Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Colors and numbers through literature

Thank you for entertaining my “feelings” post. I had so many teachers talk with me about transitions and it touches us all so deeply, I needed to share.

This post is much more school oriented. Primary goals being first few weeks of school, Spanish language teaching, and getting in the groove.

Holy crap, school starts and what to do!?


No matter how much experience a teacher has, the beginning of the year is stressful. What to teach?! What initiatives are we doing?! How do I learn ALL the names?!

Here is my process, followed by what I am actually doing (or as much that is planned).

Step Zero: Panic into prep

This step is generic. See the BTS ads, hoard and hide all the school supplies I buy from the hubby,
scour Pinterest and other wonderful bloggers seeing if I change it up or not. I start sneaking into my classroom and bring my janitors and office ladies treats. (Always love these people. In Iowa, love=food).

This year I also tried something a bit different. Every year wonderful people ask me, “What do you need for your classroom?” I never had a good answer and then I ended up with hundreds of glue sticks and missing key items like markers and highlighters. This year I made a wish list on Amazon. When you change the settings to public, you can share the link. I have been slowly adding my “needs” to this list. Some are nice to have. Some are true needs. You can also set the “importance” level from low, medium, high, and highest. This helps me keep track of things I still want in my room. People can purchase items and they shipped to my house. The generosity has been inspiring.

Then the serious steps come into play.

Step One: Goal setting

I believe this is when elementary teachers pick a theme and Pinterest the heck out of it. This is where I set goals and try to tie them together with a theme. It helps my very Type A brain plan.

I set several types of goals. Normally I have a “language-use” goal for each of my “levels” or preps. I also tend to have a big idea these all fit into. If you have a goal, then it is easy to machete your own path to get there. When you are really lucky, you will find parts of your path already cleared by other language teachers, different curricular teachers in your building, and sometimes by students.

There is major caveat I want to highlight about goal setting: Great goals are responsive to the needs of your students; the goals should modify based on the needs of your classes, building focus, and your well-being  and mental health. You can’t swing a machete if you’re too tired to pick it up.

My 2018-2019 School year goals

*This post is specific to my middle school but this is the process I followed in my high school days.*

I am teaching at an IB middle school in Des Moines Public Schools, grades 6, 7, and 8. I have a great administrator who is supportive of my CI path to acquisition. I am also lucky to have enough students that I have separate heritage classes (more on this later). I also recently finished my ELL endorsement. My class sizes are between 36-42. I also gain about 2 grey hairs a weeks.

I have not finalized my goals and will do a more formalized post later, but here is my generic path in my IB setting (I will also post about how my IB school is offering Spanish):

Big Goal (general direction): Learning through literature- everything will have a children’s story we read together in class. My high school kids LOVED being read to. This is NOT just a middle school thing. I actually find it harder to convince middle schoolers to realize I’m cool.

Phase 1 (novice-low): My students will be able to follow simple conversations, provide quick answers on familiar topics, and be eager to engage in Spanish language. Children’s stories- Eric Carle books- art, color, repetition to increase language acquisition

Phase 1 (novice-mid): My students will follow simple Spanish conversations, offer information on familiar topics, and ask questions in L1 to further the classroom study. Children’s stories- Eric Carle books- focusing on word order, adding details, and rhythmic reading

Phase 2 (novice- high): My students will initiate Spanish interactions, they will ask in L1 clarifying questions for deeper understanding, they will explore phrases and understand how language changes impact meaning. Children’s stories- Lil’ Libros series- simple words, major cultural components, detailed pictures for discussion.

Heritage (Spanish language acquisition): Students will develop a confidence of language skills while exploring various cultures.

Step Two: Planning the first days

There are lots of philosophies about “how to” do the first days of school. I 100% believe that fun, structure, routines, expectations, and community building CAN and should be done in the TL (Target Language) at least 50% on the first few days and increase daily. My classes should run nearly the same on day one as day twenty as day 100.

My students should want to stay in the TL because it is “more fun” than me doing English. English is for boring directions, redirecting behavior, and anything not fun. Spanish is a good-times language where the crazy white lady acts like a charades olympian.

I try not to smile, move around much, or make sound effects when I am speaking English. I laugh, smile, and use positive proximity while I speak Spanish. Students naturally catch-on that in our class we prefer Spanish so Profe doesn’t get mad and crabby.

I also think the first days have to tie in to your goals. Making it clear this is the goal we are working on and they are already SOOOOOOOOO amazing for doing so much on the first day. Wow, those classes are blowing your mind and your kids feel loved, capable, and confident. Who needs to review a syllabus on the first day if you are long-term goal setting on day one!? Amazing.

My 2018-2019 First days plan

 
I am starting all levels of my classes with the same book. Every level has different expectations for interacting with the book, but they all have a common language. Bonus if I have very advanced or low students in a class, I have varied level of difficulty assignments to meet student where they are to foster confidence in the language!

This year I will be using Oso pardo por Eric Carle (Brown Bear, Brown Bear). My interactions will be focused on “traditional” colors, numbers, and questions at the beginning of the year. Students might know them already, they might not. Some may have experienced this book, some have not. Either way, this book offers high repetition, really drives home noun/adjective placement, and uses questions on every page.

I will use Martina Bex’s randomized seating chart cards as students enter. We will do a fairly archaic version of Simon Says, and then we will read. I will read the book to them using the ELMO to project the book on the board and their papers as a follow along (I put them on the desks prior to students entering).

Phase 1 (novice low) will work on identifying the animal vocabulary and the color vocabulary. They will have a PPT 6 slide printout of the book to help.

Phase 1 (novice mid) will work on answering the questions. They may do a rewrite changing the colors of the animals.

Phase 2 (novice high) will work on partner rereads or a mixer activity depending on the class mixture.

Heritage will work on rewriting the book with animals from their home/family countries. The door will be open to allow fictional characters as well because we ill be getting into a myths and legends unit.

I will post my last year’s STEM inspired team building activity. I did a crazy short story in Spanish and they had to Save Sam before class ended. I will likely also do something like this on day one and two based on the reading. The reading won’t take too long and if I really play it up, kids will buy-in. I’m not worried about it being too childish, they are children.  

That was the big reveal?!


Well, yeah. That’s all I have so far and that’s okay because it’s summer and all of this work I am doing is volunteer hours.

The big idea is that we all wonder “what to do” at the beginning of the year and many of us teach the essential numbers and colors at the beginning of the year. This is my nod to teaching colors and numbers and doing it within the context of literature (loosely defined).

I believe that if my students hear the colors, and see the colors, in context and in the right order, it will improve their writing and accuracy.

I believe that day one “sets the stage” for the desire to learn and acknowledging how wonderful they already are at language learning. If I believe my kids are awesome, they will be awesome (because they are).

3 comments:

  1. I love to read about how other teacher prepare. No matter the level or subject, I always take away something that I can incorporate in my own.

    Have an AWESOME school year!

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  2. I agree. There is nothing better than reading about what others are doing! I also wish you the best of years and let me know if you find some amazing ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I found the article genuinely notable and worthwhile. The way you decipher your thoughts into such an admirable post is merely appreciated. Continue with this tremendous work. Keep blogging.
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