Category Archives: Nadine Amarelo

Empatía

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After watching the Brené Brown video on empathy on the first retreat day, I thought about how I could incorporate SEL in my classes and adapt it to my Spanish curriculum. I found that it would be a nice fit for the beginning of the year because the first chapter in the curriculum relates to vocabulary pertaining to one of the AP themes of interpersonal relationships and how we connect with people.

I scoured YouTube and I found the Brené Brown video on empathy dubbed in Spanish. I found it with Spanish subtitles and I decided to do a mini lesson on empathy with my students and embed it into the chapter vocabulary. We had a discussion in class in Spanish about what students thought empathy was and if we as a society are very empathetic or not. Students emphatically claimed that we are not a very empathetic society, however they could not articulate what we could do to practice more empathy in our relationships.

I proceeded to show the video and afterward, many students said that they did not understand the video because it was too fast. I showed the video again, and paused it every 20-30 seconds and we had discussions of the meanings in chunks. Students were able to understand the video more. I showed the video a third time, in English, so that students could compare what they understood in Spanish to what was actually being said. They said that they got the general gist of the topic. 

I assigned a video diary (a video blog that students are assigned weekly) to articulate their thoughts in Spanish about what they thought were the obstacles for empathy.

We wrapped up by doing a comprehension worksheet as an exit ticket and a check for listening and comprehension.

At the end, I had every intention to do a unit evaluation for this activity, however I personally felt that it went horribly. Students did not seem to engage with the material and they seemed confused, bored, and not connected and I felt that maybe the subject was a little over their heads. I abandoned the lesson and moved on.

A month later, I realized that I had written this activity down as one of my year goals, and that I was going to do a unit evaluation on the lesson, and feeling dejected, I didn’t do my goal. I decided that I would show the video again to my students to see how much they remembered and if anything about empathy had sunk in and if anything we had discussed in class resonated and stuck with students a month later. I was completely shocked to see that students were able to recall the lessons and vocabulary that we had talked about a month later, without even reviewing the vocabulary. I showed the video one more time, and students were shocked to see that they were able to understand the video and pick up on more vocabulary that they recognized from the previous chapter. Not only that, but they were able to identify and practice how to be empathetic in their daily relationships.

I conducted a unit evaluation and the results were pretty positive. I’m happy I did this lesson (twice) and that I was able to incorporate SEL as an overarching theme in my classes. Here are some examples from the unit evaluation:

¿Cómo Se Dice, “Maths” en Español?: A Collaborative Vlog

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WATCH THIS VIDEO, YOUR WORLD WILL CHANGE….(probably not, but just watch because I put work into it) 🙂


So I don’t like math. 
I never have. I like being competitive and getting points on Alludo though,
which is why I ended up signing myself up for an online maths course for math
teachers. (Yes, I said “maths”). I really didn’t have any intention of getting anything out of this
course and I really did just take it to get more Alludo points, because who
needs sleep? I also wanted to know what my students go through on a regular
basis to see if I can adjust my curriculum according to their needs and how
they learn, so I gave maths a whirl.


 Much to my surprise, it wasn’t really a course about math,
(maths) in the videos that I watched (on double speed to save time), but rather
a philosophy on teaching and learning that can be applied to various realms and
curricula. While I watched the videos I noticed language pertaining to “fixed
mindset” and “growth mindset”, and the concept of “yet.”
 Students in these
videos stated “I’m not good at math” “I’m just not a math person” “This isn’t
how my brain works”, and I began to make some connections: I noticed many of my
own students in Spanish saying similar things “I’m just no good at languages” “My
parents weren’t good at language, so neither am I” “I had bad teachers in middle
school, so I’m not very good”. I started to create a correlation between
Spanish teaching and learning and math, and when I approached Lesley Schooler
about this connection, she agreed that there might be some similarities. Like
math, students in Spanish are afraid to make mistakes, they put an obtrusive
filter on producing and speaking the language because they’re afraid they will
make mistakes and not be precise, so they just don’t speak. I found the
neurological studies in the math online course through Stanford to be
fascinating with the connections that I could make with my students in Spanish
class. I realized that the material needs to be slower and more attainable for
students, and not penalize mistakes, but point out mistakes, and allow students
to correct them (this is where the brain grows) and they shouldn’t be marked
down for making mistakes, but they should fix them so that they enjoy the process
of learning. The videos present the idea of the journey and process in learning. Students try and think aloud and defend and explain their findings rather than simply right and wrong and they move on. I am inspired to incorporate more of this style into my classes. The conundrum that I’m having is, while this is a great way to encourage learning and brain growth, I want to know that I am preparing students for college, and upper level learning where there might still be an institutionalized, systematic fixed mindset that they also need to be able to navigate. Would I be doing my students a disservice if I don’t require precision as well? I’m not sure. 
I shared these thoughts with Lesley and we made other
insights and connections as well. I think this is a good course to take, even
if you don’t teach math because a lot of the principles can be applied in many
fields of study. Also I actually learned some math, and I don’t hate it as much
as before. Yay!

That One Time I Had An Idea…

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I have so many ideas that I don’t even know what to do with them. Finding the time and energy for all of the things swirling through my head is a daunting task. Once I have an idea, and I think it’s great, I automatically think about how I can make it better…and then I get overwhelmed and it becomes a vicious cycle. 
I actually had so many ideas for blog posts, and they all live in my head and I haven’t found the time until now (because I have to) to actually compose my ideas in this blog…woops?
Anyway. My most recent idea came from Lacy Matthews: 
She’s the best! 🙂

who made an announcement about immigration over the loud speaker one morning during prayer in first period. I got inspired in that instant to assign my Spanish 3 Honors students the task of writing a personal narrative of an immigrant coming from a Spanish speaking country during this time. Students were to write their story in the first person from the perspective of an immigrant (obviously in Spanish).  First they were required to pick a scenario: which country? What is this person like? What is their family like? What challenges or successes arose from the immigration process?

Students researched social media posts, news articles, blogs, vlogs, pretty much anything available to them to get the most accurate, authentic perspective they could find. And they really enjoyed it. They were tasked to work in groups, and produce a dramatic, first person perspective narrative of what an immigrant might go through in various scenarios.
My students found themselves learning about government policies regarding immigration, polarizing perspectives, the daily struggles of someone living in a war-torn country or a country with limited economic opportunities. They found themselves feeling compassionate toward individuals that they had never encountered before. They learned things that weren’t readily available in a textbook or a lecture, and that’s awesome.  Oh, and I guess they learned some Spanish along the way too 😉
I found that my students were really into this project. They took pride in what they were doing,  and they wanted to do it well. They were meticulous with the grammar, conjugations, subject verb agreement, adjectives, and the best word choice, because as one student put it: “I want to do these people justice. Their story is important, and I owe it to them to do a good job.” 
(And then my teacher heart exploded into a million happy pieces!) 
I later found out from one of my students who has Lacy for religion class that she was simultaneously teaching about immigration and was showing a film titled: “Which Way Home?’ (I think that’s what the movie was called, my brain turned to mush during Christmas break, correct me if I’m wrong, Lacy). Students in her class were also privileged to see a guest speaker who discussed immigration policy and bills regarding the issue. I was delighted to know that several of my students in my Spanish class also share Lacy’s class and we were discussing the same themes.
This unintentional collaboration happens more often than not with my classes. Somehow whatever I happen to be teaching completely coincides with another discipline, and then BAM! Interdisciplinary teaching. The only problem is, I don’t want to have to find out from my students what’s happening in other classes, but it’s a welcome blessing anyway. I love to see that my students are making the connections on their own without it being forced. I like when learning is organic, and when students can come to their own conclusions on their own. 
Back to what I was saying about so many ideas…I like this project…It has been great so far, but I want to do MORE with it. I’m open to more ideas and suggestions because I want to expand on this topic. I don’t want to just leave it as an essay. Let me know your thoughts! 

Sometimes Things Go Better Than I Had Planned…

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My Spanish 3 Honors students can conjugate 21 tenses in any given form on command. They can analyze and discuss the similarities and differences between Jorge Luis Borges’ short story and Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings through the theme of duality of being and metafiction. My Spanish 3 Honors students can discuss the benefits and moral disadvantages of stem-cell research and technology in the medical field. They can recite the Beatitudes, discuss genocide in Guatemala, all in Spanish…HOWEVER: 
Many of them do it in an inauthentic accent that makes me weep bitterly at night…(okay that’s not true, but the accents definitely need some work…)
I have struggled for YEARS to find techniques to keep my brilliant students accountable for having an authentic accent. Their accent must match their genius minds. When I correct them in class, and they repeat after me, they are able to sound authentic and within a few minutes, they revert back to overcompensating with an “Americanized” accent (Imagine Dr. Phil speaking Spanish…)
You’re welcome.
While I understand that speaking Spanish with an authentic accent isn’t imperative to understanding the general gist of what a person is saying, and I also recognize and appreciate the fact that not everyone is capable of sounding like they jumped out of a Spanish telenovela, I do find it to be important to at least make an attempt to the best of one’s ability to produce a sound that is as similar as possible to the target language (in this case, Spanish). To make this blog not such a long read, I’ll get to the point…

I wanted to find a fun, out of the box tool that would help my Honors students become cognizant of their accents and to hold them accountable for trying to sound as authentic as possible. I wanted to provide them with a tool that they could use to practice at home. I introduce you to:
It’s a game where people try to pronounce certain words with a plastic barrier in their mouths. (Apparently it’s hilarious, I’ve never played…) Anyway, I came up with this idea because many English vowels require the speaker to close their mouths to pronounce. For example: “oh” or “u” (you). If you just tried saying these vowels, you find that your lips close together. My students are saying words like “dos” and “ocho” like “dose” and “ohchoh”. In Spanish, the mouth stays open. It’s hard to explain in writing, but the plastic tool prevents students from closing their mouths, thus forcing them to pronounce the vowels in a more authentic way. Here are some videos, first in English, then Spanish:

I asked my students what they thought about this new technique to help them with their accents, some said that they liked it and they could feel that the plastic piece was helping them be aware of the positioning of their lips when they spoke. Others said that it didn’t really help. Perhaps they won’t go home and practice with their own tools that I provided to them, but there was an even more valuable lesson that came up with using this ridiculous piece of plastic. It was ridiculous. I have found over the years that in order to be successful at speaking a language, one must take risks. The mental filter that tells you that you sound dumb, or are going to sound ridiculous impedes many language learners from actually attempting to speak. The biggest lesson for my students was to eliminate the filter, to both look and feel ridiculous, and attempt to speak anyway. Did this piece of plastic help them improve their accents dramatically? Perhaps not, but it certainly made them more cognizant of their accent, and it was a physical reminder to let go of the filter and just try to sound the best that they can. This is not what I had planned to happen with this activity. I was more focused on getting my students to sound more authentic, but an even better result came from the class: My students were having fun, they lost their obtrusive filters, and began to let go of the fear of speaking (and singing). 

I’d say that’s a win!

I failed; then, I tried again!

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Well, it’s a month into the school year, and I’ve just had my first failed lesson! Actually, it was a great lesson for me:) 
I planned (badly) a discussion around a prayer to St Joseph that didn’t yield neither learning outcomes, nor interest on my students’ part. 
Frustrated and embarrassed, I first blamed (to myself) my students – yes, I went there- for their lack of intellectual curiosity and/or ability.  But after venting to colleagues and doing some reflecting, I realized I hadn’t prepared the discussion thoroughly.
Did I have an objective? What was the outcome desired? Did I put myself in my students’ shoes when scaffolding the lesson?  More importantly, did I give them time to inquire, process, and share with each other before contributing to the class discussion?
The answer is a resounding NO! (Not shouting, just emphasizing:)
I just couldn’t leave it at that; so, I re-planned and prepared, and tried again with another class. And, well, what a world of difference! 
Reflecting and trying is well worth the effort – a lesson for educators and their students. 

Peace,

Nadine 


First cross-curricular activity: Making a pinhole eclipse viewer in French!

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Last Friday in my French 3 Honors’ class we constructed our own pinhole eclipse viewer in preparation for today’s eclipse.  To make our first cross-curricular activity relevant to our French class, I provided students with step by step instructions in French and basic vocabulary around the phenomena.  After reading the instructions in groups and checking for understanding, students traced, cut, glued and assembled their viewer out of a cereal box en français. 
It was a fun experience for the students to figure out instructions in French, make their viewer, and share with classmates this special moment.
As for me, I am looking forward to incorporating cross-curricular activities in my units!
Nadine