Hola!

Estoy muy emocionada para mi Vacación de Primavera!

I am feeling very triumphant, excited and proud of my progress thus far during practicum. I’ve learned so much about my students over the past 6 weeks, which has contributed to the development of my inquiry question. Getting to know my students, what they are doing in their other classes and extracurricular activities is crucial in the process of building relationships, understanding their needs and in specific to my inquiry question, getting to understand what they are interested in so that I can provide fun, interesting, relatable and engaging learning experiences.

In my Spanish class this week, I introduced an online game “Kahoot”, as well as brought in a fun movie “Puss in Boots” for them to watch  from which I created the Kahoot game; A series of questions related to the movie. From my observations, I was able to identify just how  engaged my students are with their phones and technology, thus by bringing in not only a movie to watch, but also an online game that requires students to use their phones, I was able to engage all students. I was hesitant at first because from the research I;ve done on this topic of student engagement, social interactions and cellphone use, I’ve concluded that today’s students are lacking social interaction because their attention is fully tied to cellphone use, in and outside of school. However, this activity, although requiring cellphone use, promoted student engagement because the technology was being used in a socially interactive way; everyone was participating in the same activity, competing against each other and even working together in some cases. I would definitely repeat this activity and, or similar activities.

For PE, my classes have been practicing their dances, in which they have chosen their own dance moves, their own music, and their own groups. This unit is 99% student centered, which fosters student autonomy. I’ve observed a fascinating increase in student engagement and student interaction among all students. I strongly believe that it is due to student’s being able to choose their own groups. In addition, this age group is highly motivated by music; allowing students to engage with music that is based on their own interest is crucial for student engagement. I’ve also learned a great deal about what students are interested in based on their music choices, as well as about their dance and cultural back-grounds.