"Vacation" and Vacation

I just finished reading Ben's most recent blog post, and I couldn't agree more.  We all need to use our vacations as vacations and quit killing ourselves planning ahead and re-hashing our current situations. 

I have been known to use entire "vacations" to write lessons and plan ahead in order to increase my student's learning.  I am wiser now that I realize that it is unhealthy and quite insane to spend "vacation" time working rather than relaxing. 

So let's celebrate what was good and what we learned from in 2011, and look forward to a happier, healthier and more language friendly 2012. 

Happy holidays!

A visit to a guru...

A couple of weeks ago I had the awesome opportunity to see Ben Slavic in action again.  I had seen him in a couple of workshops at NTPRS 2011, but this was even better than that.  Seeing Ben interacting with his kids was a real treat.  Seeing him made what he writes about in his blog and what he does in workshops really come to life. 
I learned so much from just that afternoon.  I was rejuvenated and it re-instilled my faith in CI (this year has been particularly challenging, hence the lack of posts - if you don't have anything nice to say, don't put it on the internet!).  I was so inspired by the power of the reading class we saw, that I went and attempted to re-create the same lesson in my own class the next day. 
I couldn't have worked out better because we were working on some of the same vocabulary.  We did the Anna Matava story "Don't Drink the Water" and I changed it to "He Shouldn't Drink the Water" to match the structures we were working with via our Realidades curriculum.  My students responded great.  They loved the reading being on the screen, the chance to just read and hear the Spanish then go back and translate.  Reading is really powerful stuff.  I need to focus on incorporating more reading next semester.
I am so thankful that I live in an area where CI is doing great things, where there are teachers embracing the method (even if it is not in my own school), where I can get support from internet acquaintances and complete strangers, where students are the priority.  Thank you Ben and Diana for having me.  It was a powerful afternoon, and just what I needed to see.

Universal Design for Learning

Hi all!  This still isn't the update I want to post (I do appreciate the words of encouragement and support everyone has been giving me this year!), but this provides some insight as to how I have been spending my semester outside my classroom... as a graduate student.  The good news is I'll be done in July.

Anyway, here is a link to a website I created supporting TPRS/CI with the universal design for learning  concept.  If you're not familiar with UDL, that's what the site is supposed to familiarize you with.

I thought it might interest some of you, so here you go!

https://sites.google.com/site/udlbasics/

An explanation for my absence...

I intentionally have not been posting on here since school started this year.  There is, in my opinion, a very good reason.  Unfortunately, I still am unable to voice that reason here.  BUT I feel that the time to tell my readers (anyone out there?) is approaching.  Hopefully sooner than later.  Stay tuned!

Quick update on the first 3 weeks.

There have definitely been some ups and downs with the start of a new school year.  This, of course, is to be expected. 
Re-cap of important events, in no perticular order:

• PLC meeting with tough discussions about the assessments we have created
• SBG fall out
• First year students excitement to hear they will be reading a novel
• Throwing more reading at my third years as per what Ben Slavic recommended
• Third years haven't completely lost their ability to be silly
• My PLC facilitator came in to watch me teach
• Started my second year of graduate school
• Reflected upon my teaching

Just a short update.  Boy, the beginning of a school year goes quickly!

Back in the Saddle

The students came back on Monday this week, and it's been a pretty good start.

Positives:

• First year students overall seem very positives and engaged in the class. 
• Circling with Balls (a la Ben Slavic) is proving to be a powerful way to reach those students who seem to always be on the outside, just as promised.  
• I'm trying class jobs, and so far, so good!  I really like the Greeter idea.  It's a truly wonderful way to welcome students to class.
• My students from last year are excited to see me, and say hello.  I really think this TCI thing really builds up that bond with each student. 
• I have a student assistant! 

Areas that need improvement:

• I will feel better if I change my attitude about my 3rd year classes.  They are so much tougher to teach because most of them don't want to play the TCI game.  I reached out to Ben and his bloggers to see what they recommend, and they have a few good ideas.  I just don't want to feel so beat up (Yes, already!) from giving my all and it not being reciprocated.   I even contemplated going back to textbook and sticking with TCI in year 1, but for some reason that would kill me. 
• SBG is proving to cause me more stress than I had originally thought.  I think it's because I coupled it with shifting to the textbook to TPRS model.  Oh boy, what was I thinking? 
• I will feel more grounded if I look back at the goals I set before I started school.  

So as all teachers know (well at least in my experience), teaching is quite the roller coaster ride.  Ups and downs.  I think it should smooth out in the next couple of weeks.  Just remember "this too, shall pass." 

The TCI Train Isn't Slowing Down.

Today was my first day back at school with all my teacher colleagues.  I was really excited to see everyone again, but I was surprised with the curiosity and eagerness to learn more about TPRS/CI from a few of my colleagues.
I should back up and say that I ruffled some feathers last year doing my own thing with TPRS/CI.  It was not a pleasant experience, but I have come to believe that change doesn't happen without discomfort.  I was inspired by Michele Whaley at NTPRS this year for her session on the Alaskan TPRS Miracle.   I'm not hoping for anything like a miracle or as large-scaled as what she accomplished; but I do hope to be the change I wish to see in the world language classroom, and by doing that, I hope to inspire others to get uncomfortable with me and try TPRS/CI. 
This morning the TCI Train pulled into my school and a few of my colleagues really took notice.  After arriving at work this morning a couple colleagues shared with me the exciting news (well, exciting to me anyways...) that a colleague that left our school for Denver Public was going to be using TPRS/CI as well.  This woman was inspired by the power of the method, and she was able to share that inspiration with a couple of my colleagues without fear of backlash, which was great.  After we talked a little about what our former-colleague said, it was suggested that I do a little presentation on TPRS/CI for the department in order to educate them on the method and maybe share with them some TPRS/CI activities that they can use.  Obviously I was excited.  Nothing is set in stone, but it feels good to come back to positive attitudes and open minds.  One teacher is even entertaining the idea of TPRS/CI this year!
I cannot wait to see what the rest of this year has in store for me!

Processing NTPRS for Success in a New Year

The title makes it sound relatively easy, but as I try to re-read my notes I feel daunted.  I am extremely excited to go into my second year of TPRS and third year of teaching, but I need to focus myself in order to improve my skills for my students.  I feel daunted now because of the copious amounts of knowledge that was shared with me at NTPRS.  It was an invaluable experience because now I know that I am no longer alone.  Last year I clung on to the internet (Laurie's blog, Ben's blog, moreTPRS listserv, etc) in order to feel not alone, but there's something new this year with actually meeting people who are doing this.  I am forever grateful for the TPRS army (credit to mme. Hayles).

My take-aways from NTPRS:

1. SLOW - Thank you Linda Li & Bryce Hedstrom (& Ben Slavic for his recent post on research regarding this)
2. The brain craves novelty - Thank you Carol Gaab & Kristy Placido
1.  Jibjab
2. Stories worth retelling (credit to Bryce Hedstrom)
3. Use news stories and culture stories
4. Use props like my dog uses toys.  Circulate them as the kids loose interest.  Not every story has to have a bunch of props.
3. You don't have to be creative on your feet immediately, write down each sentence of a story on note card with possibilities for each thing (10-15 note cards/story) - Thank you Michelle (not sure of the last name, but she was a French teacher and fantastic coach!)
4. There are other people who are more isolated than me doing this - Thanks roomie Kristin Duncan
5. Organize and Manage the Board - Thank you Carol Gaab & Susan Gross
1. TL and L1 in different colors
2. Don't over-fill the board - have the structures up there and then enrichment vocabulary, not everything needs to be written down
6. Give sts jobs in order to personalize the class - 
1. See Ben Slavic's post (members only)
7. Contrast Grammar in order to fulfill the curriculum - Thank you Susan Gross & Betsy Paskvan! (This was my big break-through in the coaching room too)

My professional goals for August:

1. Check-in with colleagues to see how they are doing (esp. Charlotte, Vicki, Carrie and Laura)
2. Focus on SLOW and personalized input (TPR and Circle with balls)
3. Use Scott Benedict’s textbook to TPRS to help align myself with the curriculum/vocab again and to model to my colleagues that it can be done without abandoning the safety of a textbook.  Focus on having characters DO what the student objectives are for each chapter.
4. Begin using standards-based grading with my sts.
5. Video one class and submit it to Ben.

Lastly, I made slides to print out to help me accomplish my goals in my classroom.  I made them available here.  They're similar to the ones at NTPRS in the coaching rooms. 

NTPRS 2011 Notes

I got back from NTPRS on Friday night.  I was sad to leave the people but oh so happy to be back with my family and dry heat.  As I have told many people, my "cup" (brain!) has been overflowing since Monday with all the good ideas and support my fellow TPRSers offered at the conference.  I have been hoping to get some down time to process it all, but it doesn't look like that will happen for at least another week because the Mr. and I are leaving on our honeymoon tomorrow morning, so I've got my work cut out for me. 

Anyhow, I wanted to share my notes from my google docs.  It's almost all of my notes except for the ones scrawled on the back of my notebook.  Enjoy!

NTPRS 2011 - Tuesday

Well, it has been quite the conference already.  I've just gotten into my pajamas after day two of NTPRS 2011, and I am exhausted, but in a good way.  I am exhausted after being truly inspired, awestruck, humbled, energized, eager, and studious among other things.  These are all great things from my perspective, so let me explain a little more about how I've arrived here today.
Sunday was a day for travel and meeting and mingling.  I got up at a decent time to make the flight from CO to MO.  It went relatively well -- no unexpected problems.  When I arrived in STL, my bag was quickly available and the shuttle was conveniently waiting for me outside the baggage doors, so it was on to the hotel.  At the hotel is where I was met with the first inconvenience -- my room wasn't ready yet.  I had to wait an hour or so, but it was no big deal.  I got checked in once it was ready and then met my roommate after a couple minutes of being in the room.  I don't think I could have arranged a better roommate situation.  After talking for entirely too long, we headed down to the mixer BBQ where we met some really great people and sweated a lot.  We finally headed back up to our room after three hours outside and then chatted for a long time about our experiences. 
On Monday we began in the beginners group, which was to last 1.5 consecutive days.  After meeting Donna Tatum-Johns and Katya, learning a bit of Russian, and listening to an engaging talk by THE Dr. Stephen Krashen, we decided that the beginner track wasn't for us despite that we have only TPRSed for a year.  We went to our first "advanced" workshop with Carol Gaab (AMAZING) then finished the day with Michelle Whaley (INSPIRING!) before going to Dave and Buster's with some wonderful teachers.  We came home and crashed (not without talking passionately for far too long for sleep's sake...). 
Today was another fantastic day.  Another great day to be a TPRSer.  We started with the infamous Susie Gross and Betsy for some Contrastive Grammar, which was amazingly helpful.  Then we moved to Michael Miller and Barb Watson's Personalization workshop, and saw some pretty powerful stuff which made me excited to see my kids again.  We ate lunch at the Classroom Management table and met some great people and even snagged a ticket for tonight's excursion to  downtown STL.  Then we went to Ben Slavic's Beginning of the Year Personalization workshops, which was also very powerful. Then we went to the arch and out to dinner with another group of wonderful TPRSers.  Now we're wrapping things up before going to bed.  I hope to write more about each session, but at least share my notes on Google Docs, so keep checking back... if you're out there. :)

My last thoughts...It's been really refreshing to have a wonderfully inspirational, supportive and positive group to talk with, debate with, and learn from.  The stories that others share inspire me to continue to be the change I wish to see in the World Language classroom.  I am so grateful that I've been able to attend NTPRS 2011.

World Wise School Update

So last summer, in the midst of my dive into TPRS, I found this because of my continued interest in the Peace Corps.  It is a program in which current classroom teachers are matched up with current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) to enhance the classroom experience.  I was excited when we were matched with our PCV because she grew up in the community I teach in.  However last year didn't prove to be the most successful.

Our PCV recently emailed me with some amazing ideas for the coming year, so we have a renewed sense of hope.  It just so happens that I am tinkering with standards-based grading (SBG) this year in order to align myself with the new state and national standards, and these new ideas really hit on the new standards.  We are hoping to facilitate proficiency of the standards through video responses by real Hondurans to my students' questions and through short letters. 

I am totally excited and trying to be as purposeful as possible, even though I was going to take today "off", but now I'm too compelled to stop.  Here's to another year of possibility.  I'm getting excited to get back with my students!

"Must be nice to have the summer off."

It's no lie that most teachers get the summer "off".  But it's delusional to think that all teachers do in the summer is sip on iced tea and go to the pool.  Although I cannot speak for every teacher, this effective teacher tries to take some time for myself and continue to work on school-related things. 
Now I realize I may be preaching to the choir, but I feel slighted when people say "Must be nice to have the summer off." I worked hard for this thank you very much.  Just in the past two weeks in addition to finishing up my last graduate class of this year (much of which involved curriculum mapping/planning), I've spent at least 4 8-hour days working on bettering my craft for the upcoming school year. 
I'm working on aligning my curriculum to the new Colorado Academic Standards and to the new national standards from ACTFL.  I've done this through moving towards a standards-based grading system, which is something that has always interested me (although now that I'm writing this I realize I need to actually do research about its effectiveness).  I have planned out when assessments need to be and begun writing them.  But I need to step up my game on my third year class.  I guess I'm stuck as to how to best facilitate language acquisition with them.  I hope to get this resolved next week.
Next week I will be in St. Louis for the National TPRS conference.  It will be 5 wonderful days of learning, networking and reflection.  I hope to learn a lot and to be able to better facilitate language acquisition.
But now, I'm going to read Pyramid Response to Intervention by Buffum, Mattos and Weber.  This was a book assigned on my summer reading list by my administration.  I'm interested to see what this book has to say, how research-based it is (I look at just about everything with a critical eye), and how I can better serve all of my students.
So to all of the nay-sayers who think teachers have summers off (among other things), I hope you realize that not all of us are parked by the pool sipping iced teas for the entire summer.

New life, new blog.

In my personal life, there has been a big change.  I got married.  Since I am starting a new life, I am transferring my blog to a new location with me.  I've been getting things back to normal after this crazy year this summer.  I am enjoying reading and reflecting right now, but I will update later.  Keep checking back!

Taking care of yourself should be priority #1.

I don't care what anyone else tells you.  This is probably one of the most difficult things for me to learn and to live by.  But I'm trying.  If I do this, I am more relaxed, level headed, a better teacher, a better human, and better able to handle everything that comes at me in and out of the classroom.

I faltered the last two weeks and violated rule #1.  I paid for it. My fiancé paid for it.  My students paid for it.  And I suffered, and so on and so forth.  Well after a particularly difficult Saturday, I found myself determined to "take back my life".  I went to yoga because that's where I go to become a better person.  I went to yoga again today. 

And guess what?  I had some wonderful PQA with two particularly difficult classes and decent other classes.  I actually did successfully provide CI today, which has been something I haven't been able to do in almost two weeks. 

And guess what else?  The tests didn't get graded.  And no one asked about them.  The students know it's the end of the year too (imagine that right?).

So yea.  Make taking yourself rule #1. It's kind of like when you step in your classroom, and you make your students feel safe they'll play the CI game, but if not, you can forget about it.  It's like that.  If you take care of yourself, you'll be able to lead the CI game, but if not, you can forget about it.

It's a tough time of year, but this too shall pass.

"Is there anyone else that teaches like you?"

I have to share one of the best moments in my (short) career.  Not only did I have a great day creating compelling, contextual and comprehensible stories, but my fourth period said something that made me believe in TPRS/CI all over again.  They asked me about what teacher to take for second year Spanish.  I told them that I didn't have a favorite, each one was great in their own way, and each one would teach them a lot.  Before letting up, they asked, "Does anyone teach like you?" Throughout this year, I have explained to them that there are a few ways to teach languages based on the goal in mind.  They know my goal for them is fluency.  They got the answer they weren't hoping for: no.

And guess what?  THEY COMPLAINED!  They said, "But we like this class." Read: we feel successful in here.  We feel valued in here.  We feel confident in here.  One girl, whom I've had the pleasure of teaching Spanish 1 to twice said to me, "So next year is going to be difficult."  But I was sure to let them know that they could come back to me for 3rd year.  And I hope they do.  And I hope they tell their friends about me.  And I hope this TPRS/CI spreads like wildfire.

Oh, and on another note a boy asked about past tense.  Not in a grudgingly way.  Not in a "oh goodness I have to memorize another tense." In a curious sense.  With a sense that he wants to be able to communicate in the language.  It even sparked the thought that maybe I could start the past tense a little bit this year... but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.  I don't want to rock the boat too much.

I am sold.  If fluency is our goal.  This is our method.

A Saturday of Professional Development

Today I spent my day in then annual technology conference put on by my district.  It was thought-provoking, inspiring, overwhelming and exciting.   Each session lasted about an hour and was jam-packed with information that I'm trying to process, but I'm inspired to write about this day so I'll attempt to do both in one sitting.

Getting started:
This was an exceptional presentation by two younger teachers.  It really addressed my overwhelming feeling about taking on more technology.

Collaborative writing:
This presentation was exploding with great uses for google's platform of presentations, documents, groups, sites, etc.

Flipping your classroom:
Karl Fisch always does a great job of provoking thoughts.  Today he picked my mind about what I can do outside of my classroom.

Gone global:
During this presentation the overwhelming feeling and guilt spread over me.  I had signed up for the Peace Corps' World Wide Schools partnership this year, and typically of me, it was too much.  We haven't done much with it because there just isn't enough time.  Perhaps I can combine this idea with Karl's and have it as an outside of the classroom connection.  I do realize that this is an extremely valuable undertaking, but I get anxious just thinking about attempting it.

Innovative Libraries:
I found myself asking, "What does technology literacy mean?" a lot during this presentation.  Thankfully, our CIO answered - It is determining who a source is from, not where it is from in order to identify it's credibility.

I happily left the conference (we got out a half hour early!) with lots to process.

What I have come up with for next year is that:

1) I would like to explore with making my class more tech-friendly.  I'm looking at developing my teacher page into something to use as more of a resource.  If this is not possible, I'll try to look at google sites or a wiki.

2) I hope to increase the amount of time students have with comprehensible input through the use of technology, especially for my third year students (a 3-day/week class).

3) I want to use google docs/presentations more instead of Microsoft products myself and with my students (in order to stop supporting the "commercialism" of public schooling).

What a wonderfully thought-provoking Saturday.  I just wish I actually had the time to sit down and process it all!

Real Progress DOES come from CCCI

I read the proof today!  My district participates in PLCs, thus we have common assessments.  Since I am the only TPRS in my school (and district) I feel pressure when it comes to common assessments because I worry they don't know how to "play" the game. 

Before spring break, our essential learning (per the mandated curriculum) was the perfect tenses.  I was feeling up-tight, under pressure and worn down, so I slipped back into the trap of "hammering grammar" (through CI).  No, it wasn't a good thing.  I stuck to what I had planned, what I had to say, and didn't give the students enough CCCI... in my first and second hour classes.  In my fifth hour, however, I always seemed to be in a more laid-back, student-centered mode and my fifth period blew the assessment away.  We had wonderful, student-centered, compelling, contextualized, comprehensible input... and they learned the perfects much better than my other classes.

As if that weren't enough, this class sometimes struggles more than my other classes because their background knowledge of the language has some gaps.  I was so proud.  It really set me straight. 

I even changed my original lesson plan today because of what I had learned from them.  Instead of using fill in the blank sentences with por and para, we talked about what we will do this weekend, when we are leaving for it, how we will get there, why we are going there, etc.  The students were much more engaged in the conversation than in some sentences on the board.  Much more worth our time.

CI wins again.

Keeping it simple and going SLOW among other things...

This undoubtedly has been the biggest challenge to me in my quest this year.  I feel like I started the year out very simply and went very slow.  However, the more exhausted I've gotten, the sloppier I've gotten.  (Surprised right?)  After a much needed spring break, I feel like my brain is almost a brain again and not some mush in my head, so I've been much more able to reflect on what I'm doing in my classroom.

I'm really trying to keep it about the students in my classroom.  It's tough to do that if you also want to keep it simple and go slow.  That's a lot to remember.  It doesn't sound like much to my non-teaching fiancé, but we know it is.  It's difficult because not only do we need to keep these things in mind, but we also have no idea what the students are going to throw at us in their responses to questions. 

Despite TPRS being a more difficult (and effective) way to teach students to acquire language, I've noticed that if I have enough sense to reflect back on a class period rather than just discount it as a "crash and burn" then I can be proud of the fact that my students with learning disabilities and students who have failed in other classes are thriving in mine.  I can also look back and realize my students are able to decode anything someone throws at them.  It's a beautiful thing to watch my first years, but it's sometimes a challenge to look at my third years through the same lens because they haven't had TPRS ever before so where my first years are thriving, my third years are throwing in the towel.  Interesting...

So anyway, I'm focusing on keeping things simple and going SLOW and one of my classes even called me on it today.  Good for them.  As long as I keep working, they keep winning.

Spring Break 2011 - Reflection

Last night, while going to sleep, I decided to write this post.  This post is for the future me to look back and reflect upon how I felt during this time of year.  My hope, is that next year I may look back at this post and realize that things are going better then than now.  Because with each passing year of teaching, I feel like everything gets better/easier, but at the same time it gets more difficult to continue.

Today marks the end of spring break... that awaited time of year for both students and teachers alike.  I have been looking forward to having this time away from school to rejuvenate for the remainder of the year.  I've been needing to get away from school and rest for awhile, so that I can sustain the practice of CI with my students.  The novelty of TPRS has worn off with me, and the true difficulty of the practice has worn me down.  Instead of focusing on the negatives, I need to refocus on what is important.  My goals for the rest of the school year is:

1) Be optimistic. (It definitely is a choice you must make.)

2) Focus on providing contextual, compelling, comprehensible input SLOWLY.

3) Shelter vocabulary but use grammar freely. (This means keeping story scripts simple.)

4) Use "water wings" as needed; for my sake and the students' sake.

It's so easy to get caught up in life in general: what a difference others are making in peoples' lives, what is happening with others, what our contracts are looking like for next year, how much grad homework I have, how much wedding planning is still left undone, what other TPRS teachers are doing in their classrooms, what other non-TPRS teachers are covering in theirs, what extracurricular activities you should be attending, how important it is to eat well, exercise regularly and get enough sleep, etc. that it can get overwhelming. 

But we need to remember that this too shall pass.  Summer is on it's way, and we cannot speed up or slow down the processes in place in our classrooms.  We can choose to be optimistic, focused and effective facilitators of language acquisition, or we can choose to totally freak and start cramming the grammar into students' heads in light of the overwhelming/out of control feeling that we get with the approaching end of another year.  I will feel best if I choose to be optimistic, focused and effective.  My students will feel best if I choose to be optimistic, focused and effective.  My students will acquire more language if I make the same choice.

Now, take a deep breath because you can do this (and NTPRS will be here before you know it!). 

Straying...

It's been awhile since I've had the time (ie made the priority) to blog.  We've made it through CSAPs and now we're staring spring break in the face: only 3 more days. 

Today, in the midst of my planning madness, I had an epiphany.  Recently, well very honestly since winter break, I've hit a rough patch.  Especially in first year I've been struggling with personalization.  Today we're (trying) to finish an extended reading.  I know most people have trouble making things last with TPRS, but I have trouble making things end.  I think I stray too much from the story, and don't focus on the structures enough.  I know I've been doing a worse job lately, but it takes time to figure out exactly what the problem is and what to do about it.

But I think I finally did it.  I need to focus on 1) Providing CI, 2) Providing Personalization, 3)Choosing structures that are high frequency.  And that's where I get lost. 

I'm using the LICT series with my year 1's and 3's.  Year 1's, I've been mainly using Blaine's stories and his structures, but I haven't been successful with using his high frequency structures with personalization.  I think this is due to me trying to "force" situations in which vocabulary from the curriculum will come up.  

I need to remember: "Shelter vocabulary, not grammar" and also, "TEACH high frequency, COVER the rest." 

Extra Credit

I've long been opposed to giving extra credit.  I've seen it as a frivolous padding to a grade.  In most cases, the students who already are excelling in a class are the only ones who take advantage of the opportunity.  So why give it? 
Well... my view of extra credit has been challenged recently.  In a mentor-mentee meeting earlier this semester (yes, I've been busy, so I'm just getting around to writing about this now), Tony Winger challenged my idea by sharing his view on extra credit.  He said that, to him, extra credit should be another chance for students to learn what is essential.  WOW.  Isn't that something.  Once he said that I can't figure out where I got the idea that extra credit is some waste of time, extra, worthless handout.  The fact is: extra credit should be another chance to learn what is essential or to expand upon it for the proficient students.
This doesn't mean that I am offering it this semester, but it is possible in the future...

I feel a homerun coming...

So in light of taking back my classes after fighting severe over-exhaustion, my first year classes participated in an ask-a-story today.  I made a major switch in how I planned these, and so far so good.  I switched from asking questions on my plan, to stating facts that cannot change (but that didn't work so well - but that's ok).
We started with: quiere impresionar, rompe, le gustaría.  What we've got so far is a very handsome man named Jeffrey who smells really bad, but wants to impress a Betty White.  BW thinks J smells though. :( 

Tomorrow I'm going to have them go places until he breaks a present that contains soap on himself upon which BW thinks he smells good and is impressed by him.
We'll see!

Getting over January...

This semester started out rough to say the least.  I'm not sure what happened, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I started the semester a bit differently than those previously, so maybe that is why.  I don't know if I'll start it out that way again.  Anyway, I'm finally starting to feel the groove again.  Which is a relief. 

Today I came out of a daze and started taking control again.  The beginning of the semester seemed like someone else was teaching my classes for me and I was just in my body watching it happen, which is no way to teach with TPRS/CI.  I have been sick to say the least, BUT I slept for about 36 hours over this weekend and am finally feeling like myself again.  WHEW!

This week is a tough week because 1) today is Valentine's day (so we talked about el día de la amistad so that no one felt left out!), 2) Wednesday is a late start because of PLC work, and 3) we have Friday off... among all of these I have a year 2 mentor meeting after school this week AND my post-observation conference with my AP.  Thus, it's a really good thing to be back (mentally). 

This stretch of being out of it has really made me aware of how important it is to always be on top of what is going on in the classes.  I realized last week that I need to stop during my extended readings to tell students to put pencils down because the pencils had crept into their hands over the past semester and I was getting a lot less eye contact.  Once I did that, things started to really shape up.  This week's challenge - PERSONALIZATION.  I've gotta get that personal touch back.  Here's to working hard!

Formal observations

Although I've been working on my perfectionism A LOT this year, formal observations still get my panties in a bunch.  I worry and fret, and usually get sick over nothing.  I know I'm a _____ (good? decent? second-year? average? outstanding?) teacher, and I should be ok with that.  I know I work my tail off and want the best for my students.  I try to work as a team with my colleagues and be a contributing member to teams  and committees that I'm involved with.  On the outside, I know my job will be ok.  On the inside, I worry. 

Nevertheless... I think this formal observation, while not my shining classroom moment, was a lot more stress-free than the last. It's possible that I'm just getting used to the beat of the formal observation drum.  This is my fourth now... and it helps that I really feel supported by my administrator in the method I'm using this year.  Who knows.

Despite all of the stress that comes with a formal observation, my shining moment today was when a student approached me after class and told me she dreampt in Spanish the other night!  HOLY MOLY!  No way!  I was super proud because I think that means she's getting ample comprehensible input in class (which only meets three days a week for 59 minutes!). Go me!

Hitting a wall...

All of this pertains to my sixth period class, which is why I'm perplexed.  None of my other classes are having this problem.  Since we've gotten back from winter break, the dynamic in my 6th period class has changed a lot.  Before it was a class I looked forward to every day, now I know it will be a challenge.  The students have changed a bit, and I'm not sure why this is happening.

Stories that I use in another class go very well and have good classroom participation (for February...).  I understand that stories may not go well in two different classes, but it's a struggle because I feel like my sixth period hasn't had a truly engaging class since we've returned from break! 

I'm really trying to focus on point and pause right now, because when I feel like things aren't going well, I tend to speed up in hopes of stumbling on something interesting.  When I point and pause, I feel like I get more student engagement, but that the students are still lacking engagement. 

I guess the lack of engagement is due to personalization.  I really try to get my students involved in the story.  I try to have actors, but they never really act.  They stand in the front of the room and distract. I try and use their interests, but it doesn't work.

I feel like there's this negative attitude in my classroom.  It started with one boy, then spread to another, now to a girl that sits between them.   They don't say anything, but I can read their body language. 

Any suggestions?  Is it me or is it the time of year?

Sunday, Fun day

Sundays usually come with some anxiety for me.  The past couple have been exceptionally bad.  I get anxious because I'm worried/doubtful that I've got the very best story/lesson possible for Monday's classes.  Once first and second period on Monday have passed, I'm usually much better.  And by the end of the day, I'm confident that I can make it the rest of the week.  Why is Sunday so stressful? 
This Sunday's remedy came when I finally crafted a story for my third years with the following structures: no digas (don't say/tell), no pongas (don't put), no te pierdas (don't get lost).  It's difficult to come up with a story with all three.  It was probably pretty silly of me to pick these three commands, but alas I have a story.  It involves Bill Gates eating love pills (from another story) and talking with a few of his friends and his mother about his overpowering love of Lady Gaga.  He gets better when Steve Jobs gives him a shot of hate.  There's a lot of dialogue because we're focusing on commands, so I'm banking on the fact that my students will help me out.  I hope they will.  January always makes for a tough crowd. Happy Sunday!

How to create interesting stories with time-limited classes????

Lately, I've realized that I continue to make the same mistake with my third year students - I teach too high for most of them.  Since my students only meet for an hour at a time for only three days a week, they don't have the same level of background/acquisition as other third year students.  This makes it difficult because they haven't acquired as much, but the curriculum we follow seems to disregard the lack of time/acquisition that my students have had. 
I'm struggling with creating interesting, grammar-focused, vocabulary limited stories for them.  But then again, maybe I'm not letting them play the game - I need to personalize more.

Sheltering vocabulary not grammar...

This seems to be a recurring theme for me: the struggle between covering it all and getting my students to acquire the language.  I realized that during my struggle to get myself back on track this semester, I assigned a vocabulary relevant story, but a grammatically irrelevant story (since we have a common assessment coming up).  We're currently reading the story ourselves.  So now I'm stuck in a situation where I have to navigate this mistake.  I need to get my students back to focusing on commands.  Does this mean I totally drop the story to the wayside or is there some other way to get them back on track.  The story follows a similar story line as one from Blaine Ray's LICT muchísimo book - Girl sells love pills, girl accidentally takes love pills, girl immediately falls in love with herself and never leaves the bathroom.  That's where I get into a bind - there aren't any other characters in my story, so it's pretty difficult to incorporate some sort of commands.  Any ideas out there?

TEACH high frequency, COVER the rest.

I love this quote from Blaine Ray - "TEACH high frequency, COVER the rest."  It is such a great piece of advice.  I've been stressing over all the vocabulary that I need to "teach" this semester as it seems like third year Spanish has waaaaay more grammar than is viable.  But as long as I stick to teaching the high frequency stuff, I can "cover" the rest through being random vocabulary in stories and on their vocabulary lists.  *sigh* It was just the piece of advice I was looking for today.  Sometimes I just need someone to remind me what TPRS is all about.

Bouncing back

Today during first period something amazing happened.  I tried teaching commands through the hokey pokey.  I was too scared to attempt this last year as it didn't fit my personality that I had built up between myself and my students.  I remembered that if I am enthusiastic and don't care about looking stupid, neither do the kids (as much).  So as we started the song I got the goofy "I'm so excited" look on my face, clapped and rubbed my hands together... and the fun started.  We sang and danced, had a great time, and most importantly, we learned a few commands quickly and painlessly. 

Throughout the day I did the song two more times.  My fifth period was the best, I suspect because I had taken a risk.  I had stepped outside the box.  My kids appreciated doing something goofy and different (because I'm not that creative and amazing yet with the CI/TPRS skills as I'd like to be). 

Sixth period finally felt like sixth period.  No, my sixth period ROCKS.  They are a great class. The reason it finally felt like sixth period is because things started to click today.  I think I started going slow enough, pausing, personalizing and translating enough.  During my sixth period today, I think my class exhaled because they finally had their teacher back, and I relaxed because I was finally back.  I haven't felt much like myself since the beginning of this semester, but boy... It is GOOD to be back. :)  I'm even kinda bummed that tomorrow is a test day!

You're just what I needed...

We had a wonderful 3 day weekend this past weekend.  It was just what I needed after making the realization that I was/am burnt out.  I've made some big shifts and so far life is much better.  Today felt like I was even closer to being back on track with my classes than I have yet this semester.  The main ingredient to success (especially in a high school classroom): enthusiasm.
Since I've started putting myself first, I have more enthusiasm and energy to use in the classroom. It's been a welcome shift.  I've moved away from using my lazer pointer to moving around the room.  I think this increases my students' learning two fold.  They watch me as I move, so I know who's paying attention; and I slow down, so they have time to process.  Things are coming together.  I just need to become more focused on teaching to the eyes.
On another note, I'm hoping that this class I'm taking currently will pay off.  I'm using the ADDIE instructional design template to design a "unit" (I guess?) around teaching my third years affirmative and negative commands through reading and storytelling.  I'm hoping it'll be useful.  If not, I've already made a few connections with my instructional coach at school which reaped a lot of benefits with interesting graphic organizers (which I can use in third year as reading checks/evaluations) and valuable discussions with her about the intended use of common assessments in our PLC work.
This week will go by quickly, but I feel like once I hit my stride with my first extended reading in each class, that's when I start to get comfortable again.  I wonder why?  Is it because I've gone through all the "steps" or is it because when we do the readings I feel like I have more of a crutch?  Either way, I feel like my strength is incorporating reading.  Which works out wonderfully since that's how we acquire language! :)  What is your strength?  How is this semester panning out for you? 

No one will take better care of you, than yourself.

Today is day two of my journey to understand perfectionism in order to not allow it to control my life.  Last night, I read a couple of articles, courtesy of my fiance, (here and here) on burnout.  I was pretty sure before reading that I was burnt out.  After reading the articles, I was absolutely sure and disappointed that some how I had gotten to that point.

A couple of messages rang loud and clear, but the most prominent was the fact that if you don't take care of yourself, no one will.  I'm still unsure if it the expectations I try to achieve are actually put on me by superiors or if they are imagined by myself.  Either way, I understand how important it is now to make myself a HUGE priority. 

Another message that rang clear was that people who are on their way to burnout minimalize their friend circle.  They often cut themselves off from the world.  That is exactly what I had done during the first semester.  It's easy to say "Not right now", but the fact is that we need friends and family as a support system.  We cannot do it on our own. 

After realizing these things last night, after my too long of a blog post :), I resolved to make this my mission for 2011.  I need to get my life balanced, and maintain that balance.  So I only did a 1/2 hour of work, then I knitted, drank some sleepytime tea and relaxed.  And guess what, today I was a MUCH BETTER teacher.

Re: The Great Enemy of Teachers...and Students

Perfectionism has been on my mind a lot this year, and really my whole life in general.  The topic has come up recently on TPRSlistserv and on Laurie Clarq's blog.  Seeing this topic discussed on these public spots has helped me gain valuable insight into others' experiences with and views on perfectionism.

I've known since at least high school that I was/am a perfectionist.  I remember writing my autobiography in 9th grade English class and talking about it in there.  My view, however, of perfectionism has really changed this past few years... slowly.  During high school I thought that my perfectionism was a real strength.  It helped me channel my fears, mishaps, and otherwise negative experiences into positive ones.  During my senior year, I remember having an anxiety attack during the spring because I had too much on my plate (president of NHS and soccer team member among other things).  After that, I vowed to not to do too much again. 

And I did a good job, during undergraduate.  I made sure to limit my responsibilities (but to any sane person I'm sure I still did too much) and take time for myself.  It was a good time.  Some how that slipped away the closer I got to graduation.  Possibly because of the pressure (or perceived pressure) of meeting my full potential as a person. During my internship, the idea of teacher burnout became very real.  I took the following year off from teaching because of it.  The burnout was real, but I didn't know how to slow myself down. 

With the beginning of my teaching career, I was a permanent substitute.  I worked very hard to balance my work and my life.  I worked hard with my first full time teaching position at a very well known high school in Colorado to impress my co-workers, administrators, students and parents (sadly probably in that order too).  Although my fiance tells me that he thought I did a better job during that first year than during the previous experiences, I worry that I might just be better at hiding it; or maybe I'm just getting worse at dealing with it.  The bottom line is that I don't want this self-inflicted crazy, whirl-wind, judgmental, chaotic, stressful and pressured way of life any more.

It's a big challenge to step back from my life and really evaluate it from a different perspective.  Many times I have epiphanies, which seem huge to me, but they're things that my fiance has noticed (and been telling me about) for months/years/etc.  It's going to be a long journey back from this insanity of unrealistic expectations, but I know that just like TPRS, the journey will be well worth it for myself, my relationships with others and for my career.  Here we go...

An epiphany about being overwhelmed...

The beginning of a new semester seems to bring a certain amount of overwhelming emotion: anxiety, excitement, fear, worry, tiredness, etc.  Now that our first week back is over, I'm feeling much more confident and relaxed. 

We started out just doing PQA, to get students interested and to review. After all, PQA is the best and easiest thing ever.  The students are interested because we're talking about them all the time, but just using different structures.  It's easy to review and introduce using PQA. 

I was really starting to feel overwhelmed though as I was looking at my vocab lists from last year.  Since this is my first year with TPRS, I started paring down my lists into the 2000 most frequent words in the language.  It's really difficult to do because of the fear of my colleagues thinking poorly of me for teaching fewer words.  It's overwhelming to look at a list of 500 words and think "I have to teach all of these". 

But while driving home, I realized that during last semester, and even at the end I felt wonderful for doing this thing.  I know my students knew the "vocab" better than they ever had, and that they had tasted true success in Spanish. I know that it works better for me to teach fewer things, way more in depth than a ton of things not at all.

Beginning of a New Semester... going slow and finding balance.

Today was the first day with my third years, and yesterday was the first day with my first years. I started it out a la Ben Slavic with "Circling with balls" but I circled with cards. I still spent small amounts of time explaining procedures/rules but it was way less than I had in the past.  I think that my students enjoyed it over all.  I remember that the TPRS community mentions that the first 3 days of class are crucial because students decide whether or not they can "do it" in this time frame.  I hope I capture my students again.  They say they understand between 80-100% which is great.  I just continue to try and go slow, and try and bring in the students' interests. 

On another note, I've been feeling exhausted, so it's been tough to start the semester out with a lot of enthusiasm.  I wish I could do more, but I'll try and get a good nights' sleep tonight.  That has been tough because I've been stressing a lot about the start of my grad class again next Thursday.  It'll all end up fine. I'm going to take Michelle Whaley's advice and be aware of the over-achiever gene kicking in.  I'm definitely still striving to find balance between myself, work, school, and life.  On a positive, Gus says that it gets better with every semester; and that's saying something since I started my masters last semester!