Self-Study of

Instruction and
Student Learning
Kate Sims
Final review and report of instruction and learning of Spanish Level 3 Unit 3.2, Lincoln North
Star High. Supervised by Marcie Castillo.

Fast-Track Program Spring 2016

I student taught at Lincoln North Star High School. This is an incredibly diverse school,
both culturally and socioeconomically. The diversity creates challenges in some ways,
but it also lends itself to the need and study of foreign language. It is also fun and
informative for both teachers and students.
The class I have selected for my final project at North Star is Spanish Level 3 Period 8.
This is a class with sophomores and juniors. 23 total students: 10 students are white,
4 African American, 5 Asian, and 4 Hispanic. 2 students have IEPs that require
accommodations but not modifications: 1 has autism and 1 has reading difficulties,
but this student is a heritage Spanish speaker, and has very few problems reading in
Spanish. I used this breakdown of student diversity to plan instruction that would
include and not distract. I also made sure to use strategies and materials that
provided accommodations required by IEP.

North Star by the Numbers

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Students Elligible for
Free and Reduced
Lunch

Gifted Students

Special Education
Students

Ethnically Diverse
Students

ELL Students

The unit for Spanish 3 that I have designed and taught is Unit 3.2. The main theme of the unit is Social
Awareness, and the vocabulary reflects that. The main grammatical concepts center on an introduction to
Present Subjunctive. This concept is literally foreign to English speakers. We have subjunctive, but we
rarely study it and most English speakers dont use it correctly anyway. Its frustrating to English-speakers
learning Spanish because were convinced we dont need it. On the contrary, in Spanish the subjunctive has
several uses in normal conversation and writing. As this is a difficult concept to swallow for students,
teachers and curriculum typically break up all of the uses into small chunks so that students dont revolt. In
this unit, subjunctive is explained simply as a verb mood used when there is doubt that something may not
happen or someone may not do something. This is first introduced with the use of impersonal phrases (It is
important that, It is sad that, It is a good idea that, etc.) After students have this general idea and
learn how to conjugate subjunctive in present tense, irregular verbs in the subjunctive, stem-changing
verbs, and more exceptions to the rule have to be explained. Thats when things get interesting.

The planning of this unit had to be strategic in how the concepts were introduced as one added on to
another, and as not to give too much information to confuse or overwhelm the students. All of these
concepts are laid out in guided notes so that we can go through them one step at a time. It also supports
our students on IEPs. After each section there is time to practice and review with different activities.

Activity
Used Chromebooks
to create Google
slides for vocabulary

Learning Styles
Spatial, Interpersonal

Groupings
Solo, Entire Class

Created fill-in-theblank questions for

vocabulary

Logical, Verbal

Solo, Partner

Filled out guided

notes for
grammatical

Logical, Verbal

Solo, Entire Class

Questioning
What represents your
vocabulary words?
What will help you
remember?
What sentence can use
your vocab word? What
could a test/quiz
question look like with
your vocab word?
What looks like
something weve
learned before?

concepts
Did You Get It?
Worksheets
Checking worksheets
in class

Logical, Verbal

Solo

Interpersonal

Partners, Entire Class

Political ProjectPresidential Debate

Auditory, Verbal,
Kinesthetic

Solo, Small Groups,

Entire Class

Matamoscas/Bowling
Game
Movie Casi Casi
about a school
election in Puerto
Rico
Spinners game on
board to practice
subjunctive

Kinesthetic, Auditory

Large Groups

Auditory, Spatial

Entire Class

Logical, Verbal, Spatial,

Kinesthetic

Solo, Large Groups

Practiced
conjugating
subjunctive on little
white boards
Apples to Apples:
Students create
advice for their given
issue on all teams
choose best option

Verbal, Intrapersonal

Solo, Entire Class

Verbal, Auditory,
Interpersonal

Small Groups, Entire

Class

Read Panama Canal

article and wrote
advice to a specific
party involved using
subjunctive

Verbal, Intrapersonal,
Logical

Solo, Small Group

Slap Jack Vocab

Game
Pictionary Vocab
Game
Irregular Subjunctive

Kinesthetic, Auditory

Pairs or Group of 3

Spatial

Small Groups

Logical, Interpersonal

Entire Class
3

Can you do this by

yourself?
Did you get it? Do you
understand what you
did wrong?
Can you use these
concepts in a real-life
scenario? Can you add
current knowledge to
what you already know
to make a final project?
Can you recognize
vocabulary?
Can you understand?

Do you remember all

the parts of a
subjunctive sentence?
Can you
write/conjugate a
subjunctive sentence?
Can you conjugate
normal subjunctive?

Can you understand

written Spanish? Can
you create subjunctive
sentences with no help?
Can you understand
others advice?
Can you use prior
knowledge? Can you
apply that knowledge to
a current grammatical
concept? Can you
correctly form
subjunctive sentences
to give advice?
Do you know the
vocab?
Do you know the
vocab?
Have you memorized

practice on white
boards

the irregular verbs yet?

The planning of this unit had to be strategic in how the concepts were introduced as one added on to
another, and as not to give too much information to confuse or overwhelm the students. All of these
concepts are laid out in guided notes so that we can go through them one step at a time. It also supports
our students on IEPs. After each section there is time to practice and review with different activities.

Several different assessment strategies were used to gauge student understanding and progress within the
learning targets. Worksheets and redo-worksheets were used to assess general understand. Writing,
presenting, and evaluating presidential debates were used to assess use of subjunctive in context. Vocab
game informally assessed and helped review this units vocabulary. Two quizzes, one for vocab and one for
subjunctive, helped to steer teaching, activities, and review. All-class conjugating on white boards helped
to informally assess knowledge of regulars, irregulars, GO verbs, stems changers, and spelling changes
within conjugation of present subjunctive. Final learning was measured with a summative test.

Assessment Strategy
Cream Worksheet
Did You Get It?

Presidential Debate
Writing

Vocabulary Game
Mata Moscas

Learning Objective
Conjugate Regular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood
Recognize endings for
present subjunctive,
conjugate for present
subjunctive, and create
sentences with present
subjunctive. (All regular
verbs)
Create sentences that
use present subjunctive
in context with correct
format
Learn and Correctly Use
Unit Vocabulary in
Context
4

Formal/Informal
Formal

Example Location

Formal

A2

Informal

No Document

A1

Learning Logs-Exit
Ticket

Vocabulary Quiz

Spinners Game on
Board

Irregulars
Worksheet

Subjunctive Quiz

Recall vocabulary
General feeling and
possible issues with
start of new unit

Informal

Learn and Correctly Use Formal

Unit Vocabulary in
Context
Read, Choose
appropriate vocabulary
based on sentence
context
Conjugate Regular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

Informal

Questions: How do you

feel about using the
subjunctive? What is
one thing youre
questioning so far?

A3

A4
(Picture Below)

Understand necessary
parts of a subjunctive
sentence, Conjugate
verbs correctly for
present subjunctive
Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

Practice and memorize

irregular conjugations
Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood
Create sentences that
use present subjunctive
in context with correct
format
Show understanding of
conjugation rules,
ability to conjugate
5

Formal

A5

Formal

A6

Whole-Class
Whiteboard Review

Unit 3.2 Final Test

regular and irregular

verbs for present
subjunctive, and create
sentences that use
subjunctive.
Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

Informal

Show knowledge of
subjunctive basics and
general concept.
Conjugate regular and
irregular verbs in
present subjunctive.
Learn and Correctly Use Formal
Unit Vocabulary in
Context
Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood
Create sentences that
use present subjunctive
in context with correct
format
Recall vocabulary and
use in context.
Conjugate verbs for
present subjunctive
within the context of
written sentences.
Write a paragraph using
knowledge of present
subjunctive and
sentence formatting.
Use prior knowledge to
expand on paragraph
and follow general
grammar rules.

No Document

A7

Number of Assessments per Objective

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Vocabulary

Conjugation

Sentences/Context

A4-Spinners Game

Assessment Strategy

Cream Worksheet
Did You Get It?

Presidential Debate
Writing

Vocabulary Game
Mata Moscas

Learning Objective

Results
(Applicable Graphs)

What It Means For

Instruction-Graph
Analysis
Conjugate Regular
Graph 1-Did You Get
First off, just over half
Verbs for Present
It? Worksheet
of students handed this
Subjunctive Mood
assignment in. It may
Recognize endings for
show up in later
present subjunctive,
assessments, but we
conjugate for present
will see how it affects
subjunctive, and create
understanding. Based
sentences with present
off of score results, I
subjunctive. (All regular
can just start to see
verbs)
basic understanding of
the concept of
subjunctive in present
tense. Scores were not
horrible for a first try at
practicing the concepts,
but it confirms that this
is difficult, in general,
and a lot of repetition is
needed. You cant
review and expand
enough.
Create sentences that
Graph 2-Presidential
This data shows that
use present subjunctive Debate Writing
students are beginning
in context with correct
to be able to put their
format
understanding of
subjunctive into
context. 13 students
received a B or higher
on this assignment. It
can show students they
are capable of writing
and speaking in Spanish
even with higher
grammatical concepts.
Its a fun activity to
build upon, and as far
as understanding, it
shows students are on
their way to mastering
the material.
Learn and Correctly Use Students did better with Continued work on
Unit Vocabulary in
cognates (words that
vocabulary, even while
Context
look similar in English).
working on grammatical
Words that have little
concepts. Focus on
8

Recall vocabulary

Learning Logs-Exit
Ticket

Vocabulary Quiz

similarity are difficult

and fewer students
show they have
memorized them.

General feeling and

possible issues with
start of new unit

Students knew they

struggled with the
vocabulary. They said
they liked the game.
Few had complaints
about the subjunctive
yet.
Learn and Correctly Use Graph 3-Vocabulary
Unit Vocabulary in
Quiz
Context
Read, Choose
appropriate vocabulary
based on sentence
context

Spinners Game on
Board

Conjugate Regular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

When students had the

spinners in a row on the
board they easily
recognized the format
of subjunctive
sentences. It gave them
a chance to clarify
which verbs are
conjugated for
subjunctive and which
arent. Some found it
challenging to decide
who the 2nd subject was
and for that reason
didnt conjugate the
verb phrase for the
right person.
This worksheet gave
students a chance to

Understand necessary
parts of a subjunctive
sentence, Conjugate
verbs correctly for
present subjunctive

Irregulars
Worksheet

Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
9

words that are not

easily guessed or
recognized. Use warmups and exit tickets to
add time spent on
vocabulary.
Again, focus on
vocabulary to help
students gain
confidence.

Data shows results of

12 As, 7 Bs, 2 Cs, 1 D,
and 1 F. This is a great
looking breakdown of
scores for knowledge of
vocabulary. It means
weve been reviewing
enough vocabulary
while were learning
new grammatical
concepts. If we keep
this practice up with
warm-ups or games we
should see good results
on the final test.
Practice needs to
continually be in
sentence format.
Subjunctive is only
going to get more
complicated in the
students minds. They
need to have this basic
idea down of 1st
subject, 1st verb,
separator, 2nd subject,
2nd verb. Practice needs
to be in context so
students begin to
realize the subject they
must conjugate for.
Results were typical for
a new concept and one

Verbs, and Irregular

Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

Practice and memorize

irregular conjugations

Subjunctive Quiz

Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

put recent notes into

practice. Sadly, truly
irregular verbs just have
to be memorized. They
dont have a formula to
follow for conjugation.
This worksheet allows
students to see that as
they have to look up
answers off of their
notes.
Graph 4-Subjunctive
Quiz

Create sentences that

use present subjunctive
in context with correct
format

Whole-Class
Whiteboard Review

Unit 3.2 Final Test

Show understanding of
conjugation rules,
ability to conjugate
regular and irregular
verbs for present
subjunctive, and create
sentences that use
subjunctive.
Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

Overall, students did

well with the rapid fire
review questions. They
showed understanding
and recognition of the
difficult verbs to
Show knowledge of
conjugate. I think they
subjunctive basics and
liked doing this as a
general concept.
group but having their
Conjugate regular and
own whiteboard. The
irregular verbs in
GO verbs continue to
present subjunctive.
stump some students,
but the irregulars are
better than before.
Learn and Correctly Use Graph 5-Final Test
Unit Vocabulary in
Context
10

that doesnt have much

reason to it. It shows
that well have to do
the practice in class for
students to be able to
recall these new
irregular conjugations
or they wont be able to
remember for tests.

19 of 23 students got a
B or higher on this quiz.
All concepts were
quizzed, but there were
not as many irregular
verbs on quiz, as wed
just completed that
concept in class. This
says that students are
able to take on new
concepts in regard to
subjunctive and build
upon them. Based off
question answers, we
will spend most of our
time reviewing and
practicing irregular,
stem-changer, and GO
verbs before the test.
This final review
seemed to confirm
students had spent time
learning all the
objectives, and while
they still made mistakes
and some did better
than others, they would
be able to expand their
knowledge of the
content and continue to
build upon it after
taking the unit test.
Letter Grades:
A-3
B-9

C-5
D-4
F-2

Conjugate Regular,
Stem-Changer, GO
Verbs, and Irregular
Verbs for Present
Subjunctive Mood

Grades were not quite

as good as expected
based off of the
wonderful quiz scores,
however, 17 students
received a C or higher,
and that typically shows
an understanding that
can continue to grow.
Again, subjunctive is not
an easy concept. It is
what the students will
continue working on
until the end of the
year, because it has so
many uses in normal
Spanish. This shows
that a majority of
students can continue
the study of all its uses
with a general
understanding. 6
students may struggle
more and need more
help to understand
future concepts.

Create sentences that

use present subjunctive
in context with correct
format
Recall vocabulary and
use in context.
Conjugate verbs for
present subjunctive
within the context of
written sentences.
Write a paragraph using
knowledge of present
subjunctive and
sentence formatting.
Use prior knowledge to
expand on paragraph
and follow general
grammar rules.

11

Graph 1-Did You Get It? Worksheet

Points earned out of 20

20

19
17

16 16

15

15 15

13

14

13

18

13

Graph 2-Presidential Debate-Written

Points earned out of 30
30

28
25 25

25
22

30

28

29

27

25

28

22
19

12

30 30

Graph 3-Vocabulary Quiz

Points earned out of 16
16 16

15
13

14

15

16

16

14
12

15

13

16
14

16 16

16

15

14

13

12

10
7

Graph 4-Subjunctive Quiz

Points earned out of 25
25 25
21 21

20

21

25 25

24

24 24

23

22

21
18

13

19

19

25

24
22

23
21

Graph 5-Final Test

Points earned out of 80
61
51

70

66 65

62

66

69
56

51

46

67
61
48

20

14

80

79

78

68

64

62
51

I was worried at the beginning of this unit, because I knew that Spring Break would fall in the middle of it. However, it
didnt seem to affect the student learning as much as I thought it might, and the start and end dates worked well with
the break. Students had a week and a half to be introduced to the information of the unit in a basic way. We spent a day
introducing the new unit vocabulary and creating slides for each work on one Google Doc. Students really like the
opportunity to be on the computer for a while and it saves the teacher from having to make a time-consuming
presentation. Usually the students use their humor and the class gets a laugh and perhaps a way to remember the words
better. After vocabulary, we used two days to introduce the present subjunctive and work on worksheets in class and out
to really practice what we learned. I spent a day longer on the beginning of subjunctive than expected to complete
more practice and review, as students questioned and pushed back more than expected. We spent more time
practicing together and going over work in class than I originally planned. The Did You Get It? Worksheet was used
as a more informal assessment during this time, showing that we were on our way, but the subjunctive was going to
take longer than other concepts to show great progress. Data is shown in Graph 1.
We started a new week by putting the subjunctive into context in a real way. Students were taxed with creating their
own presidential campaign or debate speech. This fit into the practice of subjunctive because students had learned
subjunctive was used with impersonal phrases like Es importante que and Es buena idea que That way, a majority
of their speech could practice subjunctive as they told others, Its important that we protect the environment. The
students were able to spend three days writing and completing their first debate. I also added vocabulary review and
games to these days so students wouldnt forget what theyd learned. Students took their first quiz on one of the work
days for this debate project. With some explanation (there were some uncommon phrases used that needed to be
defined) students did well on the quiz, as shown in collected data in Graph 3. I like what this debate project
incorporated, and that they could use both vocabulary and grammar that wed been studying. Overall, students ended
up having fun with this project and became more comfortable with all the learning objectives without thinking too
much about the difficulty. They received good marks, overall, and all participated in the debates and presidential
election. This brought us to Spring Break.
When students returned from break, we spent a fun day reviewing with a game called Spinners. This was an informal
assessment that was good for review and also to see where we were at after break. Students had not completely
forgotten everything wed learned thankfully, and the game was a good design to incorporate most of what wed
covered so far in regard to subjunctive. For a couple days during the week we added to what wed learned so far about
subjunctive. This was the introduction to stem-changing verbs, GO verbs, and irregulars. We completed more notes,
practiced with worksheets, and all class review. I used a difficult worksheet to assess more informally how students
were doing with the new rules for all the new rules theyd learned.

15

It was definitely a mix of success and confusion. It confirmed the level of difficulty, and made it clear that this week
would be a subjunctive week, overall. Besides worksheets, notes, and group practice with whiteboards, one day we
played a game akin to Apples to Apples. In groups, students created answers to prompts, typically a problem that
someone was having like Adams girlfriend wont call him back after an argument they had. What should he do?
Students could then answer using present subjunctive in the format they had learned with impersonal phrases. This was
our last review before the students had a subjunctive specific quiz at the end of the week. The quiz showed great results,
and let me know that we should be on track to take the final unit test at the end of the next week. Students got to
celebrate the end of the week with that start of movie about a school presidential election in Puerto Rico. Its super
cheesy and you get to laugh a lot.
The last week before the test, we spent one day reading an article and writing advice in the perspective of Colombians,
Americans, Panamanians, and the French. The article centered on history in relation to the Panama Canal and all of the
players involved. Students were able to practice their reading skills at an appropriate level and write using the format of
present subjunctive theyd been learning. The last days were used to review all that wed learned over the unit in
different ways. We played Slap Jack and Pictionary for vocabulary practice. It seemed to be going well, so we could
move on to subjunctive review. We spent some time correcting and finishing homework that involved the subjunctive.
We also reviewed together as a class over the rules of the subjunctive, and especially the irregular forms we had
learned. This was a bit of a speed drill and seemed to go very well, overall. We continued with our plan of taking the
test on the last day of the week and not reviewing any longer.

16

Activity

Modifications

What Modification
Does to Improve
Learning

Used Chromebooks to create

Google slides for vocabulary

-Stricter time limits

-Have students
write sentence
using the word and
write the
translation

-Students have to
create using new info
& it helps them
remember it.
-It puts vocab into
context, which helps
practice other
aspects of Spanish
besides vocab and
remember new info

Created fill-in-the-blank
questions for vocabulary

-Use more
examples
-Use more time to
complete
-Use as flash cards
to practice vocab
-Guidelines for
good questions

-Students can see

that this will help
them be ready for
test questions in a
similar format

Filled out guided notes for

grammatical concepts

I wouldnt
necessarily modify
these, except to
keep making the
notes as concise
and pertinent as
possible

None

Did You Get It? Worksheets

-Possibly create my

-Im not sure if it

17

What Went Well

& What Could
Have Gone
Better
-Students generally
liked this project
-I thought they
took too long to
complete this
assignment, so Id
maybe have some
more restrictions
-I was able to use
their presentation
to go over vocab
with everyone and
practice/review
later on
-Students have to
use prior
knowledge to
create their
questions
-Students really
tried to do this, but
I needed to give
better examples.
They needed more
prep time, and a
reason why the
activity was
important.
Students like
guided notes. They
help students with
certain IEP
modifications while
they help everyone
else. Students then
have a reference to
go back to.
-There has been a

Checking worksheets in class

Learning Logs-Exit Ticket

own worksheets in
the same
style/format as the
test questions

helps learning except

that it may allow
students to be more
prepared for what
they see on the test.

-Just get into a

better habit of
doing this, so
students have a
reason to get work
done that day or
the next day.
-Typically I would
have students
show me if theyre
done or not, and if
theyre done they
get to check their
own work while
we go over it.
-Could also pick up
all work and then
go over together
so students can
see the answers to
the ones they
struggled with.
-I used some
generic questions I
had found, and I
may be more
specific in the
future.
-I think it could be
part of an on-going
journal of sorts
by making it
routine

-Going over work

together gives a
chance for immediate
feedback and an
opportunity for
students to ask
questions they might
otherwise forget.

18

-Students have a
chance to reflect and
look back at what
theyve been doing,
possibly what they
felt about it and how
they feel now

difference
between what I
see in the
assessments
leading up to the
test and what I
actually see on the
final unit test. I
want to make sure
it isnt because of
inconsistency with
the practice and
the evaluation.
-The difficult part
was the students
werent used to
doing this and
many did not have
work ready to be
checked.
-Must become a
habit.
-Students that did
complete work
were helped by
this activity.

-It was a bit rushed

at the end of class
and most of the
answers reflected
that. I would use
more time so you
can really see
whats important
to the students.
-It wasnt routine,
but random for
students.

Vocabulary Quiz

-Create my own
vocab quiz that
resemble
format/style of
final test

-Help students
prepare and not
allow format or more
difficult vocab from
the book affect grade

Political Project-Presidential
Debate

-Just more
polished
-More specific
requirements
-Spend more time
and really play it
up

Matamoscas/Bowling Game

No modifications,
super fun

-This was a great

project to really bring
a lot of the learning
goals together and
we couldve added
even more to it to
show students they
know how to use
concepts in context
of real world issues.
Helps students learn
vocab in teams and
as a whole class

Movie Casi Casi about a school

election in Puerto Rico

-To make it apply

to learning youd
have to get some
questions set up
and pick scenes in
the movie to turn
off subtitles to
practice specific
listening related to
the unit
-None, it worked
well

Spinners game on board to

practice subjunctive

19

-It applied to the unit

but students mainly
learned cultural
content related to
Puerto Rico, not the
objectives

-Students were in
teams, but had to
individually write out
subjunctive
sentences based on
where the spinners
landed for each
sentence part. Then,
a number was called
to say which person
on the team would
be responsible for the
completed sentence.
Students were able to
practice writing

-Students thought
this quiz was too
hard until I gave
them a few tips
about phrases they
hadnt seen much
-It worked well
how it was, and the
students had some
fun giving their
speeches and
voting
-I would just
modify bit by bit
and make it even
better
It works well,
because you get to
study and not
necessarily feel like
you are practicing
grammar.
This was
something fun to
do little by little
that was related to
our unit vocabulary
and the debate
project we did

The game went

over well. You
must get everyone
to participate in
the writing. We
also did boys vs.
girls and the
students seemed
to like that
different
competition.

Practiced conjugating
subjunctive on little quite
boards

Apples to Apples: Students

create advice for their given
issue on all teams choose best
option

-Could make this

into a game maybe
-Itd be fun for the
students to be able
to answer using
technology so
youd have their
answers
documented.
Maybe us
PearDeck.
-Written
Instructions
-Trying it a few
times
-Modeling with
teacher and a
couple students

Subjunctive Quiz

-Add more
questions for
irregular
conjugations

Read Panama Canal article and

wrote advice to a specific party
involved using subjunctive

-Create more of a
TPRS situation with
this reading so it is
coupled with
obvious context
20

sentences and
subjunctive
conjugation. They
learned repeatedly
the sentence format
for impersonal
phrase+subjunctive.
-This was a major
learning objective
and sometimes when
you complete tasks as
a whole class
questions come up
that wouldnt
normally. You can
actually know that
every student is
practicing.
-Students can then
see the connection to
their learning
objectives
-Students can focus
on their advice being
given in the correct
format

Seemed to be fine
with students.
They knew they
needed the
practice, but I think
they wouldve had
more fun in game
format or using
technology.

-This is a fun game

that allows
students to
practice writing
advice in the
subjunctive
sentence format
they learned
-The directions and
point of the
game got a little
murky for students
-Students will truly
-This was a good
get to test knowledge quiz that went of
on each learning
the basics
objective dealing with -Most students got
the subjunctive
awesome scores
on this
-Perhaps made
them too
confident, because
it didnt ask about
many difficult
conjugations
-Students wont focus -This wasnt a hit
as much on their
with students as
reading struggle and
they struggled with
more on the learning the reading
objective for writing
-The thing is

clues.
-Create a new
document or set of
directions with
examples of advice
in the students
given perspective
-Timers!

sentences (advice)
that use the present
subjunctive

students dont get

to read enough in
Spanish

-Students have fun,

but its just one
quick way to
practice vocabulary
in class instead of
trusting students
to practice outside
of class

Pictionary Vocab Game

-Pretty typical, no
modifications

-The purpose of this

game is obviously
related to learning
the unit vocabulary.
Timers can help
students stay on
track, not waste time,
and make it more
fun.
None

Irregular Subjunctive practice

on white boards

-Again, I think this

could be
interactive and fun
for students if it
used technology or
a game format.

Final Test

-I think tests that

use all of the

-We did this in

table groups and it
was fun, but
students werent
super excited
about. Another
teacher does a
game where
students can draw,
act, or mold the
vocab word out of
Play-Doh. Could be
fun.
-The objective is
This went over ok
obvious and students with students.
know they need to
They knew we
practice conjugation, were prepping for
especially of the
the final test. It
more difficult
gave them an
irregular forms, but
opportunity to
its difficult to keep
practice irregulars
attention. I think this or types of verbs
modification could
that were still
help students stay
giving them
focused as they
trouble. It was a
practice important
last opportunity to
concepts.
let them know
what could be
tough for them.
Overall, score for test were not bad.
However, it did seem to be tougher for

Slap Jack Vocab Game

-I dont think
there was

21

necessarily
anything wrong
with this test.
-Overall, I think
Id like to go
toward ways of
testing that truly
tell what a
student has
learned: a project
or a longer piece
of writing in class
that uses the
concepts theyd
learned.

learning objectives
in one way or all
together at the
same time would
show truer
evidence of
learning versus
recall and
memorization.

students for some reason as they didnt

score as high as they had on quizzes or
other work.

I really liked this unit, and I was mostly pleased with the results. However, I still have aspects that Id
change or get rid of all together. Overall, data showed improvement after each assessment, but the final
test grades were lower than expected. This is the biggest inconsistency I saw. Above, I analyzed all aspects
of the unit in detail.
I think I showed both strengths and weaknesses during this unit of teaching. I really knew the students at
this point in the semester, so I was better able to predict issues theyd have and activities theyd like. I like
to pick strategies that I can get excited about or that I find interesting, because then Im better able to get
the students excited. I really like to bring in pop culture, news and history that the students can related to.
They can then see how Spanish can be used in real world contexts and that they arent just studying
grammar. Im also getting better about repeating information and concepts over and over again, but in
different ways. Ive learned you cannot review enough.
As far as weaknesses or areas of development, Id like to work more on the idea of TPRS, which is reading
with comprehensible input in order to learn the language better. I want to use strategies that can really
help students use the language and not just know the grammatical aspects of the language. Grammar isnt
the exciting part of learning a new language; its the ability to use it when you need it. I want to grow in my
ability to bring practical and deeper learning to the language classroom.

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