Spanish 1 and 2 students both participated in World Read Aloud Day on March 9th. We read to elementary schools in and outside of our school district, including classes in Wall Lake, Sac, Rockwell City, Pomeroy, and Bellevue.
Spanish 1 students read bilingual books in both English and Spanish. Since Spanish 2 students already wrote bilingual stories, they read those. Instead of traveling, we used the program Skype and made video calls to the other teacher's classroom. Students were a bit nervous at first, but had so much fun once we started. The classrooms we called really enjoyed having the "Big Kids" read to them! I think our favorites were when we could see the kids on the other end and actually talk / wave at them.
When I asked the students if they want to Skype again and how often, responses were: "YES!" "Once a quarter", "Once a month", "Every day!"....
Safe to say that World Read Aloud Day was a hit and we will be Skyping again in the future!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
How do you want to learn?
While scoping out Twitter yesterday afternoon, I came across a great blog from @macyluvsyou (twitter name). I would encourage anyone to read it: http://learnersville.blogspot.com/
What she wants is for a teacher to ask her and her peers how they want to learn. Easy enough right? I thought, "What perfect timing!" We happened to be starting a new unit the next morning.Thinking this would be an interesting question to pose to my students, and of course easy to answer- I did it.
The first class looked at me with blank stares and thought I was kidding. After a minute of silence a few students chimed in. The answers that I got were pretty much the same across the board: GAMES! Hands on stuff! No worksheets! No homework (nice try!)....I did have a couple of students who said more stuff on the computer, which was shot down by some classmates. I think the reason for this was more because our computers can be slow, don't always like to work, and it can be very frustrating. I understand where they are coming from, but that doesn't mean I won't hold that student back from learning/ doing things how he wants to.
The game idea rang out across the board, and one that stuck out was Charades. I took the charades idea and ran with it. Since we were covering new vocab today, which happened to be verbs, we used to Charades to add them to our list. I wrote down the words in Spanish and English. Each kid came up, grabbed a word to tell the class and acted it out. Those who weren't crazy about it, really got into the activity and enjoyed it! They now know "nadar" as to swim- and the one that X person acted out.
We've added words we already know to our new infinitives to create phrases. When I told them I wanted them to be specific and make phrases, they thought I was crazy and it would be difficult. I'd write a word down and ask what we could add to it. A couple students spoke up the first time and slowly more and more started to chime in.
My favorite thing is when they whine about something at first and then see how easy it is and love it! The whining gets old, but I know that they will come around and figure things out pretty quick.
What she wants is for a teacher to ask her and her peers how they want to learn. Easy enough right? I thought, "What perfect timing!" We happened to be starting a new unit the next morning.Thinking this would be an interesting question to pose to my students, and of course easy to answer- I did it.
The first class looked at me with blank stares and thought I was kidding. After a minute of silence a few students chimed in. The answers that I got were pretty much the same across the board: GAMES! Hands on stuff! No worksheets! No homework (nice try!)....I did have a couple of students who said more stuff on the computer, which was shot down by some classmates. I think the reason for this was more because our computers can be slow, don't always like to work, and it can be very frustrating. I understand where they are coming from, but that doesn't mean I won't hold that student back from learning/ doing things how he wants to.
The game idea rang out across the board, and one that stuck out was Charades. I took the charades idea and ran with it. Since we were covering new vocab today, which happened to be verbs, we used to Charades to add them to our list. I wrote down the words in Spanish and English. Each kid came up, grabbed a word to tell the class and acted it out. Those who weren't crazy about it, really got into the activity and enjoyed it! They now know "nadar" as to swim- and the one that X person acted out.
We've added words we already know to our new infinitives to create phrases. When I told them I wanted them to be specific and make phrases, they thought I was crazy and it would be difficult. I'd write a word down and ask what we could add to it. A couple students spoke up the first time and slowly more and more started to chime in.
My favorite thing is when they whine about something at first and then see how easy it is and love it! The whining gets old, but I know that they will come around and figure things out pretty quick.
Trip planning - Goal +Reflection
Spanish 1 has spent the last 3 weeks planning a trip to a Spanish speaking country in Central/South America. We wanted to think of warmer climates while it was freezing outside! They had to research the country they chose, find activities, hotels, means of transportation to and around that place, and share some advice with us. Since they only had $2,000 to spend for 6 days, they kept track of all expenses on a spreadsheet. The other trick was that they had to present in Spanish, which I know is a crazy thought considering they are in Spanish class! :)
Each section created a list of words and phrases they thought would be useful for their presentations and we worked together to learn them in Spanish. Each section also created the rubric that would be used for grading. Once we were done with those 2 things, they dove into their work. We spent time almost every day working on different speaking activities to get ready for their presentations.
They were really frustrated at first that I didn't spend every second of our time together telling them how to say everything they wanted.
Overall, I was happy with the end products. Majority of the students really did work hard and had excellent presentations!
If I did this again in the future, I would definitely make sure to do some of the elements together as a class rather than individually when they reached that point. Example, some students did not know how to use Excell to keep track of their expenses. I would also have given them more opportunities to use online/book dictionaries in class so that I wasn't tied up helping with one word. Most of my students have used these at some point this year, but I still had few that needed help.
I did have a few students that tried to use an online translator to do their entire project even after I had told them not to (amazing, I know). I explained that it can be spotted right away, and when those people presented the entire class knew it too. I plan to use this sort of thing as a "teachable moment" and do different examples of things translated on one of those sites and comparing it to what is being asked of them. I want them to be able to spot the difference and be able to modify what they would like to say so that it can be done on their own rather than look something up word for word.
Each section created a list of words and phrases they thought would be useful for their presentations and we worked together to learn them in Spanish. Each section also created the rubric that would be used for grading. Once we were done with those 2 things, they dove into their work. We spent time almost every day working on different speaking activities to get ready for their presentations.
They were really frustrated at first that I didn't spend every second of our time together telling them how to say everything they wanted.
Overall, I was happy with the end products. Majority of the students really did work hard and had excellent presentations!
If I did this again in the future, I would definitely make sure to do some of the elements together as a class rather than individually when they reached that point. Example, some students did not know how to use Excell to keep track of their expenses. I would also have given them more opportunities to use online/book dictionaries in class so that I wasn't tied up helping with one word. Most of my students have used these at some point this year, but I still had few that needed help.
I did have a few students that tried to use an online translator to do their entire project even after I had told them not to (amazing, I know). I explained that it can be spotted right away, and when those people presented the entire class knew it too. I plan to use this sort of thing as a "teachable moment" and do different examples of things translated on one of those sites and comparing it to what is being asked of them. I want them to be able to spot the difference and be able to modify what they would like to say so that it can be done on their own rather than look something up word for word.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
You really are a genius.
Today I decided to put up my signs about "genius" and talk about it a little more with my classes. I was so excited when I first put them up and couldn't wait to inspire kids, their reaction to it was definitely not what I expected. I had a few kids who would light up and say "I'm a genius!" but only because they saw it posted on my door. I had a lot of kids who walked in and said "That sign is a lie," or "I'm not a genius." It was disheartening to see that so many people just flat out said it and didn't seem to care.
Even when I went through and talked about genius and how it doesn't necessarily mean you are extremely smart and good at everything, it just might be a certain thing that you are really good at. That turned a few more on to genius, but I still had the few in each class who thought it was ridiculous. How do you address that? How do you help them to see they really are someone and are good at things?
The next thing that went through my mind is what are we doing to kids to make them feel like they are not a genius? That they are not good at anything? How is their self confidence so low that they can't even think of one thing they are good at? I know that I'm not good at a lot, but I can think of a few good qualities of mine that I could say are genius. How come so many kids can't do that? It was even more frustrating when I thought about who these students are that don't feel like a genius. They were students who I would think / hope have someone telling them, "YES! You are great at ___." and have some form of positive reinforcement verbally.
After today, I will give my kids more positive reinforcement and continue to point out the good things they do. They obviously need to hear it more often, and I'm more than willing to do that.
Even when I went through and talked about genius and how it doesn't necessarily mean you are extremely smart and good at everything, it just might be a certain thing that you are really good at. That turned a few more on to genius, but I still had the few in each class who thought it was ridiculous. How do you address that? How do you help them to see they really are someone and are good at things?
The next thing that went through my mind is what are we doing to kids to make them feel like they are not a genius? That they are not good at anything? How is their self confidence so low that they can't even think of one thing they are good at? I know that I'm not good at a lot, but I can think of a few good qualities of mine that I could say are genius. How come so many kids can't do that? It was even more frustrating when I thought about who these students are that don't feel like a genius. They were students who I would think / hope have someone telling them, "YES! You are great at ___." and have some form of positive reinforcement verbally.
After today, I will give my kids more positive reinforcement and continue to point out the good things they do. They obviously need to hear it more often, and I'm more than willing to do that.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Skype
Spanish 2 had some excitement last Friday. Half of the class was done with their project and the other half needed something to do. I came across Kelly Sigler's blog post about "Imagination" and wanted to help her out. Her students already know about genius, mine are still learning.
That afternoon our classrooms Skyped. My kids loved it, and I think hers did too! Her class shared their posters and told my sophomores what their genius' were and what a genius is. This definitely got my kids inspired and they became much more creative.
Our classes also collaborated to create a story to a video that Kelly saw. Her students needed some help putting the story together, and mine were more than willing to do it. We helped them translate the song that played with it since it was in Spanish and came up with a great story about a prince and princess (story will come soon!). My class thought they were doing this for fun and had a blast coming up with this story, little do they know we are using it this week. They came back on Monday and wanted to know if we get to Skype again. My question to them was how can we Skype 1st grade and relate it to Spanish? The answer: We can put the story we made in Spanish and make a book to read to them!! This happened to be exactly what I was thinking! We are working with past tense now, and what better way to practice then to make a story!
My kids are excited and I can't wait to share the story our 2 classes created with them!
That afternoon our classrooms Skyped. My kids loved it, and I think hers did too! Her class shared their posters and told my sophomores what their genius' were and what a genius is. This definitely got my kids inspired and they became much more creative.
Our classes also collaborated to create a story to a video that Kelly saw. Her students needed some help putting the story together, and mine were more than willing to do it. We helped them translate the song that played with it since it was in Spanish and came up with a great story about a prince and princess (story will come soon!). My class thought they were doing this for fun and had a blast coming up with this story, little do they know we are using it this week. They came back on Monday and wanted to know if we get to Skype again. My question to them was how can we Skype 1st grade and relate it to Spanish? The answer: We can put the story we made in Spanish and make a book to read to them!! This happened to be exactly what I was thinking! We are working with past tense now, and what better way to practice then to make a story!
My kids are excited and I can't wait to share the story our 2 classes created with them!
The Classroom: Before and After
This school year I have opened up a little bit more and tried to give the students a little more power. Before Christmas, I had sophomores demonstrate their understanding of reflexive verbs by showing me their daily routines. When they learned they had the power of choice for how they could present, along with creating their own rubric for assessment, the wheels started turning. I was amazed with what they came back with! There were some excellent presentations!
The more that I think about it, what's wrong with changing things up and making it what they want it to be? I can still say, "I would like to see this" and give them my reason why, but what's wrong with letting them choose from there?
Before listening to Angela Maiers and learning about a "Passion Driven" classroom, life in my room was pretty simple. We had the basic "I say, you do" sort of style along with some wiggle room. I would make copies of worksheets, give my students crosswords, and do PowerPoints, but that was about it. We have done projects, but not with a lot of room for their imagination. The daily routine project was the most power I have given my students in freedom of choice.
I have made a few changes and am really trying to emphasize that the work we do is theirs. My first day back, we sat down and had a talk about the changes that are coming. Yes, I will still give the occasional worksheet for practice on new grammar that we do. The worksheets they receive will be something that they can answer for themselves and should actually increase their vocabulary. Another change in the classroom is cell phone use (they love this one!). Their phones may be out on their desk and can be used at the appropriate times. We are learning to become better digital citizens and utilizing the resources that we do have. If they don't know a word they are actually using their phone to look it up, rather than changing their entire thought to be something they know how to say. So far it has gone over really well, and I hope to keep it up. We decided we had better post rules on cell phones, so the students in one of my classes came up with the list that is up.
The students know they are getting a lot of power and trust now, and the changes in a lot of them are amazing! I'm excited to go to my classroom every day and see what they will come up with and what new things we will learn today!
The more that I think about it, what's wrong with changing things up and making it what they want it to be? I can still say, "I would like to see this" and give them my reason why, but what's wrong with letting them choose from there?
Before listening to Angela Maiers and learning about a "Passion Driven" classroom, life in my room was pretty simple. We had the basic "I say, you do" sort of style along with some wiggle room. I would make copies of worksheets, give my students crosswords, and do PowerPoints, but that was about it. We have done projects, but not with a lot of room for their imagination. The daily routine project was the most power I have given my students in freedom of choice.
I have made a few changes and am really trying to emphasize that the work we do is theirs. My first day back, we sat down and had a talk about the changes that are coming. Yes, I will still give the occasional worksheet for practice on new grammar that we do. The worksheets they receive will be something that they can answer for themselves and should actually increase their vocabulary. Another change in the classroom is cell phone use (they love this one!). Their phones may be out on their desk and can be used at the appropriate times. We are learning to become better digital citizens and utilizing the resources that we do have. If they don't know a word they are actually using their phone to look it up, rather than changing their entire thought to be something they know how to say. So far it has gone over really well, and I hope to keep it up. We decided we had better post rules on cell phones, so the students in one of my classes came up with the list that is up.
The students know they are getting a lot of power and trust now, and the changes in a lot of them are amazing! I'm excited to go to my classroom every day and see what they will come up with and what new things we will learn today!
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