Time for some fun!

One of the problems I have encountered with my classes this semester is that I have not factored in enough fun. We have had two tough units in a row (Spanish Civil War and Detective Novels) and although the kids have learned so much I feel like it is time to loosen up and have some fun.

So, there will not be a new reader for our final unit of the semester! Yay! I am going to go back to short stories and really focus on meaningful but fun activities and assessments for our final unit this year...TECHNOLOGY!

For this unit, I am going to ask the students to create projects that would help their peers and future students learn concepts that we have covered this year. If someone asks me, I may even let them do how to succeed in the flipped classroom! I am a big believer in giving some free reign on the methods of the delivery of this project, but it must incorporate technology. I spoke to one of my peer teachers and she said she recently assigned a technology project where she said Power Points were forbidden. She had the kids choose a way to present from http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ . There are some cool ideas for projects there. The kids will also learn some technology vocabulary and I feel confident there will be lots of speaking! I am looking at not only discussion questions about technology, but revisiting the prompts from the Google Voice assignments this semester.

I am thinking about giving the final before the Unit Assessment for this unit so that I have time to grade an effective assessment. I am planning on having the kids do a writing prompt which incorporates their knowledge from the semester. We will also have a listening and speaking prompt. Then, we can watch the Unit Assessments during the end of the semester and the kids can focus on studying for their other classes. Our school mandates finals in just about every class, so the kids are really stressed those last two weeks!



I am preparing for my conference in Chicago this summer, and I am excited that I am going to work with a colleague to do a professional development day on the flipped classroom in my school district. I have also been approached by another school to deliver a half-day presentation on the flip! I am so excited to share my passion (and get to do some free traveling!)

Finally, finals!

So, after almost an entire semester (finals are next week), the majority of complaining about the flip has ceased. Students grades seem to be spot on, in comparison to past years and the students performance in Spanish II. There are a few exceptions, but they have extreme circumstances. For instance, I have a student that is usually an A student who has a C in class. But she missed some class and never came in to do a retake of a quiz.

I am looking forward to our last Unit Assessment, which is a conversation about the students futures. We have done quite a bit of practice, and I love hearing my students say "Hey I can say way more than I thought I could!". I feel like their listening and speaking have improved quite a bit over the semester....much more than their peers from previous years.

I will say that since there are so few quizzes (6 for the semester) and only 3 Unit Assessments, the kids can be in big trouble if something goes badly wrong. For example, I have 6 students that wrote their fairy tale (the Unit Assessment for the last unit) with a translator and they received a 0. They are all looking at Ds right now. After the Unit assessment next week, there grades should improve, but they can never truly recover from something like that happening.

Some students have asked for more quizzes, shorter vocabulary lists, and there are a few holdouts for a word bank. However, I really don't believe that 35-40 vocabulary words every two weeks is excessive. I keep hoping that they will choose to study over the entire 2 week period instead of always waiting for the last minute.

As I believe I have mentioned, every student can retake every Benchmark Assessment (or quiz). They are required to have "a ticket" which is more practice for grammar, or writing vocabulary words a certain amount of times. I have increased the "price" for the retake as we have continued through the semester, hoping to encourage them to do it right the first time, and for many of them, this has worked. Still, I am surprised by how many students never take advantage of the retake. When I talk to them about it, the answer I usually get is that they are too busy with sports or their other classes. Sad :(

The Final Exam for the semester is going to be an application of the material that they have learned this semester. This is making some of my students crazy, because they want a study guide, a list of exactly what will be on the test, etc. I have told them I am not giving a grammar or vocabulary assessment. They are going to do a writing sample, which will be a letter based on our fairy tale unit. The prompt incorporates fairy tale vocab, future tense and direct and indirect objects. The example I gave them to try was as follows:

• Cinderella lost her shoe again and the prince found it. Write an email that says: 1. When you will return it, 2.  When you will get married, 3. Where you will live after the wedding.

The listening section will be a listening that I gave them earlier in the year. (I have told them that the listening would seem familiar, but the majority seem to not get it). It is from the Challenges in teen life unit. It is a video where a girl is telling about her life. The first time I gave it to them, I had them make a list of unknown words and define them. This time, I will give them some open ended questions that they will have to answer. When I write them, the questions will include verbs in the perfect tenses.

The reading selection has presented a bit more of a challenge, and honestly I am still wavering between a government reading and a legend. I am probably going to use the government reading but ask simplified questions. I have decided that I am going to give them the reading first and then after 10 minutes give them the questions. I am SO tired of students not reading things, just finding the answers to the questions.

So, my plan is that the final will be fairly easy if they did their work all semester. I think it will be way better than my exam of old which had the reputation of being "scary" and a "monster". I'll keep you posted!