The gist of the bulletin board contest was to get some color and decor up around our school. Those of you who teach elementary school are probably great decorators, but high school teachers are notoriously lax about such things. So the contest was to motivate us to decorate.
The bulletin boards were done by each club at the school and we were told that "all bulletin boards" are available for the contest. I selected the one outside my classroom and carefully took down the old (very old!) things that were up there and preserved them. But to make a long story short, the folks that had their stuff up there (from last year!) were upset with me for "stealing" their bulletin board.
All the other bulletin boards in the school had been claimed by the time I got it sorted out. I had no place for my Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica bulletin board . . . grumble. ("All bulletin boards are available for the contest" should mean ALL bulletin boards are available for the contest.)
There is a display shelf outside my classroom, so I decided to improvise and we put together a hanging "bulletin board" display. It is weighted down by a yard stick taped to the back. The caption says "National Spanish Honor Society" instead of "Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica" because no one at the school, outside of Spanish students, can pronounce or understand the latter.
The little stars down the side are members' quotes about what they love about the Spanish language and culture. The plaque at the bottom explains what our club is about and gives a short history of our chapter. And, though you can't see the detail on the crest from the Spanish flag, it is my favorite part. The whole thing is made with glitter paint and it's spectacular!
We didn't win the contest but I think we at least deserved a "spirit of the contest" award or something. We are the only club that had to do our bulletin board twice and we are the only club that put up a display without an actual bulletin board. Oh well, sometimes you have to set your own win conditions, amigos!
Hasta pronto,
--AnneK
2 comments :
Me encanta! I would love to hear more about your club - what activities do you do, how often do you meet, who participates? I also sponsor the Club de espanol at my school, but sometimes it is hard to keep the students motivated. I would love to hear your ideas :)
Michelle
Michelle, We did some community service this year - collecting for our local food bank, donating a few hundred dollars to Heifer International, and tutoring students who were struggling with Spanish. Of course we did the bulletin board contest, we also visited the kindergarten and taught a Christmas lesson, and we had a craft table at the school's fall festival. There was an induction ceremony in September and an awards ceremony in May. We had several meetings in which we discussed a lot of social events we wanted to have, but none of it ultimately worked out except for midnight bowling. Somehow midnight bowling has become a bit of a tradition with NSHS. I think there are too many students to make coordinating events easy - and the further you get into the school year, the more conflicts there are with studies, sports, and other events. My chapter isn't going to win any awards; I feel as though we should have done more this year, but it's so hard to organize things with so many students and so many conflicts on the calendar.
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