Utilizing Google Drive in the Spanish Classroom

I'll admit it. I'm sort of Google Drive's #1 fan in the classroom. I have found countless ways to incorporate Google Drive into my Spanish classroom, so in this blog post I will explain the benefits and provide tips for starting it up in your classroom!

Here's why I love using Google Drive in my classroom:

1. It’s free
2. It allows for EASY COLLABORATION
3. It saves work automatically
4. I can provide immediate feedback (peer or teacher)
5. I can share more resources 
6. It saves trees!
7. It makes your classroom run more smoothly
8. I can identify plagiarism or unfair distribution of group work
9. I can easily monitor student progress
10. It holds students accountable for completing work

One of my favorite features as a teacher is definitely the immediacy of feedback. Whether between peers or me and the students, feedback appears as soon as it is written. I have my students submit drafts of essays and projects to me on Google Drive. If I choose to provide feedback on a Friday night or over the weekend, students have the remainder of the weekend to edit their work - they no longer need to wait until Monday to receive my feedback.

My second favorite feature is the "see revision history" where I can see who is editing and writing each part of the essay or project. This feature is essential for ensuring that students are fairly distributing the work during group projects and producing authentic work. The "see revision history" button can be found under "File" and color-codes each student's work. 

So which features of Google Drive do I utilize within my classroom? The quick answer is all of them. I use the following features for the following reasons, and this is in no way an exhaustive list:

1. Google Docs - student essays, student collaboration, immediate peer- or teacher-feedback
2. Google Sheets - logging student growth data for school-wide initiatives, charting growth and averages for student assignments and assessments, entrance and final exam data, project sign-ups
3. Google Slides - student presentations, group presentations, teacher-created presentations, presentations needed for Professional Development workshops
4. Google Forms - assessments (multiple choice, paragraph response, short answer, check all of the answers), exit slips or bell work, student feedback, parent feedback, department feedback
5. Google Drawing - digital posters for student presentations, group posters, storyboards
6. Google Voice - recording student Spanish pronunciation

Students can collaborate on the same Google Drive feature at the same time. This is one of the most obvious benefits of using Google Drive for group work - students no longer need to crowd around one computer or a conference table to work together. Students no longer need to get together on the weekends to complete a project. Students simply log into Google Drive and complete work whenever they want.

One of my favorite features as a teacher is being able to provide meaningful, specific feedback. In Google Docs (or any other feature), I simply highlight a word or image and click "insert" --> "comment" and provide my feedback. The feedback then appears on the right-hand column of the essay, almost like a sticky note, and is tied to the highlighted word or image. The settings on each of the Google Drive features can be changed so that students can either edit the document or simply write comments. This adds a safety net if you're concerned about students editing other student work inappropriately (if that DOES happen, remember you can look at the "see revision history" to see what was edited and who did it).

In addition, Google Voice is an incredible feature for a language classroom. With Google Voice, a new phone number is set up that connects with your gmail account. Students can use their cellphones to call this number and record a voicemail of various tasks in Spanish. Specifically I have students read aloud their Spanish oral presentations and I highlight words in their Google Doc essays that were mispronounced. The best part about this is that there is no actual phone needed for the new Google Voice number - the voicemails are simply sent to your email and you can listen to them there.

Using Google Drive has made my classroom run more smoothly. Why? For one thing, it is very clearly organized. I create a folder for each of my classes that I "share" with each student in the class. From there, students "add folder to 'My Drive'" and always know where to find it. I am then responsible for adding sub-folders for marking periods, projects, or other categories.

Google Drive also enables oral presentations in my Spanish class to run more smoothly because all of the student presentations are found in the same class folder. Gone are the days of USB drives and emailing presentations - everything is found in the same location. Simply going down the list and clicking each presentation is efficient and easy.

Creating Google Presentations to practice vocabulary words is fun, easy, and students can practice as home. For every vocabulary unit, I create a funny and engaging Google Presentation for the vocabulary words. At the beginning or end of each class, we breeze through the presentation and recite the vocabulary words that are appropriate for each photo. I include these Presentations within the sub-folders so that students can access them and use them to review for upcoming assessments.

Finally, I can monitor student progress and adjust my instruction very easily for the next day. As students write their essays in Google Docs, I can view the essays at home at night and look for common errors. If I see a lot of students struggling with certain vocabulary or grammar points, I can add a quick lesson to the following day's plan about remedying these errors.

So, what are the first steps? If students do not have gmail.com accounts or if your school is not a part of Google Apps for Education, then students (and you!) must create gmail.com accounts for free. Record the student emails and create "Contact Groups" for each class under the "Contacts icon" in Google. This makes sharing your initial class folder with the students easy because you just need to type in the class period (or whatever you name the folder) in the "share" option.

Next, I like to discuss with students the concept of the honor system. In my Spanish classrooms, I do not allow students to "restrict" who can see or edit their documents. I do this for various reasons - we often peer-edit and need to see and sometimes edit classmate documents. Also, I want to develop the expectations of integrity within my classroom. I remind students that I can see everything they do in the "see revision history" button, so this helps dissuade any inappropriate editing.

Finally, I make sure to organize the class folder with various sub-folders, either by marking periods or projects. Once you share the initial class folder with the class, you never need to click "share" again. By simply adding sub-folders to the class folder, you are in charge of organizing the folders and tasks for students.

Here are some more helpful tips:

1. When adding images to Google Docs or Presentation, go to "tools" and then "research" in order to search for images on the right-hand column of the screen and simply click and drag them into the Doc or Presentation. This enables students to easily add images instead of going to a new tab in the browser and copying and pasting.
2. Upload additional files and resources for students that students can access even outside of school
3. Encourage students to communicate and plan parts of the project through the "chat" feature (as long as they're actually working!)
4. and so many more!

So, there is only one last thing to do - take the plunge and start using the features of Google Drive in your classroom now!

TpT - Senorita's Spanish Class

Welcome back to my blog!

Welcome back!

I plan to continue the Spanish blog I created while living in Madrid, Spain during the summer of 2014. Last summer I spent two months living in the heart of the city and explored every corner of the beautiful castizo streets. I wrote about my experiences from food to popular music. 

Here's a little bit about me:
I am in my fourth year of teaching high school Spanish, and I absolutely adore it. Working with high school students is fun, enlightening and really makes my career seem less and less like work each day. 

I teach Spanish 1 and 3 honors, but have dabbled with other levels in past experiences (specifically 2 and 4). I make interactive lessons that tie in pop culture where possible. Google Drive plays a huge role in how I teach my class. 

This blog:
My goal is to produce two blog posts each month. I'll focus on tips that I've found useful within my classroom and new lessons and ideas. Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store at the following link: Senorita's Spanish Class

Thanks for tuning in, and I look forward to sharing this blog with all of you!

Happy teaching!

TPT - Senorita's Spanish Class

Packing for a long trip: what I packed versus what I actually wore

So this is pretty sad. As I was packing today, my last day in Madrid, I decided to take a photo of all of the clothes that I packed and then take a photo of the clothes that I actually wore. The difference is horrible! 

Take a look at what I packed:

I packed the following:
- 2 sweatshirts
- 4 cardigans
- 1 blazer jacket
- 7 dresses
- 1 skirt 
- 3 pairs of shorts
- 2 pairs of jeans
- 3 pairs of pants (not jeans)
- 3 pairs of capri pants
- 10 t-shirts
- 16 tank tops
- 2 belts
- a raincoat
- 4 scarves
- 1 bathing suit
- exercise clothes: sports bra, tank top, running pants
- shoes: 1 pair of flats, wedges, sandals, casual brown shoes, sneakers, comfy walking shoes, high heels
- underwear, bras, socks

Below is what I actually wore:

 I actually wore:
- the black sweatshirt (once)
- the blue cardigan
- 4 dresses
- 1 skirt
- 2 pairs of shorts
- 2 pairs of jeans
- 3 pairs of capri pants
- 5 t-shirts
- 5 tank tops
- underwear/bras
- shoes: the sandals
- bathing suit

So as I sit in my room, sobbing over the fact that I can't close my suitcase and that I have no idea how I'm going to fit the remaining breakables and camera and laptop in my backpack...keep the above information in mind. You will probably never wear as much as you plan on wearing. 

Also, I bought lots of things here in Spain, so it would have been really nice to have all of that extra space in my luggage to bring things home. 

Hopefully I learn how to pack in time for the next adventure!

GAZPACHO!

Another essential Spanish dish, especially on 95 degree days, is gazpacho - a cold, vegetable soup. It is delicious and very simple to make. My roommate, Rebeca, walked me through the process. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos during, but here's the recipe! 

Recipe for Spanish gazpacho:

Ingredients:
- half of a large cucumber, peeled
- two cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped up
- 4-5 big tomatoes, peeled
- about half of a red onion, peeled and cut into chunks
- about one cup of water
- couple squirts of vinegar (red wine vinegar was really good)
- 3-5 tablespoons olive oil
- salt to taste

1) Boil water. Place tomatoes in a bowl, with crosses cut into the bottoms. Pour the bowling water on top and let them sit for a few minutes. Then, peel the tomatoes, starting at the crosses that you cut on the bottom.

2) Add all of the ingredients above to a large bowl. 

3) Take a hand blender (I'm sure you can do this in a real blender if you wanted to), and mix everything together until it is well-blended. If it is too thick, add more water. If it is too bland, add more salt or vinegar, etc. 

4) Voila! You have some delicious gazpacho. If you are planning to eat it right away, you can add some ice cubes. If not, you can stick it in the fridge and enjoy it chilled later :) 

Una receta para tortilla de patatas

Tortilla de patatas has to be the staple Spanish food. It is everywhere. It is essentially a potato omelette, but sometimes has onions, peppers, ham and more. I've never attempted to make one, but I plan to do it as soon as I get back to the US! While I was in the tiny mountain town of Peguerinos with my roommates, my roommate's mother taught me how to make tortilla de patatas. Here is an outline with photos below!

So I didn't take photos of the first step, but you skin maybe 4-6 large potatoes and slice them into slices as seen below. You want the slices to be thin. Add some salt to the bowl of potatoes and mix it up. 

Then, you put the slices of potato into a large frying pan and add lots of olive oil - you want to fill the pan about halfway to the top. Leave the potatoes cooking, without a lid, over strong heat for a long time, around 30-45 minutes. You want the potatoes to be so soft that they fall apart if you poke them. 

In the meantime, you want to crack the eggs. She used 7 eggs for this tortilla. 

Then scramble the eggs and add some salt. 

Continue to check the potatoes. By now they should be pretty soft! 

Take spoonfuls of potatoes out of the frying pan and add them to the bowl of eggs. Be sure to drain all of the oil (that's why she used this special spoon).  

Once all of the potatoes are in the bowl of eggs, mix them together. 

Either grab a new frying pan and add a little oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan), or use the old pan and drain most of the oil. Add the entire potato and egg mixture. 

The trickiest part was too fast to get a photo. You need to keep wiggling the eggs/potatoes in the pan so that they don't stick to the bottom. After about 2-3 minutes, you need to take a large lid or plate and put it on top of the tortilla and flip the tortilla. 

Put it back on the flame and continue to wiggle it so it doesn't stick to the bottom. You can pat it down with the spoon and form the edges if you want. 

You can flip it one more time if you want (using the lid/plate).  After about 2-3 more minutes, it's done!

Voila - the perfect, homemade tortilla de patatas. 

What do the Madrilenos wear?

Before arriving in Spain, I thought a lot about the clothing and what I should pack. I wanted to try and "blend in" as a native madrileno and wear the clothes that they wear. I did some research on the internet and read the following: Spaniards never wear shorts, they don't wear bright colors, and they always wear black. Well, hmmn. I was going to be in Madrid during the two hottest months of the year - July and August - when the average temperature is around 95 degrees. No shorts? That couldn't be. I packed three pairs of shorts, a few dresses, one skirt, some jeans, and some other pants (linen, cloth, etc).  

So I arrived in this beautiful city, and the first thing that I noticed was that ... all of the girls were wearing shorts! Drat - I wish I had brought more! The girls who weren't wearing shorts were wearing dresses or long skirts. A few girls were wearing pants. As the temperature dropped later in the evening (as in, dropped from 95 degrees to 75/80 degrees), a lot of girls would wear pants. Usually when going out at night, girls wore jeans and a blouse or a dress. Oh, and there were lots of bright colors - maybe not the neon pinks and yellows that have become popular in the US over time, but they definitely don't wear just black.

Like all cosmopolitan areas, some of the people were very fashionable. In the hip neighborhood of Malasana, there was lots of great street fashion. Lots of boys wore their jeans/pants rolled up a little bit with boat shoes and a button-down shirt (hello, Brooklyn, anyone?). Lots of girls wore one piece shirt/pants combos (I have no idea what those are called), or dresses with crazy cut-out designs).  

Anyways, the lesson learned? Madrilenos look like everyone else in the world. I should have just planned on wearing what I normally wear when it's 95 degrees outside! On Sunday when I pack my suitcase, I will show you everything I packed compared to what I actually wore (hint: I may have only worn 1/2 of what I brought, ugh.)

Check out some of the fashion in these photos below: 

Don't go to Spain in August!

So the rest of the world has a lot more vacation time than Americans. In Spain, most people have the entire month of August off from work. They also have about a week for Semana Santa (Easter) and more time for Christmas and the New Year. They also have lots of one day holidays. Aside from holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, how much time off do Americans get? I don't think it even comes close (except for teachers...but we're unique!). 

So what does this mean for tourists? It means that lots of smaller "mom and pop" stores shut down for the entire month of August. Some larger stores even shut down. This can be frustrating for someone who wants to buy presents or eat at their favorite pizzeria. For example, I love eating at this pizzeria called Pizzateca near my apartment. I went to buy a slice of delicious, heavenly pizza the other day - and it was closed with a sign that read, "Closed until the 15th of August." That is actually not too bad - only half of the month.

With my remaining days dwindling in Madrid, I made a mini Bucket List of things that I still had to accomplish. I needed to try a pastry from the famous La Mallorquina pastry shop in the middle of Puerta del Sol - the main plaza in Madrid. I woke up early today, all excited to try some madrileno pastries and a coffee, and I ran to the store. However, the gates were closed and there was a sign that read, "closed for vacations - reopening on September 1st." Once AGAIN - closed!

One more quick story: Madrid is famous for its Violeta caramel candies. They're delicious, unique to Madrid, and something that madrilenos give to other madrilenos for gifts. I, of course, wanted to bring some home to my family and friends. I walked by the tiny shop every single day and thought, 'Well, no rush! I have 7 weeks here.' I walked there the other day to finally purchase some Violetas and it was entirely shut down - until September 5th. I couldn't believe it!

Don't get me wrong - many shops stay open, specifically for tourists, but a lot do shut down for August. Oh yeah - the famous croquette place was also closed before I got to try it! What a shame. 

Anyways, keep this in mind if you plan on coming to Spain in the summer! (Oh, also in August it's about 95 degrees every day...no joke!)