Joke turns into remarkable learning experience in Spanish class

Posted on January 25, 2016

It started out as a joke.

It turned into a remarkable learning experience.

Students in Kelley Watts’ Penn High School Spanish 3 accelerated class were having a tough time finding information about artist Frank Romero online during an assignment about Spanish-speaking artists.

Then, one of the students managed to find a telephone number for Romero’s art studio.

“They asked what they should do, and sarcastically I told them to call him!” Watts said when the students told her that they found Romero’s phone number.

  “I think I said something like, "Get your phone out and call him!  What teacher tells you to take your phone out in class and make a phone call?"

The students called Romero’s number.

No answer.

A few days later, one of the students called Romero’s number again.

This time, Romero answered, and Watts’ students would soon embark on a unique learning journey.

Watts’ students were engaged in an assignment on Spanish-speaking artists to help them cultivate a better understanding of the artists’ work. The students were studying vocabulary essential to visual and performing arts.

Thanks to Penn’s technology, the learning event took a dramatic turn.

Romero agreed to be interviewed by the students.

“Five years ago, we would have never done this,” Watts said. “Ten years ago, it would have been impossible.”

Penn High School principal Steve Hope appreciated the efforts by Watts and her students to add a new dimension to learning.

“This is one more example of how our learning environments have changed in our technology-rich, flattened world,” Hope said. “We are using so many more primary sources.

“Last year our Early College Academy teachers spoke directly with different authors each quarter,” Hope said. “Mrs. Watts challenged her students to contact the artist they were studying. Much to the surprise of (the students), the artist, Frank Romero, was more than happy to speak with them.

“This makes the learning in our classrooms so much more authentic, so much more real and personalized than just reading from other sources. It was great to see and hear Romero sharing his passion with our students.”

Watts said that the students were excited about being able to have a real-time conversation with the artist.

“To get to hear from the artist himself tell us about how he had been commissioned to do some work for the ‘84 Olympics, had it trashed with graffiti, and how he may have the chance to fix it again made the art come to life,” Watts said. “We now knew the back story. We got to hear a lot about how he became an artist and how he had to study all disciplines to become an artist. He told us he was a math major in high school.”

Since the Skype event, Watts has noticed a change in how her students view learning.

“I have noticed that students now have this feeling that they have the world at their fingertips, and that they can reach out to the world for more information. “I love that my students called Mr. Romero, were polite and well-spoken enough that he would respond to them, and that he was willing to give my students this experience of actually speaking and interviewing him.

“The only hang up was that Mr. Romero is in his 70s and he didn't know how to actually Skype.  Haha!  We helped him and all went well!”

Scheel appreciated the doors of learning that were opened through the experience.

“It was cool because we learned the answers to questions that we wanted to know that weren't on the Internet,” Scheel said. “I suppose that using the Skype technology made it possible to do this as well as being able to do research on the Chromebooks in class together.”

Last Modified January 12, 2022