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Dr. Baros is a dedicated researcher, educator, and LGBTQ advocate. Her areas of expertise are proficiency-based language teaching and creating inclusive environments for LGBTQ students and people.
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A Comprehensible Interactive notebook

8/1/2018

3 Comments

 
I first learned about interactive notebooks during my pre-service training and loved the idea.  However, I never quite figured out how to make it work for me as a teacher or for Comprehensible Input instruction, where I don't want my students writing down notebooks all the time.  However, with my new plan to end everything we do with a Write and Discuss (coming by way of suggestion from Mike Peto), a clear and purposeful plan clicked.  Just in time, too - my new school is an AVID school so interactive notebooks are a regular part of instruction. I've been working on an example notebook complete with all of the supporting documents, and I'm ready to share my draft* with you!!

Please note that my interactive notebook design is slightly modified from what a "true" interactive notebook is, but maintains many of the principals particularly for our daily documentation of learning (the Write and Discuss section).  I am also attending a Jump Start conference for National Board certification as well as meeting with my colleagues in the upcoming weeks, so it may undergo additional revisions as things get fine-tuned for the 2018-2019 school year.
Why and When we will use the IN
​
I mainly want their notebook to be a resource which answers the question "What did I learn?".  It will show the material for a particular day and their mastery of it as well as their progress over time.  Any other activities they are welcome to keep in their notebook in the back, but I am only concerned about the items I want them to come back to throughout the year, including reviewing their progress and accomplishments.

This means there are only certain times which I allow students to use their notebooks or even have them out.  For the vast majority of class, I want them to focus on being present and comprehending input.  However, I hope that by routinely dedicating the last 10 minutes of class to write and discuss with our Interactive Notebooks, students also know they will have plenty of time to write down any notes they wish.  The only other times they will need their notebooks are when they are evaluating and documenting their learning, which will usually happen during specific proficiency activities.

With that being said, the main items in my notebooks (with a more detailed break down below) include:
  • Documentation of input
  • Demonstration of proficiency
  • Reminder of how language is learned and the behaviors that facilitate that process
  • Important rubrics we will use often
  • Light Reading Book Report (as evidence of reading a novel)
  • Charts/graphs of progress
  • Syllabus
  • Questions for La Persona Especial (as we will use these for multiple activities throughout the trimester)

Grading
I have 30% of my gradebook set aside for "Classwork and Activities", most of which will come from items in their IN.  Everything in the IN is going to be graded on completion as part of students' daily formative assessments - this means it's information for me to adjust instruction before the summative assessment of what they achieved.  I want students to get comfortable doing their best and honestly evaluating and discussing their progress.  If they know that items in the IN are graded on quality of completion, it will send a signal that lowers their affective filter and gives them permission to just do their best and not worry about anything else for a moment.  I am going to review their progress each day (see the procedure in the next paragraph) to see what adjustments need to be made or conversations need to be had in order to get them where they need to be.

This policy fits in with the least amount of work for me as well.  As students are working in their IN, I can easily move around the room and stamp/check off pages that have received full credit (or that are done enough that I trust will be worthy of full credit).  I plan to check off the items on my student tracker and grading sheet as well as give them a stamp on their notebook page so they know it was checked and recorded as full credit.  Anything that is less than full credit, I write a small score in the top left corner of the page so they know they still have some work to do if they want more points, but I did check it.  Anything that doesn't get recorded in class, they leave open to the page that needs to be check and turn their notebooks in to the basket.  I finish recording them and put them in their hand-back folder for them to retrieve the following day.

Students are going to give themselves a self-evaluation each day to let me know what's going on.


Structure
I decided to do a binder/spiral notebook combination.  I didn't feel like the hand outs I wanted to give them would work very well in the notebooks and I really dislike the whole idea of gluing and taping papers in (just a personal preference). Plus, after budgeting the number of pages I wanted for their writing activities, I didn't feel like there would be enough room for the handouts.  Finally, I hope that having the combination will prove to be the best of both worlds, especially since students can put things in their binders that I didn't plan on (i.e. Day of the Dead artwork or maps of the Spanish-speaking world) while maintaining the spiral notebook as a documentation of their input and evidence of their proficiency.

In the past, I've used composition books because I didn't want students ripping out pages and spiral notebooks seemed too tempting to do so.  However, I opted for a spiral notebook for the student work this year for ease of grading.  Spiral notebooks easily lay open to any page, so students can set them out or turn them in OPEN to the pages I want to check.  One of the things I've found to eat up time with checking work is simply flipping to the page it's supposed to be on, sometimes finding that there isn't anything on that page in the first place of the student put it on a different page.  Having spiral notebooks that are open to the pages I need to check makes that much simpler.  If students need me to check multiple pages, they can bookmark them with a sticky note.
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Items included in my IN
The spiral notebook will go in the front pocket or clipped into the front if students prefer.  However, unless you get a large binder (which I don't want), having the notebook clipped in makes turning pages impossible, so I prefer it to be in the front pocket.
  • Inside front cover: Self-evaluation rubrics for Write and Discuss - having these here makes them easy to flip to.  After copying the Write and Discuss, students will write down and color code their score.  This makes it easy for me to walk around and make note of students I need to pay more attention to in class for comprehension or follow-up with to help them stay on track.
  • Page 1: Why learn Spanish - students will write and/or illustrate reasons to learn Spanish on this page.  This is the theme of my warm-up for Motivación Mañana (Motivation Morning) on the first day of each week, so hopefully this will be FULL by the end of the course!

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  • Pages 2-3: Table of Contents.  Instead of numbering all of our pages, our "page numbers" will be dates.  I've dedicated the first half of an 80-page IN for Write and Discuss (one per right-hand page) and the second half is for "Meditación Martes" (Meditation Tuesday, where students will respond to a personal journal prompt) and the Free Writes (each Friday).  Although there will be about an equal number of Meditaciones as Free Writes, I want students to write down the date and topic for the Meditaciones  whereas I just want the date for the Free Writes, so I adjusted space accordingly.  For the Write and Discuss section, I wanted to make sure I had enough for almost every day AND I want them to write down the date and title, so I divided that space up into two columns.

  • Interactive Notebook Instructions - I broke these instructions down by section since each one will be used a little differently (here's where the "modified" part of the IN comes in for me).  This gives students a handy page to reference as we complete activities or they are adding artifacts at home.
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  • Section 1: Write and Discuss - I have set aside the last 10 minutes of class each day for Write and Discuss, which doubles as my Closure.  This is when students get their notebooks out and copy down our summary of what we discussed that day.  Side note - I think I am going to allow students who are confident to go ahead and write the summary on their own as I work with the rest of the class and they can check their summary with mine.  I'm not concerned if theirs has errors - we will be working with my perfect copy in class for input and there's no way to guarantee students who are copying won't have errors anyway.  After they've copied the summary of the day, they use the "Comprehension" self-evaluation rubric on the inside of the front cover to score themselves on listening and reading.  If they wrote it on their own or we've done a retell (particularly for days when we're working with a text we already wrote), they can use the "Production" rubric.  I want them to color-code their scores so that I can quickly glance and make note of any students who are in the yellow or especially the red zone.  This doesn't affect their grade, but rather will help me make adjustments for the next lesson or set up a conversation about our game plan for success.  On the left-hand page, students will interact with the text through one of the menu options on the interactive notebook instructions.

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  • Section 2: Meditaciones - Each week, students will respond to a prompt that requires them to expand the vocabulary they know from our characters and stories to a topic that they might discuss in their everyday life.  They will also record their ability to respond on their proficiency tracker, kept in the binder section of their portfolio, as well as record this proficiency, their reasoning for why their response reflects that proficiency level, and two sentences about their next steps on the left-hand page of their notebook.

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  • Section 3: Free Writes - Students will complete their free-writes in this section.  When they are done, they will record their word count (this is more for them than for me) as well as grade themselves using my Free Write Rubric.  This rubric matches the one that they will use on their summative proficiency checks, so I want them to become familiar with it.  Once that is done, they will write a two-sentence reflection about their experience.  Students may use the front and back of their pages, so nothing goes on the left-hand side.  Finally, I want them to show their free-write to a responsible adult (I am going to ask them to say who this is at the beginning of the year, which will usually be a parent but I'm giving them some flexibility because home situations aren't always conducive to that) for a signature.  The adult is also welcome to write their own feedback - as long as it is positive!

​The Binder:
  • Proficiency Tracker - This is based directly on the 2017 ACTFL Can-Do statements.  As students are able to read, listen to, and discuss a variety of texts, they will complete performance activities which assist in demonstrating overall proficiency.  Each time we complete one of these activities, students will write the date in the appropriate box (I will tell them which row and/or columns they should be using) under the proficiency that best aligns with how they did.  Again, this is not attached to a grade beyond completion - my hope is that students will be able to consistently see that they are increasing in proficiency across a wide variety of topics, ultimately resulting in increased global proficiency.
  • How does my brain learn languages? - This is a worksheet where students look at this poster created by Eric Herman and discuss what each part of the acquisition process is and what it means for students.  I am going to use this as my launch-pad for discussing rules and expectations for my Spanish class.
  • Rubrics - I am including any rubrics that students will be evaluated with regularly.  This year, this includes the Interpersonal Communication Skills Rubric (50% of students' grades, put in weekly) and Habits of Strong Readers Rubric, both by Tina Hargaden.  I am also including my Writing Proficiency Assessment rubric, which I will use as my summative writing assessment and students use to evaluate their own writing throughout the course.
  • Book report - Students will complete a novel and demonstrate their learning from the novel using their choice of book report format.  I purchased Bryce Hedstrom's book Meaningful Reading Comprehension Checks and am going to give my students the option of doing Light Reading Book Report #2, 5,7, 9, 11, or 13 - They cannot use the same book report format within the same year.
  • Speed Reading Graph from Eric Herman - I use these at the end of each semester for students to gain confidence in themselves and as an additional measure of their growth and achievement.  During the week of review and finals, they read each story once and graph their words per minute as well as their score on a comprehension check.  Once they score a 6 or below on two stories in a row, then I let them be done as I feel that's an indicator they've reached the limit of their comprehension.  Ideally, students in Spanish 1A would be able to read roughly the first third to half of the stories while Spanish 1B would be able to read most of the stories 1-30 (but starting where they left off with Spanish 1A).  This is NOT part of their grade - it's just another artifact measuring their growth and accomplishments.
  • Syllabus - I put this in last because it does have important information, but we really don't use it as often as all of the other stuff.  Putting it here is just a practicality decision.
  • Back pocket: Questions for La Persona Especial - I  have a handout with all of the pre-planned questions that might pop up in La Persona Especial or in other interpersonal speaking exercises (see Tina Hargaden's Interpersional Speaking Game/Rubric).  They might also pop up on a final exam or review.  In any case, it's useful for students to have a list of the questions that will come up that they should hopefully be able to ask or respond to organically at some point in the course, but I don't use this as a comprehensive list.  I also feel it will help lower the anxiety for students who are called upon as La Persona Especial since they have a good idea of what questions have been or might be asked.  I put this in the back pocket for quick access and so that it's easy to pull out and use if necessary.

Do you use interactive notebooks in your comprehensible input classes?  What do you include and why?  Are there things you choose not to include?  Share your thoughts below!
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Changing the Grading - Again

12/10/2016

1 Comment

 
As the name of this post suggests, this is another step on a journey that started long before this post.  It may be helpful to review the following posts before reading this one in order to contextualize what I'm about to write:
  • Good News for my Students - My realization that students should not be held accountable for what they learn or what proficiency they achieve, but rather their behaviors that lead to learning.
  • Trust - Some thoughts on my philosophy of SLA assessment
  • Structure of my Class - See this post to get a better idea of the activities we do and how I organize instruction and assessment.

As I reflect on all that I've learned during our first trimester, I find myself compelled, yet again, to change the grading system.  I was using an Interpersonal Mode rubric adapted from Ben Slavic which fit the needs of co-creating with the class (One Word Images, Ask A Story, Etc.) very well.  However, with my recent transition to primarily Story Listening, the Interpersonal Mode rubric no longer fits the behaviors I expect of my students since they now have new roles for engagement.  Moreover, there are things missing from that rubric that I want students to be doing, especially since so much of our class time is now spent reading.

The bottom line is that grades should be meaningful, and what I was doing no longer fits what I wish to communicate to parents and students.  So, something has got to change.

What would be meaningful and fair to communicate?
Before I even begin to think about setting up my gradebook, assigning tasks, and grading them, I must be able to answer this question.   The meaningful part concerns what I need to communicate to parents.  How should they interpret the grades that their students receive?  The fair part of this question concerns what students can control - and, as I've explained in the two posts linked at the beginning of this post, I do not view assessing what students can do in the language (i.e. proficiency or tasks) as fair and I have to honor that when assigning their grades (soap box moment: whether or not I agree with it, these grades do influence their quality of life based on how they and their parents feel about them!  Not to mention that high school grades will affect college acceptances and scholarships.  For those reasons, I take assigning them very, very seriously).

For my class, I've determined that Student Behaviors (Citizenship) and Completion of Assignments (Classwork/Assignments) are fair and meaningful to communicate:.  To be honest, completion of assignments can be categorized under student behaviors, but there is some sort of satisfaction when students see a direct connection between the tasks the complete in class and what shows up in the gradebook.  However, in honoring what is fair to assess, these daily tasks are formative assessments of my instruction and students receive an automatic 100% just for completing them.  It feels great to them to get these regular 100% grades in the grade book, and it ensures that students can communicate openly with me about how well I am reaching them while only being graded on what they can control.

How does this look in the gradebook?
Although it may be somewhat arbitrary, I decided to give each of the categories (Classwork/Assignments and Citizenship) equal weight in the gradebook.  The categories are broad enough that I can include everything we do.  I've always preferred to use weights as I feel they give me more accurate control over my gradebook, but that is just a personal preference.
  • Classwork/Assignments (50%):  These are the grades assigned for individual tasks completed.  These include the Listening Reflection Sheets that we do after auditory input as well as any summaries or responses to what students have read, which are all graded on completion only and used for my own feedback on instruction and activities to inform future decisions.  It's also flexible enough to inlude any other assignments students have, such as projects or the syllabus signature, etc.
  • Citizenship (50%):  These grades are based on student self-evaluation of their behaviors in class which facilitate (or inhibit) language acquisition.  This is the category that students are held accountable for and communicate my expectations for them.  I created a new self-reflection sheet that better communicates my expectations and allows students to accurately reflect on how well they met these expectations (The first page is for when students are still doing structured reading as a class; the second page is for when students progress to Free Reading, although it still accounts for students who choose to work with me in a small group).  This reflection sheet is more complete and will take more time than my previous reflection sheets, so I plan to use it about once every other week (keeping in mind that I see my kids every other day - If I saw them daily, I'd probably have them complete this every week).  However, I plan to display a poster of the rubric so that students can be reminded of my expectations throughout the week.  I plan to allow students assign "in between" scores (1 and 3) if they feel that best represents their behavior.  I also like having the points out of 50 because it makes it easy for students to know "what they got" by doubling the score.  Of course, that's just personal preference.

Because this approach is likely unfamiliar to parents and students, I plan to send a letter explaining how students are graded and how to interpret those grades.  I also plan to review their proficiency assessments in their notebooks and touch base with the parents of students who are struggling in their proficiency so that they have a complete picture of their students' performance and how they can support them, while still maintaining fairness in the grade book.  Once I write that email, I will link to it here.
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Trust

11/20/2016

1 Comment

 
Trust.  It is impossible to run my classroom without it.  Yet, it seems that trust is and has been rapidly disappearing from all aspects of life, but especially so in education.

Why is there such a push for teachers and schools to be held accountable?  Would we need to "hold them accountable" if we simply trusted that educators had the knowledge, skills, and integrity to ensure that students are receiving an exceptional education?  Rather than being encouraging, many of the methods of holding educators,  from individual teachers to entire systems, accountable are punitive and strip us of our professionalism and freedom to do what's best for our kids - because someone else doesn't trust that we are already doing what we can and are willing and able to make adjustments where necessary.

Likewise, why do we need to hold students accountable?  If we trusted that they truly cared about their learning and would fully engage in it, why would we need to hold them accountable?  Sure, there is a place for tests to measure learning, but I would argue that the vast majority of quizzes, tests, and homework grades have more to do with "motivating" students to do the work.  Isn't that the real reason behind the question "Will this be on the test?" and other similar inquiries.

I understand that I have a great deal of freedom in my current position than most teachers do not enjoy.  I share what I do not to imply that it must be done just like this, but I do hope that something I say will be inspiring AND practical in your current situation.  If anything, it's at least food for thought about the changes we need to make as a whole in foreign language education, if not our education system in general.

My students have two jobs:
  1. Follow directions.
  2. Let me know when you don't understand.

The first job, following directions, has to do with practicality.  The fact of the matter is that I have 30 students in a classroom.  I can't have a home run with each and every one of them every day in every activity, but I try.  They trust that I will teach them what they need to know, and honor their academic, social, and emotional needs.  They trust that I will do my best to make learning meaningful and pleasurable for them through compelling input.  Because of this, I trust that they will "play along" with what I ask them to do when I ask them to do it and let me know in an appropriate way if they would like me to change what we are doing.

The second job, letting me know when they don't understand, has to do with students taking an active role in their learning.  I cannot read their minds (although I can often read their bodies).  I promise to do my very best to make class comprehensible, but I trust that they will let me know when I have not met this goal.  In turn, I need to behave in a way where students trust that I will be responsive to their needs. Moreover, I have to create an environment where students trust that they will not be penalized academically, socially, nor emotionally by admitting that they do not understand.  This is a tall order, but I feel that I have achieved this with most of my students.  Here's how:

First, I frame comprehension and growth as MY job, not theirs.  If they are doing what I ask, then it is MY job to meet them where they need me to.  It is NOT their job to try to reach for the level at which the language is being provided - it is my job to ensure that I adapt the language to their level.  Thus, letting me know you don't understand helps me do MY job better - and I can't do my job without them.

Second, any assessments are not assessments of them, they are assessments of my teaching.  I need that feedback in order to know if I'm doing a good job.  I shared with my students that their assessments not their grades upon which they will be judge.  Rather, they are my grades for the principals to evaluate me, and my grading policies reflect that.  If students are following directions and letting me know when they don't understand, they will get an excellent grade in my class - there are no tests or formally graded assessments.  I frequently ask them to privately evaluate and indicate their level of understanding using our rubrics.  When we do these assessments, I ask them to "grade me" by indicating what they were able to understand and do.  These never go in the grade book.  If they are following directions and letting me know when they don't understand, but they are still not "getting it", it is because I'm not doing my job to meet their needs.

As a result, my students are very honest.  There is no stress - their learning is in their hands.  Everyone can follow directions.  Everyone can let me know when they don't understand.  Every day, these things are 100% in students' control.  And they trust that I will respect them and do my part if they do theirs - so (for the most part) they are very willing to grade me and let me know if I'm doing my job well.
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The New FVR Program - Update

11/19/2016

5 Comments

 
This is a follow up to my post The New and Improved FVR Program.

Well that was interesting....

Give a kid assigned reading, and they do what they have to to get the assignment done (maybe).

Eliminate the homework and give a kid time in class to read with options and support, and they check out books to take home.

That about summarizes my experience this week.  It was magic!

​Context: These students have had approx. 70 minutes of Spanish every other class day for 2.5 months. I assigned reading as homework three weeks ago (30 minutes), but eliminated all homework this time and decided instead to give students structured free-reading time during class with options for various materials, levels, and scaffolding by working with partners, in groups, or individually (see below for more details). Then, I said "go".

Yesterday, a future Spanish teacher was subbing in the room across from mine. Her kids were at lunch, so I invited her over to see what was happening in my room. The reading time was well under way. I asked her the most important question in education, "How do you know they're learning?"

She looked at them for a moment, and then said, "Because they're doing it?"

YES! It seemed so simple, too obvious to be the right answer. But, glancing around my room, I could see students demonstrating sustained focused on a page to read it, and then turning the pages when appropriate. Students were reading the books out loud to their partners. Students were laughing and reacting to the information in the books. Some students were switching from materials that were too hard or not interesting to materials that better fit their needs.  Everywhere, it was very obvious that the kids were DOING IT. They were READING. So then I asked, "If I know they're learning, then do I need to give them a quiz, test, or some other form of assessment to know that they're learning?" NO! I already know that they are learning. Their behavior IS the assessment, and it doesn't take a trained teacher to know that some awesome learning was happening in there.

Oh yeah, and no fewer than 7 students asked to check out items from me this week, even though they have access to all of them online. In fact, I had a sub on Thursday, and on Friday two girls approached me with books in their hands. They apologized because they "accidentally" took the books home with them, but I could tell from their body language that they didn't want to give them back. So, I asked if they'd like to check them out, and they were so excited! My library is getting smaller and smaller.....

Here is how I structure reading in my classroom:
First, I explained to students the intention of the structured reading activity: I want to help them feel successful reading and find something they enjoy reading, so much that it inspires them to keep reading on their own simply because they want to, not because anyone is forcing them to. I also explained that this might take a while for them, so don't expect it to happen today or even this trimester. As they learn more language, they'll find it easier and easier to read and I will keep working to find something they enjoy. I posted Bryce Hedstrom's poster "How to choose reading material" and briefly went over it with them. I plan on educating them about effective reading for 2-3 minutes each time we do Free Reading.

I assigned some Reader Leaders ahead of time and gave them instructions on how to conduct a reading group and model effective reading and troubleshooting. These were students that already have high reading ability (based on my formative benchmark assessments, which I've created by adapting Eric Herman's speed readings) AND who I felt would be good leaders. I assigned each of them a three-chapter segment of Eric Herman's "Ataques de Hambre" - I chose this book because the students already know the fairy tales and three chapters to a story is less intimidating than a whole book, so it was like a "gateway" to novel reading.

I gave students the options of reading alone or in the groups led by my Reader Leaders. Most students chose to join a group - I found it was best to limit the groups to only 4-5 students (including the leader), smaller for groups that might have trouble focusing (which included, not coincidentally, my lowest readers). There are some students who are on my private "must read with a group" list, but nearly all students chose to read with a group anyway so I didn't have to ask them to do so.

For students not reading in the groups I gave them access to my extensive class library of Fluency Fast and TPRS novels (I only put out my Nov-Low and Nov-Intermediate novels, and then personally invited my advanced students to select from my higher-level novels if they would like to), embedded readings of stories they've already heard in class (one group of three ladies chose these), the "benchmark assessment" readings (Some REALLY wanted to keep passing off stories all period), and access to a Google Drive folder (no one used these - they all preferred hard copies since they were available) where I have more short stories for novice readers, "Mundo en tus Manos" from Martina Bex, and some other resources. I also introduced my highest readers to Newsela. I've reserved the computer lab for all of our future reading days so that students don't have to use their devices to access these materials.  I plan to continue observing what students choose to read (including what they put down and pick up throughout the period) and tailoring my library according to their decisions.

5 Comments

Good News for my Students

10/16/2016

1 Comment

 
I've had a yet another transformative experience this weekend when I attended the COFLT-WAFLT Fall 2016 Conference this weekend.  And while it would be easy to chew on the information for a while and continue class as normal in the meantime, for the sake of my students I feel obligated to march into class tomorrow and make significant changes that I feel are necessary NOW.

First, I realized at a fundamental level how not only our instruction needs to change, but the system itself needs to change.  As the only teacher in a brand new program that I am laying the groundwork for, I have a high degree of autonomy within my middle school program.  If I can shoot for the stars with my 7th and 8th grade students, why settle for anything less?  And why wait?  While I cannot control what happens to my students once they leave my classroom and move on to the high school (and therefore I have an obligation to ensure that they are ready for the different system there), there is still a lot I can do in my own classroom, and my grading needs to change.  Right now, I am using standards-based grading and expecting my students to achieve a certain amount of proficiency by the end of the year.  They are held accountable for reaching certain benchmarks by the end of the grading period.  However, one of my first ah-hah moments of the conference came from Dr. Beniko Mason when she said
NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
Wait, what?  Shouldn't students be held accountable?  Well, yes.  Of course.  But not for what I (and I suspect others) thought.  I wanted to hold them accountable for the end result of language acquisition.  But, there's one major problem with that:
STUDENTS CAN'T CONTROL THEIR RATE OF ACQUISITION.
PictureJapanese students learning English read novels and summarized them via cloze exercises, writing in the target language (English), and writing in their native language (Japanese). The students who summarized the stories in their native language received the highest scores on their English writing at the end of the course.
Language acquisition is like physically growing children.  For instance, let's take those strange little middle-schooler bodies.  We know that they will​ get bigger, taller, stronger, and more adult-looking as long as they are provided the things they need.  If we put the things in their bodies that they need and help them learn healthy habits, they will grow no matter what.  Will they grow at the same rate?  No.  They can't.  Those ladies shoot up in middle school and leave their male peers feeling like children.  Well, except for the one or two star athletes that happen to be taller than even some of the teachers by 8th grade.  But, we know that the boys will eventually grow as well.  It can be awkward, and the students can worry about it, but as adults we know that it'll pretty much all work out eventually.  We just have to be patient, because there's really not much else we can do about it.  And if we want to know how tall someone is right now, we simply tell them their exact height along the established scale.   If you're in the United States, it will probably be in feet and inches.  If you're in the rest of the world, this information will likely come in meters.  But even though that might cause temporary confusion, we can easily and reliably convert from one system to the other and re-establish understanding.

But, say we started grading them on height.  The students who "achieve"  a height of 5'6" get an A, the students who achieve a height of 5'0" get a B, and so-on.  In this system, some of my students get an A+ while I, the "full grown" adult, would get an A-.  My mom barely gets a B-, and many of my students would earn a C or lower (I wouldn't be able to pick them out of a crowd of fourth graders).  Is this fair or even necessary?  No?  Why?  Because students can't control how much they grow, we know they're going to keep growing as long as their needs are met, and we already have a clearer and more informative method of communicating their growth. The same is true about language acquisition.  The nutrition comes in the form of comprehensible and compelling messages.  The exercise is what students do to interact with those messages and ensure that they are comprehending (indicating to the teacher by various means when they do and don't understand).  Under these conditions, they will grow.*  We know this, but neither students nor teachers have any control over the rate at which they grow, and consequently whether they will reach a certain "benchmark" by an artificial and external deadline.  And the measurement tool is proficiency level.  Conversations about credits and grades must be replaced by conversations about proficiency and real-world application of skills in authentic and unpredictable settings.  Already, high schools, colleges and universities, and jobs use proficiency levels to award credits and establish requirements.  We want credits and grades because, in theory, they represent what we "learned."  But, we all know that it's a flawed measure at best.  In any case, we don't really want credits and grades - we want proficiency and real-world skills.  So why are we using some nonsensical measurement tool when there is something better out there already?

It's worth stating again, though, that students cannot be held accountable for this proficiency.  So, then, what should they be held accountable for?  And what should teachers be held accountable, if not the achievements of their students?  The answer is BEHAVIORS.  Are teachers providing the nutrition in the form of comprehensible and compelling messages?  Are students doing their exercise by listening and reading with the intent to understand, and letting the teacher know when that isn't happening?  If so, everyone is doing their job and deserves a great grade or evaluation for performance. (Objectively measuring the answers to these questions can be quickly twisted into something it wasn't meant to be, but that is a topic for another post.

So what am I telling my students tomorrow that will make their day?  I'm going to tell them that we will continue to do the mini-proficiency assessments that they're already doing, but they won't be going in the grade book.  Instead, I'll be grading that they did them at all, that they measured their progress, and that they set goals for future growth.  I will continue to collect the data in my classroom to see who needs what, but there is no accountability for mastery on my students' part - I'm just asking them to exercise, and I'm using this data to figure out the right nutrition to give them.  Their grades will be based on whether or not they do their exercise (in the form of the Interpersonal Mode Self-Evaluation Rubric).  I was also inspired by Dr. Mason's discussion of extensive reading to require it outside of class, although I am going to wait until we come back from Spring Break in order to ensure that my students have enough comprehension in order to ensure that all are able to read at a level that feels easy.  I am also going to provide a plethora of scaffolded reading so that all students can find an appropriate text at the (i-1) comprehension level.  Students should not held accountable for what they read in the form of comprehension quizzes or questions, but rather just that they are reading, likely via an online form for them to summarize in English about what they read, as Dr. Mason showed was more effective for language acquisition than completing cloze exercises or summarizing in the target language.  I'm not going to tell them about the reading yet, but I WILL be talking to administration about adding appropriate Spanish readers to our school libraries.

To wrap this up, the only thing I have to say is that I'm going to school tomorrow with a happier heart than I did last time I walked through those doors - and that's saying something.  I am relieved of holding myself to student achievement of proficiency standards that I know not everyone will reach.  Some students will acquire at slower rates than others, and that is ok - for both myself and my students.  They don't have to worry about how it will affect their grade anymore - I will be relieving them of that pressure and simply ask them to exercise.  Have fun.  Get lost in the story.  Be yourself.  And be happy with whoever that is as long as you're making an honest effort to read and listen with the intent to understand.  Help me help you understand.  And that is all that you will ever have to worry about - the rest will come.


*Of course, there are exceptions in extreme cases where students may have learning disabilities that impede their ability to acquire any language, including their first language
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