TITLE: Family Notes
TASK DEVELOPER: Elizabeth Smith
GRADE AND CONTENT AREA: Grades 9-12, Spanish 1
SCHOOL: Mergenthaler Vocational Technical Senior High School
STANDARDS:

Foreign Language Standards

Standard 1.0 - Communication:
Communicate in Languages Other Than English:
  • Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

  • Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.

Standard 2.0 - Cultures:
Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures:

  • Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

Standard 3.0 - Connections:
Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information:

  • Standard 3.2: Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language.

Standard 4.0 - Comparisons:
Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Cultures:

  • Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

Standard 5.0 - Communities:
Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home and Around the World:

  • Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

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PERFORMANCES:
  1. The students will first write notes on differences between Hispanic and American families, which will run concurrently with a class discussion. This will be followed by assigning and explaining the homework. The homework assignment is for the students to write a comparative Brief Constructed Response (BCR) on the differences and similarities between family life in the United States and family life in Hispanic countries.

  2. The students will demonstrate understanding of Spanish vocabulary by follow directions in order to play a game. They will be required to fill in a PONGO (aka BINGO) board with the vocabulary words on family. They will need to listen for the word in English and star its Spanish equivalent on the PONGO board. The winner is the first to fill in 5 spaces in order (diagonally, vertically or horizontally)

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SETTING:

Real World Setting: Education

You are a teacher in the Hispanic world. You are faced with teaching your Hispanic students information about American culture. You must write a brief constructed response informing your students about the differences and similarities between Hispanic and American families. In order to do this, we first need to discuss and understand these concepts by taking notes and having an open class discussion. Once we have completed our class discussion, you will need to write the comparative essay in a way that pulls your students' family experiences from the United States in order to relate them to the Hispanic family experience.

Real World Setting: Learning

You are a Spanish student. You are faced with the task of knowing the Spanish words for family members. You must fill in the boxes on a PONGO (aka BINGO) board with different family members from our vocabulary list. Once you have completed listing the words and marking them off once the teacher calls the English translations, you will stand up and shout, "PONGO" to show that you have 5 boxes filled in either horizontally, diagonally or vertically. You then must read them in Spanish to the class and say what they mean.

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INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Opening - Estimated Time: 20 min.

Focusing Student Attention: The drill relates to family members, which were learned last week. Drill statements include items about having many cousins, aunts etc. and the teacher can ask if these statements are true for anyone in the class.

Statement of objective: Students will learn about differences between Hispanic and American family life by writing notes pertaining to a teacher-guided discussion and by writng a BCR. Students will then review Spanish family vocabulary by participating in a PONGO (aka BINGO) game.

Warm-Up:

Step 1: Drill relates to family members, which were learned last week. Drill statements include items about having many cousins, aunts etc. and teacher can ask if these statements are true for anyone in the class.

Step 2: Last week we learned about the language aspect of family life, today we will review that, but also discuss important cultural aspects.

Heart of the Lesson - Estimated Time: 45 min.

Introductory and/or Developmental Activities

Teacher Directed Activities - Estimated Time: 10 min.

Step 1: Students will be taking notes. Take out a sheet of paper and split it into 2 columns (a "T"). At the top of the left hand column, place the words: American family life. At the top of the right column, place the words: Hispanic family life. Now number each column from 1-5, making sure to skip several lines in between each number. Teacher will do the same on the overhead projector.

Step 2: First, ask class questions: Are all families in the United States the same? NO!! For instance, how many people have 2 siblings or less? How many have more? How many have someone besides mom, dad or siblings living at home? Just like all families in the US are not the same, neither are all families in the Hispanic world. We are talking about many countries (name some), and many people. Therefore, these notes are meant to give a GENERAL overview, but should not be seen as true for each individual Hispanic family.

Guided Practice

Teacher Monitored Activities - Estimated Time: 20 min.

Step 1: As a class, we are going to discuss family life in the United States and I can compare that to Hispanic family life. We should be taking notes concurrently.

Step 2: Ask questions for each of 5 points. Then give answers for Hispanic families.
  1. What is the average number of children for a family in the US? (2 kids- be ready to combat idea that it is higher) HISPANIC: in many countries, though not all, it is higher 3.
  2. Do we think marriage rates in the US are higher or lower than in Hispanic world? Divorce Rates? HISPANIC: higher marriage rates & lower divorce rates- influence of Catholicism.
  3. How many people live or have ever lived with family besides mom, dad & siblings? Hispanic: Very common to live with extended family. Considered bad to send elderly to nursing homes.
  4. How many students plan on moving out of their parents house (either by going to school or renting their own) when they graduate from high school? HISPANIC: Normal to live with parents until marriage and sometimes even during. Reasons are social & economic.
  5. How many people have god-parents? What role do they play in your life? HISPANIC: God-parents play an important role and are considered co-parents. They may or may not be relatives. They will take over guardianship if something happens to the parents. This is from the influence of Catholicism.

Independent Activities and/or Meaningful use Tasks

Extension, Refinement, and Practice Activities- Estimated Time: 15 min.

Step 1: Now we will have the opportunity to organize these notes into an essay that could easily explain the similarities and differences between Hispanic family life and American family life.

Step 2: Students will discuss how to write a BCR. Imagine that you are a teacher in a Spanish-speaking country trying to compare Hispanic family life and American family life. You need to tell your Hispanic students what are the differences and similarities between Hispanic and American family life. Be sure to emphasize some of the reasons behind these comparisons. Also include some of the benefits of both systems. Discuss these topics. Students may write brainstorms for their BCR.

Closing - Estimated Time: 25 min.

Assessment

Step 1: Now that we have learned the cultural aspects of family life, we are going to review the language component again.

Step 2: Students will use previous vocabulary to fill in a PONGO (aka BINGO) board with family names. Teacher will call out English words. Students will mark the corresponding Spanish vocabulary on their board. Winner is student who has 5 vocabulary words in a horizontal, diagonal or vertical row. Student must then call the words back to the teacher, both in Spanish and in English.

Step 3: Closure Activities: To tie both sections of lesson together (cultural and grammar), teacher asks questions to students in Spanish/English. Students must respond in Spanish. (What family members live in your home? Who plays an important role in helping parents to raise a child in Hispanic culture? With whom do most people in the US live? With whom do children in the Hispanic world often live?)

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SCORING:
Maryland High School Social Studies Rubric: Constructed Response Items
Score Points
Description
Level 4 This response shows understanding of the content, question, and/or problem. The response is insightful, integrates knowledge, and demonstrates powerful application.
  • The application shows powerful evidence of higher order thinking skills.
  • Concepts are accurate and well supported.
  • There are no misconceptions.
  • The response is comprehensive.
Level 3 This response shows some understanding of the content, question, and/or problem. The response includes appropriate application that demonstrates evidence of higher order thinking skills.
  • The application shows some evidence of higher order thinking skills.
  • Concepts are accurate and supported.
  • There are no interfering misconceptions.
  • The response may not develop all parts equally.
Level 2 This response shows knowledge of the content, question, and/or problem. The response is acceptable with some key ideas. The response shows little or no evidence of application.
  • The response includes some basic ideas.
    The response provides little or no support.
  • There are minimal misconceptions.
Level 1 This response shows minimal knowledge of the content, question, and/or problem. The response is related to the question, but it is inadequate.
  • The response includes incomplete or fragmented ideas or knowledge.
  • There may be significant misconceptions.
Level 0 The response is completely incorrect or irrelevant. There may be no
response.
Knowledge and Understanding indicate the degree to which the response reflects a grasp of the content, question, and/or problem presented in the stimulus. The response indicates mastery that progresses from knowledge to understanding.

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RESULTS:

Organize: The following data resulted from assessing and scoring the standards in this lesson:

  • number of students who performed at or above the proficient level on my scoring tool (3 or 4 on scale): 30/70

Analyze: I examined the data to look for trends and contributing factors of student performance.

  • Trends: Many (31/70) received a zero on the scale simply because they did not hand in the BCR.

  • Contributing factors: Information was fresh in students' minds. (Perhaps too fresh). Students had difficult time to think of other examples besides the ones given in class. Since the assignment was given for homework, many simply did not do it and thus earned a zero.

Reflect: I considered the following stems to reflect on the instructional practices I used and others I might benchmark and apply in the future.

As I look at my practice, I see that...the cultural aspect of family life really engaged the students. Many students participated in the discussion and wanted to share personal stories. It was high on student interest. Many students were surprised at some of the facts presented. (Especially that the average number of kids in US is only two. Also, that people in other cultures would WANT and CHOOSE to live at home with parents until or even during marriage.) Notes need to be organized effectively to make the best sense. More monitoring of this (students writing down the notes correctly) is needed.

What was valuable?...not valuable? The layout of the notes was valuable. It is also important to know how to direct the conversation so that students stay on topic and don't resort to discussing stereotypes. (such as Hispanics are all poor, crazy to want to live with parents) I am still trying to decide if having the review of vocabulary after the lesson was the best idea. It may have been better to do that as an opening/engagement activity. The only difficulty would be ensuring that enough time, but not too much, was allocated to the main thrust of the lesson: taking notes and discussing the BCR. Making sure to ask those last summary questions is a good way to tie everything together, I do not think I gave enough time to it in the actual teaching of the lesson.

Summarize: Forty-three of the students reached satisfactory level on the scoring tool. Many of the students who did not reach satisfactory level did not do so simply because they did not turn in the assignment. The trend in difficulty lied in establishing effective supporting details from both cultures and successfully comparing the cultures. Often students rewrote their major point in different words instead of comparing the two target cultures. The students that were creative in their comparisons of Hispanic and American family life had clearer and more effective essays.

I will probably focus more on non-supportive details the next time I attempt this lesson. I will also emphasize the need to complete the assignment (perhaps giving it in class as opposed to giving it as homework). I noticed that a number of students correctly organized the information, but they didn't use effective comparisons. I will continue to reinforce the power words in connection to the organizational pattern. (First, for example, Secondly, for instance, on the other hand)

Act: As soon as I achieve an instructional improvement and make it a routine process, it becomes a standard to be challenged with new plans for additional improvement.

Action Plan: I will complete the following TaskBuilder Figure 8 Strategy Action Plan to prepare for my next standards-based task.

1. Plan - My next standards-based task will focus on:

Title: Cultural and Language of weather and dates

Content Area: Spanish I

Learning Standard(s): primarily same as present, with more communication

Intent: Give notes on weather and dates. Have students be able to discuss these items in Spanish. Students are also able to distinguish differences between Hispanic culture and American culture in relation to weather and dates. (Celsius, sesons, lower-case months, )

2. Teach - I will teach the standards-based instruction task or administer the assessment task identified in Number 1 on the following date: January 3-6.

Target date for teaching or assessing: January 6