Here we are again at the end of another school year! I'm feeling lots of mixed emotions. Obviously I'm excited for summer and very proud of everything that my students accomplished this school year. However I'm also pretty sad that we have to end the year remotely. I have been so impressed that students continue to show up and engage in lessons online. It really speaks to their focus on learning and character!
This year I have LOTS of highlights, because we had LOTS of good times in our classes! Presented in chronological order (starting from the beginning of the year), here are some highlights from the 22-23 school year!
Calendar Talk
I loved getting to know students by talking about how they felt and what they were doing in Spanish and putting it on our calendars. Every week there was something going on, from birthdays to games to weekend trips, and getting to hear about my students' lives and talking about it in Spanish personalized the class as well as help us get to know each other.
Simulations
For most units in World History class we had a simulation. Could you survive in prehistoric times? Would you be a successful merchant along the Silk Road? Who would win the Panhellenic Games, the original Olympics? It was great to see students engaged and competitive to learn about how life was like in various ancient civilizations.
Towers of Knowledge
One of my favorite games we played this year was the Tower of Knowledge, where groups of students wrote unique sentences on notecards and then used them to build the tallest tower! One of the best things that happened in all my classes this year was the level of positive collaboration, and this game was one of the activities where I saw it the most! The skills used in this activity also helped increase student's growth in our monthly timed writing checks.
Free Choice Leer
At the start of the second semester, 8th and 9th graders started each class by picking out something to read in Spanish. Renowned language acquisition researcher Stephen Krashen says "People acquiring a second language have the best chance for success through reading" and "Picking up word meaning by reading is 10 times faster than intensive vocabulary instruction." Students were able to engage in Spanish text that were of interest and at the appropriate level for them, and they were able to use what they read to improve their writing!
Qué Asco Food Day
I'm just not one of those "food day" teachers like Mr. Bynum and his German waffles 😝, so having anything other than fruit snacks in my SOAR store or candy for game winners is a big stretch for me. So when students pressured me to do a food day, I compromised and connected it with Señor Wooly's song "Qué Asco". Apples with soy sauce? Qué rico! Takis in milk? Delicioso! Oreos in A1 sauce? Mi favorito! It was really funny to see which kids would try the different combinations and record their reactions.
Class Stories
In 6th and 7th grade Spanish classes a few students worked with our classroom helper Valentino to create a story that was told to the class. These stories were based on the ideas of students and it was great to see how their interests came through in the unique stories. The classes enjoyed getting to illustrate the different stories and come up with their own alternate endings!
Holi Celebration
7th graders were learning about Ancient India in February and March, just in time to celebrate the annual holiday of Holi! All 7th graders got to participate in various activities from coloring mandalas, playing games that were invented in Ancient India like chess or chutes and ladders, and watching videos related to the holiday. The feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive so I think this may become a tradition!
Cinco de mayo Grudgeball
Continuing with holiday celebrations, the loudest fun we had all year in Spanish class was definitely the Cinco de Mayo Grudgeball games. After reading a short text in Spanish about the holiday, students got in groups and played an intense game of Grudgeball. There were tears, there were shouts of joy, and there were a lot of fun.
El Antídoto del Dragón
When you read "14 minute long animated rock opera in Spanish about a princess and a dragon" you might not think epic bop, but if you talk to most of my 6th and 9th graders, they'd tell you the truth - that the princess is one major hero. Seriously, the classes CLAPPED at the end of watching the video. "No temas a las mariposas" (IYKYK).
Elimination Game
What better way to practice telling a story in Spanish and play a game in Spanish than a murder mystery Who Dun It? The 7th graders loved this game so much they were begging to play it everyday. Similar to the game of Mafia (but without all the negative associations to organized crime and violence) we would get in a circle and I would select who would be the eliminators. Once they were selected, in secret, they would choose who to eliminate. I would tell a story in Spanish about how this person got eliminated (one student drank water and got sick, another one fell off a tube in the Sandcastle lazy river, you get the idea), and then we would vote on who we think eliminated them! After we played the game I would type up the story and we would review/illustrate the different scenes.
All in all we achieved a lot in Spanish and World History classes this year and we had lots of fun too! I hope everyone has a great summer and I look forward to teaching my rising 7th and 8th grade Spanish students next year!
