Story asking 101: getting student "buy in" from day 1

Before I knew that CI/TPRS was a thing, I tried to teach my class in a similar way. I saw through my own small children at home that direct correction hardly ever changed my son's usage of "runded", no matter how badly I wanted him to use "ran". My kids would stay with me for an entire Walmart or Target trip if we made-up stories about the things we saw in the store. They would talk to me if I added sound effects to their stories. *Bing*, "Maybe I should teach Spanish this way. It's a whole lot more fun and my son's speech is improving by leaps and bounds."

That said, I had a HUGE amount of learning to do (and still do!) to really help my students. Trying to get random stories to flow in a way that promoted grammar intuition, that met my district's vocabulary standards was really hard. Thank you IWLA for having a conference to make my world complete.

Story Asking

In TPRS, we often "tell" stories, out loud, to our language students. We find tons of cognates, slowly introduce new vocabulary (that is clearly defined by writing on the whiteboard), and repeat ourselves until we are blue in the face. This can be very difficult to do on a whim and it can be difficult to "stay the course" and not let our enthusiasm take us astray.

Instead of truly telling a story, we actually make statements (There was a girl). Then we ask our students to confirm, deny/change, or add to the story.There lots of great resources, including the Green Bible, that explains this in detail.

My Struggle

I knew this wasn't going to go as well as I wanted the first few times. I didn't know how to circle "correctly" and I wasn't sure I was going to remember to hit the key grammar points like I needed to.

Spanish 1 was easy, describe a person, short interactions, problem, resolution. They had limited vocab so it was easier to manage.

Then I bought the "Look, I can talk" series from Blaine Ray and realized that scripting wasn't really for me. I LOVED the student workbook for reading and organizing my focus for the day.

What I did about it

I told my students what I was doing

I teach high school now, so my kids are old enough to have a good conversation. I told them about my textbook Spanish class in high school. They looked at me in horror. I told them:

"So here is my idea. I think it would be fun to make-up stories in class. I will be the crazy charades lady, and you will participate... and be patient. We are all new at this and I think it is going to be a ton of fun, but I am learning too. So if you promise to give it your all, to listen to me repeat myself a bajillion times, I promise not to give you grammar worksheets. If you stay focused, roll with me when I need to regroup, I promise not to give you a textbook. Deal?"  (They all agreed enthusiastically every time.)

I told my principal what I was doing

I told my principal that I was trying something new and would like a few days to practice it. He asked if I wanted him to stay out of my room. I almost said yes, I'm glad I didn't. I gave him a "this has research, this is best for my kids- promise, and I need you to come in and tally mark my questions, please". So he did. It was great. He saw me learning, he saw students learning, and the most important part: he saw a community of learners supporting in each other in a committed and focused manner.

 I found a flow that worked for me

I do not follow the "script" 100% and I deviate a little from the "core principals" on occasion, but it works for me. I am happy, my students are happy, and it flows. I would rather be a bit off-center and still be on the path than on the path filled with pain, self-doubt, and crabbiness.

Especially in my upper levels, I circle a lot less. They really want the story line to move along and see the character development. I still ask for them to change the story around, but not as repetitive. **I do some direct grammar instruction with my levels 3 and 4 (dual credit) so they develop not only an "intuition" but also a deeper knowledge of the "why".

How story asking looks now

It is my second full year into TPRS (with knowing it exists). I had my first day of classes today with my B day students. I have a large Spanish 2 class (for our school size) and was worried with going semi-deskless and full into flex seating that it would crash and burn. It was great.

I did my required syllabus stuff and then said, "Let's do a story". They cheered and adjusted to look front and center. I front loaded the vocab, gave a note sheet (this class is odd in that they want to write everything down, it works for them and I'm glad they know themselves well enough to communicate that), and then paused to review expectations.

Me: "Clase, what are my expectations of you during this story?"
Collective group: "Focus, no English, answers- the weirder the better!"
Me: "Prefecto mis estudiantes inteligentes. Una mas cosita. You need to tell me to slow down if you are sinking. Be clear about it (giving samples of hand signals) so I know you are confused and not simply gassy."
Collective group: *Giggles* "Deal."
Me: "Clase. I am trying a new story today so I have my paper out. You may need to remind me where we are at in the story at any moment. Clase, listos?"
Collective group: "Si, estamos listos."

It doesn't get better than a male-dominated class, filled with "too cool" football players, getting excited for story time. Not just excited, but active.

When it bombs

What happens when a story flops. You get nothing from the kids, you feel it not going well, you get a quiz back showing no growth, what then?

I try to stop when the class disengages. There are three options that work: when the kids are tired, there is either 1) pause for continuation next class, 2) the story quickly ends, normally very tragically, or 3) I stop and ask the kids.

Sometimes you just feel that today really isn't the day for story telling, for whatever reason. Listen to your gut and flat out ask why they aren't into it (kindly and inquisitive, never attacking). Sometimes you learn the home game ran real late and they are tired, and sometimes you learn you accidentally skipped ahead in your lessons and they are lost.

Ask, reflect, plan better next time. Use a back-up activity or lesson plan to fill your time with valuable input.

Major Take-Away

Be authentic with your class. Communicate with them the way you want them to communicate with you. It builds community, an understanding of the learning process, highlights that they aren't the only learners in the room, and you will be amazed how empathetic and kind they can be!

Bob and Fred died while in my CI/TPRS classroom

If your CI/TPRS class is like mine, students seems to always want to name our characters/monsters "Bob" or "Fred". My Spanish 1's (first exposure to Spanish, period) just seem to get stuck. I don't want to discourage them from providing answers, but sometimes we need to mix it up. My solution: accept if for a month, then kill Bob and/or Fred. Slightly morbid but all in good fun... and to maintain my sanity. PS- it also plays beautifully into a lesson plan the kids won't forget.

Encouraging creativity without squashing participation

This is a key concept if you have "routine" characters that keep making appearances in your class stories. During the last couple of years, I have noticed that Spanish 1 students try to stay within a very routine and predictable story telling pattern. I believe this is due to their middle school English composition classes; not sure if this is it, but it makes sense to me. For the first month or two I let this continue without much pushing for several reasons:

• If I know what they are going to add to the story, and I want something a little different, I either 1) tell them something different or 2) ask a dichotomous question with "strange" answers
• They are yelling out what is comfortable because it helps move the story along= evidence of comprehension and engagement
• They are still young and in the mindset of a "right answer" instead of exploration and risk-taking behavior
• They are new and have limited exposure to Spanish culture and norms, they really may be at a loss to throw out "abnormal" names (compared to classmate's names, etc.)

Example (in English)
 After asking about and circling day of the week and location:

"Class, it is Tuesday in the cafeteria at High School Name Here. AND, there is a boy."
class response: oooOOOoooh
"Class, is the boy's name Oscar or Antonio Banderas?"
class response: Antonio Banderas!
"Yes! Of course! It is obvious that Antonio Banderas is in our cafeteria on Tuesdays."

Then I circle what Antonio Banderas looks like (with a handy pre-printed picture of Antonio Banderas... because everyone should have a picture of Antonio Banderas in their desks and planners and cars, and family tree). Then we continue on with why he is there. Again, trying to direct the story and hit key structures:

"Antonio is in the cafeteria at High School on Tuesday because he is hungry or because he has blue shoes?"
class response: He has blue shoes!
"Oh no, Class! Because he is hungry. Antonio is in the cafeteria on Tuesdays in High School because he is hungry." *Start circling "is hungry".

Bob and/or Fred show up unwanted... and stay too long

Sometimes when I plan the story to go as mentioned above, and I have a fast processor and/or a very linguistically gifted student, I will say "The boy is Antonio." Then, out of no where it happens: the unsolicited blurt of perfect Spanish from a student that is super-invested in the story.

"Oh no, Profe! Es obvio. Se llama Bob!" (Oh no, teacher. It's obvious. His name is Bob.)

How do you squash that!?!? I don't, I let it ride, I often high-five the kid to reward the risk taking behavior in order to show other students this is not only okay, but expected.

Bob and Fred show up everywhere, if not a main character, it's a pet. If not a pet, a street name... and so on. Also, it isn't just one of your Spanish 1 classes... it's in all of them. Sigh.

It's time for Bob to leave and never return.

I lost it last year. I couldn't take it any more. Every. Single. Class. had Bob in their stories, in their drawings... it was a "thing". So, I plotted the death of Bob. Then successfully carried it out in public without anyone protesting. Here is how I got away with murder (and made students learn at the same time).

Hint for success: Get a stuffed animal (ours was a pig last year) and use that stuffed animal to represent "Bob" every time he shows-up in story asking, story telling, movie talks, etc. Students should see that stuffed animal just laying around and make a comment like, "There's Bob" when they see it. "Bob" becomes real.

Materials Needed

I labeled left and right on the scene so kids weren't trying to figure out
"his left or my left?" Also, yes, that is a fake knife in the back of Bob.

• Dollar store magnifying glasses
• Pre-organized note sheet to keep students focused (I will try to remember to post what my kids use... If October shows up and it's not up, someone tell me!)
• Space in the classroom to "tape off"
• Caution tape or you can use masking tape on the floor
• A sheet or tarp
• An assortment of classroom objects
• Plastic knife
• Red construction paper (as fake blood)
• "Bob" 

Most people have seen Pinterest-worthy classroom crime scene pictures. This is what my lesson was the week before Halloween. Not only did this help Spanish 1 get over using "Bob" in class, but I recycled it between all 4 levels of students.

Spanish 1 used the crime scene to work on 1) identifying vocabulary, 2) using "is" and prepositions to describe the scene, 3) descriptions of objects and the victim (Bob), and 4) investigative skills to look for clues, I give my students magnifying classes to really sell the set-up. They need to focus on reporting the facts. They work in detective pairs to fill out the "crime report" with as many facts and descriptors as possible.

Spanish 2 used the crime scene and Spanish 1 notes to evaluate the scene. Then they focused on working on 1) logically sequencing events and 2) describing the who the victim was, my advanced kids will write Bob's obituary and then plan a funeral service.

Spanish 3 used all of the above information to draw a reasonable conclusion on their top three suspects. They are using interviewing skills, synthesis skills, logic and reasoning. This is more of a student-generated story at this point. I am really looking at their habitual grammar errors to know what to focus on moving forward.

Spanish 4 draws the conclusion of who the murder was and they review all materials. Then they write how they would have committed the murder to get away with it based on the scene. A little dark but it is great to see their usage of the conditional, subjunctive, and the past progressive during this activity.

Services for Bob

Normally the students leave it alone and move on, without Bob. Sometimes they reflect back and see exactly was I was doing and refer to the first quarter of the school as the WB (With Bob) time and then second quarter as PB (Post Bob) time.

Occasionally one student tries to resurrect Bob and I remind them that Bob is dead.

Two or three years ago the students insisted we have a memorial service and burial for Bob. Bob's casket was a shoe box, we buried him in my cupboard, and all the students shared their favorite thing about Bob or something they liked about him. (using "gustar" and "favorit@" at this point).

Take aways

Help students get out of a rut and teach them to think outside the box. Some kids don't even know they are in a box. Show them the path, bury the past, and lead them to a great adventure of exploring language and new things. Help students be risk-takers.



Sam

My CI Classroom- what it looks like

I have started several posts about the amazing #CIIA16 conference and haven’t been able to do it justice. So here is my start.

I was listening to, and had, several conversations about what various CI classrooms looked like; the physical space. Some teachers travel, many had their own rooms, most “have to” contend with rooms filled with desks and seem disappointed. Here I am going to address what I have been through and what I am doing now (with pictures!).

Big Classes

When I taught in several large districts, large classes were the norm (I once had 32 students enrolled in one class and 28 desks, turns out to be less of a problem considering the truancy rate). In these classes I always started and ended class with desks in a line (typically a grid) just to keep the peace. My behaviorally challenging classes that needed separated from each other  never knew their seating was different from the other classes (I originally had a hard time believing high schoolers needed to be separated, turns out it was true).

Once a report was established I changed my lines to face each other and that was successful (desks stacked 3 deep on each side, in lines that ran perpendicular to the board). I moved desks almost every class period to accommodate my plans and the class’s needs. Still, every student has his/her own desk. This provided them with a defined space to call their own and offered me a sense of organization in small rooms with no windows and wall to wall desks.  

Trick: I had students transition desk arrangements when they started to get restless, changed activities, or they were getting sleepy. This let them think we were “wasting” class time by moving desks and it give me the ability to regain focus of a large class while getting their blood moving.

In these classes my CI strategies were often “turn to a partner”, in “barrios” or teams, acting in their seats, and lots of drawing/story boards. The activities that worked best with large classes were ladder stories, blind draw, madlibs, and stations. Sometimes I would do actual story telling, reading a children's book that was big and well-illustrated. It amazes me to this day how mesmerized they are by this, even if they don't understand the story very well. They look like giant kindergartners sitting in a semi-circle, half on the floor and half in desks (also keep in mind that several of your students may have never had this experience growing up, offer it now).

Required 1:1 Desks

I have worked for administrators that make me keep all the desks in my room regardless of class size.  While this may seem to clutter the room, take up valuable acting space, and be monotonous for students, you still have options.

I have stacked desks against a wall to open up floor space, formed collaborative tables (with desks of the same height, somethings I can’t handle), brought in my screwdrivers to lower desk legs to create floor tables and raised them to make standing desks. Trick: Get your students into a routine of “putting the room in order” before they leave and do what you need with the furniture during each class.

Before You Make Drastic Changes

Remember that desks serve a great purpose; testing. This can apply to any paper tests you give but also state and district required tests. You need to keep enough desks to accommodate whatever your school’s testing looks like.

Ask your students. I did. Out of 162 students, 15 said they like having the desks and chairs. I also had a varied response of students who would prefer to stand, sit on floor pillows, and have room to sprawl and take notes. (I asked: When you study and are productive, what are you doing, where are you sitting, and how are you learning? PS- being comfy and falling asleep is NOT learning.)

Introverted, shy/new, and students with sensory processing disorders or behavior plans may need a desk and chair to succeed in your class. By offering a few to all your classes, you won’t isolate students or single them out.

My Classroom Flex Seating

This is new this year. I was given an opportunity to make changes while our building is transitioning leadership. This sounds sneaky but is not intended to be; I am really just comfortable about knowing myself and the needs of my students and am ready to change the classroom environment. 

If I can give advice to brand new teachers: keep desks your first year. This will help you with classroom management and establishing relationships and expectations with your new crop of students. I have worked in a variety of schools and none of them have the desks and chairs have been bolted to the floor. Move the furniture and make room as needed for reenactments, reading-time spaces, and project work.

This year I intended to open my classroom up for more creative spaces and things that are easy to move to accommodate games, acting space, projects, conversations, etc.

 

You can see (the mess my own children make during the summer AND) my super cool Spanish doormat from Target that fits perfectly under my door (because they have everything). This is my physical representation of the transition to “Spanish World”. 

Out of habit I have my desk in direct line of view from my classroom door; I can see the door and be the super protector... or something. If I had my way, I would shrink my desk by half and have a traveling mini desk on wheels… added to: future projects. 

My “almost SmartBoard”, as I call it, is hung on the wall to the right. It pretty much serves as a projection screen. This wall is also all a “cork” wall where I can pin things: meet the Word Wall for when school is in session. (When in school I write the Spanish first and then English, verbs are in red, nouns in blue, and adj/adv in green). 

I have a collaborative table of desks and chairs behind a pair of single desk/chair combos. I think 5 is the max number of high schoolers that can sit together and be productive. The single desks/chairs are closer to the board so I can also use them as behavior monitoring seats. The set of desk/chair combos behind my desk are in process of a makeover; they will soon have testing huts to help make-up quizzers/testers or students that just need to focus and block others out.

 

In the middle of my room is a triangle of chairs (five in total; two in front and three behind) without desks. I will have clipboards for them. Behind the desk-less chairs are another set of 3 individual desk/chair combos that can easily slide together to form a group of 3. Behind these three is a large open space. There will soon be a standing whiteboard table 5’x6’ (I am building it currently and hope to have it done in the next week). 

 

I have my corner of classroom computers (that I can see the screens while out-and-about in the room) and storage for class sets of headphones, blankets, floor pillows, etc. Next to my triangle of chairs are a set of desks that I modified. I used my handy tool kit and lowered the legs as short as they go. They are now perfect floor-height tables for sitting on a floor pillow and still using the space to write or collaborate. Behind this, along the wall, will be my “Oprah” space with two semi-comfy chairs and end tables. Tip: Avoid fluffy seating and rugs. These harbor germs, crumbs, bugs (bed bugs), and are difficult to clean. I try to always have hard-surface seating or wipe-able options (pleather). 

All of my seating options face forward to see the open front space and large whiteboard (which houses yesterday, today, and tomorrow’s dates and weather; I also have all my question words above the board, mini whiteboards with important dates for each level, and my real-life Pinterest board). Keeping desks oriented in one direction seems to appease administrators and gives your room a “center” to help find itself after those story asking days that get a little more out of hand than you planned… because that’s never happened (or every time). 

I also have a set of school shelving in the front where I keep dollar store baskets of supplies labeled in Spanish (glue, scissors, fat markers, thin markers, colored pencils…). I tried to do the shower caddies for each group last year and it (I?) failed miserably. Students just know the routine to get supplies quickly and not drive me nuts.

CI/TPRS in My Classroom

The spaces I provided this year offer students and myself options. They can take notes as wanted, work on storyboards, quick quizzes, and rearrange the room as necessary. This also provides me with distinct spaces to create more CI by LABELING EVERYTHING: explicit vocabulary with a visual reference. This also leaves me with wall space to make it student-centered and helpful with reminders and key phrases.

Also, the different spaces can also tell me more about my students: do they typically sit alone and are now with a group? Does that student normally stand and is now barely awake at his seat? If I think about these questions and recognize patterns it can help my identify students at risk (is he now working the night-shift to pay bills and is tired? Is she now dating a boy in-class and need to be aware of proximity?). This will also help me engage my students into roles in the classroom they are ready for. (I know if I’m super tired, you better not call on me to act or take notes during the story telling.)

Summary

I feel that these spaces are welcoming and appealing to students (time will tell). Given the number of physical seats, I have 22 available in my room with 14 student desks. Having students sit on the floor and standing there are a possible 30 student spaces to physically write. Luckily, I seldom have over 23 kids (this will change this year since this is my 3^rd year at this school and my retention went way up). I also have a stack of chairs in my teacher closet; I do have a total of 27 chairs if needed. 

Once I have the thumbs-up I will hang things back up and re-post pictures.