25 Hour Learning Challenge, Part VI

Please view my Prezi here:
http://prezi.com/ckbjdyli5mws/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Rube Goldberg Machines, Day 2

The 1st and 2nd graders had so much fun creating their Rube Goldberg machines! The second day that we did this in class, the machines were bigger and better, and they learned that If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Rube Goldberg Machines, Day 1

25 Hour Learning Challenge, Part V

I am continuing to work on furthering my conversational Spanish. After spending a week in Mexico and getting rid of being shy or timid about speaking, I came back to the U.S. much more apt and ready to speak. This past week I have been fortunate in the fact that I have gotten to take part in Parent/Teacher conferences where I have had the opportunity to speak with native Spanish speakers who are parents in my classroom and report on their child's progress. This isn't necessarily conversational Spanish but more academic Spanish that I am using, but I am practicing nonetheless. This gives me the opportunity to broaden my academic vocabulary all the while honoring my students' culture and offering relief for the parents of my students to not need to worry about speaking in English. My digital identity has influenced my learning because by posting my goals and my progress online, the information becomes permanent, it is published, and I am less likely to renege on my word. Also, putting my goals out for all to read is helping me to stay on task.

25 Hour Learning Challenge, Part IV

During this past week in Mexico, I had many opportunities to further my conversational Spanish. One of the major reasons that I was able to do so was because of the acquaintances that I made while I was abroad. During the week I was able to act as the translator for my family whenever the need arose, as well as befriending a native Spanish speaker who was wanting to learn English. During the week the two of us were the teacher and the student as we both were able to benefit from each other's language. It was in this way that my acquaintance and myself collaborated in order to support our learning processes. When he wasn't available, I was on my own in terms of communicating within the community. The challenge was always exciting to me because if I wasn't able to communicate a certain word or an idea, I would need to re-think another way in which to communicate. Also, I also was able to work with a mentee- a family member who also has had a desire to learn Spanish. In all of these different ways, collaboration has been a positive gain in order to support my learning process.

25 Hour Learning Challenge, Part 3

My target activity that I wanted to work on was becoming more proficient with my conversational Spanish. The timing could not have been better for this week because I just so happen to be in Mexico on vacation. I have been here for 24 hours and so far I have been able to use my conversational Spanish with navigating though customs, taking a taxi, ordering food, speaking with hotel and restaurant employees, and walking around the town. In addition, I took an hour long, private Spanish class this morning where I was able to review vocabulary words with a native speaker. One of my goals was becoming more proficient with speaking in the past tense, as I would be able to tell stories. So far I have not had the chance to use the past tense in my travels. What I have found satisfying with the learning process so far is that I have retained a good amount of the vocabulary that I learned in the past; however, I have been frustrated by the fact that there are many bilingual people to help me when I need it, and I don't want to rely on them in order to communicate. Whereas the native speakers want to be helpful, it would actually be more helpful for me if they supported me by only speaking to me in Spanish. So far, every person that I have met and conversed with has been part of the community that has supported me as mentors.

25 Hour Challenge- Part II

The skill that I would like to learn is one that I have worked on for many years: I would like to work upon my conversational Spanish fluency. In order to do that, I would like to improve upon speaking in the past tense, as I feel as if in order to master telling stories, the past tense is the one in which I need to improve upon. Specifically, for me to be more proficient with my conversational Spanish, I need to learn the roots of the irregular verbs. I would like to practice my conversational Spanish for one hour a week for three months, as well as when I go to Mexico next week, where I will get to practice Spanish conversation with native speakers. Also, I will use Spanish when I have conferences with parents at my school. In addition to speaking with native speakers, and other friends, I would like to continue using the Rosetta Stone program for one hour each week for three months.