Drama, action, and team building: Day 1 middle school story telling

Welcome back

First off, welcome back. Today was my first day back in the classroom with kids. I missed them and yet I was happy to see them go home after seven+ hours. 

My voice already hurts. (CI teachers, you know what I mean.)

Why I did what I did

Earlier I posted about literature and language "basics". After reflecting on my class size and other school changes, I knew I had to do something to build community and get a better "read" on my students. 

Last year I did a "Salva a Sam" with a gummy worm and team building... I can't find the PowerPoint anywhere, nor pictures of it. So I moved on and didn't post about it in detail. Sorry.

I needed to create a story that I could use with my Heritage classes all the way "down" to my brand new 6th graders. So I came up with this story that's "based on a true story". 

Goals:

All my goals are focused on building community through content. This is a key mentality for managing classroom behaviors.

1) Engage students so they leave with curiosity to come again next class.

2) Teach routines. I do a quick talk about what to expect when entering class next time. Thank them for the work they did today. I show them where to look to know what they need to be prepared for class. I also show them the shelf of extras for those times we "forget" things. 

3) This is really another routine thing, but it is so important and I think many teachers forget this: routines for transitioning between instructional methods: can they move from large group instruction, to elbow/table partner discussion, to whole table discussion, to get supplies, and back to focus on the teacher? I use this story to create moments for students to "predict" what come next. I do my count down and get their attention back to me. We share out what our table said. We focus back on me for the story. You can also see who is willing to participate and who is opting out, who is quiet and listening, who is bored...

4) Make them rely on each other. If they have to work as a group, and it's kind of fun, 99% will join in. You can assess: Who takes leadership roles? Who is the problem-solver? Who bends the rules? How do they talk to each other? (Spanish, English, Arabic.... supporting and positive language, sarcasm, punishing language...) Are they asking questions for clarification or just winging it?

Method to my madness

I used Martina Bex's seating cards (slightly altered) to randomly assign seats. They usually end up in a good place to build a new working partnership rather than just always pairing with friends. It is also easier to ignore negative peer pressure when they don't yet care about the other person's opinion.

This story is simple enough for beginning students. I make lots of "Wait!! I never told you what

"mucho" meant, how did all of you know that?!" "Ohhh, so you remember X so you can predict Y." "I didn't know you already knew so much about N." "Do you guys even really need me?!"

My heritage students even ate this up: lots of V/B appearances to help them work on that spelling thing. My 7th grade heritage class stopped after school to say how much they liked it. Seventh graders don't like anything! They enjoyed the simplicity of the story with all the random details I threw in or they clarified. We discussed the word in Spanish for "road kill"; no consensus yet, one student promised to report back on Monday.

This story has no ending and several atypical plot turns. Students have to work together to create the ending, but without language.

The end "activity" they do requires a lot of work between partners and no input from me. It is physical and allows them time to process the story while in class. Plus, it's just fun.

The story

*Edit* Resource now on TpT which includes a day two with student printable to revisit the story and encourage them to show what they know at home.* Price is $1.00.


I am thinking about posting the PowerPoint on TPT for others to use. Here is the synopsis: There is an armadillo and coyote who are both hungry, live near each other, both want to eat but can't eat/find what they normally eat, they go to Burger King, and the armadillo ends up stealing the coyote's hamburger. Does the armadillo escape?! No one knows (see activity section below).

The activity

I scoured Pinterest for good team building ideas (I used STEM activities that I altered last year) but I didn't find anything I thought I could relate to Spanish class and have it accessible for all my classes. I ended up seeing a cool marble track for my own kids to build and as I scrolled I found a paper plate activity that used holes as llama feet. BINGO!

Side note: Armadillos roll into balls to help evade predators. I just finished planning La perezosa impaciente by Mira Canion which also has an armadillo as a character who is kind of a jerk.

Since I will be teaching ^that novel this year, it's a great way to pre-build some ideas and vocabulary.

On paper plates (upside down) I drew a starting line and then made random dotted road around the plates. The circle on the plate is the armadillo's house/ safety zone. I glued poms to act as barriers and bushes. I tried pipe cleaners and it was a pain. Don't try to be that #extra unless you like having glue and hairs under your nails for days. I drew on ponds and then realized I was going to cut them out... so they were cute for a while.

I went to the Dollar Tree and bought the poms and a bag of "wooden beads" in the craft area. Marbles and glass beads can break and be easily pocketed. These are much less appealing to throw or put in your mouth (middle school... remember!?).

Teams of two or three. Each team member must always be holding the plate. One hand per person. Three fingers max, per person. A wooden bead starts at the starting lines and needs to get to the circle using the route drawn; no "off-roading".

I write groups with fastest times on the board for infamy and glory. Sometimes I write points next to

finishing teams to reward the teamwork process (not time or successful completion of the task). Team with the most points gets 10 extra credit points... We're SRG, there are no points. No one has noticed this yet. I'm going to ride it out until they figure it out.

Fast finishers can trade plates with another group since they are all different.

Key take aways

I am monitoring class engagement, circling where necessary, and limiting details to increase comprehension.

I watch students as they do table talk. We explicitly talk about the transitions, "Class, thank you so much for having eyes on me and voices off when I got to one. That was seriously impressive." "Oh no, that didn't work. Let's try it again."

The physical activity requires all members to participate or the armadillo won't make it home. LISTEN FOR THE WAY KIDS TALK TO EACH OTHER.

Build routines using stories and predictions and group shares and choral responses.

PLAY WITH THE KIDS IF YOU CAN!