(To those not participating in sports/clubs) What does teamwork mean to you? They had roughly 2 minutes to jot down some ideas, then I had them share their ideas amongst themselves. This step was supposed to happen in pairs, however, I had to adjust on the go due to the small group size. After discussing their main points/ideas together, I had everyone tell me a couple things that came up in conversation. There seemed to be a lot of similarities among their answers. Talking about teamwork was a good transition into the next portion of my lesson plan, which was the review of our new sports vocabulary. My vocabulary list included Spanish to English definitions, as well as a picture of the given word, to help visual learners.
While we reviewed these terms as a class, I had everyone stand up to act out whichever word we were going over. I came up with actions before class so that I would be prepared and save time. I said the Spanish word first, then translated it to English, having the group repeat back to me. After they had said the verbal definition, I showed them the action, and they would act it out as well. After this full class review, everyone worked in a group of 3 acting out vocabulary words and guessing the Spanish translation for them.
This got the terms really engrained in everyone's heads, and prepared them for the assessment of the lesson: an engaging game of Alrededor del Mundo (Around the World). Looking back on this, I should have provided more time for an explanation on how to play, because I assumed that everyone knew how. Everyone in the group had mentioned that they were a little confused on this part and could've used more instruction. No matter the age group, I should never assume that students know everything. Once the game was underway and everyone got the hang of it, however, it ended up being something the group enjoyed. Not only was it both fun and engaging, but it was also a good formative assessment; I was able to see how well the class understood the material.
From this process, I learned how important it is to be able to adapt on the go. Teaching a lesson to a group of 3 instead of a larger group of students challenged, because a lot of activities were supposed to be in pairs, but I found a way to make it work. Having feedback on our lesson plans before putting them into action was really helpful, too. I didn't realize before Professor Wigglesworth's edits that my lesson was geared specifically towards students who had participated on a sports team. I had to change my quick write to be more inclusive, and that is now something I will always look out for. The classroom should be engaging and relevant for all, not only a few.
I feel like I was successful in teaching my students this set of vocabulary. The words they learned were relevant to their learning both inside and outside the classroom, and it was easier for them to learn so many so fast because they were all cognates. I made the lesson personal by having the quick write be about their life experiences, and letting them share their ideas with each other. When reviewing the vocabulary list, I expanded the definition given with images, so that visual learners could feel successful as well, and had students act out the definitions for kinesthetic learners. The students interacted with the words by quizzing each other with the acting it out activity, and the assessment provided the students with an opportunity to show they understood the material. The assessment was different because it was a game, and did not appear overwhelming. I liked using Alrededor del Mundo as an assessment method, because it allowed me to see the progress of each individual student. Some of them were able to define every term with ease, whether it be from Spanish to English or English to Spanish, while some were still working on remembering the definitions for every term. Towards the end of the assessment, I was even able to throw them a couple curve balls and conjugate a verb, and they were still able to translate it! All in all, I felt really good about my instruction and the student's learning at the end of the lesson.
