Fridays in Level Four
I've been lucky enough to teach a Level Four class for quite a while now. Lucky for many reasons. First, I teach our students when they are freshman. It is wonderful to see how they have grown as students and as people by their senior year. Second, our Level Four class is designed to be a "college prep" class. I do not have to follow a designated state-mandated curriculum. My goal is for them to experience as much success and growth as possible in the time that we have together. Third, Level Four is part of a chain of connections in our program. I try to have as many former students as possible connect with the Fours through letters, emails, our Whitman Wanders the World page, as guest speakers etc.
The Fours also create materials that I use in my Spanish I classes. Right now they are creating Superhero storybooks for the classroom library. I pulled out the collection that has been created over the years and one of the boys was surprised at the author of one of the books. "He's a police officer! I know him. Is it really the same guy?" Yes it is. This same man, then a senior, also wrote a letter to freshmen his senior year encouraging them to stay in Spanish. I still share the letter with ninth graders. Coincidentally, this young man was part of the Class of 1999. It was great to give him his letter to himself ten years in the future...predicting that he would be a police officer. :o) (See August's post Thank You Class of 1999) I have materials created by their older siblings, neighbors and local heroes. Then they get to make materials of their own to share.
This year, every other Friday, we are creating a very short "news" broadcast. For the first week, they each simply made a short report (3-5 sentences) about something that had happened that week. The topics ranged from athletic competitions to the new Disney expansion. We filmed it with the SmartBoard as a background so that each student had a related visual behind him/her. On Monday I'll (hopefully!) get that on a DVD and then Tuesday we will watch in it the Level 1 classes. I'm hoping to use the "broadcast" as a jumping-off point for PQA on Monday with the seniors and on Tuesday with the freshmen. I'll let you know how it goes!!
The Fours also create materials that I use in my Spanish I classes. Right now they are creating Superhero storybooks for the classroom library. I pulled out the collection that has been created over the years and one of the boys was surprised at the author of one of the books. "He's a police officer! I know him. Is it really the same guy?" Yes it is. This same man, then a senior, also wrote a letter to freshmen his senior year encouraging them to stay in Spanish. I still share the letter with ninth graders. Coincidentally, this young man was part of the Class of 1999. It was great to give him his letter to himself ten years in the future...predicting that he would be a police officer. :o) (See August's post Thank You Class of 1999) I have materials created by their older siblings, neighbors and local heroes. Then they get to make materials of their own to share.
This year, every other Friday, we are creating a very short "news" broadcast. For the first week, they each simply made a short report (3-5 sentences) about something that had happened that week. The topics ranged from athletic competitions to the new Disney expansion. We filmed it with the SmartBoard as a background so that each student had a related visual behind him/her. On Monday I'll (hopefully!) get that on a DVD and then Tuesday we will watch in it the Level 1 classes. I'm hoping to use the "broadcast" as a jumping-off point for PQA on Monday with the seniors and on Tuesday with the freshmen. I'll let you know how it goes!!
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