Director of Teaching & Learning Miles Azzeh's Academic Spotlight: Lorie Duncan
Our Lansing USD 469 teachers are incredible at engaging our students in fantastic learning opportunities to reach their full potential every day in our district. To highlight and bring recognition to this great work, Director of Teaching and Learning Miles Azzeh will be regularly shining a spotlight on a stand-out teacher through "academic spotlights."
My favorite part about going into foreign language classes is that even though I have no idea what the teachers and the students are saying, I can still determine if solid instructional practices are being utilized. I'm writing this week's "Academic Spotlight" on Lorie Duncan because it was apparent that she knows how to help kids navigate the difficult task of learning a new language. I was able to observe her and her class as they embarked on a new unit:
"We just started a unit on art where we will view five different masterpieces by five well-known artists, all the while discussing vocabulary and grammar structures needed to interpret the art and describe it," Lorie said.
Before jumping into the lesson, Lorie led the class in a skill-based bellwork to help them refine their skills. One thing I noticed she was doing that I loved was how she altered between speaking Spanish and English to help students learn. I know it is common for foreign language teachers to have a "no-English" policy, but I'm not entirely sure this is always the best practice. I love how Lorie stepped away from the norm to check for understanding.
After the warm-up, Lorie jumped into the lesson that featured not only the visuals but the auditory portion of language learning:
"In this particular lesson, a music video features all five of their masterpieces, so music is incorporated into this unit as an additional listening activity." Lorie Sad.
I also loved how Lorie projected the discussion questions prior to and during the video:
"To introduce the class to the unit, I projected the discussion questions "¿Qué es un artista?" (What is an artist?)" and "¿Conoces a un artista famoso?" (Do you know a famous artist?) on the board. We then discussed who is an artist and what s/he does. In the video, you see the beginning of our discussion."
In addition to the great conversations, it was also great to see the level of engagement and fun taking place.
"I like Spanish class because learning a new language is fun for me. Being able to speak two languages is entertaining and helpful. Señora Duncan does a good job with making sure that people are comprehending and that we are all on the same level." said Ella Garrett
Lorie explained how the activity and discussions would help them with their final assignment:
"Their final assessment will be to do an Imit-Arte (Imitation Art) project where they recreate one of the pieces of art studied using different materials - cake, household materials/clothes, photograph, drawing, etc.."
I am super proud of Lorie for her bravery in trying a new activity with her students, the level of engagement shown by the class, and her overall ability to help students master a foreign language,
Way to go, Lorie!