Being in a high school Spanish classroom where there are multiples different sections with kids at different levels, I have noticed that regardless of level, lessons that my cooperating teacher has instructed, especially those that contain multiple steps/activities, usually go really well for the class when she breaks it down and has them do it step by step, rather than giving it all to them at once. While the teacher does do this with every class, I can tell it is especially helpful for the less advanced levels of Spanish, as their skills and abilities aren’t quite as high as the other sections. It really helps these kids to slow it down and take it step by step so they don’t get lost with too many things going on. A significant component of this as well is the fact that my cooperating teacher checks in with each group to make sure they are where they need to be and that they don’t have any questions. In short, the teacher makes sure to take the lessons at an appropriate pace as to where the students are at so they don’t get lost. I can tell that from a developmental standpoint, the students are receptive to the teacher taking a nice appropriate pace because with the stage in their learning that they are at, this is what works really well for them and they can take something from the lesson in a way that works for them.
On top of the fact that the teacher takes the lessons at a nice pace so that the students don’t get lost, I have noticed that the teacher incorporates a nice mix of individual work time and small group work along with full class discussion. I have noticed that this is nice for the students because they can generate their own ideas while also bouncing off of others’ ideas to collaboratively come to a nice end result. Then, what the teacher typically does is have one person to represent each group and speak to the whole class about whatever it is that they are discussing. From a developmental standpoint, I can tell that the students are very comfortable with the lessons being formatted this way, because they can bounce ideas off of each other and collaborate with each other to ultimately come to an agreement on what to tell the class.
All in all, with what I have observed so far with the lessons my cooperating teacher has led, the students are at a stage where with the way these lessons are set up, they feel comfortable with them and can take what they need from them in a way that suits them well. A lot of the students can use their own ideas and others’ ideas to collaborate off of each other and come to a nice end result that they can ultimately share with the entire class.
