How can we involve our students when creating curriculum? How can we keep them engaged ?

The questions in the title of this blog always run through my head as the beginning of each school year approaches. Many of us try to guess what topics, readings and or activities would attract our students. But why don’t we stop guessing and start asking?  What has worked for me in the past is creating a survey and giving it to my students at the beginning and at the end of each school year. Like this, I find out what their interests are and I try to incorporate them into their curriculum.
    The first year I gave my students a survey it was by projecting 4-5 questions on a power point slide, but now with google sheets, everything is much easier! You can give your students the survey and within seconds you will have your results! This is a powerful tool to use in your classroom if you want to really incorporate your students’ interests when creating materials for the classroom. Here is a link to a survey I created to use for these purposes:
Heritage Spanish Survey
Feel free to use it :) Also, here are some of the topics my students suggested should be included in a heritage Spanish curriculum:

• Immigration
  
• Fantasy/myths
  
• Injustices/corruption
  
• Politics
  
• Education and Latinos
  

To end this blog, something that I have learned about teaching in general is that one has to be flexible. You can't go in with the mentality that the curriculum is set in stone. Being flexible and allowing space for change will make your curriculum more engaging. As the end of the school year approaches, take the time to survey your students and use that data to make changes for the next school year.
Hasta la vista,
Nancy Fret

---