Long term acquisition

That is my goal. In my opinion to teaching, that's my job. It's my job to teach kids Spanish for the long haul. As I've been evaluating my TPRS approach this year, I have read much research on how language acquisition occurs in L1 and L2 learners. All of the research has supported a CI/TPRS approach. Many articles even condemn the traditional grammar approach. So my question is "Why do many teachers still use the traditional grammar approach?"

Realistically, there are many reasons; It was the way we teachers of WL were taught most likely, so it is the way they teach. It is too difficult, time consuming, exhausting to teach with, let alone learn, a CI approach. Many teachers have spent 1000's of man hours developing their worksheets and lessons, so that they do not want to "throw it all away" and start new. They are skeptical of a new method. It's difficult to develop and grade tests based around CI techniques. They don't know there is another option. The district/school curriculum is textbook driven, therefore they have to use the text. They haven't read research on the topic to understand what methods are proven.

There are thousands of other reasons. They are all understandable.

The most alarming reason, in my opinion, is that teachers largely haven't checked out the method that they use. They do not question the way they teach, but simply accept it as the way to do things.

I'm glad that I've had my eyes opened to the world of CI. I'm determined to educate myself so that I may educate my students. I wish I knew of a way to promote the reading of *credible* research throughout my colleagues. I would hope that through reading, their eyes could be opened too. But then again, maybe they need to see it to believe it. Hopefully my students will be that light.

NTPRS 2011

Yahoo!  I just bit the bullet and registered for the 2011 National TPRS conference in ST. Louis, MO.  Sure, it's expensive (especially when I'm getting married, going on a honeymoon, a full time grad student, and a poor starting teacher), but I'm super excited to go.

Gus and I talked about it today at lunch.  We decided the sooner I start investing in myself, the bigger the return will be later.  I might go for a couple of years successively, but I might eventually be able to go and be a presenter instead of an attendee.  Who knows.

Another big reason that I'm so excited to go, is to better my craft of TPRS/CI.  I've been reading a lot of studies for my literature review for my graduate class this quarter and TPRS/CI seems to be the only logical, supported, efficient way to teach students to acquire a second language.  Research (credible research) supports the comprehensible input hypothesis over all other SLA hypotheses.  Thus, I feel that the best move I can make as a highly qualified professional is to push myself to push my students' acquisition of Spanish through TPRS.

Let the countdown begin!

Rigor

As a second year teacher we have meetings with other teachers new to the building along with our mentors and some other important people from time to time.  Today we discussed "rigor" and what it means.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the term rigor as it is defined by dictionary.com: "strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people."  When I think of rigor it means always engaging students at K+1 (where as K=students' level of knowledge) with the aim of encouraging and inspiring each student to become an independent learner in order to be a productive global citizen.  We discussed this term in groups and came to some similar conclusions.
A theme that stuck out was the fact that representatives from most departments feel that we try to teach too much, but we don't go into enough depth.  One person from my department commented that she felt it was more important for students to be able to "put it all together" rather than know a bunch of random vocabulary.  I was excited by that comment and with the agreement of others in my department.  
It's disillusioning to have so much curriculum to "cover" but never really feel like the students are getting it.  It's frustrating to get to the end of the semester, just to realize you're standing by yourself and your students have been gone since week 2.  It's comments from colleagues like these that give me hope that the change I'm trying in my classroom, will be validated and will give others the opportunities to try changes they wish to see. 
What is rigor to you in the TPRS/CI/WL classroom?  What small victories have you had lately, since at this time of year, no victory is too small to celebrate?

Characters Development and "Real" TPRS

Earlier today I read an interesting post by Ben Slavic earlier this morning that made me really analyze how I'm doing this year with my professional development of TPRS.  I know that my TPRS is nowhere near perfect and likely it won't be for a very long time.  I do know that I'm doing the best that I can with the support that I have.  I know that "Bad TPRS is better than no TPRS." But I don't want to practice "bad" TPRS. 
At the beginning of the year I did it.  I made the "switch".  I'm happy with that decision.  I am passionate about students, Spanish, and this method.  It's a powerful mix.  Thus I bought a couple of books on TPRS to help my development.  The problem has been, however, that I'm also going to graduate school full time; so I've had little time to reflect or put as much effort into developing my skills. 
I do know that my students are progressing.  Just yesterday they surprised me and powerfully translated "¿Qué te gusta hacer?" for me when my students last year couldn't remember that question for the life of them while it was a "vocab term" let alone months later as my students this year did.  I know that what they are learning is long term.  Thank goodness.
So today I had a break through (for me). I've been struggling with creating interesting details and parallel characters.  My students loose interest.  Today I realized two important things: I need to refocus on PERSONALIZATION and GOING SLOW.  We also successfully added a detail to a written story, which we haven't done before.  We added that Alicia is in fact 103 years old.  It's not as exciting for others.  But it's a step for me.  We also had a good PQA in my 6th period Spanish 1 class.  We saw spirits/ghosts in our classroom today.  And we wanted them there! :) We also learned that myself and one other boy are the only ones scared of ghosts.  It was a great class.  Why can't all classes be like that?

Unreal.

Today was an unreal day.  It was unreal because everything went so well.  I tried a couple new things today.  They're from Ben Slavic's site, and boy did I have great success.  In my third year class, we finished our ask a story with the subjunctive then started a dictation with the story.  The students were really engaged and said that they understood almost 100% of the story.  Success! 
During my first year class, I switched up the format in which we are reading Pobre Ana.  It's been going painfully slow (actually with the third year novel too!), so I tried having them read to the end of the chapter themselves.  We then translated the rest of the chapter together and had a great class discussion.  One boy in my fourth period said his mother stole clothes for him from his dad.  Another boy in my sixth period was like Robin Hood and stole clothes from the mall and gave them to people without clothes.  It was a great discussion.  Then I read the passage again while students followed along or sub-vocalized.  I think that was a really powerful portion of class because the students were able to feel completely relaxed but were completely focused. 
I'm going to use these methods again!  Thanks to Ben Slavic!

You want to play for the Rockies but don't ever practice?

Today we had another year 2 mentor/mentee meeting.  The principal came to talk to us about relationships.  Usually he focuses on teacher-student relationships, but today he focused more on collegial relationships.  I've definitely found out how important those are this year.  Amen, Mr. Booth.

The main point I have to discuss tonight, however, has to do with the title of this post (Imagine that right?).  During the discussion with Mr. Booth, he told us to continue to challenge the students and to make sure we are rigorous because these students aren't going to play for the Rockies if they don't practice.  BINGO!  So much of what he says is TPRS/CI relevant.  It's plain and simple; if we want our students to be able to read, write, listen and speak in the TL, we must practice.  We must practice with the skills more than we talk about the language.  I was really happy to hear him make that comment because it reaffirms a post by Ben Slavic awhile back, and it's still so true today.

I hope I'm able to help my kids practice their Spanish instead of think about Spanish.  Play ball!

5 minutes a day...

All the stress and responsibilities I've been juggling the past 10 weeks finally hit me like a wall about a week and a half ago.  I got sick, Gus was out of town, and it was a long weekend.  That proved to be a hard hurdle to move on from.  I'm still trying to move on after getting bogged down.
This weekend, I still was feeling overwhelmed by everything that I have to do.  It was a difficult weekend.  Gus and I sat down and talked about it, and he suggested finding five minutes a day to reflect on what I did, and what went well each day.  When I thought about it, that sounded like a simple way to remind myself that I am doing good each day.  I also realized that it would be a way to reflect on here in an albeit short way.

So... my five minutes today:

Let's start with my biggest accomplishment - yesterday, I ran my first 5K race and finished 2 minutes quicker than my "goal" time.  I'm still so satisfied about that.
But today, things were rough to get started, but things started to click once first period started.  My third year story really developed with student input in 1st and 2nd hour.  In all of my third year classes, my students were really focused and on task.  It was true learning to be experienced.  I really feel like they're going to kick this "subjunctive" in the behind.
I presented my new warm-up/notes sheet page to my first years today, we worked with some descriptions and vocab and started a new story.  We'll see how well they did tomorrow.
There.  My third years really impressed me today.  They were my saving grace.  Now to tackle this HUGE first homework assignment for grad school... no exactly looking forward to this, but here's to becoming a master teacher.

Facilitating change can be a lonely journey.

In light of recent conversations with colleagues and peers, I've really done some thinking.  I'm realizing many things about creating change, even if it's only in my classroom.  This week I've realized how isolated creating change can feel sometimes, but in a moment's time, people can really see you as a beacon of light.

This week we had a PLC meeting, I took a personal day to go to a TPRS workshop, and we started talk about creating change in my master's class.  These three events combined challenged me along with some discussions with my peers and colleagues.  I was challenged to defend my beliefs that CI will produce ANY gains in language acquisition and grammar for all learners.  I know this is true because the majority of my students have As and Bs along with some Cs and very few Ds or Fs.  At the TPRS workshop, the other extreme was clear.  I was seen as a beacon of light and hope and a valued source of information.  Teachers from all backgrounds and levels approached me to pick my brain about this method.  It felt exhilarating to be part of this grassroots change in language teaching.  Later that day in my graduate class, we began discussing facilitating change in a school.  Something resonated with me: "Just because you think something needs to change, doesn't mean that your way of changing is the way that things should or will change."  Wow. I know that I truly believe in CI as a means for learning and acquiring long term language, but that doesn't mean that this is the way it is going to happen.  However, I do know that sustainable change does occur from the bottom-up, and this is definitely the way that this change is occurring, so I hope this is the way things will change.

A lot of times throughout this past week, I've felt alone.  I've felt alone, but it's not a negative feeling because I truly believe this is the way language should be taught.  I know that I must be the change I wish to see, and this is the first step in that direction.  I also know that brain and language acquisition research support my stanch on language learning, so I'm confident that I cannot be doing harm to my students' language learning.  I'm also excited every day to go to school, so I know that I can pass the "straight face test" in knowing this is where I should be right now. 

What types of changes are you trying this year?  How is it going?  Are these changes sustainable and are they transferable to other teachers?

End of the first 6 weeks...

As the first six weeks comes to an end, I've been doing a lot of reflecting.  I'm really excited and proud that I'm making such a huge positive change this year with using TPRS.  I can't believe how much confidence my first years have.  But I'm also doing some serious reflection on how to teach my third years because they seem to be lacking confidence. 
It's as if I've yanked the rug out from beneath some of my students in third year.  I asked them for feedback the other day (1 thing they enjoy, 1 concern) about my class.  EVERYONE had something they enjoyed and not everyone had a concern.  That was a good reinforcement for me.  However, looking at the concerns, I noticed that many students were worried that they weren't learning nor being challenged.  This was a MAJOR red flag for me.
So I've been reading and re-reading their feedback and formulating my response to their concerns.  I want them to know that they're in great hands and that I won't let them down by "not teaching" them anything.  I've given them a list of vocabulary for the semester, a comprehensive grammar review sheet, and a verb synopsis for us to complete.  The students with concerns about "not learning" felt that we need to spend more time conjugating verbs and focusing on the endings. 
This has lead me to question how I am teaching.  I've explored the idea of if we should do more of that.  I've also explored why we're not doing more of that.  I keep coming up at the same place.  They don't realize they're learning because it makes more sense this year: 1) there's context to what they're learning, 2) I try to make them always feel confident and smart, so they're not focusing on how stupid they feel for not knowing something, 3) we're constantly reviewing and getting exposed to new things which evens it out.
So, I've really started to take this reflection piece and put it to work.  I just hope that I can prove to them that they are learning.  I know they are.  I check in with them 100s of times an hour.

Apology accepted.

Yesterday during class, I had a young man who couldn't stop chatting.  He has been a little chatty since the beginning of the year, and I reminded him to "págame" (just a cue word to help him realize he's off task and loosing participation points) yesterday.  He immediately stopped talking and resumed focus.  It was great to watch that this simple gesture works so well.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think my classroom management issues from last year have declined.  This is due to the fact that I know my students better and they know I care and center the class around them.  I'm still all warm and fuzzy when I realize this has happened because it reminds me that I really am a teacher because of the students.  They make my job enjoyable and worthwhile.
The most "warm and fuzzy" moment of this story came after class that day.  The chatty student came up to me and apologized all in the TL!  It was an almost flawless apology, and then we had a short chat in Spanish about talking in class and whether he needed to switch seats.  ¡Qué fantástico!
Needless to say, I was both proud, amazed, and impressed by the confidence, responsibility and ability of this first year student in the 3rd week of class.
What have your students done lately to remind you that they're the reason we teach?

And so it begins... graduate school.

Welp.  Tomorrow is the big day.  I'm a mix of emotions and thoughts.  Leading up to this day, I've been very excited and anxious.  But tonight, I'm frustrated.  I'm frustrated as a student, and it doesn't feel good.  I understand how my students feel sometimes, despite my every effort to not frustrate them. 
I am frustrated right now by the lack of clarity in my professor's email and attachments.  I am frustrated by his response to my inquiries due to my lack of understanding.  I have decided it's best to "not worry about not having the assignments done for tomorrow night" as he told me to do.  It's hard, however, when you want to do your best and you're ready to start and you want to succeed, to "not worry" that you aren't able to accomplish.  It's like I should have a bottle somewhere, where I put all this time and energy that I have to expend toward my studies right now in order to save them for another time that may not be as convenient... because I surely do NOT want to spend my long weekend playing catch up for this class.
This experience has made me realize how some of my students must feel when I lack clarity.  It also helps me understand that sometimes, we cannot put into words concisely enough to produce the outcome we've developed in our heads.  I am going to make every effort in order to avoid frustrating a student, or telling them "not to worry" when that is what they're going to do any way.  Quite possibly, they're worrying because this is the only time they have available to complete this task, and although it isn't the most convenient for us... it is for them, and I need to respect that.
When is the last time you've realized what it feels like to be a student?  How has this helped your teaching?

Weeks one and two

Since school started, I've been enjoyably busy.  I say enjoyably because it's a different type of busy than last year.  I remember last year running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  This year I seem to be much more collected.  This is for many reasons: 1) it's no longer my first year of teaching, 2) with TPRS the method stays the same, the content changes so I'm not constantly trying to come up with interesting and clever lesson plans before class, 3) I feel like I know my students much better.
This last reason is probably the greatest reason why I'm calmer.  Yesterday I proved I had learned every student's name (yes, all 141!) by the beginning of week three.  I know much more than that too.  I know students' interests.  This all helps create the classroom sense of community that I've longed for.  The students and I interact much better, and I have fewer classroom management issues.
I've really enjoyed teaching using TPRS.  It has served to not only reach the students, but to also continually review and understand Spanish.  I have to admit, although I've been enjoying TPRS, a part of me has been wondering how my students will do on common assessments.  They've done wonderfully on vocabulary assessments, but I'm wondering about ones that test grammar. 
The single best measure, I've seen, of my students' increased ability this year over last is their level of confidence.  ALL of my first year students have been able to confidently and correctly spell their first and last names.  They did it quickly, in an audible voice and with pride.  I remember doing the same assessment last year; some students I couldn't hear, others wouldn't try, and there were a lot more issues with remembering letters.  Sure, some students still had difficulty with the vowels, but the growth is hmmmmmazing!
Where have your students grown this year over past years? 

1000 dollars for cinnamon rolls

At one of our staff meetings this week, we were told that because of budget cuts, our cinnamon rolls for the 10 mornings we have PLC meetings will be cut.  One teacher, whom was not named, cut a check for $1000 after the meeting to be used for the rolls.

You know that you work in a special school when someone is generous enough to do this.  I am sincerely thankful for the donation.  The rolls are a great way to promote excitement in the morning (perhaps the sugar has something to do with it...) and to keep us going all through the day.

However, I have some moral problems with this.  The biggest problem I have is the fact that there are tons of other needs that we have for instruction that we cannot have because of budget cuts.   Other problems include the fact that other schools in low-income areas need basic supplies that families of students cannot provide and $1000 would go a long way for them.  When I try to justify it myself, I think that in only my second year, maybe I still don't value small rewards for myself as much as I should.  Maybe there is much more value in treating myself every once in awhile, so that I may be a calm, collected, creative, impacting teacher.

Regardless of my moral problems, this donation speaks volumes of the school I teach at.  I feel thankful every day that I am able to work among such a generous, caring, and understanding community. 

"You must be the change you wish to see..." in the world language classroom.

So this past week was our first week back at school.  Monday the kids come back.  My rooms (I say rooms because our schedule is like a college's so we all share different rooms throughout the school) are in presentable condition.  I have lesson plans for the first week back, and I'm feeling more relaxed than last year at this time.

The most exciting news of the year is that I was given the go-ahead to use the TPRS method this year!  I approached my department head after our first department meeting and asked.  She was excited that I wanted to try something different.  Wahoo!  After that, I asked about purchasing the novels that we will read each Friday only to find that we definitely don't have enough money in our budget to buy the books.  Problem was solved however because the students are warned that they may have to pay a small fee for a "reader" to be used in the class.  This is only a slight hiccup on the road to what I hope is the best year yet!

I've planned this week to start out with minimal talking at the students and maximum language contact time.  I hope this change in delivery pays off in the end of the week.  Monday all the classes have different assemblies to go to during different periods, so I'll spend most of the time getting to know the students instead of going over the rules.  The following days will be spent circling with the student information sheets and the first ask a story sessions.  Friday is a special day in which students will get their Spanish names and will create their own flag to represent themselves (after researching what different colors represent on flags, etc). 

This should be a great first week.  I'm just trying to calm my nerves because I'm used to having everything planned to a T.  Which seems kind of impossible with the circling with student information sheets, but we'll give it a go!

Graduate School and Class sizes

Recently, I decided to go ahead and apply for a graduate program that starts in the fall.  I'm super excited to be learning again, and I hope to find a mentor that will support my personal and professional growth.  I submitted my application a couple of nights ago, and I'm trying to wait patiently to hear back.  If all goes well, I'll have my M. Ed. in two years with an emphasis in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.  Woo!  Then it's onward to my PhD.  I'm hoping that I'll eventually be able to conduct research on the outcomes of a TPRS/CI curriculum to a traditional curriculum and to have an impact on the profession of teaching a world language.  Here's Profa. P to save the WL teaching world!
In other news, I was catching up on Ben Slavic's blog today and found an interesting post. I was stunned and shocked but not really surprised at all to read that the ACTFL along with the NEA and the ADFL recommend a maximum class size of no more than 15 students.  FIFTEEN!  I have 35 in most of my classes.  Wow.  Now I realize that because of the budget constraints that my state is going through, it is likely that in the near future we won't be able to attain these small classes.  I'm able to rest easy though, because when I was talking with Blaine Ray during a workshop earlier this year, he told me that the TPRS method goes over very well with larger classes because it's more like a show is being put on with an actual audience.  I'll take his word for it as I go into my first year as a TRPS teacher in a non-TPRS district. 
I'm going to be relaxing for the next few days; but when I get back, it'll be time to get down to work for the new year!  Woo!

The next step...

Recently I've been thinking about taking the next step with my own education.  I've played with the idea of getting my masters in Spanish, Educational Technology or Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.   Early on, I threw out the idea of Educational Technology because 1) I can keep up with technology if I make an effort, 2) by the time I graduate with the degree, all my knowledge will be obsolete. 

I narrowed it down to Spanish and CIA.   I'd love to get my masters in Spanish because I had a professor in college that I really enjoyed who taught Spanish majors how to be Spanish teachers.  I've entertained the idea of doing the same myself.  However, I've recently (ie only yesterday it dawned on me...) realized that I LOVE PLANNING!  I really am interested in finding out today's best practices and how to make these even better.  I'd like to be in the classroom for awhile longer, perhaps much longer.   So my indecision here, doesn't help me decide which one is a better choice.

Therefore, I look at the structure of the programs available to me for these masters.  The trouble with these two options are that they are only offered at certain schools.  In order to get my masters in Spanish, I will have to go to UNC for three summers in a row leaving behind my life.  However, I will not have to work on my masters during the school year and I will get to travel abroad.  For my CIA masters, I will have to attend Regis for two full years in a cohort program completing a course every 8 weeks.  For this option, I have to work and go to school; but I will complete my program quicker without having to leave my life. 

I'm currently leaning toward the CIA program.  I feel like it fits my passion for planning and being in the classroom more closely than the Spanish program does.   It also isn't dragging out the process of getting the masters degree either.  I always prefer long-distance endurance to sprints.  

Thus, the last problem: if I am to get my CIA degree in a convenient setting, I'd have to start it August 30.  I'm not sure if it's a good idea during my second year of teaching to take on such a project along with planning my wedding and possibly moving.  But I do enjoy a challenge and being busy.   So I think I might just do it.