1. I am going to learn how to hold a ten minute conversation in German. 
2.  I am planning on learning this by using my husband, who is fluent in German, to emerse me in the language. I will also use online apps to help me, and use German one text books with CDs. 
3. 1) why are some letters capitalized while others aren't?
2). How different is the pronunciation from English?
3). Will German people be able to understand my accent?
4). How difficult is it to learn?
5) what are some mistakes English speakers tend to make?
6) what are some similarities to English?
7)what are some major differences between English and German?
8) what are some cultural rules?
9) why are German words long?
10) what are extra symbols or letters used in German?
4. I will be able to hold a ten minute conversation with my husband in German    
5. There is an opportunity for play with games on applications. I can fail to understand the language enough for aten minute conversation. 
6. I will use human resources by using my husband. I will also use technology tools like apps and games to learn. 



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For my 20% project, I have two ideas.
First Idea:  This is an idea I got from one of our classmates! (Molly).  To learn German enough to be comfortable communicating with people in German.  My husband, along with his family, are from Germany.  Luckily for me, my husband knows English!  However, his family does not.  I have always been intrigued by the language, and I really would like to dedicate time to learning it so I can surprise the family next time I see them.  I have learned a little bit of German, and by that I mean a little bit...I'd like to use my husband, a German One book, and games on the Ipad to help me become comfortable with the language.  Some questions I have:  How similar/different is German from English?  How tough will it be to learn the language to a level of comfortablility?  Why are some letters capitalized while others aren't?  How different is text book German from the German people speak in real life?
My second idea:  Since I was 8, I have been riding horses.  One thing that has intrigued me is how they shoe horses. I know that it is a tough job, and there is a lot of science behind how much you tilt the shoe, how much you trim on their foot, where the shoe goes and what size it is...I have watched my horse being shod, but I have never asked these questions.  I would like to watch the horse shoer and help him create the shoes from scratch and put them on the horse.

This video is extremely interesting.  Teaching students how to be able to gain knowledge rather than just rote memorization is something that I have been struggling with.  As a teacher, it is so easy to lecture and expect students to remember what you said, and produce this information on to a test.  However, this is not teaching students any skills other than just memorizing something.  They are not learning to become hands on with information.  They are not questioning anything, or becoming engaged in learning, or being excited to pursue knowledge.  They are merely memorizing information to pass a test.  So the struggle is how to present information to students that will engage their learning.  I totally agree with how the students in this video feel.  Many times in my own education I have played on my computer, or ditched class just because I could.  However, that is not what the true value of school is.  Students should want to be in class, and should feel valued.  I want to create a schooling environment where the students are creating a discussion amongst themselves about the material they are learning.  I want them to question and become excited about gaining knowledge.  The question is, how?  I am constantly trying to push myself to create an atmosphere that is accepting of students and interesting to them so they will want to manipulate the text by questioning it or talking about it.  In our technologically driven world, students are quickly becoming disengaged in learning and more and more infatuated with becoming significant (through Youtube, Instagram, reality shows, Facebook...).  For our students today, they are more concerned with how many people liked their photo, or how many people saw their snapchat versus learning about novels or writing papers.  In the classroom today, we need to find a way to connect to students through technology and make them feel significant.

While reading the Wagner book, something mentioned in chapter one caught my eye.  Throughout this chapter, Wagner is discussing how there is a global achievement gap between middle class schools and lower economic class schools.  The argument that the schools are struggling with "teaching to the test" so that their students perform well enough to keep the schools from failing under the No Child Left Behind Act is quite apparent in the schools today, even with the NCLB starting to be phased out.  I taught in a school last semester that would be considered a higher economic class and high achieving school.  In this school, we spent most of our time asking questions, analyzing literature, and building the skills up for the students for reading, writing, grammar, and speaking.  There was almost no teaching to the test.  The students were expected to pass the CAHSEE, and no time was spent on specifically teaching to this test.  It was almost as if the students were already performing way above that test, so they did not need to bring themselves down to study for it.  There was one day spent on teaching for a practice SBAC test, but it was not highly regarded as important...This semester, I am at a low achieving, low socio-economic school.  This school spends a lot of time teaching to the test.  Teachers are frustrated that they are asked to spend so much time out of their schedules to teach specifically for the CAHSEE.  Students even take classes that teach them test taking skills to pass the CAHSEE.  They are not taught the material on the test...they are merely taught skills on how to blindly pick multiple choice answers that will help them pass.   This is appalling to me.  The Principle places so much emphasis on teachers preparing their students just to perform well on tests, not to perform well in life.  Students need to ask questions more and be comfortable with speaking with and in front of others.  As mentioned by Wagner, employers find engaging and questioning people to be the most valuable.  With the roll out of the common core, it is argued on whether or not there is going to be more or less testing.  I hope that schools will be able to focus more on building upon what the students are learning, and engaging them in the joy of learning, rather than putting so much emphasis on teaching to the tests.

I loved the ideas that I found throughout the Why School text.  One of the largest ideas that was stressed was the idea of content knowledge versus creative learning.  The argument is made that students need to focus on more creative ways of hands on learning, and discovery versus meaningless content knowledge work.  I do agree with this, as I feel that students become more engaged with the material the more interesting and relevant it is to them.  The emphasis needs to be on student learning, instead of student knowledge.  Below are the 6 strategies mentioned in the text for the best student learning, and whether I agree with them or not.
Discovery, not delivery:  I do agree with this one, to an extent.  I think that the students will learn better if they are the ones involved in their learning.  If they are coming up with their thoughts, ideas, and questions, then the students will connect more with the material.  However, for English teaching, sometimes there is a need for the teacher to tell the students what they need to know.  I need to make sure that the students are getting the right information from my lessons.  I think that discovery learning is great, but just not all of the time.
Master Learner: I agree the most with this one I think.  I believe that I am a master learner.  I find join in learning about everything and pursuing my knowledge further.  I want to be able to teach the students how to be master learners.  They will be able to learn how to learn.  This skill will help them be able to learn throughout their lives, building their career opportunities.
Sharing Everything:  Collaboration is the future.  Students need to be able to work together on essays and presentations in my class to be able to prepare themselves for how to work well with others.  Many colleges and careers are pushing students to work well together, and this is a skill that needs to be taught to them in class so they are ready for the future.
Talk to Strangers:  I get the idea of this talking to strangers as being a good thing, but I am iffy on this one.  Speaking with others on PLNs or social media can lead to wonderful ideas and collaboration. I think that we need to be careful as educators to push students to speak with people they don't know, even if it is online.
Real Work:  I relate really well to this one.  Especially with high school students, they need to know why they are doing the work and what it will benefit them.  The lessons I plan need to be well designed and important to the student's lives and learning.
Transfer of Power:  The students will perform better if they feel that they have a say in their learning.  If they are able to offer ideas and guide their instruction, then they will feel in charge of what they are learning.