From Snowstorms to April Showers: Los Dedicados Still Going Strong!

Students have been working hard all year in a variety of different areas. This post is a collection of the most memorable moments from the past few months.

Three Spanish 2 students, Shantae Dobson, Jordan Spruielle, and Shaun Webb spoke on a panel at a Teach for America event in January. The students reflected on their experiences at Hartford High and gave some meaningful insight to the group of teachers in the audience. I was so incredibly proud of these students. Not only were they so reflective in their responses, but they also demonstrated an impressive maturity. I have known Jordan and Shantae now for two years and watching them up on this stage was heartwarming and emotional. Please see the clips below of some of their responses.

In February, Teach for America provided me with a survey to distribute to my students. The survey is mostly multiple choice so I decided to have the students respond to the question: What is your favorite thing about the class? The pictures below are a few of the responses that came back!

Working for Teach for America means that I also represent Americorp. As a way to demonstrate some Americorp pride, we took a sweet little class photo! This is my period  2 Spanish 1 class!

This past week, students worked on a reading assignment to build comprehension and vocabulary skills. As a practice activity, students created a storyboard to build a visual representation of certain parts of the story. Below is a picture of an example of student work from this activity! 

Students Hard at Work

As we close out our first semester of the year, students are gaining confidence in their foreign language abilities and are putting their creativity to use in making the class and the content quite memorable! 

Chelsy and Trecell work to create a skit using phrases and vocabulary learned throughout the Unit! 

Devon and Chelsi hard at work selecting the correct vocabulary for their presentation! 

Spanish 2 student and future comedian, Richard Jernigan, singing his own version of Miss Gleeson's renowned "Veo Los Muchachos." The jingle was created to help students remember the correct conjugations for the verb "ver" which means "to see." 

Lyrics: 

Walk into the party

Veo los muchachos

Veo, ves, ve, vemos, ven! 

Chelsy and Trecell performing their skit for the class! 

Off to the United Nations!

On October 10, 2012 I took 3 students to the United Nations in New York City to attend a special session on Human Rights Education. The students had the opportunity to interact with college students from Quinnipiac University as well as Columbia University. We all attended the session that was hosted by Costa Rica, Morocco, and Switzerland. The conversation was focused on why it is important for all people to be educated about human rights. There is a push for the education and training of and for human rights all around the world. Leaders who attended this particular session shared stories and theories about their experiences with Human Rights Education. 

General Assembly Room at the United Nations! 

Special Access to the Security Council Room! 

 Jorge, Kaylanie, and Shaynian standing at the seat of the Secretary General of the UN! 

The kids at the World Hunger Exhibit at the UN! 

Boss Status: Kaylanie Santiago representing Hartford High at the Human Rights session!

The special session we attended! 

Us with the Costa Rica Ambassador! 

Jorge, Kaylanie and Shaynian standing at the podium in the General Assembly room where Obama just spoke! 

Future President: Shaynian Gilling

Special Session on Human Rights Education

Ambassadors of Costa Rica, Morocco, and Switzerland were in attendance. 

Shaynian at the session! 

General Assembly Room! 

Room 245: A Peek Inside!

Here are some pictures of Room 245 to give you an idea of what our environment looks like and what makes our class culture so amazing!

 This is the CHISPA board. Each day, as students enter the room, Latin music plays in the background as they take their seats and do their daily Chispa. In Spanish, "chispa" means "spark." We use the Chispa to spark off our learning each and every day. Before we go over the Chispa, we share Buenas Cosas (Good Things). Two or three students volunteer simple stories or information about something good that happened to them recently or something that they appreciate!

This is the view of the front of the classroom! 

This board reads: Miss Gleeson Promises.....We created this board together. Each student wrote down 1 thing that he/she wanted me to promise to them for the school year. After sharing what they wrote to the class, each student came up and posted their promise on the board! Many of the promises include giving extra help, being supportive, creating fun activities, and giving advice when needed. This really help us start the year off strong! 

These posters represent the contracts that each class made. These contracts are created entirely my the students and are based off of how students want to treat one another, how they want to treat me, and how they want to be treated by me. This allowed us to have some great conversations about what types of behaviors and mindsets we want to have in our classroom environment! 

¿Necesitas ayuda? If a student needs extra help, needs to make up work, or just needs to meet, he/she can sign up on this board! It helps hold students accountable for showing up to review sessions, etc. and helps me to stay more organized so I can be there when the students need me! 

This is the most exclusive club- Club Ochenta. If a student achieves an 80% or better on a Unit Exam, he or she is awarded with a membership to Club Ochenta. What are the perks you ask? Well, each member gets his/her name posted on the Club Wall along with a homework pass and of course bragging rights! 

This is our Datos board. Each class is competing against one another to achieve the highest class average on Unit Exams. If a class achieves an 80% or higher- we have a fiesta to celebrate! 

This phrase "Hay más que la vida." hangs at the front of the room. This is how we exit class each day. I say "Hay más" and the students finish the statement with "que la vida!." This is a really powerful way to end our class each day and recognize that life is what we make it. 

¡Empezamos!

¡Hola todos! 

¡Bienvenidos a la página de mi clase de español! I have created this blog to help keep students, parents, families, and friends up to date on what is happening in Miss Gleeson's Spanish Classes.

I am teaching at Hartford Public High School in the Law and Government Academy. I get to work with some of the most amazing young adults who continuously make me proud to say that I am their teacher. This blog will cover news about not only Spanish classes but what is going on in the LGA community as well! 

I hope that you all enjoy! Keep checking back to catch the latest updates! 

Con Cariño, 
Miss Gleeson 

This picture was taken on 9/28/12 with my 6th Period Spanish 2 class!