uploaded to Cougar Courses
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Literature
Circle - Choice Book Presentations
Students
present the book of their choice
While
reading your book, you should keep a series of notes (margin notes/annotations,
post-it notes in the book, separate paper notes, etc.) that you can use for
later discussion, both on-line and face-to-face, with your colleagues who have
read the same book. When meeting face-to-face, you will complete one specified
“literature circle role” for each assigned section of reading (ex: summarizer,
connector, etc.). This major assignment includes: on-line and literature circle
participation. You will write a one-page reflection about the literature circle
process, e.g. what worked, what didn’t work, how this would work with high
school students, and how this “fits” or “doesn’t fit” with your own preferred
learning style. Finally, your group will do a class presentation. Each
presentation will include:
. Each
presentation will include:
- 1 page handout (with APA style book reference, key concepts & book review)
- Skit (either directly from book or created by group to illustrate a main idea)
- Presentation Visuals (poster, PPT, overhead, and/or props).
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima.
The first thing that came to mind after reading this book was the amazing similarities Antonio, one of the characters from the book and myself. Antonio goes through various different stages in his life; Sometimes he would go through some difficult times just to reach his goals. That is how I identify with him, I'm going through some very difficult times myself but that does not mean I'm going got give up and reach my dream; If I need to overcome major challenges in my life just to reach my dream, then that is just a part of my journey to reach my goal.
One of the major themes throughout this book is religion,
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TPE 16
Juve Rocha
EDSS 547
Dr. DG
Spring 2012
TPE Reflection
One thing I learned through the course of the semester is the
importance of incorporating language into the content whenever you are planning
a lesson; in particular, how to incorporate language and content into a
thematic unit. As a bilingual individual I se the importance of maintaining a
primary language and use it to enhance a second language.
When
you are planning your lessons it is important that you consider the needs and
the diverse characteristics of all your students. You have to think about who are your
students? What is their cognitive development?
It is your responsibility as an educator
to find out information about your students, what are their learning styles, their
culture, what are their interests, likes, dislikes, plans for their future,
their goals; also, find out about the school’s curriculum. Talk to other teachers about participating in
a thematic unit, figure out a way in which you all can collaborate and come out
with a theme or topic from the regular curriculum that all of you can work in creating
a Thematic Unit. As group, make sure
you incorporate language, content and culture as part of your theme unit. When designing a theme unit also, make sure
you integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening into your activities.
Always
create activities where the students use prior knowledge; think of what you are
going to have students participate in activities as well as how they are to
complete assignments. These are some ideas on how to group students:
think-pair-share, trio, # of students in
groups, individually, as whole class, etc.
Students learn more while they “do” than when you, the teacher, do. Never, and I say never underestimate the
ability to learn of students, challenge them to think outside the “box”, to think
critically. Incorporate Bloom’s Taxonomy
whenever possible so that your students get used to and develop Higher Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS), which they will be using in their future education as
well. A crucial part of any lesson is
the assessment aspect of it. This is a
way of finding out if the objective of your lesson has been met. There are two aspects that need to be taken
into account when assessing students’ learning achievement. One, to know if there is improvement by the
students, to determine whether or not the expectations you set in throughout
your unit have been met by the students.
Have they mastered the skills, the knowledge and any other expectations
you have of them. Two, accountability; by doing this assessment, you are making
the student accountable for his own learning, and you also provide evidence of
his/her academic achievement to the school.
The beauty, I believe, of thematic units
relies in the way, if used and planned correctly, they provide meaningful
context for language instruction while at the same time provides a way to
reinforce the students’ academic learning skills. I know it takes a lot of time to plan and
create activities as well as to come out with strategies to incorporate into
your thematic unit, but when you see the results of all your hard work and
learning has been achieved, then all your hard work will be worthwhile.
Lesson
planning for me has been a struggle as well as something I have come to enjoy
doing, because knowing I am prepare to teach a class, it gives me a sense of
accomplishment and a sense that I can give my students the quality of education
what they deserve.
Plan,
plan, plan !!!
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Outcome Assessment
Juve Rocha
Dr. DG
Spring 2012
Outcome Assessment
The
Importance of Lesson Plans.
1. Why do you think is lesson planning
important?
2. How is lesson planning important for the
teacher?
3. How is lesson important for the learner
(students)?
4.
What are some of the aspects you consider when designing a lesson plan?
5. What are the major components of a lesson
plan?
These are just a few of the questions I
have asked myself throughout the course of my preparation to become a better
teacher. I struggle writing lesson plans
at the beginning of the course mainly because I was not familiar with the
process of writing, designing and/or with the different kinds of lesson
plans. I knew I was learning how to
write a lesson plan when I felt comfortable going into a classroom and teaching
a lesson following my lesson plan.
At the beginning of this course I did not know
the importance of Lesson planning and how much it affects the learning
environment of my students. Lets star
by defining what is a “lesson plan?”
“A lesson plan is
a teacher's detailed description of the course of
instruction for one class. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to
guide class instruction. Details will vary depending on the preference of the
teacher, subject being covered, and the need and/or curiosity of children.
There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan”.
(1)
One of
the things I have learned through out this course is that there are many types
of lesson plans developed or designed to help teacher prepare, organize and
keep a structured, student-focused learning environment.
1. Why do
you think is lesson planning important?
First
of all, it shows you are professional and you are committed to provide your
students with the best education they deserve.
It helps you to know exactly what you are going to teach, and keep things
clear on what to do every step of the lesson.
2. How is
lesson planning important for the teacher?
You
as teacher will come prepare with you lesson plan based on previous material
and ready for the lesson in hand. You
will know exactly what comes before and after, so you wont be lost in the
middle of the instruction/lecture.
3. How is
lesson important for the learner (students)?
This
is one of the most and crucial aspects of lesson planning, the students; they
have to know you care enough for their learning that you took the time to plan
in order for you to help them assimilate and learn the material in a more
organized and planned way.
4. What are some of the aspects you
consider when designing a lesson plan?
It is important for a teacher to address the different learning styles
of the students, as well as to keep the interested in any topic you are
teaching. Keep them engaged. Always make sure you vary every aspect of the
lesson, do not make it predictable have the students guessing what the next
activity, interaction will be used, or done.
As teacher you have to make sure your lesson make sense to you, because
if it does not make sense to you it will never make sense to your students.
Make sure there is a clear and smooth transition in between the different
activities in the lesson. Everything you do in a previous lesson has to be
something you build upon in preparation for the next lesson. Never
underestimate the students’ ability to learn, make sure you challenge them and
motivate them to want to learn more.
Flexibility is key in lesson planning, if something did not work or did
not go as well as you planned it in previous activities or previous periods you
have to be prepared to change gears and do something different in order to
assure students learning achievement.
5. What are the major components of a lesson
plan?
(4)
1.
Information about the learners
2.
Objectives and goals
3.
Anticipatory Set
4. Direct
Instruction
5. Guided
Practice
6.
Independent Practice
7.
Closure
8.
Required materials and Equipment
9.
Assessment and follow up.
One of the lesson plans I learned in (EDSS 547) Methods
class was the CALLA (The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach). This methods/type of lesson planning is one I
will be using in my future teaching career.
I am in the process of getting my teaching credential; my subject area
is Spanish with a BCLAD (Bilingual, Cross-cultural, Language and Academic
Development). It is important to me
because this type of lesson planning place emphasis in language and how
students develop their language skills needed for learning in school.
“The
Cognitive Academic Learning Approach is an instructional model for second and
foreign language learners based on cognitive theory and research. CALLA integrates instruction in priority
topics from the content curriculum, development of the language skills needed
for learning in school, and explicit instruction in using learning strategies
for academic tasks. The goals of CALLA
are students to learn essential academic content and language and to become
independent and self-regulated learners through their increasing command over a
variety of strategies for learning in school.”(2)
Other type of lesson plan I learned is the PACE
(Presentation, Attention, Co- Construction and Attention) Model. In this model the students or learner is
required to take a more active participant in his/her learning process. The pace model consists of clearly specify
the objectives of the lesson, ass well as the material that will be used in the
lesson plan, and the procedure is where the PACE model comes into place. The PACE model is made of four parts.
Presentation: this is time is used by the teacher to present
the students/learners with the grammar structure using appropriate texts. One of the things teachers might use through
this step is the use of pictures, TPR activities, this will motive the student
to participate and will help increase comprehension.
Attention: Now that
the teacher has the student’s attention is time to have students focus on the
language form, or structure. Teacher
will help maintaining students’ focus by using different types of graphic organizers,
transparencies, power points, handouts, underlining, highlighting, circling,
etc.
Co-Construction:
Now that students are focused on a specific target language form,
teacher and students will work together to co-construct the grammatical explanation. Teacher will provide students with different
scaffolding activities to and will also help students with questions they might
have. Teacher will encourage students to
reflect about what they just read, or listen to. If students have questions about
grammar/targeted language the teacher has to make sure students have an
explanation.
Extension: Teacher
will assign grammatical activities to complete tasks relating to the theme of
the lesson by doing so it will help with the communication and the use of the
targeted language as well as making sure students are learning a particular
structure.
Also,
in this model a teacher should include and encourage students to find out
cultural information about their theme/topic.
Another lesson plan I learned through this course
is the Thematic Unit. According to www.funderstanding.com - "Thematic
instruction is the organization of a curriculum around macro
"themes." Thematic instruction integrates basic disciplines like
reading, math, and science with the exploration of a broad subject, such as
communities, rain forests, river basins, the use of energy, and so on." By incorporating Thematic Units into our
teaching we build upon on students’ prior knowledge as well as some of the
students’ interests and making the topics discussed in the unit relevant to
their lives. One of the aspects I like
about thematic units is the fact that they address all the diverse students’
learning styles. Thematic Units are especially
important in teaching because it enables all ELL students to participate in
active learning. We as teachers have to
make sure we provide students with hands on activities, modeling, and most
important, to make all the differentiation and the adjustments needed for the
unit. These are some reason you might
consider if you decide to use Thematic Units; students will be bale to see the
“big” picture as well as to see what is the main objective/goal of the
unit. Also, the fact that you can
collaborate with other teachers from different content areas to teach a unit a
topic is a very important aspect of Thematic Unit. Teachers will repeat the
same vocabulary throughout the unit, and with the different content areas, by
doing so students will be able to retain better the given information. By creating a unit based on a theme teachers
will be able to make a connection between curriculum and students’ lives. If students are able to make that connection
and make sense of what they are learning then learning will come more easily
and students will be more interested and engaged in the learning process. One
of the things I really like about Thematic Units is the fact that you can use
any theme, and all themes are going to be dealing with human topics, therefore,
all students can be included.
These
are the components of a thematic unit: (3)
1. Theme
2. Grade level appropriateness
3. Focus
4. Objectives
5. Materials and resources
Printed resources
Computer/CD room resources
Internet resources
Audio/visual resources
Community resources
Instructional resources
Literature resources
6. General activities
7. Discussion questions
8. Literature selections
9. Culminating activities
10. Evaluation
11. related works of literature
Another lesson plan I learned about is the SADIE
(Specially Design Academic Instruction in English). Some of the aspects I learned about creating
a SADIE lesson plan are that there are a lot of techniques and strategies to
aid the students learning acquisition; for instance: link vocabulary and
language to prior knowledge, the use of “ linguistic cues” such as facial
expressions and gestures. Also modeling,
the use of graphic organizers, check for understanding, active student
participation, When corrective the student you have to be sensitive when doing
so; Always try to encourage your students to participate and express their
thoughts in English even though they are afraid of taking risk. Whenever possible make sure you display
students work, by doing this you will make them feel and know that their
efforts are being noticed and that their learning is important.
These
are the steps to prepare a SDAIE lesson plan: (5)
1. Subject
2. Grade level
3. Lesson topic
4. Academic content standards
(standards you are planning to address through this lesson).
5. Learning objectives/outcomes (measurable
objectives for this lesson)
6. Language objectives/outcomes
(speaking, listening, reading, or writing objectives you want to achieve as a
result of this lesson)
7. Into activities
- Background/summary (what came
before and what will follow after this
lesson)
- Entry/anticipatory (introduce
the topic/chapter, this is where you get students “hooked” into the lesson).
8. Through activities:
- Instructional Input (what you
will teach in this lesson, the steps you are going to take, vocabulary words
you are going to use, instructional activities.
This is the area in which you are going to incorporate most of your
SADIE strategies).
- Guided Practice (MODEL, this
part is crucial for students, specially those who are visual learners. As teacher it is your job to provide students
with examples of what exactly you want students to do in a certain activity and
how you want them to accomplish it. You
need to take (guide) them through this process;
In this step is very important you use SADIE strategies because you may
need to make modifications in order to assist the diversity of your students).
9. Beyond activities.
- Independent practice (students
work on their own)
- Assessment/evaluation (how you
are going to grade the students’ performance; indicate any differentiation or
modification you are making through your lesson plan).
- Closure (assess on whether you
succeeded or failed in teaching this lesson.
Conclusion:
Lesson plans are such and important and crucial
aspect of a teachers success in helping students achieve learning success.
The
CALLA lesson plan is one of the models I will be using most in my future as a
bilingual teacher. This model is aimed
for second and foreign language learners.
One of the aspects I like about this model is the fact that I can be
incorporated into bilingual, ESL, EFL, and in general classrooms. The PACE model is particularly designed to
teach language in context, including real-life tasks this will help increase
the meaning of the task/lesson for the student.
Thematic units have been used to study children’s literature, to explore
topics of interests, and different kind of projects; all of these are focused in
motivating students to learn and to teach them the necessary skills and
concepts needed in order to have success in school as well as in their personal
lives. SADIE lesson plans are used as an
approach to make input comprehensible for ELL students. For instance if a student is unfamiliar about
a certain topic, by using SDAIE strategies and different procedures, by
providing students with these tools you will make students feel comfortable and
will gain the confidence and the knowledge they need to succeed in class. Although
SDAIE something is refer to it as sheltered English, the goal of this method is
to provide ELL students with the same access to the curriculum being used as
the rest of their classmates.
Learning
the different lesson plans has helped me tremendously in my student teaching
because it has enable me to incorporate the different lesson plans accordingly
to the diversity of my students and their learning needs.
I
see myself using these different lesson plans and methods in order to provide
my students with a positive learning experience. I think one valuable aspect I,
as an bilingual individual can offer, is the fact that I can identify with the
students needs, and I can understand their struggles and, perhaps I can serve
as a role model. They will see someone
who is an ELL and someone how used her primary language to learned a second;
they will see that everything is possible.
Sources:
Reading Reflection on Darder's Article
Juve
Rocha
EDUC
654
Dr.
DG
Spring
2012
Darder’s article : How
Does the Culture of the Teacher Impact the Development and Empowerment of
Latino Students in the United States: The Unexamined Question in Critical
Pedagogy in Handbook of Schooling in Urban America.
“Can I include this cultural session into
my lesson plan?” I remember asking one of my teachers while doing one of my
Clinical Practices. Her answer was, “No,
that is not necessary, I have never included it into my lesson, you can just
skip it”. When I read Darder’s article
this quote caught my attention. “ Even
when Latino educators do manage to enter the field, they are often forced to
contend with conditions that disregard, marginalize, and delegitimize the
cultural knowledge they bring about themselves and their communities, while
being expected to conform and to assimilate (as are their students) to the
Eurocentric cultural system that informs the practices, preparation, and
certification requirements of the profession”.
How can we even begin to teach our students about our culture when it
has not been done by previous teachers and in top of that, some disregard the
importance that culture has in the students’ learning acquisition.
This
quote in Darder’s article made me realize how important it is for us as
educators to stand up and to defend our culture as well as the diverse culture
of our students. Knowing our students’ diverse
cultures gives us an opening on how to approach them, until you know that
students culture you cannot know how to approach that particular student or
that class. As todays’ educators we have to face a
variety of gaps in education – there is the gap achievement, the readiness gap,
and now there is a cultural gap between students and teachers.
I’m a Latina student, I have been in this
country for over 15 years, and I have managed to maintain my culture as part of
me as an individual. Looking back at my
days as a student in high school, in College and now in University I can
remember the importance of having a teacher that I could identify with, someone
who knew me as an individual not just as a “student”. Back in high school I had a teacher who was a
Latino and even though we share the same culture he still took the time to find
out about me and my culture; he would ask me questions about what I believed
in, what kind of traditions I had, what kind of holidays I celebrated. Just knowing that someone care enough to find
out more than just your name or your race was an incentive for me to go to
class, it made me feel like someone cared for me, not just the student but the
individual as well. Needless to say I
got a good grade in this class, it was very positive that I had someone that I
could identify with, it helped me become a better student. Knowing that my teacher and I shared the same
culture gave me a sense of hope, a sense of empowerment, that I could do
anything I set my mind into. He was and
still is one of my roe models.
Now that I’m a t the University
level, I’m older and I would like to believe a bit wiser; I think I can adapt
to any teacher and the diversity of their cultures; I have tried, but the reality
of it is that is not as easy as it may seems.
Whether I like it or not culture has a great impact on my development as
a student. I have had teachers who are
great, they know their content area they are prepared, professionals, and great
people all around, but one thing is missing, we do not have a lot of things in common. For instance, one of my teachers, will just
begin class by asking us to complete this activity or to get in pairs, in
groups and do a particular assignment, etc.
Not once this teacher took the time to say hello, good morning, how are
you doing? This teacher did not see very
caring in my opinion. .
On
the other hand, I had a teacher who every time we met she took the time to find
out how we were doing, she would notice if any of her students was doing ok, or
if anyone seemed troubled or struggling, she would take the time (whenever
possible) to find out what the problem was, she would even follow up on that
particular student, she would remember her/him the next meeting and she would
go up to her/him and find out if he was doing better. And, yes, even though she was not a Latina
teacher, we shared the same cultural beliefs.
I felt great coming to this class, she is one of my role models, some
one I will always admire. That type of
caring can be found only in some one who knows you and understand where are you
coming from.
I think if teachers want to find out
about students and what are their struggles, they need to see what that student
has been through, not just what they see in the classroom. Having someone that you can identify with, someone
that shares your cultural beliefs it is crucial to the development and the
empowerment of Latino students in the United States. We as teachers need to keep in mind that
culture goes beyond holidays, typical recipes, religious traditions, and/or
language. Each individual, each student
has his/her own unique experience. I
personally believe that culture has great impact on the development and the
empowerment of Latino students in the United States.
Darder, A. (1993). How Does the
Culture of the Teacher Impact the Development and Empowerment of Latino
Students in the United States: The Unexamined Question in Critical Pedagogy in
Handbook of Schooling in Urban America. S. Rothstein (ed.). New York: Greenwood
Press (195-222).
Cultural Presentations
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Historical Essay
Juve Rocha
EDUC 654
Dr. DG
Spring 2012
Historical Essay
Mexico
represents one of the largest numbers of immigrants to the United States.
Of the 32.5 million foreign born covered in the March 2002
CPS, 9.8 million or 30 percent were from Mexico; the next largest source, the
Philippines, accounted for only one-seventh as many at 1.4 million. The rest of
Latin America accounted for 7.3 million or 23 percent. Asian immigrants, at 8.5
million, made up 26 percent of the total foreign-born population. There were
5.4 million foreign born from Europe and Canada, accounting for 17 percent of
all immigrants. Africa and the remaining countries, at 1.4 million, made up
four percent of all foreign born.
In order to understand migration flows of Mexicans
into the United States, it is necessary to understand some of Mexico’s
historical events. Mexico has been under
the control of many presidencies, who in average would serve one year per
president, this control started fro the year 1821 to 1860. Through out this time the wealth was not
distributed equally. The rich were
getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. There was never a middle class in Mexico.
These events affected the migration patterns of the Mexicans to the United
States.
During the 1970’ Mexicans started
to immigrate to the United States with one thing in mind to be part of one of the
Bracero* Programs, in which Mexicans
would find employment through this program, as a result of the Immigration Act
of 1917. “These immigration laws were intentional efforts to control
the composition of immigrant flow into the United States”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917
Mexicans were lucky that Secretary of Labor, William Wilson
was able to find a way to exempt them for the exclusion of the Act of
1917. United States economic conditions
were favorable for Mexicans at that time as well, because they authorized
employers to hire immigrants if they were able to indicate they had a need for
them, particularly in the agricultural sector. This was known as the first bracero program. There are not a lot of documents about
the first bracero program and is has not officially recognized as such, because
it had not been monitored by an office of administration as close as the second bracero program.
Bracero
program of 1942. “The Bracero
Program (named for the Spanish term bracero,
"strong-arm") was a series of laws and diplomatic agreements,
initiated by an August 1942 exchange of diplomatic notes between the United States and Mexico, for the importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico
to the United States.
American president Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Mexican president Manuel Ávila Camacho in Monterrey, Mexico to discuss Mexico as part of the Allies in World War II and the Bracero Program. After
the expiration of the initial agreement in 1947, the program was continued in
agriculture under a variety of laws and administrative agreements until its
formal end in 1964”.
Mexicans were recruited through the newspapers, radio, and
word of mouth. Because working in the agriculture sectors gave Mexicans better
pay as well as better housing fees, migrants started to move beyond border
areas in order to further their job opportunities. Many Mexicans found that commuting from one
job to the other and then go home was very difficult task, so they began to
establish their own communities and neighborhoods around their work areas. This is an important aspect of Mexican migration. This
was the beginning of a social process in which Mexican immigrants began to
establish roots in the U.S. http://www1.appstate.edu/~stefanov/proceedings/rodriguez.htm
bracero* : day laborer, arm man, or manual laborer.
Include/talk about
According
to the Handbook of Texas Online, the program was suppose to have
guaranteed a minimum wage of thirty cents an hour and humane treatment a well
as adequate shelter and food (Handbook of Texas Online 1997a). Those that
signed on to the Bracero Program were given temporary working
visas to enter and work in the United States. Once their contracts expired,
they were to return their visas and return to Mexico. Unfortunately, from the
beginning Mexican braceros were at a disadvantage when they
were required to sign English only contracts in order to work. They did not
receive a verbal or written translation of the contracts nor were made aware of
their rights and benefits.
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