The first class I took over was Spanish 5. It was a little unusual to take on a higher level class as my first experience in teaching in an urban setting, but I am very glad to have had this as my first class. I took over this period 6, Spanish 5 class with the understanding that I would challenge these students not only with regards to the structures of Spanish language, but to have this be an interesting, cross-curricular and yet challenging curriculum. I believe this class set the tone for the rest of my practicum, and allowed to be to set high standards for all of my classes subsequently.
The majority of the students in the class were “Goddard Scholars”, an academy of South High that is devoted to challenging some of the highest performing students in the district to high standards of excellence and rigor. Students in this class alone have been admitted to: Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Boston College, Holy Cross, and our very own Clark University. Coming up with a challenging curriculum for these students was not necessarily difficult, it was actually a lot of fun, I was able to explore some of my own areas of interest. It did however set a standard for curriculum creation, that I tried to follow throughout the rest of my classes once I was teaching all academies.
Throughout this initial unit on Mexico we discussed a host of topics. The unit was entitled Mexico: Past, Present, & Future, and we wrestled with:
Pre-Columbian history, “Mestizaje” (How everything is a hybridization of what came before), the EZLN, NAFTA and Neo-Liberalism, The Day of the Dead.
Overall I would say this unit was very successful, and got me really to think initially about how to challenge students.
It was also during this initial unit planning that I began experimenting more with review games. Review games are central to my teaching philosophy, and I was always interested in playing games that synthesized information, this particularly competitive group of students really convinced me of the value of these games as a way of not only reviewing, but building classroom communities, lowering affective filters, and changing up the pace of the classroom to maintain interest and engagement.
During this unit I was able to engage with the community on a few occasions. First in celebrating the day of the dead where we not only ate and responded to the interview of a local Worcester baker from Mexico, but also with students bringing in Poems of their dead loved ones to celebrate the day of the dead, celebrating epiphany, and in sharing our journeys to the United States.
For more information on all of this please visit my teaching philosophy illustration.
Sample Lesson Plans
LAP Day of the Dead- Review and Plan
You must be logged in to post a comment.