Reasons to Learn a Language

Top 10 Reasons
(http://www.aboutlanguageschools.com/)

This post explains why I want to be a Spanish teacher. I feel that every student starting in kindergarten should be learning a foreign language. The earlier the student starts, the easier it will be for the student to continue to learn the language throughout their educational career. I want to give my students that extra advantage after they graduate from high school and enter the real world.

1.- Analyzing skills improve when students study a foreign language.
2.- Higher order thinking skills like problem solving, dealing with abstract concepts, and inferencing are increased when you study a new language.
3.- Dealing with another culture enables people to gain a more profound understanding of their own culture.
4.- Foreign Language study creates more positive attitudes and less prejudice toward people who are culturally different.
5.- Business skills plus foreign language skill make an employee more valuable in the marketplace.
6.- Creativity is increased with the study of a foreign language.
7.- Graduates often cite foreign language courses as some of the most valuable courses they took in college because of the communication skills they developed in the process.
8.- International travel is made easier and more pleasant through knowing a foreign language
9.- Global Economy
10.- More and more businesses work closely with companies in other countries.

Strategies for Managing Middle School Classrooms

Transitioning into the middle school can be overwhelming and challenging for some students and exciting and fun for others. How should we as teachers be prepared for all of our students' feelings and anxieties?
From the website, www.glencoe.com , the article, "Strategies for Managing Middle School Classrooms" is very informative in the process and transition that middle school students will go through.

"Middle School students experience developmental changes unparalleled by any other age group. Puberty marks a time when students' lives are filled with emotional, physical, and cognitive growth. Yet, individual students progress through this transition period at varying times and paces. A "one size fits all" formula for middle school maturity levels does not apply."(glencoe)

Teachers Keep These In Mind!:

• Accept the Maturation Process


• Create a Supportive Classroom Environment


• Customize Your Classroom Management Plan

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/strategies.phtml

Get Noticed, Get the Interview, Get the Job

From Educational Jobs.com I found an article that is very helpful for inspiring teachers. This article explains the 8-step method for getting a job in education.

1. Find the openings.
2. Make your interest known.
3. Don't be afraid of rejection.
4. Follow up on your status.
5. Research the school and the district.
6. Anticipate the questions and your answers.
7. Prepare your own questions.
8. Follow up again after the interview.

RAW

It is very important to me that as a teacher I know my students' interests outside of the classroom.

I was introduced to the sport of professional wrestling. The WWE, TNA corporations are exciting and entertaining, but are their risks involved with this entertainment? We have heard in the news about how wrestling affects the superstars themselves as well as the audiences that watch it.
From the website, www.pediatrics.org brought a very disturbing article to me. They did research on students who watch wrestling. The outcome proved that
"For males and females, the frequency of watching wrestling was highest among students who fought with their dates when alcohol or other drugs were involved. The association between watching wrestling and date fighting was stronger among females than males. The relationship between watching wrestling on television and being the perpetrator of dating violence was also stronger among females and remained consistent over a 6- to 7-month time period." (pediatrics.org)
I as a teacher will need to explain the rules of what is real and what is fantasy when they watch television.

What are your feelings and views on professional wrestling? Do you feel it affects children, adults?

Spanish Lesson Plan for Elementary Students

Students in the first, second and third grade are just starting to realize their family structure and values. The lesson plan for these grades is to construct their own family tree, "Un Arbol de Familia". Learning Spanish will become easier if the students feel comfortable and familiar with the materials that they are learning. They will use the family vocabulary handouts and worksheets that have already been gone over in class. The students may also ask me for help.

Your Family Tree - Be Creative! http://www.angelfire.com/de/hadas/color/sections/familia.html

• The tree must be colorful and neat.


• For every family member, their name must be in Spanish and in English. (For example: Brother Paul - Hermano Paul)


• For every family member make sure there is a picture, whether the student draws the picture or it is an actual photograph of that family member.

Once these family trees are turned in, we as a class will again go over the family vocabulary.

Special Needs Students In Your Classroom

The article Mainstreaming has been taken from Bookrags, here are a few sections from that article that I found very informative.


"Mainstreaming is an inclusive form of education in which students are taught in a comprehensive school system. Special education is available for students with special needs, but the goal is for the majority of students and those with special needs to learn in the same classroom whenever possible."(bookrags)

"In 1975, PL 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) was passed, giving every child the right to education in the least restrictive environment. In effect, all schoolchildren were given the right to a free public education." (bookrags)

"With the advent of IDEA in the 1970s, educators and advocates for students with disabilities began pushing for all students to be taught among their peers in regular neighborhood schools."(bookrags)




http://www.bookrags.com/research/mainstreaming-woh/

Standardized Tests

From the article, "What's Wrong with Standardized Tests?" explains their theories of students taking standardized tests. I thought to write about this topic becuase I am against these tests for students to take. So when I was doing research, I found this website, that had the same emotions as I did.

"Do tests reflect what we know about how students learn?"

"No. Standardized tests are based in behaviorist psychological theories from the nineteenth century. While our understanding of the brain and how people learn and think has progressed enormously, tests have remained the same. Behaviorism assumed that knowledge could be broken into separate bits and that people learned by passively absorbing these bits. Today, cognitive and developmental psychologists understand that knowledge is not separable bits and that people (including children) learn by connecting what they already know with what they are trying to learn. If they cannot actively make meaning out of what they are doing, they do not learn or remember. But most standardized tests do not incorporate the modern theories and are still based on recall of isolated facts and narrow skills."(fairtest)

"Are standardized tests fair and helpful evaluation tools?"
"Not really. Standardized tests are tests on which all students answer the same questions, usually in multiple-choice format, and each question has only one correct answer. They reward the ability to quickly answer superficial questions that do not require real thought. They do not measure the ability to think or create in any field. Their use encourages a narrowed curriculum, outdated methods of instruction, and harmful practices such as retention in grade and tracking. They also assume all test-takers have been exposed to a white, middle-class background."(fairtest)

"Are there better ways to evaluate student achievement or ability?"

"Yes. Good teacher observation, documentation of student work, and performance-based assessment, all of which involve the direct evaluation of student effort on real learning tasks, provide useful material for teachers, parents, the community and the government."(fairtest)

http://www.fairtest.org/facts/whatwron.htm