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Mis Clases Locas

1st Week of Spanish Class Unit 1

Inside: 1st Week of Spanish Class – Unit 1 

1st Week of Spanish Class - Unit 1
 

1st Week of Spanish Class Unit 1

One of my most popular posts last year was 1st Day of Spanish Class. This year I am going the post about the tentative plan for the 1st Week of Spanish class. It is a mix of CI, proficiency and getting to know you. If you are in planning mode for that first week, make sure to check out all posts with the label back to school.  UPDATE – you can find my 2018 Plans here (including French class as well!)


After the PLC conference that I attended I realized I need to be very purposeful with the essential learning targets and the formative assessments I use to see if students have met these targets. Since I will be starting a new school, my personal goals for the first week are to learn all students names, start to build a positive class community, and set expectations for the year. While on a walk today I decided the unit plan.

1st Unit of Spanish – 3 P’s – Procedures, Proficiency & Positive People.

I will try and do as much of this as possible in Spanish, but this is the one week of the year that I think English is necessary to clarify expectations and make sure all have a grasp on the concept of proficiency. These students are used to a legacy teacher, where I think proficiency and performance assessments may be new concepts. First trimester I will have Spanish I, II & III, but to make sure everyone is on the same page proficiency wise, we are going to have basically the same unit for all levels, with more Spanish in the higher levels. I got a lot of ideas for the goals and performance tasks from the Shelby County Schools proficiency pre unit. As a class, we will have the following three main goals for the first week or so. 

1st Unit Essential Learning Targets

I can…

  • … introduce and state the name of everyone in my class in Spanish. 
  • … explain the expectations and procedures of Spanish class. 
  • … explain what proficiency and performance are and how they affect my language learning. 

After the first unit, the plan is for students to demonstrate they have met these goals by completing the following three performance tasks. All of these tasks are formative, so I do not plan on assigning a grade. I had though about giving a grade for the presentational writing, but since it will be in English, I do not want it to skew the overall writing grade. Any ideas on this would be appreciated!

1st Unit Performance Tasks 

  • Presentational Speaking 
    • Introduce each person in your class to each other in the target language. 
  • Interpersonal 
    • Discuss with classmate the expectations, rules and procedures of Spanish class. 
  • Presentational Writing
    • Write about your proficiency goal and what strategies and performance tools you will use to help you reach that goal. 
Below is what I tentatively put together to give to students so we are all on the same page, and they see exactly what they need to do to meet their essential learning targets. I would love feedback to let me know if I am on the right track or not!


UPDATE – if you would like to download an editable version of the unit plan, please click here. 
The Unit 1 plan I will give to students
 
Next up Part 2, 1st Week of Spanish Class – daily plans & 1st Week Logistics!

Update: If you would like to download all of my back to school products together, you can find them here.

1st Week of Spanish Class - Unit 1 - Mis Clases Locas

Comments

  1. Srta. says

    This is an amazing idea! I love starting out right away with the proficiency goals. Our school's HS is moving in this direction (I teach jr. high), so I'm hoping to move into this format fully this year. I'd love a copy of this (email = [email protected]). I love your posts!

  2. Marketta Parker says

    I've began following your blog because I like the idea of teaching for Profeciency, in my district our assessment is basically geared towards the generic conjugation and vocabulary, so this year instead of "throwing out the baby with the bath water" I'm as I'm calling it "draining out the tub", the baby's still in there I'm just doing something new. Oh and yes I would like a copy @ [email protected]

  3. Mis Clases Locas says

    I sent both this & the newsletter to you. Thank you so much for reading!

  4. SeñoraP says

    Thank you for your blog. I, too, am trying to move toward teaching for proficiency and feel I am not alone when I can turn to informative and useful blog's such as yours. Thank you for willing to share your work. I would also like to have a copy this beginning of year unit.
    [email protected]

  5. Unknown says

    Thank you so much for these latest posts. I've been out of the classroom for 3 years and moving to a new school in a new state and really want to start off on the right foot. This will be my ninth year teaching Spanish and I am so excited and refreshed by the new directions our profession is moving into with proficiency targets and technology. I had become so discouraged and burnt out but now feel a new lease on life!!!

    • Mis Clases Locas says

      Thank you for reading Melinda! I sent you this unit page & the newsletter as well. I am glad you are going into your new school with such positivity! – Allison

    • A.C. Quintero says

      I like the nameplate activity. I do something with my students as well. Since my first unit with them is on identity, I have them give the meaning of their name, who named them and use 3-4 letters to create an acronym that represents their personality. I am obsessed with the naming because I found out that my mother gave me another name and my grandmother changed it so I am interested in learning the naming traditions of the students. I also work in a school that is very diverse and when I hear names I am also wondering what they mean in other languages. Thanks for your lessons, they look really amazing.

  9. Tana says

    Hola! Your plans are great! I was wondering if you create a separate Twitter account that you use for school with your students? Do you also do an Instagram for school to use with the students?
    Gracias

    • Mis Clases Locas says

      Thank you! Yes, I have a separate school Twitter and Instagram account for school. We used Twitter a lot last year, but the Instagram will be new & I haven't quite decided what we will use it for!

  10. NSiering says

    Thank you so much! I am moving towards a Proficiency-Based approach and it will be a big change for me this year. Your resources are simply awesome!

  11. Unknown says

    I just recently moved also and I am starting from 0 with a brand new program. I am super excited and after teaching for 4 years in another school it was hard to leave, but we did PLC there and it is something that I am going to bring with me to my new school also. I'd love a copy: [email protected]

    i saw a post above about instagram, that would be fun for food/verb pics or vocab activities. 🙂

  14. profesora says

    No entiendo por qué tienen que escribir en inglés todas las ideas para la clase de español. El 90 por ciento de profesoras de español son de habla hispana. Cómo transmitir el amor y el respeto al español cuando hacemos un "bloog" en inglés para enseñar español… No tiene sentido.
    Han visto un programa de " Lenguage Arts" en español?

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