senoracmt

Review before the new!

In Spanish 3 we are getting ready to start our Spanish Civil War unit and La Hija del Sastre… Later than usual by far… And I really wanted to review our study of the Civil War in El Salvador so it would be fresh in their minds for comparing!

I decided to use an activity that I learned in a reading workshop with Carol Gaab, gallery walk. First I had students individually list things that they remembered from our study. At first they said they didn’t remember anything but when I reminded them of all of the #authres we had used, it all came back to them! After their solo brainstorm, they worked in pairs to create a combined list of all their facts. When they had their paired list ready, the pairs formed groups of 4 and made an extra large list on a piece of butcher paper. We hung them around the room and the groups of four read everyone else’s posters and then turned in a summary of all they now remembered about the war!

It was a GREAT review and they are feeling confident about the info as we are on the verge of starting a similar study!

Published by senoracmt

I began teaching Spanish in Illinois in 1994. I have taught levels 1-4 in a small rural high school, 8th grade introductory Spanish, Biology 1, and 101 and 102 at the community college level. My Spanish classes are partnered with the community college to offer students 8 semester hours of dual credit on completion of Spanish 4. In 2011 I met Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido and have since co-authored the book "La hija del sastre" with Carol Gaab and authored the novels "La Calaca Alegre", "Bianca Nieves y los 7 toritos." "Vector," "48 horas","Bananas", "Sostenible", and "Papálotl" through Fluency Matters. In 2006 I became National Board certified and I have been serving as a mentor both for candidates seeking certification in world languages other than English and a virtual mentor for candidates in all certificate areas. I completed my Masters degree in Spanish education in 2011 and did my research on the use of Understanding by Design to create meaningful cultural units for the language classroom. I am a frequent presenter on this topic, please consider me if you are interested in a workshop on backward design. In 2013 I was named the ICTFL Foreign Language teacher of the year and in 2014 I was selected as CSCTFL's teacher of the year. In November of 2014 I was lucky enough to be one of the five finalists for the ACTFL National Teacher of the Year in San Antonio, TX. What a "Cinderella" experience! You can reach me via email at carrie at somewheretoshare dot com.

One comment

  1. I am also starting this same exact unit. We are making an infographic on the Spanish Civil War, and will begin reading La Hija del Sastre next week. I hope you post your activities, will be very cool for me to see your ideas.

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