Thursday's class

Today's class was...alright. I'm worried I left students feeling confused about certain things in Lección 3, but hopefully that´s not true. I devoted the class almost entirely to review- we went over "tener que" and I think it clicked. Some of the students who seemed to have a better command of this particular unit helped others and volunteered suggestions to others. It seems like students found Krista's grammar instruction this week particularly helpful. Yay Krista!

We then reviewed the personal a, which is what got us into trouble. Some students seem to really be having difficulty with this, but we went through myriad examples that they answered correctly, so hopefully they at least have the application correct, even if the comprehension of the concept is still a little murky.

We also went over the quizzes from last Friday and I directed them to points in the quiz where the majority of the class seemed to be having difficulty. We went through the quiz in extreme detail, so I think they are feeling comfortable with Lección 2 material.

I did speak primarily in English today, which I didn´t feel good about, but many students sad that they found it really helpful to talk about the more confusing aspects of grammar in English and translate it into Spanish. I still think it's important to speak as much Spanish as possible, but since the class was entirely review, I did end up speaking English for clarity's sake to make sure that as many people as possible were absorbing the concepts we discussed.

I asked the class to compile a list of specific questions and things they find particularly difficult for tomorrow's class so we can review them before the exam Monday. I will make the exam this weekend and send it out this weekend. I would appreciate any and all comments and input you may have...

Other things of note:

1. Nel Butler informed me that he is dyslexic today. We are scheduled to meet tomorrow independently and have a talk about accommodations that he may find useful in this class, but if there are any teachers particularly familiar with how to accommodate for this learning disability in terms of teaching style etc, please share any advice!

2. The class seems to be super interested in having a study hall, as Krista mentioned yesterday. I briefly spoke about this subject with Jennifer last week, but it seems like the study halls with PUP are already quite full of English students. Given that Spanish already meets 5 days a week, I don't think giving priority to Spanish students in study hall is at the top of the list. We can keep working on this, but one idea I had was to potentially set aside time in class twice a week that serves as office hours, so we can set up individual meetings or group meetings with people around areas in which they struggle. That's just one idea and I'm sure there are many more, but the class seemed adamant enough about wanting out-of-class support that I think it's important to keep in mind.

Hope everyone is well!

Kara