Differentiating a survey class

 My father-in-law is an amazing man.  He taught leadership classes for many years and I respect his wisdom.  We were talking about my classes once and he asked me if I essentially teach a survey class at the beginning level.  

What an excellent question.  A year later I'm kicking that idea around.  

My response a year ago was no, I don't because my 1411 builds into my 1412 which builds into my 2311 and then into 2312.  My classes are based heavily on grammar that must be mastered at a lower level before used correctly at a higher level.

However, now that I'm really thinking about it this is because of the textbook I was using.  I chose to use the same McGraw-Hill text for all 4 of my semesters, beginning with Ch 1 in 1411 and ending 2312 with Ch 18.  

This seemed like a great idea for a few reasons:

1-a contact I have at another community college does it this way

2-students don't have to learn a new curriculum

3-it's logical because the scope and sequence fits

However, is it best for students?

What I'm finding is that my 2311 and 2312 are very difficult.  Do they have to be?  The beauty of my state standards is that they are incredibly vague.  They don't map out a specific plan and I get to define what "advanced intermediate level" means.

I remember reading on a blog post that a high school Spanish teacher uses different colored sticks for question prompts.  If a student was the easiest level for her spoken assignment she pulls the green sticks out of the can.  The teacher asks her those.  Highest possible grade would reflect that.

For the next level of challenge the student chooses the yellow sticks and his grade reflects mastery at that level.

For the highest motivated students there are red sticks.  These really challenge students into the next level and mastery on these is reflected in the grade.

I love this concept.  Many of my students only need 1 semester of Spanish but they truly want the best experience possible.  I don't need to expose them to "red sticks" if this is the end of their journey, but the "green sticks" need to be the best they can possibly be.

How can I best do this in on online class?

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