I'm in the middle of (or should currently be) conducting a literature review for my last (official!) grad course. I decided to add on to my current lit review on SLA in the secondary classroom. Initially I examined the research on best practices in promoting SLA. Guess what I found? TPRS/CI is the way to go. Duh! :)
But this time I wanted to see how student motivation played a factor in the classroom. I believe that students who do not succeed in others' classrooms, sometimes succeed in mine (and vice versa) due to motivation-related factors.
Why did I write this blog post? Well I wanted to share two things that I am finding:
1) Anxiety and motivation are very closely related. As anxiety increases in students, motivation decreases along with achievement.
2) Much of the research on the topic of motivation (and subsequently anxiety) in the SLA process is coming from Asia because of reforms in language teaching mandated by the government. Specifically, Japan has initiated several major reforms at the high school level which aims to replace the grammar-translation approach to teaching. Go Japan!
Japan's progress makes me salivate; and the correlation between anxiety, motivation and achievement seems so obvious, but if it were so obvious to others (eh hum, administrators?) then the research wouldn't be needed.
Showing posts with label Professional Development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Professional Development. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
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/
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/
Monday, July 25, 2011
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!
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!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
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!
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!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
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!
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!
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