*Stacy Harris

*8th grade Spanish and French, 10 years teaching at Bryan

Middle School in OPS

*Master’s of Secondary Education, August 2007

*Working on my Master’s of Elementary Education and adding

my Elementary Education Endorsement at the same time

*Would love to teach any of the primary grades in the near

future

*Married to Andy and we have one cat named Tanner

*Love traveling, books, television, movies and magazines

*I would be an entertainment reporter if I was not a teacher

My husband and me

Our cat Tanner

My School

http://www.ops.org/middle/bryan/

My Classroom ---- Cottage 2

Inside Cottage 2

Another look at Cottage 2

My Student

“Ashley” is a student in my Spanish class. She is a very nice girl, but extremely chatty. Now, this is certainly not unusual for middle school students; however, my many redirections do not seem to have an impact on her behavior and she is getting 3 strikes quite often in my morning class. I spoke with one of the art teachers who had Ashley as a seventh grader and she explained that she was a very focused student at the start of the last school year, but her parents got a divorce during the middle of last school year and her behavior changed drastically

last year at the start of the spring semester. Ashley currently lives with her mom, but wants to live with her dad because he does not enforce rules like her mom does. She hangs out with freshmen from the nearby high school who are not the best influence on her.

Ashley seems to have an interest in learning a new language, but when it comes to independent work, she really seems to struggle. She is minimally engaged and seems to want to talk with the people around her rather than listen. She often offers the response of "I don't know Spanish" or "This is too hard" when presented with a new concept. Another common response is "Can we work with partners?" I really want to help Ashley use Spanish in meaningful ways and help her build her confidence so she can work on her own. I want her to see the similarities and differences between English and Spanish and experience the many rewards of learning another language.

Some examples of Ashley’s work (a Pronouns Poster and a Calendar)

Bryan Middle School Mission Statement

http://www.ops.org/middle/bryan/ABOUTUS/VisionandMission/tabid/61/Default.aspx

Academic Mission:

The mission of Bryan Middle School is to create high school readiness through a

rigorous and respectful learning environment.

School Motto:

BEAR P.R.I.D.E.

Peers Respecting Individuality, Diversity, and Excellence

Lesson Plan: Reading and Critical Thinking

Mexican Independence Day

Main goal/objective: Students will understand the importance of Mexican

Independence Day and compare/contrast the United States and Mexico’s

Independence Days.

Students will read a handout on Mexican Independence Day.

Students will work with elbow partners to answer questions and complete

vocabulary squares on newly learned words from the article.

As a class, complete a graphic organizer or Venn Diagram to compare traditions

for Independence Days for Mexico and the United States.

Websites for Mexican Independence Day

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/mid.html

http://www.mexonline.com/mexican-independence.htm

http://www.inside-mexico.com/flag.htm

http://www.quia.com/rr/685988.html

http://www.quia.com/cb/54113.html

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz2110211829920.html

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz2302661a5d638.html

http://gomexico.about.com/library/mextrivia_quiz/bl_mextrivia_quiz.htm

Lesson Plan: Writing and Collaboration/Communication

Dream Families

*Main goal/objective: Students will create a dream family using magazines or

illustrations. Students should have a minimum of 10 family members.

*For each family member, students will write 3 or 4 sentences in Spanish about each

family member using possessive adjectives and regular adjectives.

*After writing the sentences, students will peer edit each other’s sentences.

*Finally, after making any final changes to their sentences, students will share their

dream family with a small group of classmates.

Examples of “Dream Families” from previous school years

Lesson Plan: Digital Literacy and Creativity

*Main goal/objective: Students will pretend that they are a travel reporter for a

magazine and have been assigned a feature that includes how the Day of the Dead is

celebrated in Mexico and Latin America.

*Students will create a one page article that describes what the Day of the Dead is all

about and one article that showcases something specific about this holiday.

*Students will complete research on the holiday by watching videos, looking through

books and magazines, and using the Internet to find information about the holiday.

*Students will draft an article and have an “editor” (classmate) review their article to see

if it ready to be published.

*Students will create their pages in Microsoft Publisher to create an online newsletter.

Helpful Websites for Day of the Dead

http://edsitement.neh.gov/feature/origins-halloween-and-day-dead

http://edsitement.neh.gov/not-just-halloween-festivals-dead-around-world#03

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/

http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/day-of-the-dead-bread.html

http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/day-of-the-dead-facts.html

http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/day-of-the-dead-icons.html

http://www.diademuertos.com/

http://www.elpayaso.com/muerto2.htm

http://www.inside-mexico.com/featuredead.htm

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/dead.htm

An example of a student Day of the Dead article

Reflection

*This was an awesome class and experience!!! It was so

wonderful to have a class that was so useful!! I absolutely

loved being able to put what I learned in the class into my

classroom right away!!

*Discussing my target student with my team got every

teacher thinking about new ideas for their students and

their own classrooms!

*I will continue utilizing various methods and projects with

all of my students and incorporate the 21st Century Skills

that they will need now and in the future!!