It's the first day of the second week-- a 5-day week!-- and I have now had 4 days of class. The model I discussed in my last post, webbing the unit with the end result in mind, has worked really well. I was not prepared for how much time it takes, though! I could spend hours on my lessons!
I have adopted some tips from Ellen Shrager that I found in the Daily Tech Guide: A Survival Guide for Using Technology to Improve Classroom Management and to Visually Support the 90% Target Language Goal for Level One Students at the Secondary Level. I made slides to use today in my classes, and they worked really well. One set was a review of classroom procedures, and one was a review of vocabulary from Spanish 7 last year.
There was a lot of chatting in my 4th period class today, so much so that many students missed part of the directions. I will return their HW to them tomorrow to correct.
I'm excited about the LingtLanguage summative assessment I assigned my 8th grade classes. Instead of just speaking in response to oral prompts, students will write responses to some questions, speak to some written prompts, and reply to oral questions that I ask.
I can keep me on target with 90-100%, but how do I keep my students committed? I like the idea of a candle; when English is spoken, I blow it out, and we try again the next day. When the candle is burned down, we earn a reward (making tortillas? a party?). I also like the "Language Masters" tags from Concordia Language Villages: students who choose to can wear a tag that identifies them as a Language Master, which is a commitment to speak ONLY in the target language during class. They can track their success, and also earn a reward. Of course, I'd love for the reward to simply be that we all just get better at Spanish!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Planning the start of the year
It's Monday evening of the first week of school. Kids come back Wednesday-- though many were on campus this morning for orientation. I've been thinking and noodling and reading and reflecting all summer, and it is time to put on paper what I will do this week with my students.
I have one section of 7th grade Spanish 1A, and 2 sections of 8th grade Spanish 1B (technically they are Spanish 1C, because they started the sequence in 6th grade). I've decided that both classes need an orientation to make this 90-100% work, but the 8th grade classes will move through it more quickly, since they already have learned a great deal of the vocabulary that we will be using. I used backwards design in creating the unit: What do I want them to be able to say and do by the end of the unit? I want them to respond appropriately to basic commands (stand, sit, open, close, point, etc.), greet me and other students, know my expectations, make some simple requests (Can I go to the bathroom, etc.), and know how to ask for clarification (How do you say...?, etc.).
How do you plan such a unit? I webbed all of the things I want them to be able to do around the central theme: ¿Qué hago en la clase de español? Spokes on the web are themes like greeting the teacher, learning each others' names, the commands and questions that I mentioned above. From the spokes I generated a list of activities, and now I am plugging the activities into a calendar. Instead of the traditional plan book, I have a 5 subject theme book. One section for the webs, and one for each section of Spanish I am teaching.
My goal is lots of comprehensible input, lots of repetition, and acquisition over learning. I'm very excited, and a little bit nervous.
I have one section of 7th grade Spanish 1A, and 2 sections of 8th grade Spanish 1B (technically they are Spanish 1C, because they started the sequence in 6th grade). I've decided that both classes need an orientation to make this 90-100% work, but the 8th grade classes will move through it more quickly, since they already have learned a great deal of the vocabulary that we will be using. I used backwards design in creating the unit: What do I want them to be able to say and do by the end of the unit? I want them to respond appropriately to basic commands (stand, sit, open, close, point, etc.), greet me and other students, know my expectations, make some simple requests (Can I go to the bathroom, etc.), and know how to ask for clarification (How do you say...?, etc.).
How do you plan such a unit? I webbed all of the things I want them to be able to do around the central theme: ¿Qué hago en la clase de español? Spokes on the web are themes like greeting the teacher, learning each others' names, the commands and questions that I mentioned above. From the spokes I generated a list of activities, and now I am plugging the activities into a calendar. Instead of the traditional plan book, I have a 5 subject theme book. One section for the webs, and one for each section of Spanish I am teaching.
My goal is lots of comprehensible input, lots of repetition, and acquisition over learning. I'm very excited, and a little bit nervous.
Friday, August 8, 2014
MVS Constructs-- and so do I!
When I got the reminder e-mail from Bryan I was filled with trepidation. "Think about projects you'd like to do," he suggested. ACK! I could think of nothing. How do you come up with an idea? Do people just have ideas in their heads? Where was the inspiration? I'm not un-creative, I just don't do this kind of thing, ever. So I told Mike and Rachel about my fear, and Rae said, "Mom, when I think of you creating stuff, I think of you making mandalas." So then I had an idea.
On the first day, Tuesday, we got into groups of 3 and did "Yes, and..." I shared my idea for a mandala that could spin. When we shared our ideas with the larger group, my idea became a "Shiny, Spinny Thingy." There were other great ideas: an MVS Marauder's Map; an Interactive, Therapeutic Glove; a Large Vehicle Driven By A Hamster. Not all of the ideas got made, and not all of the things made were on the lists. One other person had interest in my spinny thingy, but she wound up working on other stuff. The groups separated out, and I decided to work alone on the spinny thingy.
I started by thinking how could I make something turn. I did not know that Bryan had motors that we could use, and I thought about what I knew about gears. I knew that Legos had gears available, and figured I could make something with Legos. We had a kit, and directions to make a car. I figured that was the place to start, and so I did, I built a car, figuring that I could mount my spinny thingy on the top. In the afternoon, I searched images for "Pre-Colombian Guatemalan Indian Designs" and found inspiration for the first mandala.
I spent much of Wednesday drawing and coloring the mandalas. I made two-- one for the spinny side, and one to cover all of the wires, etc. I started to sew on LED lights with conductive thread. I had big plans for blinking lights, and a motion activated off and on. I learned about breadboards and lily pads. I read about programming the car, but I never got that far. I though about how to mount the mandalas to the top of the vehicle.
On Thursday I worked on the car mount. Robyn showed me how to use "sketch up," and her explanation made great sense... until I tried on my own. That's when the frustration really got me, and I had to take a break. I even thought about and started to construct the structure out of cardboard. When I was calm enough I asked Alex for some help. After he left, Bryan showed me another, better way to make the structure. We put the card in the Maker Bot printer... and it didn't work. Three times we tried, and Bryan will keep trying until it prints, hopefully by Wednesday and the faculty meeting.
Today is Friday, and I learned how to solder and how to use a drill press. I had to re-drill the hole on the gripper that holds the motor mount (even though the hole is straight, the mandala mount is wonky on account of the curved gripper being hot-glued to the flat battery case). Jon suggested a flashlight switch as an on-off switch for the motor, and I learned how to connect it and how to solder in the wires. Cool! We were working until 2:04, and sharing time started at 2:05!
I was the second presenter, and everything worked.. I shared most of the story as I've told it here, though in a condensed form.
What are the lessons I learned? I know that I have a high threshold for frustration, and I have to pay attention to that, because it is easy to ignore. I need to remember to breathe and take a break when I'm headed for a melt-down. Not knowing is hard, but I can learn and then know. If it takes me a while, I don't have to be embarrassed, and if I am, so what?
How can I use this in my classroom? I suggested to Bryan that we continue the discussion as we move through the school year. I have some reading to do, and on-line research as well. The thingy I built isn't something I can use in class-- like the laser cone, the polyglot puppet, and the green screen. But the experience I had, as a learner and an experimenter, that will translate. We'll see how it ripples out.
On the first day, Tuesday, we got into groups of 3 and did "Yes, and..." I shared my idea for a mandala that could spin. When we shared our ideas with the larger group, my idea became a "Shiny, Spinny Thingy." There were other great ideas: an MVS Marauder's Map; an Interactive, Therapeutic Glove; a Large Vehicle Driven By A Hamster. Not all of the ideas got made, and not all of the things made were on the lists. One other person had interest in my spinny thingy, but she wound up working on other stuff. The groups separated out, and I decided to work alone on the spinny thingy.
I started by thinking how could I make something turn. I did not know that Bryan had motors that we could use, and I thought about what I knew about gears. I knew that Legos had gears available, and figured I could make something with Legos. We had a kit, and directions to make a car. I figured that was the place to start, and so I did, I built a car, figuring that I could mount my spinny thingy on the top. In the afternoon, I searched images for "Pre-Colombian Guatemalan Indian Designs" and found inspiration for the first mandala.
I spent much of Wednesday drawing and coloring the mandalas. I made two-- one for the spinny side, and one to cover all of the wires, etc. I started to sew on LED lights with conductive thread. I had big plans for blinking lights, and a motion activated off and on. I learned about breadboards and lily pads. I read about programming the car, but I never got that far. I though about how to mount the mandalas to the top of the vehicle.
On Thursday I worked on the car mount. Robyn showed me how to use "sketch up," and her explanation made great sense... until I tried on my own. That's when the frustration really got me, and I had to take a break. I even thought about and started to construct the structure out of cardboard. When I was calm enough I asked Alex for some help. After he left, Bryan showed me another, better way to make the structure. We put the card in the Maker Bot printer... and it didn't work. Three times we tried, and Bryan will keep trying until it prints, hopefully by Wednesday and the faculty meeting.
Today is Friday, and I learned how to solder and how to use a drill press. I had to re-drill the hole on the gripper that holds the motor mount (even though the hole is straight, the mandala mount is wonky on account of the curved gripper being hot-glued to the flat battery case). Jon suggested a flashlight switch as an on-off switch for the motor, and I learned how to connect it and how to solder in the wires. Cool! We were working until 2:04, and sharing time started at 2:05!
I was the second presenter, and everything worked.. I shared most of the story as I've told it here, though in a condensed form.
What are the lessons I learned? I know that I have a high threshold for frustration, and I have to pay attention to that, because it is easy to ignore. I need to remember to breathe and take a break when I'm headed for a melt-down. Not knowing is hard, but I can learn and then know. If it takes me a while, I don't have to be embarrassed, and if I am, so what?
How can I use this in my classroom? I suggested to Bryan that we continue the discussion as we move through the school year. I have some reading to do, and on-line research as well. The thingy I built isn't something I can use in class-- like the laser cone, the polyglot puppet, and the green screen. But the experience I had, as a learner and an experimenter, that will translate. We'll see how it ripples out.
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