Wooly in Heritage Classes

*Please, forgive the lack of correct accentuation. It keeps removing all the punctuation and I can't figure it out.*

From the Spanish Teacher Success Academy, I have had an influx of questions about planning for mixed level classes (both within a heritage class and heritage with L2). All the different preps can be not only challenging, it can be exhausting. I recently had a discussion with another teacher who claimed it was so difficult because she can’t use her L2 stuff in her heritage classes, and she loves her L2 “stuff”. I started talking to her about what she loves about her “stuff”. Her big love was CI and Sr. Wooly resources for L2. We didn’t have enough time that day to unpack why she felt she can’t use her L2 CI with her heritage students; I took that conversation to heart.

Here is how Senor Wooly was a huge asset to my heritage classroom. *All opinions are my own and were not solicited by anyone and there are no affiliate links in this posting.

Premise

Teaching my 6th and 7th grade heritage classes, I find myself working to build student confidence, trying to fill seemingly irregular holes in literacy skills, and more confidence building. If I can give them work that appears to be "below their level" then I can work on the processing portion of language.

Using Senor Wooly embeded readings, audio bits, and printed screen shots, I can focus on building student confidence in interacting with Spanish and help them process in problem solving (academic language) in Spanish. Honestly, the intermediate embeded readings are too advanced for some of my heritage students and below the literacy level of others.

How to Wooly in Heritage Classes

With heritage classes, and with groups of heritage learners in other classes, these students interact with Wooly differently; they solve a mystery.

This time I used the video "El Banco" and the supporting materials available on the Pro account. These materials included: short audio clips of the "movie", specific printed stills of the "movie", and the intermediate level of some of the embeded readings.

Dia 1

I printed about 18 scenes from the El banco "movie". I taped them around the room, I did number them in order. All I said, "Clase, ayer alguien hizo algo malo. Necesitan tabajar para encontrar mas informacion. Necesito entrar las notas en Infinite Campus."

Students had to work to figure out 1) what was happening, 2) who are the people in the pictures, 3) what was the crime, 4) who was the victim, and 5) who was guilty.

I printed select scenes so it was really hard to tell what was going on. I did, however, leave the title slide that says "EL BANCO".

I also did not enter grades. I most definitely spent time answering questions (by saying, I don't know, go figure it out) and taking notes of student interactions and grading writing samples and oral convos on the spot.

Dia 2

Students get their "case files" when they walk back into the class. I took their writing samples of observations and inferences and put them in folders. 

The slide on the board read something to the effect of: "El detective se fue en una tormenta de emocion. Solo tenemos esta caja llena de sus cosas del escritorio. Por favor, usen las observaciones y conclusiones con cualquier informacion pueden sacar de esta. Tenemos que resolver el crimen hoy."

Students could re-examine the scenes from around the room and the information they previously found. Students were naturally talking to each other to fill-in holes and ask more questions.

This box has a bunch of random papers from the recycling- happened to include information about the US government from the Civics class; great distracter. I also wrote some important and some non-crucial information on sticky notes, provided the intermediate readings that were "censurados" and missing key information. Some papers were even ripped in the detective's fit of furry. 

The key to this success was the reading. I had short notes, I had long, redacted readings, I had quotes from the movie. Every student in these classes could be an expert somewhere. I have several students are are majorly struggling in reading in any language and there was something accessible to everyone. Students naturally started to regroup themselves into heterogeneous (mixed-ability) groups. Strong readers spent time decoding while struggling readers took notes, tried to match-up the small information to the bigger information. 

Dia 3

Today is where the case became interesting. "Anoche descubri unos flash con unas grabaciones de las entrevistas entre el detective y ambas personas del caso. Hoy, entregen sus conclusiones finales. Hoy, alguien es culpable."

Students listened, non-stop, to several short audio recordings from the movie. Each of the three flash drives only had one clip that was a little different and could sway their final accusations. They had the box of desk stuff, the printed scenes, and audio recordings to connect their observations and inferences. This leads to a logical deduction of what happened. All academic skills which also use a lot of cognates for my native speakers.

(Hint: cognates of academic language do nothing for students who don't have an existing understanding of that concept in the L1. A heritage student might recognize that paralelismo is clearly the Spanish word for parallelism, but still have no concept that these words represent correspondence.)

Day 4

I could have done a lot more with this but we hit spring break and it was a great shut-off point. We did a very quick presentational speaking of making a formal accusation and why. I showed them the movie at the end of class.

Summary

While this was not an engagement in a Spanish Language Arts course, this was definitely time well-spent bridging academic English and Spanish skills. My middle schoolers seems to need a lot more of the "You can do this in Spanish too!" direct reminders than my high schoolers needed.

Practicing deep-level thinking while practicing making an observation and supporting a conclusion are crucial steps to good writing.

We will be using this as a stepping stone to deductive reasoning and opinion poetry. 

Using your L2 classroom materials to minimize the separate and distinct planning, often required in heritage classes, will be a sanity savior. It is not a disservice to our students and it can really help with balancing the cognitive load when working on academic skills in the L1. 

Service in Spanish Class

Service Learning is the Best Kind of Learning

I have been at my current school for two years and we keep talking about making the world better and more peaceful. We talk about community and we believe our students are capable of great compassion and being kind. I know my students will change the world... but why not start now?

I tasked my eighth graders to use whatever Spanish they have to make our community better. For some, they use Spanish daily and others are just starting to find their groove. All language has purpose and the focus is communication, not perfection. 

Defining Community

When told they have to make our community better, my students asked many great questions and we had deep and meaningful conversations. Many chose to impact our school community, others are being risk-takers and creating opportunities within our school district and within our city.

Very special someone

Our school has more than 750 students from all sorts of backgrounds, abilities, talents, and strengths. We have one student who is a native speaker of Spanish and is blind and hard of hearing, I will name her Sara. Finding resources for her in any class can be changeling. It is especially hard to find Spanish materials that she can interact with.

I have two, very special and endearing, students who know Sara and wanted to do something so she could enjoy Spanish class as well.

Stories connect people and representation matters

This summer, I did a quick book review of the FVR favorite, Juliana by Rosana Navarro and Margarita Perez Garcia.

This book was not only fun to read and a FVR favorite in all my classes (heritage, L2+ novice-low to intermediate low), but it talks about a little bat who is different from the other bats. She is kind of small and doesn't see like the rest of her community. This is the first FVR book I have encountered that has a main character of different ability. This is the first book that a student like Sara could comprehend and relate to a main character.

My two eighth graders decided to record an audio version of this book for Sara. They read and reread the book, understanding the feelings, knowing when to pause, and how to conquer all the sound effects. I could hear their speech become more comfortable and fluid. My two students were so proud of their progress as story tellers and thrilled to be of service to someone in a positive way.

Both of these students came to class and ask, "Did Sara start the book? Does she like it?!" They want to know her thoughts about the book and if she can understand their Spanish.

With permission from Margarita and both of the girls' parents, here is a short clip of them with their audio recording on a service-project work day.

Language is meant to be social

If we continue to use stories, PQA, MovieTalks, and other CI methods to engage students and build their vocabularies to be functional... what is the purpose if we don't encourage students to be social?

I am not supporting the idea of forced output; not at all. I am saying that students need to feel loved, valued, connected, and represented in their learning environments. They value their peers more than adults, that just comes with teaching middle-schoolers. We need to use this to foster an environment where students want to engage in the language with each other. Then they see even if it isn't perfect, their attempts to genuinely reach another person are meaningful. 

Many of my students in this class are likely somewhere between novice-high and intermediate-low unless they are my heritage students. They are using their language to make a positive impact in their community. It is never too early to start fostering these ideas and concepts of interconnection. 

P.S.

Sara loves the audiobook. She listens and re-listens and giggles. 

Conceptual Planning and Free PD

Ya'll, it's PD in your PJs

This year I am very proud to be presenting on managing mixed classrooms. Think: heritage learners with L2s, Novice-Lows with Intermediate-Lows, or having three or more preps. Does it hurt a little because it sounds so, so, so true?

In my PD session at the Spanish Teacher Success Academy, brought to us by Speaking Latino, I mention how conceptual planning has saved (some) of my sanity.

Not only does it help my planning, it is good for kids. It worked at the rural high school I taught at (department of one with five preps) and it works at the urban middle school I teach at now.

My video about conceptual planning is below! It's about 11 minutes (approximately one glass of wine, one bottle of beer, or two margaritas- don't risk the ice melting).

If you are interested in FREE PD (in your PJs... with wine, I made-up that part), here is my referral link. The FREE PD starts March 10 and lasts a week. Every day is something new. Heritage (me) day is Tuesday. The up-graded paid version is under $70 and gets you lifetime access to watch and re-watch on your own time, an attendance certificate, freebies from the presenters, and so much more. I've seen what's on there and I will be PDing for the next month. #worthit

Again, here is my referral link for #STSA19. http://spanishteachersuccessacademy.com/?orid=44317&opid=4

Stations in Secondary Spanish Class

Aren't stations for babies?

You know what, naps are also for babies and they are fabulous. 

In all seriousness, stations are chunks of focused skill development. If you aren't sure what really works for that weird class, do you know what skills your students struggle with or are confident with? 

Stations are your friends.

Do you have an observation coming up with an admin that doesn't understand your content? Are you being assessed for engagement percentages, rigor in the classroom, inquiry-based practices, or knowledge utilization?

Stations are your friends.

Do you have a class that is so talkative you can't teach? Do you have a class with a wide range of ability levels?

Stations are your friends.

When / Why to use stations

Stations are more than just "fun" (they are fun). I call them "speedy Spanish" days. Students almost never have enough time to finish a whole activity in one class period. Completion is NOT the goal. Showing their gut instincts and understanding what students do easily or well/poorly will and should impact your instruction the next day.

I use stations when we get in a rut. I am doing the same things and students are showing the same results. I need more feedback on where we need to focus. This quarter, I have been doing A LOT of story telling, story asking, cloze listening activities, and PQA. My students were shocked when they were at a reading station. Oops. Time to change it up.

I use stations when class has been intermittent or many absences (think snow days). Students aren't ready for "new" content but I am out of ideas. They need more input, more repetitions, more types of exposure. Ya'll, I have 400 students. I don't know who needs what so everyone gets it all!

I also tend to do stations on announced building-wide observations. Yes, it is part "dog and pony show" but also because it is a familiar, research-based teaching strategy that breaks-down what your students are doing into clear, observable skills. It is much easier to tell that students are in a rigor class when they are being stretched and pushed on multiple skills and standards.

Students Work, Teachers Push Students

Not literally. Don't push your kids unless you want to lose your job, and you enjoy spending time in a courtroom.

Students should be doing 99.9999999% of the work. You need an easy timer. Students should not have enough time to finish any given station in that allotted time.

As the teacher, you should be either 1) being asking more questions than answering or 2) modeling thinking / language skills. If you are defining vocabulary, giving cheats to students, you have removed all higher order thinking. Feel free to model and help students make connections to what they are doing, do not give answers (barring new student additions, chronically absent students who may not have been present to build that background). 

You can also be a station. Please, know your students first. I do not have a class I trust to just "do" this semester. Before, I was a station when I had smaller class sizes and the same students all year. I would have them reading a challenging reading with me, I would practice short conversation, ask them connections to other classes they are seeing... I LOVED spending that time with my students.

Logistics and stuff

I make enough stations to fill about 5 minutes per station plus a five minute introduction.

I use a timer only I know is going on. If I need to fib and move on more quickly or extend time, I can do so without any push-back.

Grouping students: depends on how organized I am and if this is for an over-all formative assessment or to help students who are behind catch-up. I have done homogeneous groups, heterogeneous groups, random numbers, go down the list, and divide up "those" kids. I NEVER LET THE KIDS PICK. It's not social hour.

Make station signs that have numbers. Write them in L1 so you aren't just re-giving directions every time.

Stations in my 6, 7, & 8 L2+ class

We've had Iowa snow days, cold days, and low attendance days. Plus, we switched students at semester. Like I mentioned above, I have been doing lots of auditory input and not nearly as much reading practice. So we did a class story inspired by Martina Bex's Somos 1 Unit: Dice. I built a skeleton story for this and put it in a PowerPoint with no images (I could draw in the white board and add details specific to each class).

I took our classes' stories and made one version and used it for our stations in class. My goals were to: 1) assess literacy skills like comprehension and reading strategies, 2) lots of repetitions of familiar and newish vocabulary, 3) work on building community and collaboration, and 4) get them saying Spanish words.

I did not give them sufficient time because I want them to "rush" and put their gut reaction down so I am more likely to get what they have acquired.

I also want them to start speaking Spanish words. I know that output does not increase acquisition, but I am personally tired of the line, "But I don't speak Spanish." (Like seriously, I am going to lose it or come unhinged). I don't care what it sounds like, I don't care if it is conversational, I don't care if it isolated words: They said Spanish words so now they speak Spanish. Argument ended. 

Station 1 Comic

On one side of their paper, I made a comic book template and inserted the main ideas into the word boxes. Students had to sketch as much of the story as they could.

Because the final version of the story might have slightly different details from their class's version, it was important to read the boxes carefully. Students were encouraged to talk to each other, divide and conquer, but everyone had their own paper.

Stick figures are welcome when they have the details or labels to ensure the audience, me, can understand the details of the story.

Station 2 Parallel Universe

I failed and forgot to take an actual picture of the station.

Students flipped their paper over from station 1 to find the typed version of the story. The paper is in landscape and the story typed one one half of the paper. Students had several options depending on confidence or grade level or class needs. Option 1 Translate the story into English on the blank of of the paper. Option 2 Write an opposite story in English. Option 3 Write an opposite story in Spanish.

My 6th graders did the most of option three.

Station 3 Order in the Station

Collect the papers from station 2

I used the typed version of the story and made the font bigger, printed the lines, and then cut them into strips. I had two sets because my groups are big (big classes) so everyone could participate. I put colored dots on the strips so they didn't get mixed. I used blue and red dots.

Students were told to put the story in an order that made sense. It didn't have to match the typed one, just in an order that made sense. (Savanya can't run home first because then nothing happens in the story.)

Students put the lines that confused them off to the side and then tried to integrate those at the end. I could see what they were struggling with. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with "big" sentences.

A lot of students were upset they didn't have time to finish and asked to take a picture of what they did. 

This story is not exact but it is logical for students 13 days into the semester!

Station 4 fail: Teatro

Yeah, they weren't ready for this. 

Sixth grade was awesome. Seventh and eighth grade stunk it up.

I gave them the reader's theater version of the story. They had four minutes to prep, one minute to act whatever they could. I told them they could do it in English or Spanish. My sixth graders did it in Spanish and owned it! Everyone spoke at least a word and then participated in being a character or supporting detail.

Station 4: Improved- Mano nerviosa

This is the card game like Slap Jack. Students count 1-10 in Spanish. If the number they say matches the flipped card, anyone can slap the card to win the pile. I made it so anything with a face is worth 10. It was a great community builder and for the few students who "didn't know" or were holding up the game, the positive peer pressure to participate was awesome.

There were several new students who really didn't know their numbers 1-10 and several students who got stuck after cinco. I just counted with them for a few rounds and they eventually counted in unison (output for many, input for some).

Station 5: Collaborative Smash Doodles

I had three cognate readings with "tiene" "esta" "dice". The stories were written at three different levels of difficulty. Each table group had the readings taped to the desks, a big piece of paper, and a set of markers. Stories were all the same at the same table.

Students could move around and pick any story and add details or draw whatever they understood. It's like the group before provides the scaffolds for the next group. 

Students were really protective of their drawings and I didn't see any penises drawn on. Win.

I hung up the best ones in the hallway bulletin board with a copy of the story with it.

 

Additional Station Ideas

Cloze listening with computers

Cultural components on YouTube

Reading/Chatting with teacher

Logic puzzles

Hidden object search

Art analysis

Guess Who or Rako

Prinola (Mexican top game)

Catch-up and Pick-els

Want some more great ideas for free?

I am part of the Spanish Teacher Success Academy and it is next week, March 10-16. The free version includes freebies from the presenters and a different topic each day.

The paid upgrade is under $70 and gets you lifetime access, more bonus freebies, and PD certificate of attendance.

Here is my referral link: http://spanishteachersuccessacademy.com/?orid=44317&opid=4