LTR 307 TEACHING PORTFOLIO

Assignment Descriptions:

Teaching portfolio

In order to apply the SIOP model and to showcase your theoretical understanding and the connection between theory and practice, you are asked to complete a teaching portfolio. A secondary purpose is also to increase the amount of teaching portfolio components you have for your later teaching practice and/or job applications.

This semester you will create four components towards your online web-based portfolio

a.     Mini-lesson demonstration: A 5-minute lesson focusing on either listening/speaking or reading/writing skills for a population of your choice.Conduct the lesson in a simulated environment with your peers playing the role of student.

b.     Write-up: You are expected to write out your mini-lesson plan, summarize the feedback from peers, conduct a self-evaluation utilizing a tape-recorded session, then offer concrete ideas of how you would improve the lesson.

c.     A detailed lesson plan for a SIOP lesson. You should include all necessary materials, a detailed description of the lesson using one of the sheets provided in the SIOP book.

d.     A rationale for the activities: Your lesson plan should be enhanced with a rationale statement, in which you explain with proper references and citation and other evidence the reasoning for your activities and their implementation. 

 _____________________________________________________________________

Part A: SPANISH MINI-LESSON (Seasons)

Mini-lesson Plan

Lesson Context:

Grade: K-3rd Grade

Language: Spanish

Level: 1^st or 2^nd year

Activity time: 45 minutes

Curricular goals: aligned with 5 Cs

Concepts taught: vocabulary, weather, and seasons

Lesson Title: Las estaciones y el Tiempo

Lesson objective:

The learner will:
A. Identify weather terms and activities associated with the four seasons
B. Classify the types of weather in each season following a lesson on the weather

Lesson language objective:

A. The learner will utilize already learned vocabulary to describe weather terms related to each season

Spanish Lesson procedures

Greetings:  

- Have the PowerPoint open for students to see lesson objectives 
 Greet students in Spanish by saying “Hola clase como están” “Que tal es el clima del día de hoy?” 
- Read and explain  lesson content and language objectives

Warm up:  

- Review the types of weather from past lesson.  

-  Pass around the class season picture cards and instruct them to ask each other.

"Hace buen tiempo o hace mal tiempo?” Summer Season picture example: "En el verano hace calor" or "Yo tengo sed todos los Días y yo juego afuera y vamos a nadar con la familia."

Introduction:

Part 1. Motivation/Stimulation 

- Teacher will begin lesson by asking students a series of questions related to the weather. 

Example: (What is the weather like today? Do you like this type of weather?)

Students are allowed to speak in either Spanish or English but encouraged to use some Spanish vocabulary words.

2.      Encourage children to sing “The four seasons song in Spanish and dance with teacher. (Plays YouTube video LOS PIMPOLLOS - Las 4 Estaciones. (musical instruments may be used during this activity as a morning warm up to stimulate students learning).

Part 2. The four seasons introduction

1. The four seasons will be introduced using a PowerPoint presentation. The teacher will also describe many weather terms related to each season. These terms will be reviewed with either/or and yes/no questions.
2. Ask for volunteers to pass in front of white board to tag/label season terms with weather pictures in 4 different posters. (Winter, spring, summer, autumn/fall)
3. During this activity talk about the images and ask questions such as: What is your favorite season? What is your favorite activity during each season? What is type of food you like to eat during your favorite season?

-Students enjoy sharing their activities outside of school since it is a very important part of their lives.

Closure:
The teacher will present a poster with various pairs of vocabulary arranged for matching practice. Vocabulary: el tiempo; Hace buen/mal tiempo, Hace calor y sol/frío y fresco, la lluvia, la nieve, esta nublado, una tormenta, los relámpagos, el arco iris, los copos de nieve, las estaciones: la primavera, el verano, el otoño, el invierno

Farewell: Adiós clase, tengan un buen día! No olviden practicar el vocabulario con la familia. (Say goodbye class, have a great day! Don’t forget to practice your vocabulary with your family as usual).

Homework: Practice vocabulary learned at home, work on seasons worksheet 

Warm up Activity for next day lesson:

Each student will receive a slip of paper with a season on it. The teacher will draw a box on the board. Students will be instructed one at a time to go to the board and draw characteristics of the season they received. Students seated may guess which season is being described by raising their hand and being called on by the classmate drawing.

(This activity could be used as an assessment)

 Part B: Write-up

Summary of peer’s feedback:
The grading results demonstrate my teaching experience in front of people and how well I prepared for the mini-lesson teaching. Overall the peer’s grading results seemed reasonable, I like how most of my classmates graded my lesson (five-minute presentation) and whole lesson plan. However, I do not necessary agree with classmate # 22 who graded me with a 2.5 because it seems that she only graded the five minutes lesson instead of also incorporating the lesson plan that I made available to the whole class through Angel Email. Classmate # 1 commented that I should have explained phrases about seasons better but in the lesson plan I’m covering this area of  learning. I agree with classmate # 2 for saying longer vocabulary words and sentences I could have written on the board or PowerPoint. For some reason I did not took into consideration that most of my classmates have no experiences with Spanish. Classmate #5 commented that the song went quickly and it is true for that reason I first introduced the seasons before paying the video. This video could be a whole week morning routine for elementary students to remember the song and practice vocabulary.
 Classmates 10 and 12 asked for more engaging activities and group work and while planning for the 5-mini lesson presentation I contemplated about this possibility but from observing other mini-lesson presentations I have notice that not everyone in the class participates during group activities. However, in the Spanish lesson plan that I emailed to everyone I have engaging and group activities. Classmates # 17, 21, 14 and 8 provided positive comments about the mini lesson presentation and lesson plan as a whole. Some of the positive comments were related to engaging, good visuals, great song for age targeting, lesson objectives were met, enjoyable lesson and great vocabulary. As result of the peer feedback that I received similar to other classmates opinions it shows that about half of the class graded the 5 mini-lesson presentation and the rest graded both assignments. In general, I’m glad that I received constructive feedback from my peers because it has help me improve my teaching techniques and lesson planning approaches.

Self Evaluation:
After observing the video clip I was able to identify the strength and weaknesses of my mini lesson teaching in regards to planning and implementation based on knowledge in the field. In the video I observed that at the beginning I panicked and that I had no related experience teaching in front of a large college student crowd. Obviously I was nervous I forgot so many details I wanted to present for example I forgot to say the greetings in Spanish. When I was presenting the PowerPoint I wanted to be in front of class but I had no idea how to switch to the next PowerPoint slides while teaching about seasons.
 I tried my best to project my voice for all students to hear and understand what I was saying in both English and Spanish. When I asked for volunteers I noticed my classmates face reactions and that made me realize that I was not going to get the results I wanted. Therefore with worrying too much about time I just decided to model the last activity of the lesson on my own. Now I realize that I should have waited couple more seconds and probably I would have had a better lesson teaching presentation. The strength’s in the teaching of my lesson were the ability to refer to students, teach vocabulary and thing out side of the box. I was able to receive response from students and active participation. During the video clip students were able to recall some vocabulary from the PowerPoint lecturing. Visuals, video and PowerPoint were the main supplementary materials for the lesson strengths. The weaknesses that I noticed in my mini-lesson was that maybe I used long Spanish sentences, my voice projecting was not adequate and I did not encouraged student participation throughout the lesson has I had planned.
Concrete ideas of how to improve the lesson:

For the improvement of the lesson in the future I plan to take into consideration some of the recommendations made by the teacher and peer feedback mentioned above. Most important of all I plan to work in my teaching strategies and anticipating what students are likely to do during the lesson ahead for any upcoming situations.  Now that I’m learning more about the SIOP model and reviewing other teacher lessons for the future I hope to plan more carefully and incorporate instructional methods into my teaching and lesson planning. As a future bilingual teacher I must learn how to utilize the most fundamental skills that effective teachers use on daily basis to achieve content and language objectives in order to promote student's learning meaningful. I personally think that the lesson that I created for the targeted students successfully achieves the language and learning objectives. I recognize that I must work on my teaching skills (stimulating students interaction and learning) for this reason I plan to learn more, practice and do classroom observations. As results, I’m content with the lesson planning and mini lesson presentation outcomes because these have help me target the areas need to develop.

Part C: A detailed lesson plan for a SIOP lesson

LTR307- SIOP Lesson Plan (Echavarria, template2, Pg, 231)

LANGUAGE LEVEL: Proficient Spanish 1^st or 2nd year

GRADE: K-3rd

STANDARDS: (National Standards for Foreign Language Education, Connections)

Communication- Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinion.

Culture- Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

Connection- Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.

Comparisons- Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own

Communities Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting.

THEME: Elementary Science: The seasons and the Weather (Las Estaciones y el Tiempo)

LESSON TOPIC: The four seasons

OBJECTIVES:

Content:

A. The learners will identify weather terms and activities associated with the four seasons
B. The learners will describe the weather of each season following a lesson on the weather

Language:

A. The learners will utilize already learned Spanish weather vocabulary to describe seasons

LEARNING STRATEGIES: Employ background knowledge strategy to make associations between new information and student’s prior knowledge on weather and other Spanish vocabulary terms. (Other general learning strategies will be applied through different activities: visual, cooperative, make inferences and organizations)

KEY VOCABULARY: Spring, summer, fall, winter, snow, falling leaves, windy, rain, rainbow, cold, storm, warm, hail, sun, clouds, and storm (some Spanish vocabulary: sol, nubes, aire, nieve, lluvia, calor, arcoíris, frio, granizo, and tormenta)

MATERIALS: PowerPoint presentation, season cards, You Tube video, chart paper, vocabulary and homework worksheet, posters of four seasons with tags/labels of weather and season vocabulary terms. (Pencils, markers, crayons, small white boards, blank paper, color sheets)

MOTIVATION: (Building background Knowledge) (5 minutes)

Teacher will begin the lesson by asking students a series of questions in Spanish related to the weather. Students will be encouraged to ask their partner questions; such as what is the weather like today? Do you like this type of weather? (Students are allowed to use English words but encouraged to apply Spanish vocabulary words displayed in the classroom)

PRESENTATION: (25 minutes)

-Welcome students in Spanish by saying “Hola clase como están” “Que tal es el clima del día de hoy? (caliente, frio y mas o menos)”

 -Clearly define, display & review content and language objectives for the day in a way in which students become aware of what they will be learning for the day.

-Teacher must adjust his/her speech appropriate for students proficiency language level and clearly explain academic task utilizing a variety of techniques to make content concepts clear.

- (Cognitive Strategy) Enhance student’s comprehension by having students create a graphic organizer where students survey their classmates “what is your favorite season and why?”

-(Offer opportunities for students interaction) Pass around the classroom picture cards and instruct students to ask each other season questions in Spanish such as "Hace buen tiempo o hace mal tiempo?” Summer Season picture example: "En el verano hace calor" or "Yo tengo sed todos los Días y yo jugar afuera y vamos a nadar."

- To maintain students interest and encourage have children sing and dance“The four seasons song in Spanish. (Play YouTube video LOS PIMPOLLOS - Las 4 Estaciones. (Musical instruments may be used during this activity as morning warm ups to stimulate students learning).

1.    Introduce the four seasons with images and short sentences with a PowerPoint presentation. During this activity the teacher will describe key weather terms that relate to each season. These terms will be reviewed with either/or and yes/no questions.

2.    Have students work in groups of 4 children where they will tag/label season terms with weather pictures in 4 different posters. (Winter, spring, summer, autumn/fall) (As children are working on this activity teacher will asses students understanding and make sure that students are on task).

3.    During this activity talk about the images and ask questions such as: What is your favorite season? What is your favorite activity during each season? What is type of food you like to eat during your favorite season?

*(Language content objectives, comprehensive input, strategies, interaction, feedback)

PRACTICE/APPLICATION: (15 minutes)

-Discuss with students the different months of the year and what months belong to each season. --Have students help decide what month belongs in what season. Pose questions about the months and the seasons. For example, July is a summer month. How does it vary from January, which is a winter month?
*(Show Season Clock chart it is useful for students to visualize the concept - Have volunteers set seasons on it)

-Have students work in partners or groups of three to create a "Season Chart". 
-Divide a piece of poster board into four equal sections.

-Label one section summer, one autumn, one spring, and one winter. In the appropriate section, write the months that fit in that season. 

Winter: December, January, February

Spring: March, April, May

Summer: June, July, August

Autumn: September, October, and November. 
(As a whole class share Season Charts and discuss why each student decided to place such months in such season or pictures)

*Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practices/applications and feedback)

REVIEW/ASSESSMENT: (5 minutes)

Students will share with teacher and classmates the five most important concepts they learned. (Vocabulary new terms, sentence structure, seasons etc) Students will briefly write five things they learned about today’s lesson in their Spanish journals for focus and review activity. (Students will be assessed informally)

*(Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning)

EXTENSION: (10 minutes if additional time or next day lesson)

 If time allows the following activity may be used as a brief review or next day lesson warm up background. Each student will receive a slip of paper with a season description on it. The teacher will draw a box on the smart board. Students will be instructed one at a time to go to the smart board and draw characteristics of the season they received. Students seated may guess which season is being described by raising their hand and being called on by the classmate drawing. (This activity could be used as an assessment)

Part D: A rationale for the activities 

LEARNING STRATEGIES:

 Before constructing any lesson for language learners it is important that the teacher selects appropriate learning strategies for content and language objectives. For this specific “seasons” lesson I decided to incorporate a variety of visual, cooperative learning and background knowledge strategies to enhance my students learning experience. According to Echevarria, it has been proven that if students are carefully taught with a variety of self-regulatory strategies then students will improve reading and writing skills not only in their native language but foreign.

VOCABULARY:

Teaching a lesson in other language than English implies the importance of incorporating meaningful key vocabulary terms. According to the SIOP textbook effective teachers incorporate in their lesson plans diverse techniques that will support students language development Echevarria, 2008, pg172). In the season’s lesson, I created several interactive opportunities for students to practice and learn new key vocabulary terms. For instance, in the seasons lesson students are ask to classify vocabulary picture cards with the four seasons. In the appendix section I included a list of Spanish weather and season vocabulary words and sentences for students to refer.

MATERIALS:

The seasons lesson was specially designed for elementary language learners therefore I have included several manipulative learning materials. Incorporating diverse materials help language learners link past learning with new Spanish concepts and vocabulary. Some of the most meaningful materials that students will utilize to improve their comprehension is the survey worksheet and season’s monthly chart. Over all the materials chosen for this lesson have some visual context in order to support different learning styles and multiple intelligences. “Students can see, hear, feel, perform, create and participate in a multifaceted manner” (Echevarria, pg33).

MOTIVATION:

The SIOP lesson plan above incorporates meaningful activities that build content and language background knowledge, which is linked to student’s new learning experience with the purpose of enhancing their eagerness. “Students are more successful when they are able to make connections between what they know and what they are learning by relating classroom experience to their own lives “(Echevarria 2002). The seasons SIOP lesson plan introduces the topic with first reviewing already learned vocabulary and content material. The teacher initiates the lesson with promoting students thinking by ask questions about weather and incorporating Spanish vocabulary. Then by instructing students to ask their classmates general everyday weather questions while practicing Spanish vocabulary and recalling previous learned weather content.

PRESENTATION:

In this component of the lesson plan, the teacher clearly displays and introduces content and language objectives while modifying his/her speech for students to follow instructions. One of the meaningful activities that include this SIOP lesson instructs’ students to generate simple Spanish questions to ask their classmates as they illustrate a visual picture card of a specific season. If students are struggling with this task simple seasons sentences will be available for students to utilize in case they need additional references. As students are working in groups of four the language teacher will stop by to provide feedback and additional assistance. According to Gibbons (2002) one of the most simple and effective ways of improving group work is to talk with the children. The very last task of this activity is authentic because it asks students to label/tag season terms with weather pictures in four different posters. However the teacher must keep in mind that Second language learners are likely to take longer to complete language based tasks, since they need longer to process what they heard and to respond to language that is different to them” (Gibbons, pg26, 2002).

PRACTICE/APPLICATION:

As students continue practicing language and learning new content knowledge students will be encouraged in a meaningful activity to discuss the different months of the year and what months belong to each season. During this part of the SIOP lesson students will be expect to apply hands on materials to construct a chart where students will decide what month belongs in what season. “The goal of this kind of learning is to go beyond simply learning items of knowledge to being able to use that knowledge in other context” “to learn how to think, not simply what to think” (Gibbons, Pg8, 2002) The above quote exactly recapitulates what it means to practice new learned content and apply background experience.

REVIEW/ASSESSMENT:

The SIOP lesson reviews vocabulary and content knowledge successfully given that students are asked to orally and in written format respond as a team to feedback and demonstrate content and/or language concepts learned throughout the lesson. According to the SIOP Model textbook group response activities are very effective for assessing, reviewing, and providing feedback. (Pg 173)

EXTENSION:

For this lesson plan I decided to include an extension component for teachers to use as a back up in case additional time is available or if higher academic achiever students finish earlier than the rest of the class. Moreover, the activity in this component may be used as a brief review or next day lesson warm up. “Learners need to be engaged with authentic and cognitively challenging learning tasks” (Gibbons, pg10, 2002). I believe that challenging language student’s everyday is important to prepare them for future courses and life situations. As an English language learner I never had this opportunity because my high school teacher felt sympathy for my language disadvantages. Instead of challenging me and giving me the opportunity to be part of group work they gave me easy tasks, which only discouraged me from being part of college class discussions.

Appendix:

Weather Video Clip: Los Pimpollos (Great
  source for any Spanish lesson)
* Great morning activity to stimulate students interest in learning.

Spanish Weather expressions

1. Está nublado - quizás va a (hacer sol, llover)
2. Hace calor hoy y hay mucho (nieve, sol)
3. Cuando hay una tormenta muchas veces hay (truenos, fresco)
4. Hace (lloviendo, frío) hoy
5. Hay mucha (neblina, viento)
6. El cielo está (nublado, despejado) - no hay nubs
7. Hace buen tiempo, (está lloviendo, hace sol)
8. Hace muy mal tiempo, (está parcialmente nublado, hay tormentas aisladas)
9. La temperatura es alta - (noventa grados, menos dos grados)
10. Está nevando, pero hay poca (lluvia, nieve)

Vocabulary

está...		hace...
está nevando	it's snowing	hace calor	it's warm
está lloviendo	it's raining	hace sol	it's sunny
está nublado	it's cloudy	hace fresco	it's cool
esta despejado	it's clear	hace frío	it's cold

hay...		*
hay lluvia	there's rain
hay nieve	there's snow
hay viento	there's wind
hay neblina	there's fog
hay nubes	there's clouds
hay relampago	there's lightening
hay truenos	there's thunder
hay humedad	there's humidity

*Both Vocabulary and Spanish sentences will be displayed for students to refer.
Visual Cards:

Figure 1. Season Clock Chart

Figure 2. Example of Season Chart

Figure 3. Specific season monthly dates for students to learn

Figure 4. Poster to inform students

Figure 5. Cards for students to label with Season and Weather Vocabulary

Work Cited:
Echevarría, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D. (2004). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP Model. 3rd Ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Gibbons, Pauline. 2002. Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.