Reminding myself the power of CI

The end of February marks a different time of year for myself and my students.  By this time, the traditional TPRS and overall "enchantment" of school has worn off. The kids are burnt out.  I am burnt out.  It is tough to continue our pace and enthusiasm.  Thus, this time of year I find myself needing some reminding of the power of CI.
In my graduate class (LAST ONE!!!!) I have to facilitate a session to teach other teachers how to do what I do tonight.  While looking for some videos of student retells (which, bummer, I couldn't find), I stumbled upon Carol Gabb teaching ESL to her baseball guys.  I was instantly reminded of the power of what we do, and the possibilities to create real and lasting change in peoples' lives with CI and languages. 
If you're needing a reminder of the possibilities and power of what we do, check it out.  And, thanks Carol,   you've really inspired me!

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/

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!

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.

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." 

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!

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?

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.