Analysis A

Pre-observation

The learning situation

My first recorded class will take place in my first block Spanish 3 class. This class

consists of 21 students, 8 males and 13 females. Of the 21 students, two are sophomores and

the rest are juniors and four of the students participated in the Spanish immersion program in

our district. Their language levels vary greatly. After reviewing their first written assignment,

some of the students can express themselves very well while others struggle to put together a

comprehensible sentence. Three of the students are exposed to Spanish in their homes but do

not consider themselves native speakers. They know a wide range of vocabulary and pick

things up quickly but do not speak Spanish at home. The students are just about to complete

their third week of the class and most of them have responded well so far. There are a few who

have seemed unmotivated or uninterested but most of the students are motivated to practice in

and outside of class. It seems as though some of the students are only motivated by their

enrollment in a trip to Puerto Rico in June of 2018. Part of their requirement is to take Spanish

III and this seems to have motivated a few of the students to take the class but not fully engage

themselves in it.

Academically, none of the students are on IEPs or 504 plans. Most students average

As or Bs in all of their classes with the highest GPA being 3.98 and the lowest being 2.52. The

majority of the students score proficient or above average on state tests and also take many AP

or concurrent credit classes. These accolades make it even more frustrating to see the lack of

motivation in some of the students because it just proves to me that they are capable of doing

so much more than they are currently.

 My classroom is fairly large but filled with 38 desks situated in seven rows of four to six

desks. It is located in the center of the basement without windows. There is one door to the

hallway and a second door that opens to a conference room which connects to five other

classrooms. My desk is in the front corner of the room, close to the large whiteboard and

opposite the door to the hallway. The student desks all face the front of the room. The room is

organized with bookshelves and one large cabinet close to the door and is decorated with

several different posters, the Spanish alphabet, question words, common phrases and Spanish,

Mexican and American flags.

Goals & Objectives

Students will be able to conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the imperfect tense.

Students will be able to rewrite a story using the present tense.

Students will be able to converse with a partner while describing their childhood.

Outline of activities

In the 90-minute block, there will be several different types of activities happening. First,

sica mircoles
the students will hear a song by Enrique Iglesias. Every week they have m

(Music Wednesday) in which they hear a song by a Latino artist. They get to watch the music

video (if its appropriate) or the lyrics video. This has been a fun way to introduce them to

different artists and genres of music. After hearing the song, we will very briefly discuss if they

liked the song and why.

The bulk of the lesson will be dedicated to the imperfect tense. I will use circling to

practice the singular forms first and then introduce the plural forms by repeating what they or

we used to do as a child. After circling with several different verbs, the students will spend a

short time going through explicit grammar notes and examples that I got from Martina Bex on

Teachers Pay Teachers. We will talk a little bit about when to use the imperfect and practice
matching English and Spanish translations. Then students will individually read a short story

about a girl from Venezuela who is talking about her childhood. After reading, they will

complete five true or false questions about the reading with a partner before we review the

answers and the reading together. For the next activity, students will work with their partner to

underline or highlight all of the verbs in the imperfect and finally go back and change the verbs

from the imperfect tense to the present tense. Upon completion, we will review the story and

tense changes together as a whole class.

The last part of the class involves more input and speaking with partners. I will take a

few minutes to describe what I was like as a child. Then students will work with their partner for

about four or five minutes and describe their own childhood using the imperfect. After speaking

with their partners, I plan to call on some students individually to share some information about

their childhood. Finally, students will have a short worksheet to complete to practice the three

irregular verbs.

Focus of Analysis A

For this lesson, I will print a seating chart with the pictures and names removed. Then I

can just designate each student by gender and keep them anonymous. I will set the camera on

the file cabinet in the front corner of the room. This should give the best vantage point. Ive

tried to get all of the students in the picture but the lense isnt quite wide enough so I wont be

able to see a couple of the students in the picture. It doesnt seem to matter which device I use,

I still cant fit everyone in. Hopefully I can clearly hear everyone through the recording.

Pre-viewing and Recounting of the lesson

Evaluation
1:00 - I was interrupted by a teacher
and also by an announcement on the
PA system about pictures. Everyone
got their binders out when I instructed
them to do so but several students
Pre-viewing
Class started a little weird because it
was picture day - students were
coming in late because of the long line
at pictures.
I was interrupted by another teacher
 were quietly chatting with friends in
the background.
7:00 - After the music video a student
was telling me that Enrique Iglesias
looks a little like Matt Cullen (a current
NHL player from our city). I see two
students in the far corner still having a
side conversation.
9:00-11:00 - I forgot that I had to pass
back quizzes. I usually like to have
them doing something while I pass
back quizzes but today I didnt. They
were all having side conversations. I
shouldve given them a speaking
prompt so they could talk to a partner
during this time.
13:00 - When I went through the plan
for the rest of the day and said there
would be homework there was an
audible groan.
14:00-26:00 - I didnt always elicit a
full sentence response during the
circling. With some students I did, but
with others I accepted a one or two
word answer. Several different pairs
of students whispered to each other
throughout the exercise. I also stayed
at the front of the room.
26:00 - As I passed out the notes, I
asked other questions to individual
students to keep them somewhat
engaged. Did you win the swim meet
last night? Where is the football game
this weekend? Did you watch This is
Us last night? Some of the students
responded in English every time.
Why do I let them get away with that?!
(Camera reset - video #2)
0:00-8:00 - Only some of the students
were responding when I wanted
choral response. Sometimes I made
them repeat the information but other
times I let them get away with it. I
used a mix of English and Spanish
since the notes were in English.
9:00-13:00 - students read silently but
some started to work ahead and
at the beginning of class. That always
throws me off a little bit when Im just
getting things going.
The circling with the imperfect verbs
couldve been better. I didnt feel as
confident with it as I normally do and I
dont think I used enough repetition. I
think I spoke to everyone at least a
couple of times.
The notes went fairly well. Id like to
come up with a more interactive way
to do them though.
I had the same problem with the
reading as always. I wanted to break
the task down into steps but some
students worked ahead and were
done with step 2 before some were
done with step 1 and then continued
working ahead. Not sure how to fix
this??
I screwed up when we were going
through the true/false questions and
accidentally had the answers
projected on the screen. I wanted to
be able to do some questioning before
getting to the answer but they could
already see the answer and wanted to
keep moving along.
The tense change activity seemed to
go fairly well. Maybe I couldve had
the students read instead of me
reading it so they could have some
pronunciation practice.
I shouldve maybe prepared some
bullet points for the description of my
own childhood to keep it more
organized but it wasnt terrible. I tried
to incorporate some variety of
vocabulary and structures.
The students seemed to run out of
things to say when they were
describing their childhoods. Maybe I
couldve had them brainstorm a list of
ideas first?
I felt rushed at the end and didnt call
on individual students to talk about
their childhood. In hindsight, I
 answer the questions shouldve done that and not given
15:00 - I asked follow up questions as them any work time at the end.
we went through the true/false The explanation of the homework
answers. At this point there was a lot went well but they were distracted at
of yawning, stretching, etc. Theyve the end and didnt use their time well.
been sitting for over 45 minutes at this
point.
17:00-25:00 - They worked on the
tense change activity. Some worked
with partners and others worked
alone. The two students in the back
corner are still a little distracted
although they are getting the work
done. I did a good job of circulating
and answering questions during this
time. Lots of students are erasing and
changing answers or filling in answers
they missed. Did they actually finish
the activity before we started going
through it??
(Camera reset - video #3)
1:00-5:00 - I describe my childhood
and provide comprehension checks
as I go through it. Two students are
flipping through their binders but the
rest seem to be engaged. They
laughed when I described my picky
eating habits as a child. At the end, I
gave them some hints for
words/phrases they can use to talk
about their childhood.
7:00-12:00 - They talk to their friends
about their childhood. Some are
looking at their notes for help and
some ask me questions. Most seem
to be talking the whole time but a few
groups were pretty quiet toward the
end. I stopped by a couple of the
groups and asked them questions to
get them going again.
15:00-20:00 - I explained the
homework and we worked on some
examples. Most of the students were
distracted at the end when they had
work time. Some were working and
asking me questions, but others were
having side conversations. A few
 students turned in some missing work
and let me know that they would be
gone so I could get them the work
they needed. The last few minutes
were a little chaotic. I need to provide
more structure here.

Reflection

I dont think Ive recorded myself teaching since I was a student teacher so I was a little

nervous to watch it. We all have our idiosyncrasies and I didnt know if I was ready to see them

in myself! One thing that I noticed right away is how comfortable I look in front of the class. I

was very relaxed and comfortable talking to the students as a group and on an individual basis.

Students were comfortable asking me questions, whether it was in front of the whole group or

individually. They werent afraid to have me come to their desks and didnt appear anxious

when I called on them individually.

This particular lesson, or at least the first part, involved a lot of individual questioning and

each student seemed comfortable answering. I noticed that I made some students repeat their

answers in a complete sentence, while I let others get away with only using one word answers

or short phrases. I want them to answer in complete sentences so they get the repetition of the

structures but I am clearly not reinforcing that.

I noticed, when tracking interactions on my seating chart, that there were a few students

that I almost forgot about. During the circling, I talked to some students several times and other

students only once. One of the students I seemingly ignored is in the back corner of the room

and tends to sit with his head down or slouches in his desk. He is also very quiet so it seems

like I almost forgot he was there but then when I realized that I hadnt talked to him, I talked to

him a few times in a row. Another student who I didnt call on often also sits at the back but she

is one of the lower-achieving students. It seemed like I was subconsciously calling on the
students who I knew would answer correctly and confidently but I really do need to call on the

lower-achieving students just as often so they get the practice they need. I also realized how

much more often I interact with the students who are closest to me. Not only did I call on them

more often, but they initiated conversation with me often. Part of this is due to them being

extremely outgoing students but on my part, I must call on them because they are close to me.

During the circling, I stayed at the front of the room. This wouldve been a great time for

me to circulate more and talk more personally with individual students. I dont think that my

circling was done as well as it sometimes is because I wasnt as intentional with the format. I

didnt have nearly as much repetition of forms as I had wanted. I think I sometimes take for

granted that these students are older and therefore dont need the same amount of repetition

but that isnt true at all. I need to focus on the circling technique and be sure to use more

repetition.

My interactions seem to be evenly distributed among males and females but unevenly

distributed by the students location in the room. I also noticed that I often initiated conversation

with a student who seemed to be unengaged or distracted. I do this often as a way to bring the

students back into the conversation and try to keep them engaged. I am disappointed that I

only initiated conversation with some of the students a couple of times, while others I called on

five or six times. I may need to start tracking who I call on during class to help me more evenly

distribute my interactions.

My room is arranged in traditional rows because its the only way that I can fit all of the

desks in the room. I wish that I could group students together or have them arranged in a circle

or half circle so it would encourage more conversation. Because I stayed at the front of the

room during the circling, that meant that I was far removed from students in the back corners

and that gave them a chance to be distracted and visit with their neighbors. Im not sure how I
could improve the physical environment so I will need to continue to improve my own circulation

through the room and more evenly distribute my interactions as to keep the students in the back

more engaged throughout the lesson.