After I posted my "Dear Blog..." post, I got some great suggestions from several teachers regarding how to engage learners. I decided that I needed to do something completely different than what I have been doing both because I needed the change and also I wanted to surprise my students.
I settled on the book Pobre Ana. We have a class set, which I typically use quarter 4 as a review of everything that we have learned the whole year. This time, I decided to use it to introduce material, rather than review it.
The first thing I did was go on the Internet and find some lesson plans for Pobre Ana. I made copies and got the kids started reading it. I did a little bit of pre-teaching and then we dove into the book. The kids had a word wall of the main structures needed to understand the book. Since we have been studying the family, ages and people descriptions, they had a good understanding about the first part of chapter 1. I read the book out loud while they followed along and then I started asking questions about Ana. I used a variety of question words and asked for ages, descriptions, places, etc. Most of the kids actively participated and then the light went on! They were excited about doing this activity because it "felt" as if they could understand and say A LOT! The whole process seemed very fluid and natural.
Today, I showed them this film http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/cortometraje-alma/. Thank you, @ZJonesSpanish, you are my creative superhero. As pre-teaching, I gave the students a short reading that had some of the words that they would need such as la ciudad, la tienda, etc. Then, I just let the film play. They were SO spooked until the surprise happened and they realized that it wasn't as scary as they thought it was going to be. The next time I played it, I muted it and did movie talk with it. The third time, I asked questions and they answered questions in Spanish about the film. Finally, they did the worksheet that goes with the film. It dawned on me that this was the PERFECT opportunity to introduce "Me gusta/No me gusta and Me encanta". Since it was on the sheet, I also taught them "Me parece divertido" which is a phrase that I normally wouldn't have taught until Spanish 3. For the summary, I had them write sentences about the protagonists. I got some great sentences such as "la niña es curiosa", la muñeca es espeluznante y rápida". I was SO impressed with their work and almost every student did all of the work.
So, my take away is that I need to find the right bait so that my fish will bite. Pobre Ana will be on the worm menu and I may just have to keep bringing some short films. They loved them!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Conquering my Novice Everest
When I started blogging, it was all about me processing my experience as a Spanish teacher. Blogging is a way for me to empty my brain of all of the ideas that clutter it. Once I see it in paper, or in this case, in the screen it is so much easier to understand what is going on. I went public with my blog a couple of months ago and have gotten a great response. I haven't blogged for 3 weeks because I have been discouraged. I didn't feel like writing positive things that were not in my heart. The temptation is great to use blogging either to put on a happy smile or to help other people. But, that was never the intention of my blog. It was for me. So, in the spirit of that initial commitment, my blog today is a "Dear Blog, today I am..." except I will share it with others, in the hope that I will glean some nuggets of information from the corporate wisdom.
Dear Blog today I am feeling...
Defeated about my Spanish 1 students. I have worked SO hard at changing instructional approaches and attitudes from the past. I started out with high hopes, excitement and renewed commitment to make my novices LOVE Spanish and to allow them to experience success. I did PD all summer, giving up free time of my own or with my family, so that I would be ready to help my novices learn in a way that would bring results. I have planned fun lesson plans and had it all worked out in my head as to how it would pan out.
I threw away the grammar and vocabulary based approaches and went for communicative learning/natural approach/contextualized teaching etc. But, the results are the same. The same percentage of students who did well, are doing awesome and the same percentage of students who failed in the past are failing now. So, what gives?
Why are some novices so unmotivated to learn, not just Spanish, anything? Why are they sometimes so slow in picking up material that has been repeated dozens of times? Why is there such a chasm between the haves (intellectually and cognitively) and the have nots at this novice level? Why do I have to have a highly structured classroom with my novices when my personality is bent towards collaborative learning and free flowing exchange of ideas (as I do with my Spanish 3's?) Because, if a number of novices are not in a structured environment, they fall apart. This year, more than any other year, my high level students are bored out of their minds, because I am going SOOOO slow and repeating structures SOOOO much.Why can't novices be like my Spanish 3s who want to learn, who grow by leaps and bounds and who can do SO much with what I give them?
I feel as if I'm climbing an Everest made out of sand and I keep slipping backwards. It is going to be a LONG year is something doesn't change for me.
Thank you for reading and I would appreciate any feedback that you may have.
Dear Blog today I am feeling...
Defeated about my Spanish 1 students. I have worked SO hard at changing instructional approaches and attitudes from the past. I started out with high hopes, excitement and renewed commitment to make my novices LOVE Spanish and to allow them to experience success. I did PD all summer, giving up free time of my own or with my family, so that I would be ready to help my novices learn in a way that would bring results. I have planned fun lesson plans and had it all worked out in my head as to how it would pan out.
I threw away the grammar and vocabulary based approaches and went for communicative learning/natural approach/contextualized teaching etc. But, the results are the same. The same percentage of students who did well, are doing awesome and the same percentage of students who failed in the past are failing now. So, what gives?
Why are some novices so unmotivated to learn, not just Spanish, anything? Why are they sometimes so slow in picking up material that has been repeated dozens of times? Why is there such a chasm between the haves (intellectually and cognitively) and the have nots at this novice level? Why do I have to have a highly structured classroom with my novices when my personality is bent towards collaborative learning and free flowing exchange of ideas (as I do with my Spanish 3's?) Because, if a number of novices are not in a structured environment, they fall apart. This year, more than any other year, my high level students are bored out of their minds, because I am going SOOOO slow and repeating structures SOOOO much.Why can't novices be like my Spanish 3s who want to learn, who grow by leaps and bounds and who can do SO much with what I give them?
I feel as if I'm climbing an Everest made out of sand and I keep slipping backwards. It is going to be a LONG year is something doesn't change for me.
Thank you for reading and I would appreciate any feedback that you may have.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Day 14 It's Feedback NOT Failure!
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)