Stephanie Brock
RISE Educator
2013-2014
Title of Activity: Spanish Reinforcement in the RISE Program
Description: The Spanish portion of Downsville Central School’s RISE program is aimed at
reinforcing and strengthening classroom skills. Students in grades 7-12 will be able to
attend and work to improve their understandings and competencies in many ways: by
correcting misunderstandings on classroom work to improve understanding and skills, use
of iPad apps and games, use of SMART Board activities and online games, study skills [that
can be carried across disciplines], and much more. Spanish in the RISE program will be
offered on Mondays from 3:05-4:05 [or longer if available]. Based on student interest and
attendance, students from all grade levels may be able to collaborate for the purpose of
creating a challenging academic environment in the Spanish classroom.
Common Core Connections: As a LOTE (Languages Other Than English) teacher, I
would start by saying that World Language or Foreign Language instruction was following
Common Core Standards long before they were truly created and introduced to the
teaching world. The intentions of my instruction as a Spanish teacher are to educate
students so that they are global citizens who are able to communicate effectively in a
language and easily navigate cultural realms outside their own with empathy and
understanding. My goal is to have students who are ready to communicate in the variety of
languages that exist in the world for any purpose that presents itself, apply to and secure
membership into establishments of higher education where they can gain even more
knowledge, and/or to ready those who intend to enter the workforce at any point for the
possibility that they may come in contact with other cultures. That is Common Core. That
is college- and career-ready!
World Languages instruction in a classroom works directly toward those goals set forth by
the Common Core. The purpose of Common Core is, as described above, to create global
citizens who are ready for college and/or a career once they leave our buildings. Our
country’s need for citizens who have a more well-developed knowledge base and who can
compete in the world’s job hunt is immense.
Although the Common Core Learning Standards were not written to include World
Languages, the skills necessary for and developed during World Language learning are
directly related to the language aspects of the English Language Arts portion and the
procedural thinking is similar to the Mathematics portion. My students learn the steps
necessary to create grammatically proper phrases and often follow multiple steps to do sojust as in Mathematics. The thought processes necessary for conjugating verbs, making
words plural, determining proper sentence structure, and determining the gender of a word
are demanding. In World Language classes students are required to use higher order
thinking skills and procedural knowledge almost every step of the way. They are using the
ELA standards while listening to myself or a partner, speaking for based on a scenario
using various vocabulary sets, reading for comprehension on a variety of topics, and writing
original texts using the language (also for a variety of purposes). Students in World
Languages classes are easily categorized into levels such as novice, intermediate, and
advanced-as is done in the CCLS strand for language. The similarities between the way
LOTE instruction has been occurring for years and the way Common Core is functioning are
many.
ACTFL, or the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages, has developed a
document that aligns the National Standards for World Languages with the Common Core
Learning Standards. This document can be found by simply searching for LOTE in relation
to CCLS. ACTFL also offers many resources connecting the CCLS to World Languages
standards on their website. I use these resources when necessary, but truly do find that my
preparation as a World Languages teacher is sufficient for my implementation of the
Common Core. I am using CCLS in my daily instruction and will continue to expand upon
this during the RISE program.