In my Spanish 1 class, we have watched up to minute 14:49 of episode 2 in the series Go! Vive a tu manera. We have spend a lot of time watching, reading (guides here and here), and talking about the show, so now it is assessment time. Since, we have spent so much time on the show, I wanted to have an assessment that weighs a lot. And I also wanted to make sure that I am hitting lots of modes of communication.
I am sharing here in case anyone can use and/or is curious about what an assessment for a TV Series might look like. So, here is my assessment and an explanation of the parts.
Part 1 is interpretive reading. Students read quotes (not actually from the show, but rather comprehensified versions of what characters said) and fill in the blank: __________ lo dijo a __________ for each quote. Students have seen these quotes (in slideshow here and in their reading guides).
For Part 2 is interpretive listening and reading. This Edpuzzle is very similar to what we have been doing in class before we watch. Students did this Edpuzzle earlier in the week. The video is me describing a section of the show that we have not seen yet (slides from this slideshow). You will notice that the questions are almost all multiple choice (21 total questions) and really, I am tricking them into getting more CI.
For Part 3, students will do things. First, they will identify the characters from the show. They will see this slideshow and write the name of each person.
Then, they will write about one character.
This slideshow is something that we did in class to help prepare them for that part.
For Part 4, students will do this Edpuzzle. This section is not worth a lot.
And finally, Part 5 addresses the ACTFL Communities Standard:
Students will answer these questions:
If you have read this far, I hope this has been helpful! And if you have any suggestions, please comment below. In the future, on another assessment, I hope to include slides with screenshots and have students write about what happens in each.
I was fortunate to get an advance copy of Sr. Wooly's new graphic novel Me llamo Víctor Parte 1. Before receiving this copy, I had already ordered a class set of this book because I know how wackily engaging the three videos are. Students weirdly love all three: Guapo, El secreto de Víctor and Feo... and so do I! My favorite is definitely Feo, with Sarah Breckley, who goes all out (on another note, this video of hers is awesome).
Here is a description of the book:
Anyways, Sr. Wooly sent me the book and asked that I be totally honest and share my thoughts about the story, good or bad. So, here are some of my thoughts...
My younger son, 11, was super excited when I told him about the book. So, we watched the trilogy together the other night to get ready for the book. I will definitely do this with my older students when I get my class set of this book. This will be an excellent pre-Thanksgiving break activity for us. Then, they will get to read the book during SSR. This book is a perfectexcuse to re-watch those three videos.
My son and I read the book together this evening and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book (as would be expected) is engaging,suspenseful, and intriguing (my son's adjective).
My son and I found ourselves signing as we read a few times. #MuyMuyMuyMuyGuapo
I think a lot of students will be able to relate to young Víctor... and for a variety of reasons, from his life to the people and things he encounters at school. Some examples:
Cringy school assemblies that go a bit overboard
Mean girls
The "favorite" teacher
Nagging parents
An overachieving sibling
There are also some connections to a classic horror novel, which many students will recognize.
The illustrations by Juan Carlos Pinilla are outstanding. I am sure that when I read it again, I will notice more and more things.
There is definitely a hidden message in the book! (See below)
It also left me wanting more. Parte 2 comes out in early 2020 and I will definitely be getting that book as well.
Note: I do not work for Sr. Wooly. I did not even have to write this up. But, I will say that Sr. Wooly (and his nuggets) is an integral part of my Spanish 1 curriculum and I appreciate what Jim and his team do so much. They are passionate about offering engaging content for our students, so I am happy to support them!
We finally finished episode 1 of Go! Vive a tu manera in Spanish 1. It took us a long time because we did a lot of work before watching and then went very slowly through the first episode with lots of comprehensible reading (see more in this post or see webinar video below). Students are really liking it and acquiring a ton of Spanish.
I used the screenshots that Leah made and created comprehensible dialogue bubbles throughout. And there are also two Texting Story videos with fake text messages between Lupe y Juanma. I will probably use them (in very small chunks). Then, we will watch (with Spanish subtitles). Then, we will do the readings together as class. There will be lots of personalization throughout and there will be lots of pausing -- which my students are now accustomed to and actually appreciate.
Thanks to Teacher's Discovery, I recently presented a webinar about using TV Series in the CI Classroom. I am sharing the recording of it below in case anyone is interested in watching.
In my Cultura y Civilización class, we started our “Perspectivas de la Inmigración” unit.
I LOVE the Essential Questions, the resources (two songs/videos and two movies), and the assessments (comparison essay, caja de identidad, and Socratic Seminar) for this unit.
The main essential question for the unit is:
“What cultural practices and perspectives related to undocumented immigration can we see in forms of entertainment, specifically in the songs “Un besito más” and “ICE El Hielo” and the movies "Icebox" and “Ladrón que roba a Ladrón”? (Side note: I don't think I will be using Ladrón que roba a ladrón anymore, for a variety of reasons).
This unit is so important right now.
My students really have no concept of legal or illegal immigration and this unit is so eye opening. At the end of the unit, my goal is that students have a better understanding of how complicated immigration is (a wall won't fix it). I also hope that they have empathy for undocumented immigrants and more of an understanding of why someone would come here undocumented. And, newly, I want my students to have an awareness of the (more and more privatized) detention centers in the U.S., and specifically that more and more children are being detained. See this article, which states:
I have blogged about this unit, and it’s iterations, a few times. I always add something new and like to share for other teachers to save them some time.
So, this time around I have added a second movie - thanks to Bethanie Drew! The movie is “Icebox” (watch it for free here). Here is the trailer:
Because I just added this movie at the very last minute (like one day into the unit), I haven’t had time to create many resources, but it is so good, that I had to show it! So, what to do to give students some CI related to this movie?!?
(This is nothing revolutionary, but I am sharing anyways.)
If you use stories in the classroom, making sub plans that include input is easy. I am out tomorrow and below is what my Spanish 1 students are doing during our 85 minute class. These plans could be easily adapted to any story! And this could be a sub day or a day for the teacher to relax a bit (for a day similar to what Kristy Placido recently wrote about), but still have students get input.
Listen and Read: Students will review the character descriptions from Go! Vive a tu manera. They will do this Textivate Sequence (with (robot-like) audio) about Juanma, Gaspar, Agus, Sofí, Zoe, y Simón. The sequence has 3 activities, one matching English to Spanish and two that put the description sentences in order. You can see the character description sentences here. If you use stories, I highly recommend a Textivate subscription! In addition to excellent sub plans, I use it for weekly homework.
Listen and Write: Students will do a cierto/falso dictation. They will listen to me on Flipgrid. This is also about the characters in Go! Vive a tu manera (click here to see the sentences that they will hear). I love doing dictations and they are so good for so many reasons. I have started to record myself on Flipgrid because it really helps students to be able to go at their own speed. And Flipgrid is better than a recording because they can see me.
Write: After getting lots of input about the characters, students will write sentences comparing themselves or people they know to five of the characters. I will give them some examples:
Lupe es creída y mimada. Yo no soy creída y mimada.
Mercedes es inteligente y exigente. Yo también soy inteligente y exigente.
Álvaro tiene pelo corto y castaño. Mi hijo también tiene pelo corto y castaño.
Zoe tiene un hámster. Yo no tengo un hámster. Yo tengo dos gatos.
Speak: On the same Flipgrid, students will record themselves saying their sentences. I will be the only one who sees their videos (I have set it to moderated so the videos are hideen) and I will respond to all of them, which is so fun!
Read and Listen: If students finish all of this in class, they will work on the nuggets for La invitación. I love those nuggets! If you don't have a subscription for Sr. Wooly, I highly recommend it!
