One thing that has concerned me so far during my observations and during my internship experience is engagement in the classroom. What is going to make students interested in learning Spanish and what is going to keep them paying attention in class? I do not think that these questions have easy answers. For instance, we have to take into account all of the students that do not want to take another language, but are in class simply because it satisfies some kind of requirement. This is especially true for the lower level classes. Through my experiences so far I have a made a few observations.
First, students are more engaged if they are presented with activities than with lecture, but there are still many students who do not participate. A teacher can present a class with as many activities as possible, but how do you interest the students who simply do not care? Furthermore, some moments of explanation are completely necessary. I do not think that a class can be all activity based simply because some rules or concepts will have to be explained. Many teachers I have observed to very well with keeping a balance, yet in lower levels sometimes about a third of the class does not care at all. I think this is one of those challenges that teachers will have to experiment with for years and they still might not figure it out. To me it would seem that the most you can do it vary your instruction enough so that the majority of students do not become disengaged. I am not sure yet what to do for the rest, but I do think differentiation is a good place to start.
Second, I have some concerns with complete instruction in the target language, and those concerns arise from the engagement factor. Now I believe that in an ideal world all classes would be taught in the target language, but we do not live in that world. I think that complete instruction in the target language is acceptable for level three and above because those are students that have chosen to continue learning the target language. Speaking and understanding the language will be engagement enough for them. Personally, as I went on to more advanced classes I began to like Spanish classes more than anything else because it challenged me to understand everything in another language. My brain was working overtime. I think that this is the case with the students who continue their studies. My concern then, is for those students in level one or two; the students that do not want to learn and cannot be made interested in the subject to a certain extent. I think that if lower levels are taught completely in the target language that we may create more of the apathetic students. That is, if students are overwhelmed from day one with another language they might choose to check out entirely. Those students who might have decided to continue with the language would deem it worthless because it was too difficult. I support the use of the target language, but perhaps more use of the native language might be necessary in introductory courses. I am not certain about any of this, but I am looking for solutions to the issue of engagement. I think it could potentially take an entire career to figure out.
Engagement is definitely a hard matter to think about in general. Trying to create a lesson plan that challenges students but also is engaging to those students who would rather not be in the class is a problem seemingly without a solution. I think that multiple ways of teaching can allows students who have different interests to find some aspect of the subject that they might actually have an interest in. When I was in High School, I tried to do very well on all my assignments and tests, but when it came to activities in the classroom, such as an ungraded game or worksheet, I had no interest in participating, because I knew we were not getting graded on it. This, for instance, is one example of the many outlooks that students have on learning. I think as teachers we need to remember to constantly change our way of engaging students because we cannot afford to lose the interest of any student.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading the second part of your post because I actually never considered how speaking totally in the target language might not keep the students engaged especially if they don't understand what is going on. I agree that, ideally, everyone would benefit from a language class where the instructor spoke entirely in the target language but I could see how engagement is probably more important especially for those students who are taking a language just to satisfy a requirement.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that watching students just not engage within the classroom can be so frustrating. Even for me, as an observer as opposed to a teacher. I also find that, especially with cell phones, teachers just don't notice it. I think that class size has a lot to do with students attention spans and interest in the subject. Even for myself in college, if I'm in a class with more than 12 people in it, I get very distracted and disinterested. Can you imagine having to be in a class with 25 other students!? I think that small classrooms are a stepping stone to helping alleviate this problem.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin, I enjoyed reading your post and I think this topic is very interesting. Like you said, I think these types of problems with student engagement in the classroom could take an entire career to figure out! I agree with Melanie because I think small classes help students at least feel like they should be engaged, but no matter what, you're always going to have some students whose heads just aren't in it. I think as a teacher, if we see these types of students, we will have the responsibility to reach out to them, listen to them, and offer them some help.
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