transactions rather than simply using numbers on paper. Of course, given the Spanish 1 status of the classroom, the biggest obstacle the activity needed to clear was encouraging the students to give their best Spanish effort, reverting to English as infrequently as possible. While several students did speak Spanish regularly, a good portion of the class was so excited about the activity, they neglected to use it as the form of practice it was intended to be. While the activity did not fully encourage students to practice their Spanish, a few minor tweaks could render an already successful lesson into something truly effective. We talked about several options that John might pursue in the future throughout the post round. Each observer noticed that students were referencing posters around the class as vocabulary reminders regarding numbers. As a result, posting more reminders about additional vocabulary around the room might further encourage students to speak in Spanish, even if they need to use their resources to do so. On another note, John’s mentor teacher suggested that John empower the sellers to fine the buyers whenever students use English instead of Spanish. Hopefully, allowing students to monitor each other in a low-stakes fashion would play upon the competitive nature of students. To have the best chance to win the game, students would need to use Spanish whenever possible. While these minor changes could increase the effectiveness of John’s lesson, I want to reiterate that I found the lesson to be well planned already, and it was a pleasure to observe!
transactions rather than simply using numbers on paper. Of course, given the Spanish 1 status of the classroom, the biggest obstacle the activity needed to clear was encouraging the students to give their best Spanish effort, reverting to English as infrequently as possible. While several students did speak Spanish regularly, a good portion of the class was so excited about the activity, they neglected to use it as the form of practice it was intended to be. While the activity did not fully encourage students to practice their Spanish, a few minor tweaks could render an already successful lesson into something truly effective. We talked about several options that John might pursue in the future throughout the post round. Each observer noticed that students were referencing posters around the class as vocabulary reminders regarding numbers. As a result, posting more reminders about additional vocabulary around the room might further encourage students to speak in Spanish, even if they need to use their resources to do so. On another note, John’s mentor teacher suggested that John empower the sellers to fine the buyers whenever students use English instead of Spanish. Hopefully, allowing students to monitor each other in a low-stakes fashion would play upon the competitive nature of students. To have the best chance to win the game, students would need to use Spanish whenever possible. While these minor changes could increase the effectiveness of John’s lesson, I want to reiterate that I found the lesson to be well planned already, and it was a pleasure to observe!
Johns-round-reflection.docx