I LOVE this phrase and I have learned to own it as a parent and as a teacher. If we really and truly believed it, it would change the way that we assess our students and the way that they see the grades that they receive.
My goal this year has been to teach my students that when I correct them whether it is an informal question and answer session, blogging or a formative assessment, I am giving them feedback, not failure. There is something about corrections that creates a great deal of angst in our kids. On Day 1, I had them repeat after me "making mistakes is part of learning another language". It is crucial for my students (and their parents) to understand this concept so that they can breathe and just learn. Likewise, I have to let go both of the temptation to give bogus grades for meaningless homework as well as giving them the freedom to grow as language learners and make mistakes.
This year, I am also experimenting with having 1:1 conferences with each student. I praised the student for what he/she did right and then addressed some of the problem areas. I pointed out the issue but had them tell me how to fix it. Often, I pointed them to resources so that they could find the information. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will at least be aware of what they are writing/speaking now that I have explained it individually to them.
Another feedback tool that I am using is corrections on Google Drive. Students submit writing that way and I make notes of items that need attention. They make the changes, after I have pointed them out. I continue to address overall issues that multiple students are having. Instead of me explaining the problem and the solution. I asked the students to point it out and tell me how to fix it.
What I find ironic is that I didn't do as many 1:1 conferences in the past because they are time consuming. I was so busy teaching the hundreds of vocabulary words from the list and the multiple verbs and conjugations that they needed to learn, that I rushed from one assessment to another while buried up to my ears in grading. However, I find that my students are making much more progress this year with less amounts of content and targeted and specific corrections done through personal and group conferences.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Day 13 - Best EdTech Tools
Day 13: Name the top edtech tools that you use on a consistent
basis in the classroom, and rank them in terms of their perceived (by
you) effectiveness.
I do my planning either in my desktop at home or in the classroom. I like the feedback that I get from the big keyboard and I like the big screen for instructional planning. For social media communication and quick notes, I like my iPad 3, which my district provides for all teachers. For my students, I like them to use their iPads minis, which the district provides for them as per their Technology initiatives.
In terms of communication, nothing beats Edmodo, in my opinion. I definitively take advantage of Edmodo as a learning tool. I am in contact with my students via Edmodo. I send them reminders for assignments and they can use the teacher and classmates as resources. The application that I have found most useful in terms of collaboration, cooperation and extension beyond the school walls, is Google Aps. Through their iCloud accounts, students can work on the same document while they are at home. This has been a great tool for accountability as students are able to connect with each other virtually anywhere and cannot use the old excuse of not being able to go to someone’s house to complete a project. This is also very helpful to learners who are unorganized and forgetful. It is helpful for them to be able to access their calendars, lessons, notes from me when they are not in school.
For vocab practice, I like Quizlet. For presentations I like Prezi, Keynote, Notability and Haiku Deck and Pic Collage.
For interpersonal communication, I use Todaysmeet since our students don't have access to Twitter at school. I also use Skype to connect with students from other parts of the world. This has been a very exciting and positive experience for our students.
I do my planning either in my desktop at home or in the classroom. I like the feedback that I get from the big keyboard and I like the big screen for instructional planning. For social media communication and quick notes, I like my iPad 3, which my district provides for all teachers. For my students, I like them to use their iPads minis, which the district provides for them as per their Technology initiatives.
In terms of communication, nothing beats Edmodo, in my opinion. I definitively take advantage of Edmodo as a learning tool. I am in contact with my students via Edmodo. I send them reminders for assignments and they can use the teacher and classmates as resources. The application that I have found most useful in terms of collaboration, cooperation and extension beyond the school walls, is Google Aps. Through their iCloud accounts, students can work on the same document while they are at home. This has been a great tool for accountability as students are able to connect with each other virtually anywhere and cannot use the old excuse of not being able to go to someone’s house to complete a project. This is also very helpful to learners who are unorganized and forgetful. It is helpful for them to be able to access their calendars, lessons, notes from me when they are not in school.
For vocab practice, I like Quizlet. For presentations I like Prezi, Keynote, Notability and Haiku Deck and Pic Collage.
For interpersonal communication, I use Todaysmeet since our students don't have access to Twitter at school. I also use Skype to connect with students from other parts of the world. This has been a very exciting and positive experience for our students.
Day 12 Evolution or Revolution?
Day 12
How do you envision your teaching changing over the next five years?
As I pondered this question, I couldn't help but see it globally. No surprise here, as I am a global learner, thinker and teacher. I can't imagine how *my* teaching will change over the next five years without envisioning how teaching in general will change within my circles and sphere of influence, whether that is at my current school or wherever I will be between next year and the next 5 years. Disclaimer: I love my school and have no desire to leave but life has a way of changing our plans without notice.
At any rate, as I experience my own evolution I am also starting a revolution. My weapons are research of best practices, modeling, sharing my knowledge and resources generously with others and talking to people. The thing is, I can't evolve in a vacuum because I am a Spanish teacher among many others. I am not a French or German teacher (God bless them and give them extra chocolate in heaven!) who teaches every student from Fr or G 1 through AP. What I do is profoundly affected by teachers who taught my students before me and how I teach will affect my students as they go to new teachers after me.
So, in my evolution of learning how to reach students, get them to LOVE learning Spanish and other languages, and effectively teaching them to actually speak, understand and write, I am propelled to help other teachers also evolve into the kind of teacher that research shows us gets results.
My goal within the next 5 years to be part of the group of educators who are working to revolutionize our state. We have flagship districts and schools that are doing an incredible job of teaching with evidence based practices (SBL, ACTFL guidelines, proficiency based, etc). But, I want to light a fire in our state that spreads throughout where no matter what district or school a student goes to, he/she will at least be exposed to evidence based teaching of World Languages.
In 5 years, I hope that my evolution would have brought me to the point that I am teaching a curriculum that is fully proficiency driven. I envision that most of the assignments will be submitted via technology. I will not say ALL because I believe in teaching to different modalities and some kids can't function in a 100% technology integrated classroom. In 5 years I also hope to be taking trips with my students where I am showing them some of the places that we visit virtually in our classroom.
How do you envision your teaching changing over the next five years?
As I pondered this question, I couldn't help but see it globally. No surprise here, as I am a global learner, thinker and teacher. I can't imagine how *my* teaching will change over the next five years without envisioning how teaching in general will change within my circles and sphere of influence, whether that is at my current school or wherever I will be between next year and the next 5 years. Disclaimer: I love my school and have no desire to leave but life has a way of changing our plans without notice.
At any rate, as I experience my own evolution I am also starting a revolution. My weapons are research of best practices, modeling, sharing my knowledge and resources generously with others and talking to people. The thing is, I can't evolve in a vacuum because I am a Spanish teacher among many others. I am not a French or German teacher (God bless them and give them extra chocolate in heaven!) who teaches every student from Fr or G 1 through AP. What I do is profoundly affected by teachers who taught my students before me and how I teach will affect my students as they go to new teachers after me.
So, in my evolution of learning how to reach students, get them to LOVE learning Spanish and other languages, and effectively teaching them to actually speak, understand and write, I am propelled to help other teachers also evolve into the kind of teacher that research shows us gets results.
My goal within the next 5 years to be part of the group of educators who are working to revolutionize our state. We have flagship districts and schools that are doing an incredible job of teaching with evidence based practices (SBL, ACTFL guidelines, proficiency based, etc). But, I want to light a fire in our state that spreads throughout where no matter what district or school a student goes to, he/she will at least be exposed to evidence based teaching of World Languages.
In 5 years, I hope that my evolution would have brought me to the point that I am teaching a curriculum that is fully proficiency driven. I envision that most of the assignments will be submitted via technology. I will not say ALL because I believe in teaching to different modalities and some kids can't function in a 100% technology integrated classroom. In 5 years I also hope to be taking trips with my students where I am showing them some of the places that we visit virtually in our classroom.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Day 11 My Favorite Part of the School Day
I have three favorite parts of my school day. One is individual and the other two are shared in community.
My individual favorite part is when I am writing lesson plans. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE creating lessons that engage my students. I literally get giddy with excitement when I hit on what I know is a great idea and I hold my breath in anticipation at seeing how the kids will react to it. Most of the time I am not disappointed with the expected response. This is why I resent how much of my/our day is taken up with chores and busy work that has NOTHING to do with teaching and learning. But, that is for another blog somewhere, I am sure.
The other favorite part of my day is when I am with the kids and I see the excitement in their eyes when they "get" something. I also get super excited when they create language on their own, when they make connections between prior knowledge and new information, when they figure something out on their own and when they are just plain excited to be in my class learning Spanish.
The third favorite part of my day is when my son comes to my room after his day at his school. It used to be when my almost 18 year old daughter came to my room during the day to say hi, give me a kiss and raid my closet for snacks. But now that she is a senior I don't see her much at school and that makes me sad.
My individual favorite part is when I am writing lesson plans. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE creating lessons that engage my students. I literally get giddy with excitement when I hit on what I know is a great idea and I hold my breath in anticipation at seeing how the kids will react to it. Most of the time I am not disappointed with the expected response. This is why I resent how much of my/our day is taken up with chores and busy work that has NOTHING to do with teaching and learning. But, that is for another blog somewhere, I am sure.
The other favorite part of my day is when I am with the kids and I see the excitement in their eyes when they "get" something. I also get super excited when they create language on their own, when they make connections between prior knowledge and new information, when they figure something out on their own and when they are just plain excited to be in my class learning Spanish.
The third favorite part of my day is when my son comes to my room after his day at his school. It used to be when my almost 18 year old daughter came to my room during the day to say hi, give me a kiss and raid my closet for snacks. But now that she is a senior I don't see her much at school and that makes me sad.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Day 10The Countdown 5-4-3-2-1
Share 5 random facts about yourself, 4 things from your bucket
list, 3 things you hope for this year as an educator, 2 things that made
you laugh or cry as an educator, 1 think you wish more people knew
about you.
5 Random Facts:
I am 1/2 Ecuadorian, 1/4 Chilean and 1/4 Croatian.
I lived on a ship for 2.5 years between 18-21 years old and traveled to 20 countries in South America and Europe.
As a 21 year old in Ecuador I interpreted for an ambassador from the United Nations and was supposed to interpret for León Febres Cordero, the then President of the Republic of Ecuador. At the last minute he changed his mind and handed the speech to the Ministers of Mining and Engineering. So, I translated for him instead.
My major in college was International Studies and I started my career working as a translator/interpreter for a multinational corporation. HATED it!
I came to the US as an International Student and attended Lincroft Community College in NJ and then USC in Columbia, S C.
The Bucket List Top 4
Visit Australia and the Mediterranean countries
Get NBCT
Take my family to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador
Visit the Southwest and West coast of the US
3 Things I want to accomplish this year
Fully transition towards SBL teaching and aim towards proficiency based assessments
Go to ACTFL and SCOLT
Present at my state conference
2 things that make me laugh or cry as an educator
Cry - when I see teachers who are stuck in a grammar based approach, teaching my former students
Laugh - when I see my kids' faces at some crazy of goofy thing I do
I wish that people knew about me that I want to make a difference in this world, starting with my family, my community, my students. I want people to know that nothing in my life has been wasted, both the positive experiences and the difficult times have made me who I am. I want to live my life with reckless abandonment creating and experimenting new things. I also feel this desire born out of gratitude to pay it forward because I stand on the shoulders of great parents, teachers, friends, mentors, husband and colleagues.
5 Random Facts:
I am 1/2 Ecuadorian, 1/4 Chilean and 1/4 Croatian.
I lived on a ship for 2.5 years between 18-21 years old and traveled to 20 countries in South America and Europe.
As a 21 year old in Ecuador I interpreted for an ambassador from the United Nations and was supposed to interpret for León Febres Cordero, the then President of the Republic of Ecuador. At the last minute he changed his mind and handed the speech to the Ministers of Mining and Engineering. So, I translated for him instead.
My major in college was International Studies and I started my career working as a translator/interpreter for a multinational corporation. HATED it!
I came to the US as an International Student and attended Lincroft Community College in NJ and then USC in Columbia, S C.
The Bucket List Top 4
Visit Australia and the Mediterranean countries
Get NBCT
Take my family to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador
Visit the Southwest and West coast of the US
3 Things I want to accomplish this year
Fully transition towards SBL teaching and aim towards proficiency based assessments
Go to ACTFL and SCOLT
Present at my state conference
2 things that make me laugh or cry as an educator
Cry - when I see teachers who are stuck in a grammar based approach, teaching my former students
Laugh - when I see my kids' faces at some crazy of goofy thing I do
I wish that people knew about me that I want to make a difference in this world, starting with my family, my community, my students. I want people to know that nothing in my life has been wasted, both the positive experiences and the difficult times have made me who I am. I want to live my life with reckless abandonment creating and experimenting new things. I also feel this desire born out of gratitude to pay it forward because I stand on the shoulders of great parents, teachers, friends, mentors, husband and colleagues.
Day 9 They may not remember what you said....
... but they will remember how you made them feel.
Some of the achievements that have gotten me most recognition have been the things that I have done or said in public. Since this is not about the seen accomplishments but the unseen, I won't mention my claim to "fame".
Some of my most rewarding achievements have taken place when I have made individual students feel that they were worth it. I showed them in words and actions that they were worth my time, my effort, my love, and my investment in them.
A few come to mind. There is the senior at a public charter virtual school, who had horrible family problems and who was so despondent that he wanted to quit school. I spent many hours on the phone with him and his grandmother pouring myself into his life and making him believe that he was kind, smart, and important. He graduated from high school and it changed the direction of his life. I remember another senior a couple years ago, who had to testify against his mother in court because she stole from him. He quit coming to school within a few days of graduation. Once again, I was on the phone with grandma and I tracked him down until I convinced him to come to school to take his final exams. He did and he also graduated. Then, there was A. a handsome, tall, blond and affluent junior who hated Spanish and who was completely shut down and disengaged. He would try to sleep on my class and I would refuse to allow him to even lay his head against my book shelf. I called on him every day and his response was a shrug of the shoulders. Then, one day he realized that I was never EVER going to let up on him, so he managed to get a B on a quiz and I celebrated him publicly and called his Mom. I told him that if he became engaged in class, he would pass my class and that was a turning point for him. I've had a particular soft spot for my kiddos who have lost a parent.
I could go on but this has really brought me a perspective of what really makes a difference in students' lives. It is how we make them feel each day that they are in our classes because the deepest desire of every human being is to feel validated by someone. I may be the only person that day that can or will meet that need.
Some of the achievements that have gotten me most recognition have been the things that I have done or said in public. Since this is not about the seen accomplishments but the unseen, I won't mention my claim to "fame".
Some of my most rewarding achievements have taken place when I have made individual students feel that they were worth it. I showed them in words and actions that they were worth my time, my effort, my love, and my investment in them.
A few come to mind. There is the senior at a public charter virtual school, who had horrible family problems and who was so despondent that he wanted to quit school. I spent many hours on the phone with him and his grandmother pouring myself into his life and making him believe that he was kind, smart, and important. He graduated from high school and it changed the direction of his life. I remember another senior a couple years ago, who had to testify against his mother in court because she stole from him. He quit coming to school within a few days of graduation. Once again, I was on the phone with grandma and I tracked him down until I convinced him to come to school to take his final exams. He did and he also graduated. Then, there was A. a handsome, tall, blond and affluent junior who hated Spanish and who was completely shut down and disengaged. He would try to sleep on my class and I would refuse to allow him to even lay his head against my book shelf. I called on him every day and his response was a shrug of the shoulders. Then, one day he realized that I was never EVER going to let up on him, so he managed to get a B on a quiz and I celebrated him publicly and called his Mom. I told him that if he became engaged in class, he would pass my class and that was a turning point for him. I've had a particular soft spot for my kiddos who have lost a parent.
I could go on but this has really brought me a perspective of what really makes a difference in students' lives. It is how we make them feel each day that they are in our classes because the deepest desire of every human being is to feel validated by someone. I may be the only person that day that can or will meet that need.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Day 8 - What Lurks Underneath The Desktop
I'm not at school today because I'm sitting with my almost 18 year old daughter who had wisdom teeth surgery. So, not pictures about my desk drawers. But, I have a pretty good idea of what is in there.
In the middle drawer there are lots and lots of office supplies. I am a pack rat when it comes to supplies. I hoard them but I do use most of them. Like my room, my supplies reflect my personality. I have multicolored thumb tacks, clips of all sizes, lots of colorful dry erase markers, latex free gloves, pencils and erasers (I have a latex allergy), hair bands, salt and pepper packets (obviously I eat at my desk), some make up (for when I don't have time to put make up on before I leave for work, staple refills, white out, etc. My middle drawer is really well organized and I'm only going to talk about it! Well, maybe not...
But, if you were to take a peak at my other drawers, they would tell a WHOLE different story. The drawer to the right can't be opened because it hits the computer cart, so I don't even know what it's in there and I'm scared to find out. The drawers on my left are a bit of a catch all. In there, you'll find: the nurse bag with emergency supplies, deodorant, tooth brush, paste and floss, plastic eating utensils, as well as napkins, Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer, extra office supplies (of course, because you can never have enough!), various essential oils, snacks (raising, almond, Craisins, fruit leather, M&Ms, etc., scissors and notes that I have put there so that I can check on later.
I think my drawers say about me that...
In the middle drawer there are lots and lots of office supplies. I am a pack rat when it comes to supplies. I hoard them but I do use most of them. Like my room, my supplies reflect my personality. I have multicolored thumb tacks, clips of all sizes, lots of colorful dry erase markers, latex free gloves, pencils and erasers (I have a latex allergy), hair bands, salt and pepper packets (obviously I eat at my desk), some make up (for when I don't have time to put make up on before I leave for work, staple refills, white out, etc. My middle drawer is really well organized and I'm only going to talk about it! Well, maybe not...
But, if you were to take a peak at my other drawers, they would tell a WHOLE different story. The drawer to the right can't be opened because it hits the computer cart, so I don't even know what it's in there and I'm scared to find out. The drawers on my left are a bit of a catch all. In there, you'll find: the nurse bag with emergency supplies, deodorant, tooth brush, paste and floss, plastic eating utensils, as well as napkins, Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer, extra office supplies (of course, because you can never have enough!), various essential oils, snacks (raising, almond, Craisins, fruit leather, M&Ms, etc., scissors and notes that I have put there so that I can check on later.
I think my drawers say about me that...
- I like color and variety
- I try to be organized but don't always succeed
- I am a Mom on the go
- I like to be prepared in case of emergencies or creative bursts
- I like to be clean and smell good
- I'm into alternative medicine
- I'm popular with my kids' friends who stop by for snacks
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