Special Person
El persona especial
El persona especial
I started doing this when I first read it on Bryce Hedstrom's website. You can find more materials for free on his site! I'm a bit of a magpie and I like to collect anything bright and shiny. Below you will find links to other people's websites that helped me create my own version of the Special Person.
2019: What I do
2019: What I do
- I like to build the suspense a little and get in as much Spanish as possible so I will often start out mysteriously describing the person. "This boy has blond hair. He has 2 legs and 2 eyes. He is quiet but a hard worker. He is athletic and not lazy. He is wearing red but not green or blue." My classes are small so the students usually know who it is after a few minutes. I ask the student what his preferred name is and then introduce him to the class (lots of reps of mucho gusto and igualmente!)
- I go through the PPT. I never ask all the questions but skip around. Sometimes I ask questions that aren't on the powerpoint. Sometimes I ask the class to guess what the person will answer. "Class, does Sam have any brothers? Pets? If Sam had all the money in the world what would he buy?" I am willing to share
- While I am talking to The Special Person, I have a student typing the notes into a Google Doc that is shared with all my students so that absent students can catch up or my non-note takers can get the information later.
- On Friday's I give a quick comprehension quiz based off of Marie Chase's quizzes. My version is available here. I modified them so that I could print one paper for all 4 levels that I teach. Plus, on the back I added a listening quiz from Martina Bex. Before I set the timer for the Special Person quiz, I have them transcribe one sentence that I read from each of the articles, and they are allowed to use that sentence in their quiz!
- However, I have been wanting to do more with it so, with the help of Maris Hawkins blog, I have taken it to the next level! I created a newspaper of the previous students that we hadn't tested over and handed it out in class the day before the Special Person Quiz. (It took me about 6 minutes per student.) I put them into groups and I gave each group a specific Special Person. They had to respond to the prompts on the handout and, once approved, they took their questions and input them into Gimkit Collab.
- Things that still need worked out: Even though I put them in groups they mostly worked individually. My reason for grouping them was so they would all help each other and that didn't help. That led to the slower processing students taking foreeeeeever to input their question and 4 answer choices into GimKit. Not sure what to do about that.
- The Quiz, the Newspaper, and the After Reading Handout will be available for free on TPT in an editable format. Soon.
My collection of what other people I follow are doing
My collection of what other people I follow are doing
What Bryce Hedstrom does: During the interview
- Interview format using all tenses with followup questions. If you ask "What do you like to do?" then a good followup question is "How long have you 'played basketball?'" "Have you ever gone to a game?" "Who is your favorite player?" If you ask about pets you could follow up with "How long have you had your pets?" "Have any of your pets passed away?" "Do you plan on buying more pets?
- Take notes as it shows the students that what we are doing is important and, in a follow-up day, there will be a quiz.
- Have a high flyer take notes on a google doc that all students can access. Lets absent kids still be accountable on quiz day. Watching the high flyer take noes helps the low flyers. (Wasn't sure about that one because if I'm letting the kids watch the person take notes then I can't show the PPT.)
- After quiz, project Google Doc that has the notes. Students swap papers and self grade using the Doc as a rubric. (*Warning from me: Be careful with this one. I got in trouble at my last school for having kids grade each others papers as it was 'an invasion of privacy.)
- Bryce Hedstrom: https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/Steps-of-the-Process-Chart-for-Special-Person-Interviews.pdf
What Christy Lade does: After the Interview (youtube channel) (FaceBook Blog)
- Write and Discuss (write directly on board w/class input. Link to Mike Peto)
- Horizontal conjugation (type the interview using notes from high flyer. Students read narrative in 3rd person and change it to first. Martina Bex)
- Group/Partner Practice (have students quiz each other to see if they know the info)
- Question/answer game (rubric)
- Gimkit or Quizlet.Live w/generic questions
- Other games: Marker game, Unfair game, Lo siento (link to free resource on TPT)
Question and Answer Game
Tina Hargaden
2016 - Me doing an 8th grade demo
2016 - Demo (7th grade)

Handout/Projection