guiding+activity+-+lauren

Course: EDIM 502, Project-Based Learning Group: BCDG

Guiding Activity for: Lauren DeVos Content Area: Spanish 1 or 2 Academic Level: High School

__Objectives for unit__: - Students will be able to identify concept of privatization, its causes and effects, and its influence within the global community using multimedia sources on the internet.

__Objectives for guiding activity for Spanish__: Students will be able to identify and research acts of privatization within Spanish speaking countries - Indicators:
 * Explain benefits and harmful effects of privatization within a Spanish-speaking community (of their choice) outside of the U.S.A.
 * Interview community members in order to gain personal insight into the benefits/harmful effects of privatization using the Spanish language.
 * Identify a way to either help or encourage the community by writing letters (either to the community members or the Maryland senator on behalf of them), promoting awareness of the community through fundraisers, creating a project for doors to diplomacy via [|www.globalschoolnet.org], or another appropriate mode of their choice.

__Background information for guiding activity for Spanish__: After participating in a jigsaw activity in which students are divided into groups in order to watch an identified clip from “The Big Sellout,” “Mexico’s Free Economy,” or “Private Fishing on the Danube,” students will be able to identify the mode of privatization within their clip, as well as state its positive and negative effects on the economy and people living within that area. When finished, each group will share their findings with the class, and the students will complete a graphic organizer outlining the different ways (both good and bad) that privatization affects the economy.

__Students will be prompted with the following question__s: “How does privatization affect you? And, in what ways do you contribute to privatization?” As a class, we will discuss these ideas, and write them on the board.

__Directions for guiding activity__: Students will be asked to pick a country located in either: South America, the Caribbean, or Central America that interests them. Since formulating an opinion can be a difficult task for a special education student, I am also including the option of writing/having visuals of each country on note cards, turning them over, and having each student blindly select a note card.

Based on their choice, the class will then be divided into groups of 3-4. Each student will be given a handout to complete as they participate in their section of the guiding activity. I have included a sample handout (below) of the first part of the guiding activity.

The guiding activity will be divided into sections. The first section deals with researching modes of privatization and their locations within one, then identifying one location in order to do further research. Once a group has narrowed their choice and identified a location, they will then be asked to find members of that community (location) using [|www.epals.com] and compose a letter in order to introduce themselves and ask general introductory questions about these people.

During this time, students and their groups will engage in “getting to know you” techniques by writing letters (in Spanish) to the same group of people within the location that they chose. Each letter will have a theme, for example: sports, birthdays and age, school, etc. in order to teach concepts of the Spanish language and cultural ideas/practices so that the students might implement what they have learned in a practical way.

After the fifth or sixth letter, the students will be directed to ask questions about the economy of the Spanish speaking community and the function of business in order to identify further means of privatization within the community, the relation it has with the community members, and possible alternatives to privatization within the community.

During their research, students will practice composing open-ended and close-ended questions, interview techniques, and social skills regarding conducting appropriate conversations in order to gain further insight into the community that they chose.

After a period of interaction between the group members and the community members, students will practice summarizing skills in order to portray the positive and negative effects of privatization within their Spanish speaking community. As a group, they will be asked to identify a way to make a personal connection with this community; as in a way to either help or encourage the community by writing letters (either to the community members or the Maryland senator on behalf of them), promoting awareness of the community through fundraisers, creating a project for doors to diplomacy via [|www.globalschoolnet.org], or another appropriate mode of their choice. I have included [|www.tigweb.org] as a possible source for a possible way for students to gain insight into promoting awareness or positive change within their group’s international community.

Sources: [|www.discoveryeducation.com] [|www.epals.com] [|www.globalschoolnet.org] [|http://www.tigweb.org]