, I gave students choices, which resulted in several Kahoots, as you might imagine, but also some really thoughtful writing and one very exciting movie trailer. See a screenshot of the assignment below:
Connecting with others outside the classroom
One of the most exciting aspects of this unit was having my class connect with Mira Canion via Twitter and Skype. Not all of my students are on Twitter, so I created a class account so that they could ask her questions via social media and connect with students in other areas who were also reading the novel. After modeling appropriate use of Twitter several times in class, I gave them the login information so that they could access the account on their own, and tweet for homework. (A note on management: my class is really small--only nine students, eight of whom I taught last year too--and I knew that misuse of this account would be unlikely. I'd recommend a group Twitter only if you set behavioral expectations and can ensure vigilance.) Amy Cooper (@SraCooper43) actually did a tweet chat with some of her students! (Rock star.)
And of course our Skype conversation with the author was a high point of the unit. (Cynthia Hitz wrote a very informative post about how to make the most of a Skype interaction in class.) It was incredibly gratifying for me to see my students interacting comprehensibly in Spanish with a total stranger, and while they didn't feel totally comfortable doing it, I thought it was valuable for them to experience what it's like to interact with people in a foreign language in the real world.
Worth the work
When I first envisioned this unit, I imagined integrating TPRS, the 5 Cs, 21st century skills, intercultural competence, reflection, choice, technology and community engagement. That's a really high bar, and I invested many, many hours to make it work. There are still--always--elements to improve, but I think that finally I have designed a unit that includes all of those really important parts of language learning in a balanced and meaningful way.
And of course I couldn't have done it without my amazing PLN! Mil gracias to Mira, Cynthia, Martina, Carrie, Amy and Zachary.