Un Año Nuevo

Today was our first day back at school after our holiday break.

On New Year's Day, a friend asked me 3 questions that she uses for reflection on her birthday.

1. What are you proud of in the past year?
2. What do you want to leave behind you?
3. What do you want to do in the coming year?

I liked these as an end-of-the-year reflection. Rather than just listing accomplishments, I drew some little trophies to go along with them... because I'm a big nerd.

Today I brought that reflection into my middle school Spanish classes. (Here is the google doc I used, with a word bank. Feel free to use as it is helpful. Clip art is just free clip art from online.)

We put a lot of things into our ¡Fuera, 2016! boxes. 

Negatividad

Odio

Racismo

Amigos Falsos

Muerte

Tristeza

Miedo

Xenofobia*

Trucos con botellas de agua**

Many students put the name of a certain president elect in their box of things to leave behind in 2016. Putting politics aside, standing together against hatred and bigotry felt pretty important. 

Students had the option to share what they wrote, or to keep things to themselves. They also had the option to rip up their papers covered with the things we want to leave behind. 

It was good to give learners at all levels a chance to use Spanish, especially for self reflection.

It was good to talk to students who had trouble thinking of things to be proud of.

It was good see all those little goals shuffled into small stockpiles of hope.

It was good to tear up hatred and racism together.

It was a good way to start our year.

*An eighth grader included this one and told me about Dictionary.com's designation as word of the year. Hmmm. 

**Water bottle flipping? Soooo last year. Tell your friends. Please? (I can try, right?)


Edit: I created an interactive bulletin board so other students/staff/families can add their own contributions. Materials are included at the end of the doc I shared (including some fun word clouds I made with Tagul.)

P.S. - Sorry, the dab might no longer be cool.