Teaching Strategies
As a native Spanish speaker, Spanish is taught differently at home than in a classroom. When taking Spanish classes, I learned from the dominant instructional model which was the formal/structural approach to foreign languages, with a heavy emphasis on vocabulary drill, grammar, and conjugation. Foreign language teachers all had experience abroad and would add an element of culture to their lessons. For heritage speakers, Spanish classes are not easy for them; they are to an extent, but many forget that heritage speakers do not learn grammar at home. Heritage speakers do not learn about their heritage in the history classroom and often do not learn about it at home. For this Heritage Spanish course, we will be using teaching strategies that students have encountered in their History and English courses.
Inquiry Based Learning
Inquiry Based Learning is another way to get students curious about learning. This strategy allows students to analyze primary and secondary sources for the lesson. This can be used as a substitution for Direct Instruction, where the teacher is lecturing and introducing a historical biography. With Inquiry Based Learning, the lesson will not begin with an introduction, instead students will analyze primary and secondary sources along with having the task of answering the guided questions provided by the teacher. This can be modeled during Direct Instruction by the teacher. For this unit, Inquiry Based Learning will be used when introducing the six Latinx biographies.
Peer Teaching, Student Presentations and Whole Class Discussions
Peer Teaching is when students help or teach their peers about an activity or topic. This allows students to learn from each other by explaining their ideas to others. In this unit, students will be creating a children’s biography and teaching their peers and an elementary grade class what they have learned. This gives students confidence in their work and allows students to work on their presentation skills.
Student Presentations allows students to share what they have learned not only with their teacher, but also with their peers. This allows students to take pride in the work they have created and builds confidence. Students will present their work twice in this unit, once to their peers and the second time to an elementary school class. These presentations will be using writing pieces and Google Slides. They will share the information they have learned through these presentations.
Whole Class Discussions are part of every classroom. It involves the participation of every student in the classroom. This strategy is used in the beginning and/or ending of the class in order to guide students to a topic or to gather student opinion after an individual/group assignment. Whole class discussions are an excellent way for students to guide the learning process and have input in their education.
Guest Speakers
Guest speakers often provide an outlet for students to learn from someone other than their teacher. In the high school setting, it can sometimes be difficult to schedule guest speakers. I am fortunate enough to have block scheduling at my school. Having guest speakers come present, read, and/or discuss with students is beneficial to their learning. Use the speaker to enhance the material you are covering. A guest speaker conveys current, realistic information and a perspective on a subject that is not available from textbooks.”58 This is a fantastic way to present primary sources on any given topic. In this unit, there will be guest speakers in my classroom. The guest speakers will be from the Tulsa City-County Library. At the Tulsa City-County Library Hispanic Resource Center, there is a collection of the history of Hispanic people in Oklahoma. Students will be able to hear from the guest speakers about prominent Hispanic people and the role they have had in Oklahoma’s history. This will be a great resource for students when they are working on their biographical project.
Online Platforms
COVID-19 has changed the way we teach and distribute materials to students. My school district started with Google Classroom in the Spring 2020, but for the 2019-2020 school year, it was switched to Canvas. Regardless of how the 2020-21 school year begins (virtual or in-person), online platforms are not going away. For this unit, online platforms (Canvas) will be used to upload worksheets, uploading links to sources, and having students submit their work. Canvas is connected to other online platforms like Mango, Ed Puzzle and News ELA. All these platforms are free and can also be connected to Google Classroom. Pear Deck is an interactive tool that allows students to interact and/or give feedback in a variety of ways on Google Slides. JamBoard is an interactive whiteboard with a pen, laser, and sticky notes. Students can interact from their own device and the result is a whiteboard that looks like a collaborative brainstorm on a whiteboard at school.
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