Homework in a TPRS classroom?!? What? ...aannnnnndddd they'll get more reps? YES PLEASE!

La Cita Romántica De Tim Tebow Y Ani

Habia
Estaban en ....

Estaban en ...

Goal: to maximize repetitions of vocab structures used in stories in class, by having students review and think about meanings outside of class.
Objective: The students will use pictures from our class stories to retell (in Spanish) our story from class (aloud) using key vocab to a parent.
ISTE NETS in green

I HATE busy work.  I think all teachers do, because we get our fair share of it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to do anything that will help me do my job better, but I can't stand when I'm made to spend time on something that will NOT impact me as a Spanish teacher in any way, shape, or form. Because of this, I also really try not to make my students do anything that will not later help them to speak, read, and write better in Spanish.
 
Back before I saw the light (when I taught traditionally instead of TPRS), my homework was often conjugating a long list of infinitives into whatever tense we were currently "learning."  OR even better, a worksheet that had them rewriting sentences that required them matching the given subject to the appropriately conjugated verb.  Usually, students would all copy the 2 kids that actually did the work right before the bell and, of course, none of the students had any idea what the sentences actually meant.  They were just completing a pattern. I might as well have given them a fill in the blanks worksheet  that looked like this:

□ ◊ O □ ◊ O □ __ O □ ◊ O __ ◊ O □ ◊ __  

I have found a homework activity that has proven to be very impactful...

So, now that I am following the TPRS model, I obviously have thrown out any of those old homework assignments.  One activity that I am occasionally using as  homework has proven VERY effective and beneficial for those students that actually do it. (Alas, They are still teenagers and sadly some of them don't care about learning Spanish nearly as much as I do!)

I post the pictures from our stories on our class edmodo page (Communication & Collaboration) and assign that students use the pictures to guide them as they re-tell our story (Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making) to a parent, guardian, study hall teacher, etc.  In order to get credit for this assignment, students must bring in a signed note telling me that they retold the story in Spanish.

Now, I know that I am not hearing them tell the story and I have no idea whether they use correct pronunciation, intonation, use the wrong conjugation of the verb, etc...NOR DO I CARE!  My goal here is that the students understand the overall meaning of the words and take some risks and at least attempt using the words.  This is a formative activity and it is not my expectation that they students have fully mastered speaking with this vocabulary; only that they are on their way to mastery.  I usually follow up by beginning the next class by showing the story again and having volunteers tell a section of the story for an official speaking assessment and, without fail,  the students that turn in the note that they practiced at home, are WAY more successful that the students who did not do the homework....SHOCKING, I know.

I use the app storykit and post on edmodo, which seems to be a good method; however the format or specific app(s) used is irrelevant.  It's the process of giving the students exposure to the pictures and vocabulary again and forcing them to think about the meanings of the structures that makes this activity so successful.

Here is a link to an example of what the stories look like:

http://iphone.childrenslibrary.org/cgi-bin/view.py?b=gvbtrbo3haaizid6n55o

Awesome added bonus: In addition to the students getting more exposure and practice with the new vocab structures, most of the parents LOVE getting to hear what their kids are learning in class.  

Beefing Up your cuentos with Label box app on iPhone/iPad

Do you take pictures (or better yet, have a student taking pictures) during your stories in class? If not, YOU SHOULD START! It's one of the best ways to get more "bang for your buck" on each story.

When you have pictures, it opens up a lot of possible extensions:

• re-telling of story next class
• great foundation for both writing or speaking assessments later
• competitions between classes the "the class with the best acting gets their story pics posted on the class wiki"
• good to have as a resource for absent students
• helps me remember what in the world we did

Ok, so here's an awesome app. that I use all the time in my Spanish classes. The great part, it's compatible with iPad and iphones; so chances are either you or one of your students already has the hardware needed to implement the use of this app. The really great part, it,s FREE!!!

You can probably just figure out the app yourself and think of way better uses than I have, however if you would lik to see an indepth explaination of exactly how I use this app in my classes watch this video:

Illustrated Relay Review for Speaking Practice

Goal: To give a "safe" low-risk venue for students for speaking practice showing mastery of high-frequency vocabulary
Objective: The students will create simple drawings from which they can tell a 30 second story using their assigned vocabulary structures.
ISTE NETS: Shown below in green




What I needed: 
As I neared the end of a unit, I felt the students had received enough comprehensible input to now begin to ask for some output from them in the target language.  Before the formative speaking assessment, I wanted to give students some practice in a low-risk way but when I just do question and answer one-on-one in my classes, only one student is practicing at a time and each student only gets 1-2 opportunities to practice.

What we did:

Example of vocab. structure

Each student was passed out an iPad and an index card with 2-3 of the vocabulary structures that we have gone over in the unit.

example of student illustration

The students used a drawing app. (in this case drawing pad) to create a very simple yet clear illustration that will guide them to tell a 30 second story in Spanish that uses the structures on the card. (Creativity & Innovation)
(Critical Thinking, Problem-solving, Decision Making) 

Example of story from above illustration:

There is a girl. The girl has blonde hair. The girl has a blue house. The house has a red door. The girl has a hot dog stand. The girl has fancy make up from Paris. The girl has a hot boyfriend. The girl yells, "I have a hot boyfriend." The boyfriend is hot because he has a motorcycle.

Students make 2 lines facing towards each other holding their iPads to show illustrations.  (I usually go out into the hallway to have adequate space) One line will stay still throughout the activity, the other line moves to the side one step every time the teacher says "Rotate". Here's the procedure:

1. Teacher  yells "Line 1" and students in line 1 have 30 seconds for the students in line 1 to tell their partner their story in Spanish. (Communication & Collaboration)
2. Teacher yells "line 2" and the partner now has 30 seconds to tell their story in Spanish. (Communication & Collaboration)
3. Teacher yells "Move it!" and the moving line steps one position over except for the end person who must RUN all the way down to the other end of the line before the teacher yells "Line 1" again.

 

Building Background Knowledge using a Scavenger Hunt

Goal: To increase student background knowledge before beginning a new novel
Objective: Students will be able to make at least 3 connections between their world and Costa Rica
ISTE NETS: Shown below in green


What I needed:
We are about to begin a new novel.  We all know what a crucial role background knowledge plays in a student's ability to comprehend when reading.  An easy place to start is the setting of the reading.  Our book is set in Costa Rica.  I could very easily give a quick lecture on Costa Rica with a slide show to help the students picture it.  In fact, maybe I'll follow it up with a quiz over my lecture to make sure they were listening, right?  (Haven't we all done this?) There is a better way! 

What we did:
One of the quickest ways to increase background knowledge is with a scavenger hunt.  The students worked in their groups of three (communication & collaboration) to complete the scavenger hunt.  We used GoogleEarth and started at our high school and then "went" to Costa Rica.  They had to find out basic info such as, Capital City name, typical foods, at least one bird sanctuary--there's a bird sanctuary in our book, etc. (research & information fluency)  They also had to decide on 3 pictures that they felt best represented Costa Rica. (Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, & Decision Making)

What I gave to the "captains" of each group:

I-Pad Scavenger Hunt

Nombre:

Nombre:

Nombre:
Direcciones: En su grupo busca:

1.)    en “google earth”, busca donde está el país de Costa Rica y que países están al lado de Costa Rica ________________________________________________________________

2.)    en “safari”, busca el capital de Costa Rica ________________________________________________________________

3.)    busca tres (3) fotos que mejor representan el país y su naturaleza ________________________________________________________________

4.)    encuentra (*find) un nombre de un “Bird Sanctuary” ________________________________________________________________

5.)    Da los nombres de la selva en Costa Rica (*Rainforest) ________________________________________________________________

6.)    Nombra las comidas típicas de Costa Rica ________________________________________________________________

7.)    Busca información sobre el “medio ambiente” (*environment) ________________________________________________________________

 

Comments I wish I had caught on video as my students were working:

• "OH! I didn't know that Costa Rica was all the way down there."
• "Hm, Mrs. Rivera, why are all the rooftops red in San Jose?" 
• "Volcanos?  There are Volcanos in Costa Rica?"
• How many different oceans does Costa Rica touch?  They must have a lot of beaches!"

You'll notice most of these quotes are questions!  Isn't it ALWAYS better to get more questions out of our students than just memorized answers?

Videos of what the class looked like:

How I got what I wanted...sort of

So, now that I knew what I wanted I had to figure out how to get the funding for the technology I wanted in my room.  Assuming you do not work in one of those schools that has WAY too much money and not enough things to spend it on, this part will be VERY important. (...if you DO work in one of those, are there any openings for a Spanish techer next year?)

First, I went to my principal and asked for a class set of iPads. After he quit laughing, he very kindly informed me that "No, unfortunately we do not have the budget for that type of puchase for individual teachers."  He also recommended that I look into the world of grant writing.

I contacted my district's brand new grant writer, Ms. Heidi Burki

Although Heidi was new in her position as our grant writer, she had quite a bit of experience with writing grants.  She helped me through the process of writing 3 different grant proposals to get iPads in my classroom. 

**If you haven't ever written a grant before, I highly recommend you find someone to help guide you.  There really is kind of an art to it.  She advised me on how to word things, what to include, what not to include, etc.  I was shocked at how long the process takes.  I would estimate that I spent about 20-30 hours writing and rewriting the grants.  It is extremely hard to express the need and clearly explain your vision and still remain concise.  I honestly thought, this is SO obviously the way we should all be teaching how could they NOT want to fund my idea?  But alas, there were other proposals that seemed more noble. 

I received the news on the first 2 grants...

I am kind of used to getting my way, but I think I took it well...  

  .

I then received news on final grant proposal and I had pretty much given up hope.  To my delight, the Summit Foundation awarded me enough money to buy a 10 pack of iPads and cases to protect them.  I now have a 1:3 ratio in my classroom and am able to integrate technology into my lessons seamlessly.



A long time ago in a classroom far far away...



A long time ago (ok, last Summer) in a classroom far, far away (Breckenridge, Colorado) ... a teacher (yours truly) had a vision to find a way to not only teach her content (Spanish), but also truly prepare all students for the technology-rich world that surrounds us. I would love to create a  "paperless classroom".  Instead of students walking in with enormous backpacks, taking out a pen, paper, their book, etc; I would like for students to walk in, unplug their assigned iPad and sit down.  This is my ideal, my utopian classroom. I'm not there yet...but maybe soon.

 I wanted to find a way to increase the technology access in my classroom.  My school has 3 computer labs in addition to a new mobile iPad lab that are all available for checkout by the teachers.   The thing is, as a teacher, your entire thinking (and therefore your lesson planning) shifts if you have daily access to technology resources; as opposed to: on Thursday we're in the lab, but only for periods 2, 3, and 7.
DISCLAIMER: Shared resources are certainly better than NO resources.  I do not want to in any way  sound ungrateful.  I know that there are many of you out there that would be happy to be able to take your class to any computer lab, but maybe your school doesn't have one.  I am fully aware (and you should be too, if you are going to continue reading this blog) that when it comes to technology, I AM A GLUTTON!

What I don't want is for students to merely be exposed to technology in the form of my wirelessly connected LCD projector, Elmo document-camera, flip video camera, etc. (I warned you I'm a glutton!) Although all of these tools are great and help me immensely during instruction, every single one of these = tech. in the hands of the teacher.



What I want is a technology-rich classroom, where the daily lessons = tech in the hands of the students.  I want my students learning how to read, write, and speak in Spanish while they learn how to communicate, research, connect, problem-solve, etc using the myriad of digital resources available.  Instead of coming back at me with answers to my questions, I want my students to come to me with questions of their own.  I want my students to be able to explore the content on a much wider scale that what I am able to offer them within the confines of my classroom.