Jose Garcia's Blog

 Reflection When I first signed up for this course I did not know what I was going to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with what I learned. All the projects where practical and fun to do. They also challenged me to not only improve myself in the classroom but take it outside of the classroom and improve my life. This is what I took out of the genius hour assignment and hope to use it with my classes. This is how I hope to reach my students. I would like them to receive a great education but take what I taught them and use it in the real world to better their lives or others lives. For this reason I hope to use the genius hour assignment in my classroom. I will like to have them create a semester long project with a write up every week and responses to other classmates. This will show the students creativity and get them out of their comfort zone also.  The class has also made me think how much the classroom has changed when it comes to technology. I realize how much I rely o...

 Artifact 1 Genius Hour I really enjoyed this project. I found myself trying something new and really focusing on myself and what I wanted to learn. I felt I set goals for myself and accomplished most of them even with the rigors of my daily life. I learned that it is never to late to learn something new. This project has pushed me to try new things in my life and try things I have always wanted to do but told myself that I never had time.  I want to take what I learned with genius hour and take it back to the classroom. I feel I can adapt this to projects in my class. The one that pops up at me right now is the unit on family. I can see my students creating projects to do with their family and still practicing their Spanish. I would hope the students got out of it what I did doing this project and tried something they have always wanted to do. I would like for them to maybe inspire a family member also. Artifact 2 Unit Design I found this assignment challenging but rewarding....

This assignment has been very inspirational for me. It has giving me a little lift in myself to try new things and to find time to focus on me. Having my busy daily life I find it hard to find time for myself and to focus on something I enjoy. This project has given me that opportunity. To see how I have progressed is eye opening. Like I mentioned before in another post, the fact that I struggled help me realize how rewarding it is to try new things. The feeling of accomplishment after this assignment was great and it has to do with how much I struggled and accomplished.  I have always tended to stay away if I struggled at something giving the excuse that I'm to old for this. This has really given me something to think about on a daily basis. This has challenged me to try new things daily even if they seem challenging.  I hope to bring this Genius hour assignment to my students in hope that they benefit from it as much as I have. I'm also looking forward to showing my students...

I feel I came pretty far since last week. I started to play Nirvanas- come as you are, and I feel I have accomplished the goal I set for myself this week. I can play it fairly smooth and with little or no mistakes. I found many bumps along the way which had to do with time. We were out of town this weekend couldn't fit the guitar in the van. I got back right on it on Monday when I got back  from vacation. I played it until my fingers got tired which is not that long since I'm not use to playing for that long anyway.  I feel I have not reached my end goal just yet. I would like to continue to learn and play more songs. My goal is now to maybe take lessons from an instructor to really learn how to play the guitar better. The free videos on youtube are great but are no substitute for a real instructor. 

As I reflect on what I have learned this week I have noticed how hard it is to learn something new. The amount of patience it takes to push threw the pain and failure is frustrating. As I go through my daily life, which can be monotonous at times. It seems like I'm going through the motions and I tend to forget what it feels like to struggle. When you do things day in and day out you tend to be good at it. Learning the guitar has changed this perspective. This project has given me a new outlook on how my students may feel learning a new subject. I do forget that we are all learners and as teachers must recognize how difficult it is to learn new things and put our selves in out students shoes.  This week I have struggled to learn Nirvanas "Come as you are" but have felt pretty proud of what I've learned in one week. I have learned to play the Riff but struggle to keep it in tune. I hope to play it better by next week using more muscle memory. I have noticed my learning...

  Artifact 2 Grant Writing An assignment that I thought was practical was writing a grant. Teaching at a school that does not have much resources this is an essential aspect of teaching in my district. As I started researching I had no idea the amount of options for grants that are available. I also did not realize how detailed they would be to fill out.  This assignment also helped me realize how expensive and overpriced certain apps are. I understand the amount of work that goes into creating these applications but some are just way overpriced. Even though some are overpriced I still think some applications are worth the price. I decided to write my grant on 2 applications the students can use at school and at home on their own time to practice.  The most difficult part of the grant application was trying to not be over wordy. Most applications only allow 100 words per section. I had to be concise and to the point to prove I needed the apps. I never thought writing less...

  Artifact 1 Designing a PBL Unit One of the most rewarding assignments was creating a PBL unit. It was beneficial for me because it reminded me of how detailed a unit can be and reinforced the basics I needed to review since I started teaching. I have been teaching for 15 years and this helped me update my lesson and bring technology into my lesson a bit more.  I have always wanted to try and set up my students with an electronic pen pal from Mexico and creating this PBL helped me organize this unit. It is an authentic way to get my students using the target language in a practical way while learning about other cultures and traditions. The main focus will be immigration and it will give my students from the United States a new perspective.  I was really excited to start this project but quickly found out the amount of work it took to create a unit. Even though it did take time I found it very rewarding and I'm looking forward to starting this unit this year. What I foun...

This week has been a struggle to find time. We had family come from out of town and I found it very difficult to find time to practice. I had many hiccups this week actually. I decided to do a 7 day free trial on the guitar app I was using and accidently hit a 3 month subscription that cost $75. I am still waiting to see if Apple refunds me my money. Honestly, I would not mind if they do not because it is a very useful app to help me practice my guitar playing.  I also have decided to learn a new song Nirvanas-Come as you are. I found a free lesson on Youtube and that is what I have focused most of my time on. I have gotten pretty good at the first couple of notes but not very consistent. I hope to improve my consistency by next week.  I hope to have a video of me playing some of this song next week. Practice makes perfect.