Date of Defense

4-2003

First Advisor

Dr. Mariola Perez de la Cruz

Second Advisor

Dr. Patricia Montilla

Third Advisor

Susan Clements

Abstract

When I was a sophomore at Rockford High School, I chose to take a Spanish class for an elective. I was placed in Srta. Susan Warren's (now Sra. Clements) first year Spanish class. Duringthe first week of the new year, she gave each student a course pack that was to be kept in a three-ring binder. We received a new packet at each of the four marking periods. The packet was our workbook/textbook for her class. By the end of the year, with all four packets complete, we had an entire first year of Spanish notes completed, corrected, and organized to keep as a reference book. This idea was ingenious to me at the time, and this was the first time I did not throw away my notes at the end of the year! We also used a textbook in class, and we had supplemental instruction to the packet; but at the end of the class, when we no longer had the textbook to use, we still had our packets to keep for future reference.

More recently, during my junior year at Western Michigan University, I was faced with a decision about what to do for my honors thesis. I am majoring in Spanish for Secondary Education, and I wanted to do something to help me in those two areas. The idea hit me one day, and I began work immediately. I wanted to put together a packet of my own, similar to the one I had in high school. I contacted my former teacher for her assistance, and I formed my committee with two other Spanish professors from WMU. Together, we agreed that a semester-long packet would be an excellent thesis to complete. Not only did I have a great idea for my thesis, but I also would have a significant amount of work already completed by the time I started my first teaching job.

I have spent a year working on my thesis, compiling vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, examples and practices, and I now have my completed project. For me, this project serves two purposes: first, I have a completed honors thesis and I am eligible to graduate from the honors college, and second, I have an excellent workbook ready for my first year of teaching. Throughout the hours of work on this project, my most important learning experience has been how to take a Spanish curriculum, for any level, and format it into an appropriate workbook and reference packet for my future students. I have full confidence that I will be able to complete the same project for other levels of secondary Spanish classes as well.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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