Karina gave me a very good tip about having students write their names and something they are interested in researching on flash cards and then pulling randomly from the deck to call on them

I worked with Rob and Kevin to add another research prompt to give more ethnically diverse sources for research.

1. Libby gently transitioned students back from individual work to focused attention on her lecture. This was inclusive to neurodivergent students who find it difficult to shift their attention quickly.

2. When the class was stumped by one of her probing questions, Libby asked her students to take out their devices and look up some possible answers. Empowering her students to find an answer (with the full diversity of sources on the internet yet trained in evaluation of websites) when they were stuck modeled active learning strategies rather than passively giving up.

3. While going over the questions asking students to analyze Lincoln's Executive Orders, Libby clearly indicated to students that question #4. "Do you agree with Lincoln's actions? Why or why not?" was not going to be graded and that she was asking students to give their opinions. Giving students the freedom to express their own thoughts without fear of the grade strengthens a free marketplace of ideas (which is more likely to be inclusive). While students need to demonstrate understanding and competency of basic facts and skills, an expectation of the freedom of thought and discourse in our democracy is fundamental.

   
   

As Becerra went over student answers for the Practica de Gramatica, all of the students would clap together (from a prompt I couldn't understand). But one thing I could understand, this was a great technique to keep everyone engaged and following along!

Becerra does a great job reinforcing active learning, saying things like "Bueno pregunta!" And encouraging the class to applaud when a student got an answer correct. I loved this! There was a real feeling of class community and that everyone was encouraging each other to succeed.

There are many times when the whole class responded together identifying regular and irregular verbs. There was also a wonderful moment when Becerra stepped outside of the classroom to act out the Spanish phrasing of "outside of" (I think, though I know I didn't follow a lot of it!)