Aaron Backlin FL 694 Fall 2013 Reflective Analysis A 1. a.

. This class is a Spanish 3A class two weeks and two days into the new term.

These students would most likely fall into the ACTFL Intermediate Low category on average, with a few higher abilities and a few lower abilities. The majority of the class is of the Junior class, though there are two seniors and one sophomore. All students had Spanish instruction last year, though some of them have not had Spanish since the end of second trimester (March) of last year, so attrition is a real concern. These students have so far been impressive, both in recall and willingness to participate in potentially awkward conversational encounters. b. I selected this course as it presents a good snapshot of a transitional period as we finish one vocabulary set and assess it, begin a new vocabulary set, add onto our previous review topic (preterit indicative) and go more in-depth with a review of another (imperfect indicative), and also use what weve been discussing in conversational activities. This days plan is still part of the initial review of Spanish 2 concepts, though we are delving much deeper than we did in Spanish 2, which was a more superficial look into grammatical ideas. c. This days activities are as follows: 1)Vocabulary review and quiz, 2) 10 minute chat (extemporaneous conversation), 3) New vocabulary introduction, 4) Review/Intro concept imperfect past tense, and 5) writing activity (homework) with partners.

d. I plan to record this days materials from the back of my room, at elevation. This will allow me to get a good view of the whole classroom, as well as providing a greater chance that students will forget that the camera is there. Also, having the computer at the back of the room at elevation allows me to see what students are doing on their computers when they are supposed to be working (were a 1:1 school with laptops for each student). I have attached a higher-gain microphone to my video camera that will allow me to hear more of what is going on in the class. Ultimately, I intend to keep the classes attention during the latter parts of the day and demonstrate that even though they generally remember the concept of the imperfect, we still have a longer way to go with it, and also to begin instilling the notion of these disparate tenses being part of a single concept, namely the past. I intend to both ask and answer questions throughout the day over a variety of topics and make sure that I get good coverage of students throughout that process. Looking forward to some of the later evaluative and observational measures as to when I eventually review and critique the days lesson, I intend to do two classroom maps to monitor interactions and proxemics. This is because my room tends to be a dynamic environment, and though we do have assigned seats, the students often do not remain in these more than five minutes before they begin moving around for conversation or collaboration.

2.

See appended scans.

3.

See appended scans. Generally, Id say that my review coincides fairly well with

my planning and recounting, though it does provide some very useful insight into my proxemics in the class and my interactions with students. While this is just one days view, and Im guessing at this point that no two days will end up looking the same in terms of my interactions with students, it did make me think a lot, especially in terms of my expectations depending on gender. I seem in this video to be easier on the girls in the class and stricter with the boys. I suppose masculine malfeasance tends to be more noticeable as a general rule, but Im starting to realize that I may need to consciously and intentionally watch equity in my treatment of the genders. Also, I cant believe how much I move around during a lesson and how incredibly fast I speak! Im going to need to work on that, I think! I think that in looking at the recording, it does certainly demonstrate that my idea of myself may not be in accordance with reality (really, this is a good reminder of that idea in life, let alone in teaching). Regarding the intent of the days lesson, I would say that in viewing the film I am 90% satisfied with what happened. The conversations still went well, and as that is a newer departmental initiative, I am willing to disregard some of the off-task behavior, especially as the students did a very good job of self-regulating when they did lapse into English usage. The concept review did go well, but I didnt follow up with several students who had their hands up at one time during question and answer (although with at least one I suspect that the answer to the question I was addressing while her hand was up also answered the question she was going to ask). In all honesty, there were several hands that I could see on the tape but I didnt notice while I was in front of (and beside) the class. Also, having now had the chance to survey the

sample work and assignments from the day, I found that student achievement was right where I anticipated, if not a bit better off. 4. Im not any stranger to taping myself and watching instruction. Our school

district has been utilizing a professional development and collaboration tool called Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) for several years now and as a part of that we regularly tape one another and critique instruction. As a pleasant side effect of this, students are also relatively used to having recording devices in the classroom. However, as a new year has started, and this being early for the AIW recording periods, students were acting a bit screwy in their interactions with one another and the camera. As the period wore on, the students tended to forget about the camera. I was surprised in looking at the map of the classroom as to where I hit and how often. I noticed that I tended to avoid the quieter students (especially the more capable ones) and the native/heritage speakers in the class. I cant really comment on any intentional state of consciousness that led up to this exclusion, and I did still manage to communicate with every student in some way at least once, largely due to my own record keeping devices. In our AIW process, proxemics are generally not a point of first consideration, and generally go undiscussed. In terms of the transitional period I wanted to observe, I believe that I took away some very useful information about how students react to transitional periods during the class hour, as well as some insight as to what those transitions look like from the student point of view. I try to make it a point of order in my classroom not to remain on the same activity or topic for more than fifteen minutes if I can help it. While I often cannot, I can see from the students body language in the video as well as frequency of participation

and vocal intonation, that this methodology serves my classes well. Students are starting to droop about the time I change gears, and it seems that the switching is beneficial overall. However, on the reverse side, I do see some evidence of students, particularly the lower-achieving students, being a bit overwhelmed when I transition too fast. I think that I need to be more conscientious of making sure everyone is on board with me before I move on to the next thing. Transition to the new vocabulary, specifically, was smooth and unhindered. Students have had me as a teacher for a year already, so they are well acquainted with my procedures for vocabulary acquisition. The activities we did kept student attention for the majority of the time. Transition to the new concept was somewhat less successful in terms of keeping attention, but the review (including both lecture/conversation and Q&A) also violated my 15 minute rule, so students were becoming increasingly restless. Regardless of the level of focus on me and the topic discussion, student ability with the concept was certainly acceptable if not good for a cold restart during the first term of the year. The student work from the group conversations at the end of the class and the written reflections were very good and most students demonstrated awareness beyond the level I usually see at this stage of the year. I think that the key takeaway for me is to be a bit more intentional about how I keep records during interactive phases of the class hour and ensure that I am covering the class evenly and equitably. While I have certainly endeavored to do so in the past, it would seem from viewing the tape from this days lesson that I may require a tune-up of my practices. A useful activity, and I look forward to the other nuggets that the future reflections will provide.

References Center for Authentic Intellectual Work. http://centerforaiw.com/