in my Spanish class to research (like an artist or event) I could break down the important details into sections of information. Each of the 5 small groups in my class would be responsible for teaching this information to each other within the groups. If my classroom only had five computers, I would allow each "expert team" on the individual subject to meet at the computer and do research together about their specific topic. The other students can be using their books and the library for other research methods until they have the opportunity to meet with THEIR specialized group at the computers. After meetings with the expert teams, all original groups can meet back and begin the instruction phase.

One advantage is that it makes the students responsible for their own learning and by doing that, they learn through experience and hold themselves AND others accountable.

The disadvantage is that this can be too much of an ideal concept. You could have unruly students or entire groups and your "methods of implementation" just go out the window. Also, I would guess that some follow up lesson plan would need to happen in order to ensure that the students understood the pertinent information. I'm sure that many students could feel panicked in this teaching method because they are relying on others to gain information for a future test.