SIOP Essay

I've been thinking a lot lately about the SIOP essay assignment we completed two weeks ago. As far as writing assignments go, I found this assignment to be very informative for me as a pre-service teacher. Not only did I find this assignment to further my knowledge as a learner in this class, but I was able to make connections between what the teachers in the video were doing and what I would or would not change about their lessons. Though I will not be using the same content as these second language classes presented in my future teaching context - I found the videos useful in terms of lesson planning and enactment. The video I watched was called Hearing Authentic Voices. Something I saw in this lesson that I found to be particularly important was that the teacher for this lesson did an awesome job of relating the material to the students’ lives and to the curriculum. She provided three great activities to meet her goals outlined at the beginning of the lesson. The students were able to work on their communication skills, their listening and comprehension skills, writing skills, and able to learn about the culture of Spanish speaking countries. If I have learned anything this semester, it is that in order to engage your students in the lesson, it is important to tie the content into something the students can relate to. No matter the teaching context, I feel that giving the students something to connect to is going to be key to the success of your students and the lesson.