Interactive Activities

Are there any materials apart from books that you find are especially effective for slow learners or bright students?

In the class that I am currently teaching in, we never use the Spanish book because it is boring. In addition, it's better to learn Spanish by doing interactive activities, because it is difficult to learn a second language through a book. In order to learn a language, a person must engage in conversation and do interactive activities. Moreover, I think interactive activities are effective for both the slow learners and bright students. For example, when I introduce a new vocabulary list, I show them a gesture for each word. They have to act out the word with me. This allows everyone to see the meaning of the word while acting it out. Just from observation, I have noticed that my lower achieving and higher achieving students both love this activity. They think it’s fun and it helps them learn the definitions quicker. In addition, once I feel like the students have had enough practice, we play the game “Simon Says”, which they really enjoy. This is just one of the many activities that I use, that is not in the book, and I feel that it's good for slow learners and bright students.

Gifted Student

How do you handle a child who seems gifted, but is a discipline problem?

If I had a gifted child in my class who was a discipline problem, I would assume that he/she is bored because I am not challenging them enough. I would need to make some special changes to my lesson plans in order to keep them engaged. I can relate to this story because I am currently teaching honors Spanish, and I notice that the students get bored when I am not challenging them enough mentally. I know this because they look uninterested and the start chatting with each other. When this happens, I know that I have to change what I am doing quickly and give them something more challenging. I have to give them an assignment that will make them think out of the box, but it has to be an activity that they will enjoy. In addition, I have learned that the activity they do cannot be longer than fifteen minutes.

How to Respond to a Parent

What part do parents pay in their children’s education? How can you enlist their help?

How would you handle making a difficult phone call to a parent?

Parents play a huge role in their child’s education. Many times the way students’ behave at school has to deal with what is going on at home with their parents. For example, maybe the student is not getting any attention from their parents, so they act out in class so they can get some attention from their teacher. I believe that parents can either have a positive effect or negative effect on their child's education. Case in point, if a student has parents that are supportive and involved in their life. I think the student will tend to do better and have more of a positive attitude in school. On the other hand, if a student were to have parents could careless of what their child does, the student will most likely not care about school. I would enlist their help by getting parents' emails, and trying to keep in touch with them throughout the year. I think teachers should keep in contact with parents when the student is doing really well and when the student is misbehaving.

I would handle a difficult phone, by first talking to other teachers and getting some advice from them on how to handle parents. Then I would really need to prepare and think about what kinds of questions the parents may ask me. I would try and think like a parent so I can come up with some response to the questions they may ask me. Then when I make the call, I must be firm and stick to what I believe and not be so defensive. I must understand that a parents’ first instinct is to defend their child.