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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template

Title of Project: Famous Hispanic in the USA
Subject(s): Spanish, Social Studies, technology
Grade Level(s): 9-12
Abstract:
Three- or four-sentence description of your project and audience. Include a statement of what students
will be doing. What adult/professional role will they assume? How will the learning be situated in an
authentic task?
Students will be working on a cross-curricular project, Spanish being the main subject area. They will
get into groups of three or four to explore the life of a famous Hispanic in the USA. They will look for
information about the Hispanic person as you would for a biography, important facts in his/her life, as
well as their impact on the USA. After that, students will present their project to the class. They will use
the internet and other resources to gather information. Data will be compiled and showcased in a way
that clearly conveys the material. Students apply their reading/listening skills using Spanish to
comprehend and gather information from authentic resources. Students will present their project during
the Hispanic Heritage month. During their final presentation, students will be presenting and sharing the
information they gathered using the yo form (I form in Spanish), as if they were the person they did
research on.

Learner Description/Context:
Characteristics of the learner and description of the learning environment(s) where the learning
experience will take place. Help others see your local context in order to determine if they can
replicate it. Include culturally-influenced interests, ways of learning, funds of knowledge that exist

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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template
among students, parents and the community. Explain how these assets will be used to strengthen the
learning experience for students.

In a group of three or four, students will select the character according to their interests, but it will be
first come first serve, so they will have to have backup people of interest. Students will select their
famous Hispanic person via http://www.perfectpotluck.com/ by either choosing one already put on the
list or creating another entry. Afterwards, they will go to the computer lab and gather information on
their famous person. They will use Google Docs to save information they gather and keep track of their
sources. The students are from 9-12 grade who will be in their second or third level of Spanish.

The performance Based Assessment will be posted on my webpage as well as the rubric. The project
will simulate a real-life situation by stating that the student is a journalist for a renowned Hispanic
magazine that is digging up a story on a famous Hispanic person. The students will be asked to use some
sort of technology to aid them in their 3 minute presentation shown to the class in the following manner.
Students will set up their presentation in one of the corners of the classroom, and the other students will
rotate through each project. They will listen to the presentation then have a couple of minutes to ask
questions, soon afterwards they will rotate to the next group. As a culminating project, students will be
participating individually in the Global Project using ePals (http://www.epals.com/): Who Are We? A
McGraw-Hill World Languages Project. This project is designed for native English speakers who are
learning Spanish and native Spanish speakers who are learning English. These two types of speakers
will be paired together so that they can have the opportunity to practice their target language with native
speakers.

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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template
Students will pretend to be their Hispanic Person of choice and talk about their personal interests,
values, and beliefs with the Spanish pen pal chosen by ePals. For about three days, they will get to know
the Hispanic pen pal. Through getting to know other people, especially people from different cultures,
students will have the opportunity not only to learn how others view them but also to learn more about
themselves. Students will use the information gathered about their Hispanic pen pal and compare it with
the famous Hispanic person selected by their group. Finally, they will make a concise paragraph
comparing their pen pal and the famous Hispanic person. Their paragraph will be in a document saved in
their Google Drive https://drive.google.com and shared with their teacher as well as the students in his
or her group.

Time Frame: How long will this learning experience take to complete and how much class time will be
dedicated to the learning experience during this time.
Students will be gathering information during 3 school days, and it will also be a part of their daily
homework. Then, they will have 3 days to prepare the presentation. All students will be able to present
their 3-minute projects in a matter of four class periods. For homework, students will sign up for ePals at
http://www.epals.com/ , and then after making the comparison, they will open an account on
https://drive.google.com and invite the students in his or her group to read and give feedback about the
comparison presented.

Standards Assessed:
What content standards are you going to address?

MLII.IP1 The students exchange spoken and written information in the target language,
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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template
utilizing cultural references where appropriate.

MLII.INT1 The students understand spoken and written language on new and familiar topics
presented through a variety of media in the target language, including authentic
materials.

MLII.INT1 The students understand spoken and written language on new and familiar topics
presented through a variety of media in the target language, including authentic
materials.

Product:
What is the end-product the students will produce? Who will use/care about the product? Why will the
product be meaningful to students? How is technology integrated within this product? How will you
assess the product?

Students will give a presentation about a famous Hispanic person through the use of a device (iPad,
Laptop, computer) to assist them, but the device is not to be used as the sole way to display the
information. They may choose a person of their interest: sportsman/woman, actor/actress, scientist,
writer, and more. The use is to make the students aware of the effect of other cultures on their own. It
will impact them because the experiences of these people will open the students eyes and make them
see a different point of view. The hardships that each individual Hispanic person faced when coming to
the USA can either make them thankful of what they have or in some cases have someone they can
relate to. Ingenuity, effort, and substance is what will be looked for in each project. In the final part of
the project, students will participate individually in the Global Project using ePals
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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template
(http://www.epals.com/): Who Are We? A McGraw-Hill World Languages Project. Through this site,
students will share their famous Hispanic persons personal interests, values, and beliefs in the target
language and learn about a native Spanish speaker. Afterwards, they will compare their pen pal and their
famous Hispanic person. This project would be useful in comparing the lives of two different Hispanic
people and seeing what is similar and different in various places. It will be meaningful to the student in
that they will be able to see how other people live, a new point of view on life.

Which indicators of Engaged Learning will be high in this lesson and Why?

The indicators of Engaged learning that will be high in this lesson are the following based on learning
task, student roles, teacher roles, social interaction, and assessment:

Content and learning goals.:

Standard-based indicator: through projects and activities, goals and standards will be met. This project
will require the students to move beyond knowledge learnt in the classroom and engage in application,
analysis, and synthesis.
Challenge- The students will need to use the language appropriately in order to communicate their ideas
and ask questions to native speakers. Comparing two people in one argumentative writing will be a
challenge for them but motivating all the same.

Learning Task:
Student-directed indicator: students will gather information jointly and then post what they have
collected on Google Docs. Students will be highly motivated when the other native speaker begins to
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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template
understand him or her. I am positive this activity will make them take unexpected directions as they
progress which will make them discover new cultural differences and take decisions.
Authentic/ Meaningful- the students will act like the famous person who is both an adult and has a
professional role.
Multidisciplinary indicator: Students will use their knowledge from other subject areas other than
Spanish, like Social Studies and Technology, to aid in the completion of the project. They will involve
and integrate knowledge from other disciplines to address any issues during their project. Students will
also identify people from different Hispanic countries and how their culture has intermingled with
American culture.
Culturally responsive: The cultural and linguistic knowledge gained will allow students to make
learning more appropriate and effective for them.

Student Roles:
Explorer: Pursues and researches new ideas using the target language.
Producer: Students develop products of real use to themselves and others.

Teacher roles:
Facilitator and Guide: Engages and stimulates the process of learning. Helps students construct their
own project. When needed, clarifying, and providing options.

Social interactions:
Collaborative: students will help one another in the development of the project. Also they will receive
feedback from a native speaker they are paired with online to be their ePal in such way that student will
learn to respect diversity and others point of view.
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Engaged Learning Project Idea Template

Assessment:
Performance-based: Produces and assesses a product. There will be a rubric describing exemplary
performance.

Which indicators would you like to strengthen?

I would like to make sure this activity is authentic/meaningful and impacts the students learning. Also, I
would like for them to create something authentic, if there are unpredictable problems my students are
able to solve them, so that the product is useful and exemplary for others.

What LoTI level do you think this lesson would be and Why?

4B: This project has some involvement of outside sources. Technology-based tools are integrated into
this project in a routine manner that provides rich context for students understanding of the concepts,
themes, and processes as well.

What help would you like to receive from us?

I would like help in thinking of other topics to create an interesting project such as this.

Sonya Breaux. Kennesaw State University