Español 3
February 1-7
Week 3
We are now starting week 3. Students should have already finished (or be finishing up) the Getting Started Unit and Unit 1 (a review of Spanish 2). I will be contacting parents this week to let you know how your student is doing in our course.
SoftChalk (or the green puzzle piece)
As students begin Unit 2, make sure they click on the green puzzle piece (SoftChalk) as these are the lessons for the assignments.
Next page of SoftChalk
After clicking on SoftChalk (or the green puzzle piece), students will be directed to a second page where they will click on the numbers in order to go through the lessons for the week's assignments.
Vocabulary Lists for each unit
Students are strongly encouraged to print out the lists of vocabulary for each unit. Students can find the link for the list on the main Moodle page for Spanish 3. In addition, you can see that there are 9 blocks total on the main Moodle page that help students easily navigate through Moodle.
Required Live Classes (RLC)
Students have 3 opportunities to attend an RLC for Unit 2 this week. (They will have 4 opportunities to attend an RLC for Unit 2 next week.) Please encourage your student to check the calendar and plan to attend an RLC for Unit 2 as soon as possible. Attending an RLC will give students opportunities to be in an online classroom with a teacher and other students. Students can interact with the teacher and other classmates and have the opportunity to ask questions.
IMPORTANT!
FYI: February 3rd is the last day to drop the class. (ELAs/Schools are the only ones who can drop/register students.)
Culture Cafe for Extra Credit!
During the semester, students have the opportunity to attend sessions in the Culture Cafe for extra credit. This extra credit goes towards their participation grade. In addition, students can attend any of the sessions as it does not have to be about Spanish. There is a Culture Cafe session this Thursday, February 4 (7:30pm-8:30pm) about "French: Paris Monuments." Students can click on the Culture Cafe Block/Button on the main Moodle page to enter the session. After attending a Culture Cafe session, students will complete a reflection about the class and submit it for extra credit.
Peer Tutor Center
Students are required to attend the Required Live Classes throughout the course (at least one per unit/module), which is a virtual classroom environment that allows for complete interaction with the teacher and other students. As such, questions are often answered in these sessions. However, if/when a student needs additional help, he/she should first ask me, the teacher. If I'm not available and it's a quick question, he/should should take advantage of the NCVPS Peer Tutoring Center's Quick Questions via BB IM. If more serious content tutoring/remediation is needed, the student/s can request one-on-one tutoring with me and/or a peer tutor. If a student is weary, nervous, and/or conscientious about taking the class online, he/she can request a Virtual Buddy from the NCVPS Peer Tutoring Center for moral support, technical assistance, and more. See the video below for complete details on the PTC (information is located in the course as well).
What can you do to help your student be successful in this course?
- Remind students to read the course announcements DAILY (called the Learning Block Forum). This is their lifeline to the course and contains critical information and instruction.
- Make sure that you and your student are familiar with the Spanish Dept. Guidelines. They are available under "Start Here!" module/section.
- **Make sure that students have printed off the "Schedule of Assignments" under "Start Here!" (It can also be found here.) This document has every assignment on it and when it is due. The students should use this as a check-off list to keep track of what they have done and what they have left to do. It's critical that assignments are completed in the order listed on (or ahead of) time.
- Make sure that students complete *ALL* assignments, in order, to the best of their ability and on time. Any assignments that are not completed will earn a zero. Assignments will show as "-"/0s until they are completed. Again, this is why the "Schedule of Assignments" is so important. It keeps them on track, completing work, in order, and on (or ahead of) time.
- Remind students to take their time to read through and learn the material and not to rush. There should always be a focus on quality. Students may redo any assignment that isn't a quiz, test/final project or auto-graded assignment (with one attempt).
- Remind students to go ahead and mark their calendars to schedule when they will attend additional their "Required Live Classes". Students are required to attend a total of 10 (Getting Started, Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Final) during the spring. There are at least 5-6 different options for each RLC. They are more than welcome and encouraged to attend more! These are live classes with me and/or other Spanish 3 teachers to go over the unit's major topics, assignments, present/discuss the material in detail, practice, ask/answer questions etc., just as you would in a regular classroom. They will take notes during the session to upload to the assignment page, as well as answer a few questions for full credit.
- Encourage students to ask questions, seek help, and communicate with me as much as possible. Communication is critical in an online class. BBIM is the quickest/best way to communicate with me when I'm online and texting is the quickest/best way to communicate with me when I'm not online. They can also send me Moodle messages, text me, email me, or call me.
- Remind them that the use of external sources (such as online translators, native speakers, other students, etc.) is forbidden and considered cheating.Everything that the students need should be in the course and he/she should use the material from the course for his/her answers. If he/she wants to know how to say something and is not sure, he/she can ask me. Please make sure that you and students know all of the details of the academic honesty policy and the consequences of not following them, as stated in the Spanish Dept. Guidelines (link above).
- Ask your student how he/she is doing and have he/she show you his/her grades in the course. Grades (and feedback) are always available under "Grades" in the left-hand sidebar. Specific feedback is provided for assignments, so make sure that they check over completed assignments to learn from any mistakes. If your student/s and/or you have questions/concerns on any of the grades/feedback, please let me know.
- ELAs are responsible for checking and reporting grades to the students/parents on a biweekly basis after NCVPS grade reports have been sent to the schools. In addition, I will be communicating with parents every 2 weeks (if not more often) about student progress.
Contact me if you have any questions!
Beverly Aguirre
beverly.aguirre@ncpublicschools.gov
336-242-8088