David Theune presented so many ideas that I would love to incorporate into my classroom. He seems like a really enthusiastic teacher that continually tries to think of ways to benefit his students. The thing that I liked most about Mr. Theune was that he is an innovator in the field of teaching. He doesn't stick to the classic playbook for teachers, and I appreciate that.
While Mr. Theune teaches English the core principals of teaching that he is trying to get across are relevant in all domains. He explains how students are more motivated when they have an audience. This makes sense because when students know that people will see their work then they will make it their best work. Also, he talks about having real life purposes for assignments helps the students get more involved in projects and assignments. I think these two ideas go hand in hand because a lot of times having an audience and a real life purposes are the same thing. When I think about this concept in terms of teaching Spanish, I think it would be really cool to have the students teach younger students in their district some Spanish. This way students have an audience and a real life purpose.
Another part of Mr. Theune's presentation that I loved was how he talked about community. I find it truly inspirational that he is taking real issues from the school and raising awareness about them. He also gets his students involved in this, like when he co-authored a book with one of his students about bullying. Not only is he raising awareness, but he is also getting students involved in the process. I would love to do something like this in my classroom as well. I could tie in culture and getting involved in the community, by doing a project that involves the Hispanic population in the community.
Overall, I liked the different approach to teaching that Mr. Theune uses. He thinks about what the students need first. He does not do the same thing year after year with his students, but adapts his lessons and projects to grow with his students.
Anna, it's great to read that you saw some possibilities for your own teaching in making a move of the kind that Dave made to connect his teaching, and the learning experience of his students, to the world beyond the classroom. It would seem that there's a great deal of power to be found in a move of this kind, and I love the idea of a thoughtful teacher like you putting her mind to how to leverage this possibility in a world language classroom, *especially* in a community where there are native speakers of Spanish.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I was also incredibly inspired by David Theune's presentation. I am so impressed by how invested he is in his students, education, and improving and sustaining the community. This summer, in Shari's class, we talked a lot about sustainability and school climate. We talked about creating meaningful opportunities for learning by designing curriculum that was connected to students' everyday lives and the communities they live in. I was reminded of these conversations by Theune's educational initiatives, and hearing him talk gave me some clarity about how to authentically bridge the gap between schools and communities that is so often a contributing factor to a positive and sustainable school climate. The whole idea of having students read, write, and learn with specific audiences in mind is kind of revolutionary, and yet he made it sound so obvious and so easy when he spoke about it. Like, just reach out and invite parents, invite family members, invite other students in the district, invite community stakeholders into the classroom...WHY NOT. When Theune put it like that, it really made me wonder why this kind of thing doesn't happen regularly in schools. For my students at TCEC and beyond, I really believe that utilizing a variety of different audiences to create meaningful learning opportunities for my students will greatly improve their academic mindsets .
ReplyDeleteAnna,
ReplyDeleteI too wrote about David Theune's presentation. From an English perspective, I definitely saw where he was coming from in that, students are more motivated to write long laborious pieces of writing if they are concerned about their audience. Students in English are likely to see a long essay as another hoop that they need to jump through, rather than a meaningful task that they can share with others. In a Spanish classroom, it is difficult to get students to speak and write well when their audience is solely the teacher and their classmates. If students are held accountable for their speaking and writing abilities, then they might be more motivated to participate more actively. I love your idea about having students tutor younger students in Spanish. I also think it would be great to have students perform a simple play in Spanish, or get involved with a penpal or video chat online with native Spanish speakers. If students know that they will be interacting with people who are native speakers, they might be more motivated to actually know their stuff!