In part because my name has, in fact, changed, and in part because Xanga is now blocked from school (when I most need to reflect/access reflections), it is official.  I'm now Sra. Spanglish on Blogger.

Of course this incarnation (can one be "incarnate" in a virtual world?) is not much more stable than past identities based on my professional affiliations or even my own name, as my school is looking at doing away with "subjects" and "courses" starting next year.  Nevertheless, I remain a linguistic pedagogue at heart (Linguistic Pedagogue...maybe should have gone with that name?), and I like being bilingual.  And surely I can mix some bilingualism into whatever and however I teach.  Even if our schools must abandon titles and all respond to Comrade instead of

We shall see.

That said, I've imported my summer grad school ramblings and then begun with a condensed identity crisis and will resume posting there:

BOTH Spanish 2 classes went awesomely yesterday.  They have very different chemistries, so I'm going to go ahead and attribute it to my fabulous teaching strategies.  Here's what I did.

In the name of avoiding serious controversy two units in a row (making "altars" for Day of the Dead rankled some fundamentalist feathers, but alternatives that I believe achieved the same goals were reasonably successful), I have opted to revive the First Aid unit early.  Also, it seemed a good idea to get into things like reflexives, object pronouns, and commands before delving into narcocorridos--of which I have not gathered enough anyway at this time.

The First Aid unit is going differently, however.  Rather than try to group ALL of the vocabulary from the WHOLE pamphlet (which I still am a little in love with), I'm taking it in its sections.  We're starting with vital signs and CPR, which I think is logical, and not more than any of my young ones can masticar.

First right move: smaller portions

I also went through those first 2 pages and collected vocabulary that I thought would be useful in interpreting the text, but also necessary in producing something later (the product, I am still working on).  It also provided a handy preview to the unit.

Second right move: anticipatory vocabulary

I mean, I've done vocabulary before reading for a while now, but the last time I did this unit, I focused more on vocabulary for the eventual project, reducing relevance to interpretation of the text, and my choices were more like textbook lists, too hung up on making a complete themed set than adhering to the text.

I've also been working with semantic maps and grouping for a while, including last year's First Aid unit, but I tried a different approach this time: I presented the English versions of the words they'd need to know and had them group THOSE as a class first.  That way the connections between the words were in place before they found the Spanish.

Right moves #3 & #4: semantic mapping, scaffolding

Oh yeah, and to look up the words in Spanish?  They did not use dictionaries (supposedly--it did look like some snuck them).  They had to figure out from the context of the authentic text what would be where.  Of course they got some wrong here and there, but it was really a treat to watch them find the right ones.

Right moves #5 & #6: authentic text as vocabulary source, literacy skills application

There were 36 words, however, so I divided the labor: each table of 3 got 5-8 words (depending on the class) to try to puzzle out.  That way it was a little jigsaw-y, but also collaborative!  They could confirm or question each other's findings, and I saw that working a lot.  New Schools Project is big on "classroom talk," and I heard some marvelous examples of it while they were puzzling!  It was very exciting.

Right moves #6 & #7: division of labor, collaborative group work

Then we went through the English words we listed one by one, but in the order of what they'd arranged on the smartboard as a class (their lists were alphabetical!)

Right moves #8-#10: technology incorporation, student pronunciation, vocabulary scramblification

The words that no one found I STARTED to give them, but then I realized, if we talked through the thought processes one should use to find them, then they would get a lot more out of it.

Right move #11: literacy skill modeling

There have been some vocal requests for worksheets, so I made it an option for stations.  I said they'd eventually have to get to the worksheet station, so all but 2 in the class of 15 went to that one, and ALL went to it in the class of 20.

Right moves #12 & #13: heeding students' voices, offering choice

I must say, I'm really pleased with how the worksheet went, too.  Students worked together to puzzle through it.  The whole thing WAS in Spanish.  That's right, I just made a list of clues for the majority of the words in Spanish, and not only did they have to figure out what the clue was saying, but they had to put the vocabulary word from the list with it.

Right moves #14 & #15: promoting cooperation AND interpretation

The cool thing was that every student was engaged, that every student was getting it.  And when I say "every," for the first time I may really mean it.  I mean, some of the distractable parties were still distracted, but I still saw them making connections!  The 2 who opted for the game ended up making flashcards of my pesca cards, but, by golly, they were catching on!  And everyone was thinking through the Spanish clues, even if they didn't make it through as many as their driven classmates.

Right move #16: flexibility

Everybody was so engaged in the "classroom talk" and the collaboration and the interpretation, that I just let them keep going, and we had a quick game of hangman at the end of the 20-kid class.  For the follow-up, I believe there will be more stations and probably some delving into the text with deeper interpretation.  Now to figure out how to work in the interpersonal and/or presentational aspects.