Domain 1: Planning
INDICATOR A
Aligns learning targets with standards and student data inform planning
Leadership Team Wednesdays - discussing goals and student expectations
Middle School Spanish/ Twin Oaks Middle School, Prior Lake Public Schools
In my experience working with the Spanish department of Twin Oaks Middle School, we spent every Wednesday in student centered discussions about how to move forward in instruction in the upcoming week. Our conversations greatly varied, depending on what learning goals for our students were for the week. We had the advantage of having multiple grade levels represented in these staff meetings so as a Spanish 1 instructor I could always speak to a Spanish 2 instructor about how I could best prepare students for what they would need to know for their upcoming year. We also spent time manipulating assessment materials, vocabulary lists and classroom projects to best meet our student's needs. One example of this was our elimination of outdated vocabulary such as VCR or cassette which were replaced with more aplicable, and modern day vocab words. Another way we worked to meet standards and expectations for our students was in development of new activities that we believed gave our students the best opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge. Speaking assessments oftentimes were discussed as we wanted to make sure our students were being fairly assessed and asked questions that they would be able to one day apply in their Spanish conversation beyond the classroom. Sometimes this meant rewording questions, other times it meant assessing what our students were comprehending easily and what we needed to focus more instructional time on to best prepare them for the oral assessment. The attached document is a study guide we collaboratively created and edited to help our Spanish 2 students prepare for a quiz over using preterite vs. imperfect.
INDICATOR B
Uses content, resources and student knowledge to design coherent instruction
Letra de la Semana (Letter of the Week)
Spanish Kindergarten/ Clear Springs Elementary, Minnetonka Public Schools
Every week in Kindergarten we placed a focus on a letter of the Spanish alphabet. We referred to this as the "letra de la semana" or "letter of the week." Whatever letter we were focusing on drove the decision making I made on materials, resources and content used in the classroom for the week. Students had a clear understanding on Monday of what our letter of the week was. Our day would begin with their warm up activity presenting the letter in some way. Once students had all arrived and our school day had begun we would have an official presentation of the letter in morning meeting. The vocabulary words we worked with for the week and language arts time in general placed a focus on the letter. By the end of the week, students were comfortable with the letter, its associated syllables with each vowel and a list of applicable new vocabulary words that used the letter. Centering on one letter a week at the kindergarten level allowed students to have a clear direction for what their focus of their week would be. It gave them the opportunity to play with the letter and vocabulary in oral and written form throughout the week, and it was a fun and exciting grand reveal of the letter each Monday too.
Domain 2: Environment
INDICATOR B
Establishes and maintains clear expectations for classroom and behavior management
Daily Schedule Reflection
Spanish Kindergarten/ Clear Springs Elementary, Minnetonka Public Schools
Working with kindergarten students means operating in a constant state of transition. To work with those students in a way that meets them where they're at developmentally requires a lot of practice and reflection of routines and expectations. One strategy I implemented in my time in the kindergarten classroom was the daily schedule reflection. At the start of the day, a student would create our schedule for the day using the provided subject labels. With specials, different events and early outs our schedule never looked the same from day to day. Once the schedule was assembled we were able to refer back to it to reflect on the class behavior during each time frame. If the class had an overall productive and positive time during the class, they put a smiling face next to the subject. If the opposite were true, they put a frown face next to the subject. Students had to reflect on their behavior in making the decision of whether they were deserving of a smiling or frowning face. We didn't necessarily check in on behavior with consistency. Sometimes, if we were having a bad morning we would take a look at our schedule and resolve to improve with the rest of the day. Other times, it was used to empower the students with a sense of pride for their good behavior, such as when they returned from specials with a good report.
Domain 3: Instruction
INDICATOR A
Communicates learning targets and content effectively
Movie Presentations (Preterite vs. Imperfect)
Middle School Spanish/Twin Oaks Middle School, Prior Lake Public Schools
As we unpacked the complicated gramatical concept of the preterite vs. the imperfect with Spanish 2 students, I gave them the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in a fun movie project. The project required students to work in pairs to creat summaries and reflections about 3 of their favorite movies. By writing the summaries they were required to retell the story using the past tense preterite form, and with the reflections they were able to use the imperfect. Students were given an overview of the project at the beginning of the week, complete with a calendar for assignment progress, grading rubric and outline of the assignment expectations. Every day as class began we would check back in with the calendar to make sure students knew what work they needed to have complete, and we debriefed on questions that arose throughout the process. Having multiple check ins as well as a general assignment overview to refer back to provided students the resources to always make sure they were on track and understanding their expectations. Attached is the document that was made available to each student.
INDICATOR C
Uses varied assessment techniques to advance student learning
Trabajo del Timbre (daily warm up)
Working on a rotating schedule with the middle school students meant at times we were unpacking the same grammar concept over the course of 2 weeks. Before the large assessment time came in the form of speaking assessments or written exams I needed to have some understanding of what misconceptions they were forming or challenges they were facing in understanding how to apply the Spanish grammar concept correctly. This was easily provided through the Trabajo del Timbre daily warm up activity. Students would be given several sentences to complete or translate that required them to either use new vocabulary or conjugate new verbs. We would do one Trabajo del Timbre activity at the start of each class and students would grade and submit their warm up activities. We would complete the sentences after the first 5-10 minutes of class (depending on the difficulty of the promt.) In this time, as students volunteered their answers we could discuss common errors and revisit notes or structures when necessary. This daily warm up not only helped the students "turn on their Spanish brains" after a day in English speaking classess, but it also helped me as a teacher gauge where the class was at in understanding our learning goals for the week.
INDICATOR B
Facilitates activities and discussions that promote high cognitive engagement
Madera (Wood Discussion)
Spanish Kindergarten/ Clear Springs Elementary School, Minnetonka Public Schools
The kindergarten students spent several weeks investigating wood and its many uses in our world. The attached document is the English version of the FOSS unit I used to direct the unit. One of the most exciting things about this unit was that it was an inquiry based group of science lessons. I was able to begin the unit asking students what they knew about wood already. Through this brainstorm we worked as a class to describe wood's appearance, qualities, uses and background knowledge of where it comes from. We did various experiments to investigate wood, such as trying to sink it with paperclips in a basin of water. All along the way we returned to our notes about wood, adding onto our knowledge and building onto the list of things we knew about it with every day of experiments. It was an exciting and rewarding unit for students. When we entered into the discussion about paper coming from wood it was incredibly exciting to see their perspectives shift and their understanding of every day items we used in the classroom.
Domain 4: Professionalism
INDICATOR B
Engages in Professional Development
Top 20 Training
Middle School Spanish/ Twin Oaks Middle School, Prior Lake Public Schools
For one of our after school professional development exercises the staff of Twin Oaks Middle School gathered to hear an interactive presentation about the Top 20 teacher program. The mission of the program is essentially to educate instructors about the conscious decisions we make to carry eithter a positive or a negative attitude into our classroom, and how that affects the way we see our students. The presentation taught us about the invisible line that we chose to live above or below any given day, meaning we are opperating with a positive or negative mindset. Our take away challenge was to live above the line. We talked about the various factors that aren't always in our control that cause us to choose negativity, and how we can do little things to prevent our students from being affected by them. The professional development meeting gave us the opportunity to have honest conversations about challenges we (educators and students) face every day and how we can build a supportive and encouraging classroom environment regardless of those things.
INDICATOR C
Maintains Professional Responsibilities and communicates with families
Use of Schoology & Infinite Campus
Middle School Spanish/ Twin Oaks Middle School, Prior Lake Public Schools
Throughout my time student teaching at Twin Oaks Middle School I held the responsibility of entering student grades and posting assignments on the Schoology website. By doing both of these tasks, students and parents were instantly informed of student progress. Both of these web based communication lines helped students and parents be on the same page as myself. This use of technology was really able to unite the classroom to home,
