Children

It's my last week here. WHERE did time go?! Well I know where it went. I spent time learning and teaching in a new country. How great is that? I'm so lucky.

This week's topic is "views on childhood/children in the host nation." This topic comes right after the incident at Sandy Hook school. I think everyone is hugging their children and loved ones a little tighter this weekend. Whether you're in Spain or in the United States, children are loved. As President Obama said, it's like "having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around." That's what makes them so special. Everywhere I go, there is a parent holding their child's hand or pushing their baby in a stroller. I've yet to see a child reluctant to be at their parent's side. It makes me smile that parents are always tending to their children. Almost all of the children get walked to school or get dropped off by their parents and sometimes grandparents, and picked up later at the end of the day. Only a few arrive with just siblings or friends. It's a beautiful thing that family is so cherished here.

Children are adored. There are toy stores everywhere and clothing boutiques specifically for children. The kids are adorably dressed, too. In school, teachers treat students as if they were their own children, hugs and kisses are normal. However, school is for learning. I've heard that trillions of times from many different teachers. The way of teaching is a little "old school," where there is not much play involved. Students are responsible from a young age to copy their homework and important dates in their agendas. Also, at the end of the day, two students from each classroom literally clean up the classroom. Clap erasers, sweep the floors, pick up trash, and empty the trash bin are some of the jobs they do.

With respect to teachers, children call their teachers by their first names. I have been meaning to ask if it's like this at every school in Spain, but I haven't. I definitely think that it's easier to use first names in Spain because everyone has at least two last names here! And this makes me happy because I love how Spaniards say my name...kaaAAAAAate!"

I've been meaning to touch on the norms in school. First of all, I'd like to point out that the students here have many similarities to students at home. They love BeyBlades, Justin Beiber, and Spongebob. They like to talk when the teacher is talking. They raise their hand in the middle of a super important and exciting lesson asking to go to the bathroom or drink water. On the other hand, some things are different. They are allowed to run in the hallways. They don't necessarily have to keep their hands to themselves. They keep their backpacks at their seats. They are left alone in class as teachers change classes. And sometimes teachers arrive late. These were things that surprised me!

One thing that I've noticed and love, is students draw and color a lot. School assignments, note-taking, and even tests require students to take out their crayons (pinturas) and add color to their learning. I love this because not only do I love coloring, but I believe children should definitely be able to express themselves by drawing. For example, one teacher was giving notes to a 5th grade class on genetics. She had them draw Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. She had a contest for who drew him the best. How fun!

Well, this entry was a little all over the place, but that directly reflects how my mind has been feeling lately. So much to do during my last week here!!!!

Here's what I did last week (Week of December 10 - 15)

1 Infantil: "Merry Christmas" Tree Card
2 Infantil: Farm animals, head shoulders knees and toes; Happy Christmas coloring page
Cono 1: began "My Family" unit on winter and Christmas
Ingles 2: reviewed for exam
Cono 2: celebrations
Ingles 3: reviewed units 1 & 2 by playing the fly swatter game/trashketball. They loved it! We also did The Gingerbread Man reader's theater. They liked the story!
Cono 4: corrected science homework and helped them review for their upcoming exam.
Ingles 5: We wrote letters to students back in Norristown. First I had them read the student's letters and then reply. It was fun! They were really interested. I passed around pictures of my students at home and they were all surprised to find a sink in the classroom! Haha!
Cono 5: played a review game that involved trashketball. I don't think these kids have ever reviewed this way before because they really liked it.
Ingles 6: We talked about basketball and read my dad's wikipedia page in English. Then we had a discussion on how college works in the United States and what other things were different. It was such a pleasure especially because this class is so respectful and sweet. After, they made me a beautiful card.

 Ingles 3 ESO: We talked about what life was like in the United States. I showed them my driver's license, and like everyone I show they are surprised that our ID's display our Eye Color. Never thought about how weird that is. Haha.
Ingles 4 ESO: Did a survey like last week, except this time it was about food and eating habits.


Well, that's all for now!
Adios

Rezo

I haven't been able to gather words about what happened in Newtown, CT. This morning, I went to breakfast, and when I normally eat in silence and listen to the rest of my peers talk, interjecting every once in a while, today was different. I entered and there were two people sitting at the table. I said good morning and started to prepare my ColaCao (hot chocolate). Then, Maria, the lady that works the cafeteria during breakfast, came out and began asking me about what happened in Connecticut.

I knew what happened. I was up most of the night searching the internet for any sort of details as to WHY someone would perform such a horrible, senseless act. However, all I could summarize from what I found was that this was an absolutely unthinkable tragedy.

But I had absolutely no idea how to express this in Spanish.

How to you explain to someone that a crazy man had no clear motive for doing this. Even if he did have a motive, whatever the heck it would be, it would be absolutely no excuse for his actions. No excuse to rob innocent lives and to rob innocence from those who survived.

How do you explain that Christmas is now only ten days away. Parents are supposed to be planning Santa Claus fun for these children, not their funerals and memorials.

How do you explain our seemingly outdated gun law, that I was not well-versed on until yesterday anyway.

No. This is vocabulary and grammatical structures I never thought I'd have to use.

After a bit of trying to explain what happened, Maria brought out El Mundo, Spain's national newspaper. There, on the front page, was the heartbreaking photo of little children crying and hugging one another. Scarred for life. The headline: "La peor matanza escolar en EEUU deja 20 niños y 6 adultos muertos" - translation - The worst school massacre in the United States leaves 20 children and 6 adults dead"

Well. You know how awful this is when it's on the front page in another country. 

As more people arrived for breakfast, we were all at a lost for words as to what happened. According to everyone at the table, and the newspaper, the majority of these kinds of shootings happens in the United States, because there's easier access to guns and firearms.

I'm absolutely positively heartbroken. I'm praying for these families, friends, and relatives affected.
 I have no idea the grief, horror, shock, emotion, etc. that they are feeling, but I hope that they receive whatever support is necessary for them to begin this healing process. 

Many hugs and kisses to all of my family, friends and loved ones. I miss you all a little extra today.

EDITED DECEMBER 16:
Pictures of the Sunday Newspaper

"The Devil visited Newtown"

Newtown: there are reasons for gun control (Opinion)

"The 20 children riddled with bullets"

The mayor of New York reactives the gun control debate.

 Also, there's a graphic that showing how in recent years the US has had more massacres than all of Europe combined.

  

Teaching Self-Assessment

In Pennsylvania,  I made personal goals for myself as a beginning teacher during my midterm. These goals were classified under the Penn State Teacher Education Performance Framework. There are four domains, and each one was given a goal. Now, I'm reflecting on how I did at meeting those goals in my host nation.

Planning and Preparing for Student Learning: -->

Relate difficult concepts to students personal lives.

Create short and long range opportunities for assessment. This can be completed when I create my unit plan.

I have planned and prepared many different lessons for many different grade levels here in Spain. I do my best to reference what I know about the students' personal lives to my teaching. I've noticed that when I do make the material relate-able, the students become more engaged and succeed more. For example, back in Pennsylvania I related the concept of "landmarks" "symbols" and "heroes" to the students during my unit plan, "People Long Ago." I saw great success in the students understanding when I did this, so it's clear that this strategy works wonders. I try to do this as much as possible throughout subject areas, and it works. I ask students to relate things they read to their personal lives, new vocabulary words to their personal life, making predictions to their personal lives, etc. Students are young. They like to talk about themselves. This is how students grow as learners and as people - by making real life connections.

In Spain, I have continued this strategy in my practice. When I taught lessons on health and fitness, I ask students what their favorite way to exercise is. I involved the students and created a common background knowledge by exercising with the students during class. We then could relate what we did to the proper ways to stay fit and healthy (warm-up, play sports, drink water, stretch when we finished). I planned to do this in order for students to have this common background knowledge to relate to!

With older students, we have been talking about likes and dislikes. To make this more interesting and more relate-able to students, we surveyed each other in English about what kinds of movies students liked. With the older students, we reported our results to the class. By having the students question each other on a topic they really enjoy, the results were thorough and the student engagement during class time was very high.

Teaching:  -->

Find teachable moments and elaborate on them.

Create multiple ways to assess learners, as per my unit plan. 
Teachable moments happen daily. Whether it's two students getting in an argument and the teacher must intervene, or a student simply asks an uncalled for question, these moments can be acted upon for students to learn even more than the teacher had planned. 

Right when I arrived, I had to introduce myself to the classes. Twelve different classes. And they all had curiosities about what my life was like in the United States. Some of the older students know how to ask questions in English to find out information about a person, and some of the younger kids asked the questions in Spanish. Either method, I had no clue what was coming to me! In 6 de primaria, one of the students asked what my favorite sport was. I said basketball, and he proceeded to ask why. Well, I then began the story of how my dad played in the NBA (Hi dad!! Love ya!). The kids were fascinated by this. I decided that I would plan a lesson on the NBA and basketball in general. I'm even going to use my dad's Wikipedia page in order for the students to have the opportunity to read in English and learn vocabulary words about basketball. I will do this lesson on Wednesday, and I'll let you know how it goes. 

As for creating multiple ways to assess learners, I did that back at home with my unit plan, "People Long Ago." I had students do projects that assessed the objectives better than simply giving an exam. Here, I have had the students create things, such as menus, and practice speaking by giving oral presentations. These different ways to assess have been fun and rewarding for both the students and myself.

Analyzing Student Learning and Inquiring into Teaching:
-->

Create long-term assessments for students in order to show growth and meet objectives.

Collect data systematically and change instruction depending on these results. 
Ask any Penn State Education student, this is one of the most difficult domains to meet. Luckily, we have assignments that require use to analyze student learning and inquire into teaching. I wrote a paper reflecting on my unit plan in its entirety after I taught it. That paper, which went into great detail, spanned over six pages and reflected on students growth and how they met objectives. I also reflected on my teaching after each lesson in the unit. Therefore, that unit helped me reach my goals in this domain.

Here in Spain, I've been reflecting on my lessons as well. I'm also writing these weekly blog entries reflecting on my teaching! Also, being exposed to many teaching styles in many different levels has helped me inquire into teaching.  

Fulfilling Professional Responsibilities:
--> Maintain community involvement with teachers, parents, and students. 
I am "La profesora nueva de los Estados Unidos." Since I go to every class in this school, every student has had this opportunity to talk to me and be a student in my lessons. Since many parents drop off and pick up their students every day, I've been able to say hello and introduce myself. Many parents have said that they heard from their children that a teacher from the United States is in their school now, and they are very excited about it. I feel appreciated with this role, therefore I aspire to maintain a positive image for the students, parents, and the rest of the community.

The teachers at the school have been nothing less than amazing. They are welcoming and helpful. Even teachers that I don't work with directly have been comforting and sweet to me when I encounter them in the hallways. In turn, I try to help and be nice back to them. As I've mentioned before, I help teachers with English. I have been involved in out of school activities, such as an Open House. I've even been in a radio commercial for the school ;). I am so thankful for Colegio Santisimo Rosario for welcoming me with open arms, so I am doing the best that I can to give back to them by being a positive role model and a part of the community.

Wow. I write a lot. I'm so sorry. 

What I Did This Week:
1 Infantil: We talked about big vs. little and common classroom items (crayons, chair, desk). I also read and translated the story, "Koko the Clown."
2 Infantil: Farm Animals
Cono 1: They took their exam on healthy eating. Next week we move onto family. 
Cono 2: Introduction to celebrations, decorated the room for Christmas, learned about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, New Year's Day, Three Kings Day, and Boxing Day.
Ingles 2: Reviewed for Unit 1 & 2 test by using a worksheet that I made.

Worksheet to review family members, clothing items, and colors.

Other side. Also reinforced the phrase, "I've got/(S)he's got"

Ingles 3: International Restaurant Boulevard Project (see post below or click on the link!)
Cono 4: Lesson on Exercise and Safety, helped them practice their Christmas Performance
Ingles 4: Reviewed for an upcoming exam
Ingles 5: Lesson on likes and dislikes of food. We created food poems, too!
Ingles 6: Questions & Answers, decided that next week we would talk about basketball. 
Ingles 1 ESO: I helped give the students' English Speaking Exam. That made me nervous because I had never given one before. Choosing grades was difficult, but the cooperating teacher helped a bit.
Ingles 2, 3, and 4 ESO: Surveyed each other on likes and dislikes in movies, then worked on reporting data "The majority of students/Many students/Almost no one, etc."

This is where 2, 3, and 4 of ESO students recorded their responses

The questions that 2, 3 and 4 ESO asked each other.

Phew! We also didn't have class on Thursday because it was La dia de la constitución española, a national holiday. That was a nice break.

This weekend, another American, who is here teaching at a different school, and I went to Salamanca. It's a beautiful city about an hour and a half away. We took a bus and did typical sightseeing. It was a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day! There is a University there, so obviously I bought a "Universidad de Salamanca" sweatshirt  : )

Well, sorry for writing so much! I hope that this did not bore you and you are still going to read future entries! :)

Un besito,
Kate

International Restaurant Boulevard

In 3 de Primaria, we have been working on a little project called International Restaurant Boulevard. It required creating a restaurant, making a menu, and then "acting out" how to order and serve food at restaurants. It was really fun to do and when the kids were engaged in it, they did an amazing job. We only worked on all of this for three days, and it came together nicely. I'm really proud of them. I recorded a few of the students acting it out, but it was difficult to hear some of them. I made an iMovie of two that you could hear the most of, but EVERYONE did awesome work! I'm so proud.

Here's a few pictures of some student's menus!

"Tienes que ir al medico......"

Translation: "You need to go to the doctor."

I don't like the doctor. Yet alone in another country. However, long story short, I have a pretty bad stye on my eye.

When I say pretty bad, I mean it's obnoxiously big and swollen.

This picture doesn't do it justice, mainly because I look like hunchback of notre dame and I don't want to put a worse picture up if I don't have to ;) Take it from me and everyone that I've crossed paths with this week. It's bad.

This all began Monday. I woke up with a swollen eyelid. No big deal. It was just swollen. I thought maybe I got something in my eye and slept with it in there, or maybe my eye was stressed because I went to the movies the night before (side note: I went and saw a French comic movie about England, and it was translated into Spanish..never have I ever felt more European or more cool). So I wore my glasses and continued on through the day.

Then Tuesday I woke up and it looked like I got socked in the face. Dang. I was hoping it would just magically heal with rest. Tuesdays I usually go over to one of the teacher's houses for lunch. So while we were there we looked up ideas on how to get rid of styes on the internet. We read about normal things, such as applying dry heat or putting in eye drops. We also read tying a black thread around your opposite big toe to cure it.

Nope those didn't work.

So today, I'm teaching class and at the end my teacher says "Tienes que ir al medico."
I cringed.

So, because my life is filled with the nicest people in the world, one of the teachers, Silvia, called her father. During recess (around 11:30) me, Silvia, and her father went to "el medico."

Now, here's my lesson of the day. I don't fully understand exactly how medical insurance, doctors, etc. works in the United States. I've learned that we have private doctor's offices, though. Here, the doctor's offices are public. It looks more like a hospital on the inside. There were a lot of people there. Which I thought was interesting. Everytime I go to the doctor, I wait for 200389839238 hours even though I already made an appointment and there's only a few people in the waiting room. Nope, in Spain it's much quicker. The doctor was nice, and simply told me to go to the pharmacy and get medicine. A topical antibiotic and an oral antibiotic just in case the topical doesn't work.

I didn't have an appointment and there was a bunch of people and I was in and out in about 10 minutes. And I didn't have to fill out paperwork/pay (But that was because the doctor was a friend of a family ...shhhhh! hehehehe). Take that, doctor that I went to when I was dying with mono!!!!

So, on our way back to the school we picked up a topical AND oral antibiotic for THREE EUROS. THAT'S IT. SO CHEAP. 

It was quite the experience. But hey, I learned a bit about the Spanish medical system and even learned about our own. Pretty cool.

In other news, after school I went to another teacher's (Diana) mother's house for lunch. She cooked so much food and now I'm so full. But it was delicious. Her mother is so talented and adorable. She showed me all the clothes she handmade. They were awesome.

Life's good and I'm so blessed and lucky.

But I still look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Reflections on Accommodations

This week's topic is a reflection on accommodations for individual learners in the host nation. In the United States, if you are studying to become a teacher, the word "differentiation" is one of the most popular terminology you will hear. What this word indicates is that a teacher should realize and make adjustments in every lesson because there are many different types of learners. Each individual learns in a unique way, at a unique pace, etc. Therefore, using many different types of teaching methods (visual, auditory, body-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal) makes for the teacher to better reach his or her students.

Class Book - English 3 de Primaria (note the fact that they call the bathroom a toilet...hehe)

Class Book - English 3 de Primaria

5 de Primaria Science Book

5 de Primaria Science Book

Since my students' native tongue is Spanish, and I am teaching them English Language and/or Science, I've learned and applied many different methods to my lessons. Repetition, visuals, translations, chants, songs, pictures, movements and more have all been a part of my daily lessons. The curriculum (mainly textbooks and workbooks) do a good job at providing picture clues and English reinforcement. However, I've done some lessons that are not a part of the curriculum, for example, my Thanksgiving lessons. I took what I observed my first week and applied it to my own lessons. The teachers here are great at making sure the students understand what they are doing. It's really important to not only learn the English, but comprehend the material as well. However, if you think about it, young students at home are all English language learners! They're still learning a lot about how to read, write and spell. Side note: English is much harder because of the bizarre spelling patterns. In Spanish, words are written just like they sound. In English...pshh...almost never!

Of course, accommodations also include helping students who are below level. Now, let me make note that it is so hard to ask questions like these to teachers because of the language barrier. I feel as though I do not receive all of the information entirely! However, the teachers tutor students individually if they need help. Some students leave the classroom to receive learning support with a specialist. Being that this is a private school, there are not many students who need an extreme amount of extra support. Nonetheless, the teaching style is a little bit more "old school" in my opinion. It's pretty much whole group instruction and individual activities a majority of the time. One thing I do love though is how much students get to color. They color on the tests, they draw in their class notes, etc. I love that version of expression and I feel like that is being lost in the US because of the focus on reading and writing. Also, it's common for students to be held back a grade if they do not pass. Education is important to many students and their families, so school is to be taken very seriously. This is refreshing.

To wrap it up, the accommodations for learners here in Spain do exist. On the other hand, I don't believe they are as extreme as the accommodations made for students in the United States. That may be due to the fact I am in a private, small town school. Seeing different types of learners has really broadened my knowledge for how to accommodate in different ways.

Lessons Taught This Week:

• Cono 2: Sports & Health

2 Infantil: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

1 Infantil: The Number Two

Cono 1: Three Food Groups

Ingles 3: Began "International Restaurant Boulevard" Project - talked about typical restaurant foods and created our own Restaurants 

He subido las murallas...por fin!

I went to the top of the walls..finally!

And let me say - it's awesome! It's so amazing to still be able to stand on something that began to be built in 1080. It's about 12 meters high and has a perimeter of 2,516 meters. There's so much history behind it...which is one of the reasons why I went up it today.

The oldest students in school had been working on skits to tell some of the history of the wall. It was a project that the students had to do for a literature class. Today, the rest of the classes in the school went to go watch the students perform their skits. They performed them on the top of the walls. The students had to write their lines and memorize them. They even got in costumes. I was very impressed. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I love the satisfaction that everyone gets when students have the ability to be creative and express themselves in different ways, rather than just exams. It's great.

Other than climbing to the top of the walls today, this has been a pretty busy week with school. I'm starting to pick up teaching more classes. This week I did a lot with the food guide pyramid and different food groups. I'm picking up lots of ideas to use in future classrooms.

4 de Primaria Food Pyramid Project

5 de primaria food group project

5 de primaria food group project

1 de Primaria Food Groups

1 de Primaria Healthy Salad

I'm relieved it's the weekend, though! Tomorrow I'm going to another basketball game in a different city. Last Saturday I saw Fuenlabrada vs. Bilbao in Fuenlabrada, and this week I'm seeing Fuenlabrada vs. Valladolid in Valladolid. Before we go to the game, we're going to see a few castles I think. Last week we did shopping before we went to see the game. I go with my mentor teacher and her friend, and I love that they love basketball like me. I couldn't have picked a better match!!!!

I have another required "journal entry" for my class that I'm planning on writing tomorrow, so I'll include more then. Now, I'm going to "tomar algo" which means go out for a drink and a tapa. :)

Un besito,
Kate