During Distance Learning, our district is required to take attendance every day, every class period. Students can take attendance or “check in” at any time during the school day, meaning my 7th hour students can “attend/check in” at 8:30 A.M. if they choose to. However, all students must have attended/checked in with all of their classes by 3:00 P.M. We, the teachers, are expected to have attendance for all of our classes entered between 3:30-4:00 at the latest. Because our district is 1:1 with Chromebooks and google classroom, to complete attendance in my classroom, students must complete a google form. I post the attendance form daily at 8:00 A.M., giving students the majority of the day to “attend/check in.” (My classes meet asynchronously.) On the google form, the first response students complete is to type their LAST name and first initial: Oelke J. This will help sort students for faster attendance taking as you will see in a minute. This is a required response for students. To make it required, click the toggle switch in the lower left corner when creating the form. Throughout the day, students complete the google form, which verifies their attendance. Honestly, I do not look at these forms until 3:00 P.M. At that time, I open the attendance forms for the day and close the from to new responses. (1) I do this from the “response” tab of the google form using the toggle switch on the right. (2) Then, I link all the responses to an existing google sheet. I do this by clicking the greens sheets icon in the upper right. Now, I can choose to create a new spreadsheet or link to an existing spreadsheet. Choose to link to an existing spreadsheet. Choose the correct spreadsheet, and click Select. I have a different spreadsheet for each class I teach, so I Select the spreadsheet for the correct hour. All of the information the students completed on the google will be imported to the spreadsheet you have selected, and google will create a new tab in that spreadsheet. Rename the tab with the date. This way all the responses for each class are in one convenient location. To change the tab name, simply highlight the name on the bottom tab and type in the name you would like it to be. Near the top of the spreadsheet, find the dropdown option for Column B (Column A is the timestamp noting when the form was completed). Choose “Sort Sheet A-Z.” And just like that *snap,* google will sort your students alphabetically by last name...if students followed directions! Students are now sorted the same as they are in my attendance program, meaning I do not have to cumbersomely peruse the google form to verify who has attended/check in.
PRO TIP: Make a copy of this form each day! Doing so will tell google that a “new” form has been created and therefore a new tab will be created on the spreadsheet. Personally, this works better for me and my organization style. If you do not make a copy of the form, and simply wipe out the responses on the form instead and reuse the form from day to day, when you link the form to an existing spreadsheet, it will not create a new tab, but will add today’s responses onto the same sheet below yesterday’s responses. If that works for your style of organization, go for it!
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I have survived Week One of Distance Learning. It has been a bit of whirlwind to be sure. I would like to share with you my plans for Distance Learning, but first, I would like to thank the LIFESAVERS. Without their generosity, I would not have been able to survive, and even thrive, during this time.
THANK YOU, CAROL GAAB & the Fluency Matters team. Your rich, meaningful content has allowed me to continue to provide input to my students in a meaningful way. THANK YOU, JIM WOOLRIDGE, aka Sr. Wooly. Your fun and engaging content will provide my students with an escape from an uncertain reality. THANK YOU, MARTINA BEX & the team at SOMOS, your plans and their online counterparts - are what I will be tapping into near the end of the year. THANK YOU, WORLD LANGUAGE BLOGGERS: Kara Jacobs, Maris Hawkins, Keith Toda, Annabelle Williamson! And so many more that I have forgotten to mention here. You have shared plans, struggles, and shining moments, which makes everything less overwhelming. We truly are all in this together. THANK YOU TO ALL EDUCATORS! You are making it work! Every! Day! As I read the list above, I am humbled to share the plans I have created for Distance Learning. However, before I get to the nuts and bolts, I want to provide some background to my situation, as we are all in unique situations. Please know that what works for me may not work in your situation, and whatever you are doing in your classroom, it is enough.
So...research has shown that language acquisition occurs with comprehensible input, right? Not output. That is where I am putting my focus during Distance Learning. Input. I am still trying to provide comprehensible, compelling input, without requiring a lot of output from the students. And most importantly, I am trying to keep it simple. For all of our sakes. Spanish I: On the days they would normally have class (A/B), students watch a video created specifically for their class and answer some comprehension questions about what they saw and heard. Students also vote for their favorite song - ¡long live Locura de Marzo! Finally, as an “exit ticket” I ask for input regarding Distance Learning, my classroom videos and I allow students to ask me any questions. All of this is done via google form. Simple for me to see student responses. Simple for students to complete. I have also taken advantage of Fluency Matters free 21 day e-course for Laritza. Students read a chapter a day (5 chapters M-F) and complete any two activities per chapter. This will take 3 weeks. Then we will do a week of post-reading activities related to the novel. Next, we will use Sr. Wooly’s beautiful plans for the song “Las Excusas.” (They are free!) I have a PRO account and have been using Wooly in my class all year, so my students are familiar with his songs and his website. Spanish II: The same as Spanish I, mostly. Students had a choice to read either Laritza or Una Heroína Improbable. The reading requirement is the same regardless. Everything else - videos, Locura de Marzo, exit tickets - are all the same. Spanish III: Throughout the school year, students had a standing assignment of completing a weekly blog using kidblog. On Monday, I would post a prompt, students wrote their post by Wed, and responded to at least two others by Friday. This has not changed. Prior to the shut down, we were about to watch Voces Inocentes as pre-reading work for Vida y Muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha. Since we could no longer view the movie, and in the interest of keeping it simple, we spent the first week doing a few pre-reading activities (here and here) about the history of El Salvador and how MS-13 was created. (Much of the work was NOT completed in the target language since I wanted the focus to be on building background knowledge in order to successfully read the novel.) Moving forward, we will read Vida y Muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha using the e-course from Fluency Matters. (On a personal note, I am so saddened that I can’t share this great story with my students in person. It is always a class favorite and there is so much depth to it. Alas, we all are making sacrifices during this time.) For all classes: In order to provide clarity for all students and parents, I created a monthly schedule and weekly schedule (posted here) which lays out when work is assigned as well as when it is due. These plans will take us through April. I do have some thoughts sketched out past that, but we are waiting to hear from our governor whether we will be back in session in the building, or continue with Distance Learning. I know what my preference is! Honestly, my main goal during this time isn’t to advance language acquisition. It is to maintain a healthy relationship with my students, as well as maintain my own sanity. Yes, I want them to acquire language, but I want them to know I care about them even more. Confession #1: I don’t really want to take the time to “teach” numbers to my students. In other words, I do not provide a lot of comprehensible input with regards to numbers. First of all, they are not high frequency, and second, numbers are not the most exciting thing. We do A LOT of counting in class, but really, that's about it.
However, they are important, and I do need to talk about them in some sort of meaningful and authentic context in class. Enter: El que sabe, sabe (he who knows, knows). This is a "numbers" game that helps me deliver comprehensible input to students using numbers in context. Confession #2: I purchased my first El que sabe, sabe game on TeachersPayTeachers from the Comprendes Mendez SpanishShop, and tried it out over a year ago with my students, but it didn’t go well. It was completely my fault, either by not dedicating enough time to it faulty directions on my part, or any number or other reasons. After all, Nelly Hughes has fantastic resources in her TpT store, and her game did provide clear directions, and great, cultural information. I just couldn't make it happen for whatever reason. I saw El que sabe, sabe again on a post by Martina Bex, and thought I should give it another shot, because FAIL means Fist Attempt In Learning, and my students still do need additional input with numbers. Well, here goes. I am going to be playing El que sabe, sabe again, this time with slides I developed about Thanksgiving! Here are the basics of the game, although Martina explains it much more succinctly in her post.
Again, Martina explains it in much more detail than I do here. You may want to check out her post if you need some additional clarity. Pro Tip: To answer a question I had, yes, teams can vote for their own answer with BOTH a star and a triangle. (At least the way I play.) Of course, there is a big risk in doing so, but if it pays off, the reward can be great. I will be playing this game this week based around Thanksgiving statistics. Here is a google slides copy of the Thanksgiving game in Spanish. If you would like to edit anything, please make a copy of the slides. Also, if you see any errors, please let me know and I will fix them ASAP. (All information about Thanksgiving is sourced in the speaker notes.) Here is a google slides copy of the Thanksgiving game in English. Have fun talking turkey with your students! Last year our district switched to a rotating day block schedule for grades 7-12. This means I went from seeing students everyday for 50 minutes to seeing students every other day for 83 minutes. Quite a change. Especially after teaching on a traditional 7 period day for over 20 years. Needless to say, last year was a challenge for me as I adjusted to the new schedule, and if I am being honest, I would have to say that I never really did adjust last year at all.
However, after some reflection, as well as a lot of trial and (a lot of) error last year, I think I have hit upon a “formula” that seems to be working this school year. This is what it looks like: Spanish I: Opening song & class calendar. Each class has its own calendar, and we talk about the weather, what is going on in students' lives, etc. Tina Hargaden has an example of what this looks like in her classroom here. Write and Discuss. After discussing class calendar, we do a Write and Discuss about everything we just talked about. Sometimes students write along with me, sometimes students do a volleyball translation when the W&D is complete. Sometimes we just do a quick grammar talk about what came up in our writing. Mike Peto has blogged about the benefits of Write and Discuss here. Bell Ringer. This is a bit of a misnomer since this happens anywhere from 20-30 minutes into class, but by this point, my students need something to do other than listen to me, so I have them put pencil to paper in some way shape or form. I also need a bit of a break, and bell ringers provide a bit of down time for both students and myself. I do know that bell ringers are a bit controversial in the CI world, and I did break up with my bell ringer for a few years, but alas, on the block schedule, we need a bit of a break by this time in our class period. If you need inspiration for bell ringers, check out Cynthia Hitz’s blog post here. Review the bell ringer. Depending upon what students have done for a bell ringer, we will review it in a number of ways. For example, if the bell ringer asked students to respond to personal questions, we will have a class PQA session. If students had to match a sentence to an image, we may go over it 4 corners style, or class response. At any rate, we review the bell ringer together in some way, shape or form. CI “curriculum” I use SOMOS as the main curriculum in my classroom, but I supplement with A LOT of Sr. Wooly as well as movie talks, story listening, and cultural lessons. By this point in the class, we have about 40 minutes for whatever is on the docket with regards to “curriculum.” If the curriculum plan isn’t going to last a full 40 minutes (either by design or accident)... Option 1: Special Person interviews. These are such a great community builder for our classrooms. And they are a great way to sneak in extra vocabulary reps. (side note: I no longer target “family” or “sports” vocabulary as these come up so naturally and frequently in this process!) Bryce Hedstrom expertly explains the process here. Option 2: Dictado. If classes are getting rowdy from storyasking, homecoming, full moon...This is a nice calming activity. It settles them down, and is a great closing activity for metacognition. Option 3: Pop Up. I found this game on Anne Marie Chase's blog. She can describes it here. BTW: my students LOVE this game. Movement! And throughout, there is movement and Brain Breaks. Annabelle Allen has TONS of ideas here. Spanish II’s plan is pretty similar, with the exception that we start each day with FVR, and then roll out the same “format” as with Spanish I. This seems to be the structure that is working so far. Hopefully, with more trial than error this year. Come Tuesday, I am officially on summer break. I know that many of you finished classes a week or two earlier, but there are still a few of you that have another week or two to go. I’m not sure about you, but I find the last day of class to be a bit awkward. You can’t really teach anything new, but you also don’t want the students just sitting around. Also, my classroom does not have air conditioning and is on the second story of a brick building facing the sun. It gets hot. Really hot. So hot that I don’t want to be in my classroom with 25 sweaty bodies, and they don’t want to be in my classroom with 25 sweaty bodies either. So, what to do? My answer...Goose Chase. If you have not yet tried Goose Chase, now is the time! I originally learned about this from Maris Hawkins, thank you, Maris! Goose Chase is an app that allows you to create a (wild) “goose chase” for your students. As a teacher, you design tasks (called missions in the game) for them to complete, and they run around to do so. Therefore, 25 sweaty kids out of my classroom, out having fun. I have used this on the last day of school for a couple of years now, and have had great success. The students are able to demonstrate what they have learned, in a fun, creative and competitive way. Here is how I set it up. First, visit the Goose Chase site and create and account. It takes 30 seconds, and is so worth it! With an account, I am able to create missions for students to complete. I add these missions on the Goose Chase website. I have found that 18 is a pretty decent amount for students to complete in a 30-40 minute period. The missions I create ask students to submit a photo or a video in order to complete the mission. As I am doing a Goose Chase game at the end of the year, I set up my missions to review what we have been doing all year in the classroom. Below are a few examples (I have translated them to English, but students read them in the Target Language):
As I create each mission, I assign a point value to each mission. Honestly, this is completely random number, don’t stress too much when deciding on points. After I have all the missions in my mission bank on the website, I now have the option to pre-set teams or allow individuals to registers. I set pre-set the teams. Using the EDU version, I can set up to 5 teams. I set them and name them A, B, C, D, and E, just to make things simple on my end. Also, by setting up teams, only one student on each team needs to download the Goose Chase app as opposed to all students downloading the app to their phone. Yes, students do have to download an app to play, but I have never had anyone complain about this at all. Plus, having only one student download the app is more equitable for the students that do not have a smartphone. The last day of class, when we are ready to play Goose Chase, I tell students that they will be playing a team scavenger hunt game. I run through my behavior expectations - teams MUST stay together, teams must not disrupt classes, be respectful, etc. I put them into teams and ask one person in each group to download the app on their smartphone. Students do not need to create an account to play, they can simply login as a guest. They will have to search for our game - provide them the game code to make this easy - and select a team. The app will then say “Waiting to Start.” Once all teams have reached this point, I choose how long I want the game to be active (usually 30 minutes), click “start game” on my computer, and the students are off to the races. The best part is that while they are out completing missions, I am getting a live activity feed on my computer of their mission submissions. I can see what team is completing which mission in live time. As the missions come in, I can add bonus points or subtract penalty points from each mission completed. I can also see a leaderboard so I know exactly what team has the most and least points. The students can also see this as well, so they know where they stand, and can make choices about which missions to prioritize per point value, if they want to. Once the game is over, students report back to my classroom for a quick debrief and (possibly) a prize for the winning team. This year, I made stickers that said “I am a winner!’ from old label stickers I had laying around. The kids were thrilled! If you have a few extra minutes to kill, you could project some of the videos that teams submitted for certain missions and have them vote on which was the best, most creative, silliest, etc. All in all, this is a great way to end the year. There is teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and a bit of fun competition. It is a positive way to send students off on their summer journeys. What started as a Fast Finisher activity, has been transformed into something more. It has provided rich texts and colorful illustrations to go along with them that are a rich resource to add to our FVR library. And the best part is that students are using their originality and creativity to do so. I introduce you to: Complete the doodle. Step One. Find some very simple doodles. Google search, “complete the drawing” and click on the images that result from this search. You will see a lot of images that look like scribbles, or single lines. That is the beginning of a drawing. Step Two. Let students create. Based on the doodle, students will use their imagination to add on to the doodle and flesh out a drawing of something that incorporates the original doodle. For example, I have had students create an elephant, a fairy and a flower from the same initial doodle. The key is to ask students to use their imagination. And color. Bold color. Use lots of color to make memorable pictures. Step Three. Create a text. Once students have completed their drawings, collect them. Redistribute each drawing to a different student so that no one has their own drawing. Now, students create a story for the drawing they have in their possession. This gets interesting because I do not allow students to ask questions of the artist. Students have to imagine what the drawing is for themselves. Sometimes it is pretty obvious, and other times, it is a complete guess. If your students are familiar with Invisibles, have them create a character sketch when they write. This reinforces high frequency vocabulary such as characteristics, origin, likes and dislikes. To go further, have students create a story. Using structures such as has, can (or can’t), wants, goes also reinforces high-frequency vocabulary. Step Four. Follow up. Once students have written a text, you can choose to collect the text and drawings as-is, have students type them, or type them yourself (correcting any grammatical errors as you go. This is really dependent upon the amount of time you have to dedicate to this activity.) Once again, collect all the texts and drawings.
Step Five. Create a book for your FVR library. Finally, put all the drawings and texts into a single bound text. (I use sheet protectors and clear front report folders.) Add the text to your FVR library. Students LOVE reading texts they have created, and these are no exception. I LOVE PQA - Personalized Question and Answer. It is a genuine way in which to build classroom community and get to know each and everyone of my students in very low-key manner. If you are unsure as to what PQA is, check out this post.
While PQA can be incorporated into almost anything, I use the following ways quite extensively:
All of the ways I incorporate PQA into my classroom is based on student interest. I never force PQA on my students, it has to be compelling and comprehensible. So what happens after a PQA session? Any number of things! Here are some ways to extend PQA.
I have found an AMAZING, FUN way to infuse life into Free Reading time, thanks to a little post via the MN TCI Facebook group. (Thank you, Lydia Ann!)
Enter: Game of Quotes. Here’s how it works. After Free Reading time is done, instead of returning their books to the shelf, students hang on to them and game time begins. Students form groups of 4-5 and compete to find the best passage that fits a specific prompt. Basically, a bit like Apples to Apples, but for books!!! For example, I post the prompt, “Overheard in the teachers’ lounge” and students scour their novels (or other reading material) to find a phrase, sentence or multi-sentence passage from their novel that could fit that prompt. When a student finds a passage, she yells, “Got it!” Now, the race is truly on and students have 2 minutes to find a passage to fit the prompt. At the end of 2 minutes of time, each member reads their passage and group members vote on a winner. The winners of each group share their passage with the class. A much more detailed explanation can be found on The Book Sommelier Blog, where it was originally posted. (The author was inspired by this game...which I secretly can’t wait to play with my nerdy book friends.) When playing the game, it doesn’t matter if all group members are reading the same novel or not. If they aren’t, students end up asking one another questions about their novels...kids are talking about books!!! If student are all reading the same novel, perhaps as a class, the game is just as fun because rarely do two students in the same group find the same passage. Now, students are asking one other where they found “X” passage...kids are talking about books!!! I played this game with my Spanish III class recently, and we all had a blast. The slideshow containing the prompts I used can be found here. There are 25 prompts, broken into 5 different “games.” The prompts are in Spanish, but the English translation is in the speaker notes as well. (If you see any grammatical errors, please let me know and I will get them fixed ASAP.) Of course, regardless of the language you teach, you could always write the prompts in English so that students are focused on making meaning of their texts as opposed to deciphering the prompt. If the prompts are given in English (or L1), they could also be more complex, and perhaps more creative, than those I have included. All in all, this is a powerful, engaging way to showcase student creativity as well as the books in your FVR library. Happy gaming! Every day, I greet students at the door. We say hello to each other, I ask how they are doing, and they tell me the class password to enter. (If you aren’t familiar with this process, check out Bryce Hedstrom’s blog post.) This mean that students are entering the classroom and are unsupervised (EEEEK!!) for a few minutes while I am at the door. What do they do during this time? Roam like pack animals, set the classroom on fire, figure out how to conspire against me for the day? Usually, no. (However, some days it seems like it.) While it is loud and bit chaotic, there is a method to this madness.
First, my classroom is deskless. At the end of each period, students “reset” the classroom by putting away their chairs so the room is empty for the next class. Therefore, if students want a place to sit, they need to take out a chair and set it down in the correct spot. (Yes, I have a seating chart.) By its very nature, this is loud and chaotic. Next, students direct their attention to the Daily Dashboard. This is not a warm-up activity, but information about what is coming up during the class period. (I have decided to break up with my bell ringer for various reasons.) By this time, I enter the room and we begin class. But what does that look like if some students are still getting their chairs, not yet seated, chatting with their BFs? Well, I start singing. I first saw Grant Boulanger do this in his classroom and was absolutely blown away by its effectiveness! Singing is the cue that students need to get settled because we will be starting class by the time the song is finished. It works like a charm. EVERY. Time. I sing a few lines of a song, and students join in singing the last few. By then I have their attention and we go right into our daily calendar and class calendar discuss. Class has begun and we are on our way! In Spanish I, I start the year with the rhyme “Bate, bate chocolate.” I start chanting the rhyme and students join my be the 3rd line and we all end together. In Spanish II, I start the year with the traditional children’s song, “Mi gallo se murio.” (This is the one I saw Grant using.) I sing a few lines and students join in by the end. When students seem to be getting bored with the song we are currently singing, I simply choose a different one to open class with. (It usually takes at least a month for this to happen.) I choose the opening song in a variety of ways; for the season, popular tunes, traditional children’s songs, etc. Sra. Chase often sings with her students; here are the song, chants, rhymes she uses. Now, everyone singing together doesn’t just happen. It takes purposeful instruction and I set the expectation that ALL students will participate. When I introduce the song (or chant or rhyme), we spend some time as a class learning the song, learning the meaning of the song, learning about the artist, learning about the country of origin, etc. Then we listen to the song (or just perhaps the chorus) and practice, practice, practice and sing, sing, sing! Below are a few examples of what I have used successfully in class. Each song sheet has the lyrics we will be singing (the students sing the bolded lines). I try to add cultural information and a personal connection as well, but sometimes I just introduce the song and off we go. Happy singing!! Traditional Spanish Round: Mi Gallo Se Murio Spooky Mexican Rhyme Day of the Dead Song: Chumbalaca Children's Game/Chant: A La Lata Traditional Christmas Song: Mi Burrito Sabanero How many of you could use “just one more day” of vacation after the Thanksgiving break? Me too. And this year I took the day. Since I won’t be in school on Cyber Monday, but still want to capture the enthusiasm and energy of Thanksgiving, here is what my students in Spanish I will be doing. You may notice that these lesson plans are heavily drawn from inspiration provided by Martina Bex, thank you, Martina! Students will read a story, a non-fiction text, and then combine the two in a manner they see fit. Because we have 83 minute classes, my students will also complete a glyph about the foods they ate on Thanksgiving day. (Students will do a gallery walk using the glyphs they created the next day they come to class.) For support with holiday specific vocabulary (food), I will also share Señora Chase’s awesome google slide show with students. Hopefully, this will help keep them away from online translators.
If you still need more inspiration to “take a sub day” while you are in the building, check out these resources posted by Spanish Mama. Or try out another Thanksgiving glyph posted on TpT by Sol Azucar. Or try story asking using Jim Tripps’ Nappy Nap script. At any rate, enjoy Cyber Monday with your students! |
Jessie Oelke
#deptofone providing compelling and comprehensible input Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
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by Bethanie Drew The Language Coach by Amy Lenord Bryan Kandel TPRS by Bryan Kandel Bryce Hedstrom's Blog by Bryce Hedstrom CI Peek by Carol Gaab Creative Language Class by Kara Parker & Megan Smith La Clase de Sra. Dentlinger by Elizabeth Dentlinger The Comprehensible Classroom by Martina Bex Grant Boulanger's Blog by Grant Boulanger Kristy Placido's Blog by Kristy Placido Maris Hawkins' Blog by Maris Hawkins El Mundo de Birch by Sharon Birch Musicuentos by Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell Mis Clases Locas by Allison Wienhold Making Good Mistakes by Courtney Johnson MJ's Comprehensible Input by Michele Whaley My Generation of Polyglots by Mike Peto PBL in the TL by Laura Sexton Somewhere to Share by Carrie Toth Spanish Nobility by Jason Noble Teaching Spanish by Kara Jacobs Todally Comprehensible Latin by Keith Toda Tripp's Scripts by Jim Tripp |