Hannah+McComsey

Peer Tutor Journal - Spanish IV - Period 6 Week 1 (August 26th - August 29th, 2013) This week, I learned the name of the students that I did not know. Most of the students in this class are Juniors and Seniors, so I know most of them, which will make helping them a little easier. During this first week of school, the students in Spanish 4 are reviewing material that was learned in previous classes. SER and ESTAR are being reviewed, as well as verb conjugations. I have been assisting Ms. Schleicher with various back-to-school worksheets and activities. I arranged her student cards by class and student name, alphabetically.

Week 2 (September 3rd - September 6th, 2013) Students are expected to complete a "Repaso Rapido" (Do Now) each day in order to generate thoughts of the previous day's lesson. I help Ms. Schleicher with the distribution of the Repaso Rapido in addition to helping the students complete the assignment. The students were introduced to their "Tarea Mensual," which is their monthly projects throughout the year. These projects will be completed in accordance with the vocabulary for each unit of study. Students in the class often ask me for help with understanding the projects, as they are very detailed and specific.

Week 3 (September 16th - September 20th, 2013) The students were given a "Pueba de Pop" (pop quiz) this week on the material that has been covered this far during the class, which has largely been distinguishing between the imperfect and the preterit verb tenses. I had previously made the key for this quiz, as well as the keys for several other worksheets and future quizzes. The students did very well with the material, as the imperfect and preterit are very difficult to fully understand.

Week 4 (September 21st - September 27th, 2013) This week, students turned in their first portion of their monthly project, which was the defining of new vocabulary. The students worked in pairs frequently this week, and I was able to assist the groups as they needed. A particularly difficult subject for the students is integrating the new vocabulary into their sentences, but all of the students show a real desire to learn more. The best way to learn Spanish is to speak it, and the class did several speaking activities in order to help them pronounce words, phrases, and conjugations.

Week 5 (September 30th - October 4th, 2013) I have been helping Ms. Schleicher with the organizing and distributing of student work, as the students are completing their "Tarea Mensual" (Monthly projects). On Monday, students turned in their last project for the month of September, which was a recipe. The students worked very hard on the recipes, which showed. Some of the students even brought in the food that they had made a recipe for, which was exciting for the class. I really enjoyed this week, not only for the day of food, but for the fact that the students were really showing an appreciation for the language, which is awesome!

Week 6 (October 7th - October 11th, 2013) The students were given a new list of vocabulary that has to do with personality traits and physical appearances. The students needed to define the new vocabulary words, which I was able to assist with. I had previously created the answer key to the new activities, which was used to review the answers as a class. The students had several "Repaso Rapido's" which helped them with the new words, as there are a good deal of them. Ms. Schleicher does an amazing job of integrating all of her students into the lessons, even the students who are clearly nervous to use their Spanish in class. The activities that she creates allow students to show their creativity as well as understand that material.

Week 7 (October 14 - October 18th, 2013) This was a four-day week, and students received three days of instruction with the block scheduling. Students were asked to bring in a picture of themselves for an activity. In this activity, students were to draw themselves the way that they see themselves in the picture. They were to also write sentences in Spanish that coincide with their external appearances. The sentences are to be constructed using the new vocabulary that was learned in the new chapter. Along with the picture, students are working on the differences between the "Imperfect" and "Preterit" verb tenses, which is arguably one of the hardest things to decipher between in the Spanish language.

Week 8 (October 21st, 2013 - October 25th, 2013) I was on an educational trip for the first two days of this week, but during my absence Ms. Schleicher reviewed material with the class for their quiz which was on the 23rd. The quiz was on their new vocabulary list as well as distinguishing between the usage of the "Imperfect" and "Preterit" verb tenses. The students were allowed to ask a few questions before taking the quiz, which Ms. Schleicher was more than happy to review. After the short review period, the students took the quiz for about fifteen minutes. The students are learning the "Present Perfect" tense, along with words indicating the use of this tense. I have assisted Ms. Schleicher with the compilation of student work, and I hung a display of student work outside of her room. The students also worked with understanding the concept of the Present Prefect tense and the way that it is formed.

Week 9 ( October 28th - November 1st, 2013) The students are continuing work with the Present Perfect, which directs as to what a person has done or had done. They are making comic strips using the verb tense along with the new vocabulary for verbal presentations that will occur on Thursday. The presentations went smoothly, and students were graded for their comic strip as well as their verbal presentation. The students did a great job! As the presentations were being given, I helped Ms. Schleicher by hanging up student-produced work around the room.

Week 10 (November 4th - November 8th, 2013) The students have a vocabulary list due on the 11th of November, and they are defining the words on this list. Ms. Schleicher was sick one day this week, and in her absence the students worked in their workbooks with various verb tenses. The workbooks were collected when Ms. Schleicher returned and the class reviewed the concepts that they worked on in the workbooks.

Week 11 (November 11th - November 15th, 2013) This week began with the introduction of the "Pluscamperfecto," which is another verb tense. The tense was introduced with a PowerPoint of "true and false" exercises in order to familiarize the students with the structure of the new tense. The students seemed to be very receptive to this type of introduction, they were very involved in the activity. Students turned in their new vocabulary list, and I looked over them for completion. The students will receive their lists back in a day so that they can complete their monthly project for November 15th. The students are going to have a test in the upcoming week, so the end of this week was focused on reviewing concepts with the "Pluscamperfecto," as well as the preterit and imperfect tenses.

Week 12 (November 18th - November 22nd, 2013)

Week 13 (December 2nd - December 6th, 2013) Students were introduced to new vocabulary concerning the world and pollution as well as recycling. The future tense was also introduced, which translated into English means "I will, you will, he/she will, etc." This tense introduces new endings to verbs, which the students seemed to have picked up quickly.

Week 14 (December 9th - December 13th, 2013) The future tense is still being taught in Spanish IV, and the students are working with the irregular verbs in this tense. The irregular verbs are different from the regular infinitives in that their conjugations differ from the traditional AR, ER, and IR endings. Students also had a quiz on the future tense, which was comprised of multiple choice, matching, and sentence structure.

Week 15 (December 16th - December 20th, 2013) This week leads up to winter break, and the students have been assigned many activities that allow them to use their Spanish around the holidays. The students watched a movie, Home Alone (in Spanish) and had a packet that they were required to fill out as they watched.

Week 16 (January 2nd - January 3rd, 2014) The students were given their monthly project packet for the month of January. This packet includes three activities that are to be completed outside of school and turned in as the month progresses. I helped Ms. Schleicher switch out her class calendar as well as helping her create an activity for the new year surrounding resolutions. Students are getting back into the structure of school, and in the class they are learning the conditional tense, which means "I WOULD, you WOULD, he/she WOULD" and so on.

Week 17 (January 6th - January 10th, 2014) Students are working on the future and the conditional tenses interchangeably, as they can be confusing if not understood. Students have been working in partners, groups, and as an entire class in order to complete activities in these areas. I have been working on tasks for the Spanish Honor Society, as I am the president of this new society. Additionally, I have been working on the organizations and distribution of student work with Ms. Schleicher.

Week 18 (January 13th - January 17th, 2014) The students handed in the first part of their monthly assignment, which was a vocabulary list pertaining to media (television, movies, and media in general). They are beginning to incorporate the vocabulary into class activities.