The Breakthrough

This first trimester is finally over. I had my first successful grading period as I managed to collect all missing assignments and deal with the first round of grade discussions with students. I'm fairly sure that once the actual report cards are distributed, many of these discussions will continue. After what has seemed like an eternity, our students had their first full week of class. Since it was the end of the trimester and I had other things going on, I decided to take it easy on my students and only introduce a few new concepts while having them complete worksheets in class. At the end of the week, I found this method of having them complete their assignment in class and then correct it could pay dividends.

Some of the new concepts I introduced were stem-changing verbs. Most of my eighth graders knew the correct verb conjugation patterns of the different types of Spanish verbs but had not learned many verbs that change when conjugated. For the sake of saving space and not going into an entire grammar lesson, let me just say that we went over a few of the essential verbs to know such as "dormir," "empezar" and "volver." I had my students copy every verb chart that I drew on the board into their notes so they could refer to it later. One of the things I'm trying to teach them is to take good notes so they'll be able to study them later.

My other method was to test their recall of the material by having them work together to complete worksheets where they would apply the verbs and vocabulary we had learned. One of my classes got a little farther than the other, but then again, both classes still have a lot to review when we go back for the short two days before Thanksgiving. While my students were working, I walked around to each group that had formed to make sure they were understanding the material. That's when the "A-ha!" moment came. As I went over to him, one of my students who always pays attention but has had a hard time in the past looked up and said the three words every teacher loves to hear: "Mr. Erickson, I get it!" I could've hugged him. Due to his good note-taking, he was able to comprehend which verb to use in which worksheet.

I firmly believe that if I'm only able to inspire one person to take Spanish seriously and continue learning the language as their education progresses, I've done my job as a teacher. This is most likely true for any teacher of any subject, but it's important to me because as a first year teacher I don't often know if I'm making any impact on my students. When I heard my student tell me that, I felt like jumping for joy. I let him know how much it meant to me and then went about helping the other students. Satisfaction is something that we all strive for in everything that we do and now that I've had a taste in the teaching world, its provided me with more motivation to continue.

In this student's case, learning came with simple note-taking and memorization. For other students, learning comes with visual aids. For still others it helps them to hear the language before they understand it. Little by little, they're settling into a learning rhythm just as I find my footing as a teacher and it's staring to feel worth it.