Improving student interest in the spanish 1 classroom through democratic teaching

Abstract

This action research describes the curricular and activity changes in my classroom when a new curriculum was adopted. Interest-orientated classrooms can increase the amount of learning that takes place among students. Mortimer Adler s Paideia Philosophy gave the incentive to rewrite the Spanish 1 curriculum, and use the textbook as a reference only and allow students to make decisions about what to learn, how to learn the material and how to assess. The Paideia Philosophy is described, including its objectives and the teacher s role in the learning process. Traditional Versus Interest-orientated ClassroomClassrooms at all levels are changing. Unfortunately, many adults and students educational experiences were in traditional classrooms. In a traditional classroom, teaching and learning is usually teacher-dominated and rigidly structured. The learning is passive and repetitive which tends to be boring to students and teachers alike (Good & Brophy, 1997).I am a Spanish teacher at City High School. It is my opinion that traditional methods of teaching foreign language, such as the drill-and-kill methods of learning vocabulary and grammar in the second language, do not hold the interest of students, and students tend to get bored with textbook learning and memorisation. If language learning can be based around students interests, more learning will occur. Learning from a textbook minimises the possibilities of learning foreign language because students and teachers feel they must begin with Chapter 1 and finish with the last chapter. Students may not be interested in the material in Chapter 3, but since it is in the book, it must be covered. If students were given opportunities to learn by using themes that interest them, then perhaps, they might be more motivated to come into class and learn objectives similar to those in Chapter 3.

Οι Μαθητές/Τριες Ως Συνερευνητές/Τριες Σε Κοινότητες Γραμματισμού Κατά Τη Γλωσσική Διδασκαλία

“…Οι μαθητές/τριες γνωρίζουν τις μαθησιακές ανάγκες και τα προβλήματά τους και για αυτό είναι στην καλύτερη* θέση να εκφράσουν το τι χρειάζεται να μάθει ο καθένας τους και με ποιον τρόπο μπορεί να το μάθει καλύτερα και αποτελεσματικότερα. Σε μια δημοκρατική κοινωνία είναι δικαίωμα των μαθητών/τριών να εμπλακούν στις αποφάσεις που επηρεάζουν τη μάθηση (Mok, 1997: 318 Σε αυτήν την κατεύθυνση πραγματοποιήθηκαν αρκετές έρευνες (ενδεικτικά δες μεταξύ άλλων: Mok, 1997;Meyer & Etheridge, 1999;Kusch, κ.α. , 1999;Flutter & Ruddock, 2004).…”