Carmen Lomas Garza Lesson Plan

This is a lesson I created last semester based on the Integrative or Inductive Model, which I think is sadly underused in many foreign language classrooms.

Lomas Garza

In order to gain a deeper understanding of Spanish-speaking communities, students examine Chicano culture through the artwork of Carmen Lomas Garza. Students discuss what generalizations can be made based on their findings, and also what insight they have gained about their own culture and interaction between cultures.

Objective: Create a matrix of information gathered from works of art. Analyze data to make generalizations about culture and tradition. Compare and contrast findings to gain greater awareness of one’s own culture.

For the complete lesson, visit: Carmen Lomas Garza | Spanish Lesson Plan

Pre-Service Teacher Portfolio

Since my main goal in creating this blog was to reflect and expand on what I was learning throughout my teacher preparation program, the idea of a teacher portfolio has caught my attention. One of my textbooks has a section at the end of each chapter with suggestions of things that could be created and added to a portfolio based on the content of that particular chapter, which has definitely got me thinking. I’ve also seen quite a few teacher portfolios that are based on the InTASC Standards, but they have been more geared to teachers seeking National Board Certification and there are not as many examples for pre-service teachers.

I began brainstorming some materials that could be included under each standard that would be more relevant to pre-service teachers that may need to present a portfolio as part of a final assessment in their program, or just want to have the materials and ideas ready as they prepare for interviews and their future job search.

Requiring ‘demonstration lessons’ before hiring teachers

From the Washington Post, Education section:

D.C. schools aim for selectivity by requiring teaching candidates to give tryout lessons

This article reminded me of the teaching demonstration I was recently asked to do for an interview. In fact, before I even came in to do the real-life demonstration I was first asked to send a video of me teaching a lesson as well. It’s definitely refreshing to hear that this is becoming a more common practice, but apparently it is still a rare sight across the country. I can’t imagine how you can hire a teacher without seeing her in a classroom first!

Teacher recruiting has traditionally been about resumes, references and interviews. Tryouts under actual classroom conditions remain rare. For example, a new survey of Los Angeles teachers by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that only 13 percent were asked to do a sample lesson as part of their screening.

Using current events in the classroom

Integrating current events in the classroom has a lot of obvious benefits for students. Making content more relevant to students and increasing global awareness are the first that come to my mind. I truly believe in using authentic materials whenever possible, however I know it can sometimes be an added burden on the teacher to seek out appropriate resources.

Last semester I created a microteaching lesson plan for ESOL students focused on answering and forming Wh- Questions about current events. Finding level-appropriate news articles and putting together the worksheets definitely took some time! But unlike other more “timeless” materials, when you are using current events as the foundation for your lesson there are inevitably going to be elements of the lesson that you can’t re-use in the future because they will no longer be relevant. Therefore, having the resources at your finger tips is key if you want to include current events in your lessons on a regular basis.

In the process of planning and evaluating that lesson, I’ve come across some great resources to help teachers integrate current events into their teaching in a more structured way. There are dozens of great websites out there that I never had time to really look into, so I welcome you to share any other resources that you have found to be useful in your lesson planning!

Future tense and the Zodiac

Recently I was asked to do a teaching demonstration in a high school class of Heritage Spanish speakers. The topic of the lesson was practicing the future tense, and I actually found this idea originally as an ESOL lesson but it was easy to adapt for Spanish. For the purposes of this post, however, I will provide the lesson instructions in English so it can be converted back to ESOL or used in other languages. (Original lesson plan can be found here.)