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!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
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?
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?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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?
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?
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?
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?
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