Week 6 Blog 3

          Since this is the last post for my S.C.O.R.E. project I figured I would just reflect a little on what I learned.

            Throughout the past 6 weeks I have learned about teaching as well as the importance of foreign language. Even though I do not plan on becoming a teacher I now realize that it is a profession that has become more of a possibility. Teaching is a profession that not only takes work to get ready for the lesson but they also have to learn how to deal with students. I never realized how difficult it is to do something as simple as getting a class or 6^th graders to quiet down. There is the exact opposite problem in the 9^th grade. This class is very small and it’s like pulling teeth trying to get them to say anything.

            My appreciation for what teachers do has increased immensely. I have always tried to appreciate teachers but being a part of the behind the scenes work has opened my eyes to all that teachers do that we as students don’t see. Using my knowledge to help others get better has only increased my passion for languages and convinced me that my plan to use this passion to guide me through college is the right one for me. I have to admit at the beginning I was skeptical as to whether or not I was going to be able to pull off a 12-page paper and presentation with this project. As I got farther into the project I realized that there is a lot to learn and that it was the right choice. I’m glad I chose to do this and I will always remember the classes that I helped teach.

Week 6 Blog 2

          This past week I conducted my second personal interview with French teacher Erin Fortunato. Ms. Fortunato teaches both French and Spanish in the middle and high school. I have been observing her 6^th and 9^th grade classes. Here are the questions I asked and what she said.

1.     What are your thoughts on the importance of teaching culture along with the rest of the foreign language/French curriculum?

·      Culture gives access to the whole world.

-       Caribbean

-       Africa

-       Muslim World

·      The culture isn’t always obvious

·      Encouraging to learn culture but they also have to learn how to use it.

·      An example would be using the informal versus formal “you”.

2.     Do you think the 6^th grade/middle school would benefit from having more culture in the curriculum? If so how?

·      Important to have culture all the way through

·      Passionate about people and things

·      Possible to learn the language through culture and art

·      In the 6^th grade the France photos were a great way to teach culture.

·      There needs to be accessibility.

3.     Due to the change in focus of the AP French exam do you think that there should be a shift in the curriculum of lower French class’s curriculum?

·      culture already plays a significant role

·      books are good at incorporating culture all the way through

·      it also depends on the teacher and how they use it.

·      There is no harm in incorporating more culture

·      Teachers don’t feel like they know enough to teach culture

·      It’s important to encourage teachers to learn more about culture

4.     Do you have any thoughts or ideas about how the French culture can be better integrated into the curriculum?

·      Teachers do a good job as a department

·      Culture is important to understand the world

·      International week provides a good outlet to learn about more culture

·      Mrs. Vosseler and Ms. Gross both hold actual meals to teach students about food.

·      It’s important that teachers use resources that are available.

Teachers continuously take classes to keep up to 

Allyson: Week 6 Blog 1

          For the past couple days I have been very busy in the 8^th grade class. They are all working on their Washington D.C. scrapbooks. They have already finished decorating the cover pages but now they are working on the written part of the book. Mrs. Vosseler wants to do the majority of the writing in class to make sure that the students are doing the work correctly. The main grammar point that Mrs. Vosseler wants the students to use is the past tense (passé composé). They have just finished learning how to form the past tense with both auxiliary verbs but they are still struggling a little bit with writing and forming it on their own. Mrs. Vosseler has a group of students sit at her own table who may need a little extra help so I have taken on the task of circulating around the room and helping the rest of the class. Not only do I answer grammar questions but I also answer questions regarding vocabulary. It can be difficult at times because there are so many people who need help but I enjoy doing it because it keeps me busy.

            I have noticed that there are two distinctly different groups of workers in the 8^th grade. Since there is no separation between honors level students and college prep level students there is a large divide between the amounts of work that get done. I try to help the students who need the most help but they never seem open to it, which makes this task almost impossible. I appreciate the work teachers do even more now because teaching a student who doesn’t want to be taught is frustrating. Not only is it frustrating for me but also I don’t want to frustrate the student by pointing out everything that he/she has done incorrectly. For the rest of the week I will continue to help as much as I can with the scrapbooks and hopefully more students will catch on.

Week 5 Blog 3

This past Friday was very busy. Not only did I give a presentation that I talked about in my pervious post but I also had an interview with the super intendant of schools Ms. Pamela Beaudoin. Here are the questions I asked her and some of the notes that I took.

1.     What is the main purpose of the MCAS testing that the students undergo? When does testing start and why so early?

·      Originally the test was to monitor the progress of students

·      Before this the curriculum was all over the place

·      The tests created a framework and general core curriculum

·      It was meant to assess what was thought to be important

·      Schools wanted to make sure that their teachers were on the same page

·      MCAS has become a ranking which wasn’t the original intent

·      The scores have turned into a competition

·      Similar to my SCORE project there is a cultural context

- Scores will most likely differ greatly between a Manchester and Salem.

2.     Do you think it’s beneficial to the students?

·      For the most part yes because it’s a common assessment

-       MCAS isn’t necessarily the best way of doing it

·      The ides of MCAS testing shouldn’t shut down business

-       it creates an anxious environment

·      The way the school is implementing it as problems

·      More beneficial to have formative assessments every couple months

·      MCAS can be compared to an autopsy because schools see if the students are on track once it’s too late to change anything.

3.     Has MERHS benefited in any way from the MCAS testing scores?

·      The school has benefitted in representation

·      We’ve gotten better, teach techniques

·      Created culture and pressure for the sake of scoring high

·      On the surface it looks good

·      Paranoid that we do test prep

·      “Focused on learning not for the sake of learning”

·      should stop doing the “stop and cram” idea

·      there should be a natural outcome of learning with good curriculum.

4.     What are you thoughts around the prospect of “teaching to the test”? Is it beneficial or a waste of time?

·      Teach people how to learn

·      Teach people how to ask questions

·      Authentic vs. non authentic education

·      There needs to be a balance

·      Technology plays a part in learning as well

5.     My S.C.O.R.E. project is about the importance of culture so do you personally think that culture should be a required part of not only French but also foreign language curriculum in general?

·      She starts off by saying that this is her biased opinion.

·      Grammar she learned from 8^th-college didn’t connect to anything

·      There has to be a better way then repetition

·      Broader learning

·      Nothing authentic to how we learn

·      Learning how to speak and be conversational is extremely important

French is harder and less popular so i