Globalinguae
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Jillane Baros, Ph.D.
  • Spanish Courses
    • Pre-K and Kindergarten
    • Elementary Spanish >
      • Lesson Guide
      • Lección 1.1
      • Lección 1.2
      • Lección 1.3
    • Independent Study
    • Additional Languages
    • Storify Me!
  • SpeakEasy Podcast
    • Free Podcasts
    • SpeakEasy Spanish PLUS
  • Student Travel
  • Contact

Blog

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.
HOME

Kagan Cooperative Learning and Spanish

10/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Last year, I was introduced to the Kagan Cooperative Learning method.  I have to admit, I was skeptical at first.  However, as soon as I saw it in action, I was hooked!  I knew I could get more engagement, more comprehensible input, and more communication happening in my classroom if I could successfully transfer Kagan principles to my classroom.

Although I had some success incorporating Kagan into my classroom mid-year, the real strengths are showing this year now that I've had a summer to think it over, truly dive into my lesson plans and modify them to be Kagan-based at least a few times each class, and set up my classroom both physically and with expectations/procedures.  Here are a couple of examples of activities that we've done:

Objective: Read an article in Spanish.
  • Kagan Structure: Rally Coach
  • How it worked: Students worked in pairs.  Each pair had one copy of the article.  Partner A pointed to where they were reading and translated the sentence, asking for help from Partner B as needed.  Partner B followed along and listened.  When Partner A finished the sentence, they Praised (I have Praise Words in Spanish on my walls) or coached (helped make corrections, then praise).  Students traded roles after each sentence.
  • What I liked about it: At a glance, I could see that almost all students were engaged.  They were leaning in toward one another, both looking at the same page, as one student was pointing and reading.  They were asking one another questions and helping each other.  No one was frustrated or embarrassed and it was easy to spot those who checked out on occasion and then redirect them.

Objective: Write sentences in Spanish.
  • Kagan Structure: Jot Thoughts
  • How it worked: Up to this point, students had explored cognates, worked on memorizing some common classroom verbs, and taken notes on classroom items.  The day before, students did an activity where they translated sentences I drew out of a bag (I drew an animal cognate as the subject, one of the verbs, and a classroom object resulting in often silly sentences like "The elephant sits on the stapler).  Having had this modeled for them, they were to create their own sentences using the animal cognates sheet and their classroom verbs and objects notes.  Each group had a stack of small paper squares.  They were to take a paper square and write one sentence on it using the above format, lay it out on their desk, read it to their group, and then repeat.  The goal was to cover as much of their desks as possible with little squares.  I walked around with my Spanish stamp and stamped correct sentences or coached on how students could fix a sentence to make it correct.  I made sure everyone had at least one stamped sentence.  Then, students were to take their notebooks around to different groups and copy one correct sentence for each of the verbs in their notebook.
  • What I liked about it: Everyone was working on sentences.  In fact, they enjoyed creating the sentences so much that they didn't want to go get the notes when it was time - they begged me to let them keep writing sentences!  I couldn't believe how a simple structure could turn a would-be boring activity into something the kids didn't want to stop doing.  It was one of those days it felt like the heavens opened and the teaching angels came down to my classroom singing their praise chorus for the students as they worked.  Students were giggling as they made up silly sentences and others were satisfied that their sentences were perfectly practical and made sense.  Everyone was engaged and everyone got correct comprehensible input when it was time to read one another's sentences.  This was an excellent example of positive interdependence as students asked each other questions as they worked and relied on one another to get all of the sentences in their notebook.  I will definitely be doing this activity again!

If you are interested in Kagan Cooperative Learning, I highly recommend starting with their book and the Kagan Structures for Engagement Smart Card.   I also prepared a one-page handout to share with other teachers who are new to the method.  I'll be attending the Kagan 4-day workshop in February and cannot wait to learn more!
0 Comments

The new Señor Wooly Site

10/4/2015

0 Comments

 
I could not be more happy about this!  The new Señor Wooly website exceeds expectations and then some.  I am so excited to be able to share this with my students this year!

There is now a complete curriculum and you can assign "Nuggets" for each song to students for homework, then monitor their progress.  It does not let them progress until they have achieved 100% on the assignments.  Easy grading and differentiation!  Speaking of differentiation, the website also allows you to set not only the class proficiency levels, but you can adjust the proficiency levels of individual students so the tasks meet their abilities.  The only downside to all of this is that I'll have to re-think a few of my original lesson plan ideas as they were based on the supplementary packets and many of the same activities are now in the "Nuggets".  However, that also means I can reserve my class time for the higher-order thinking activities, such as Movie Talk, writing and speaking activities, and more organic language as students get the basics down from doing their homework.

I cannot recommend this website highly enough - it forms the backbone of my curriculum (more to come on that soon), and this just made everything even easier, more interactive, more focused on comprehensible input, and overall more exceptional than ever.  Thank you Señor Wooly!
0 Comments

Interactive Notebook BreakTHROUGH!

10/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Every year that I've taught, I've attempted to do Interactive Notebooks with my students.  It looks like the third time is the charm, though!  I finally have the Interactive notebooks working out very well.  I definitely enjoy having these notebooks over a standard binder.  I can get creative with how students take notes and I know all of the information is in one place.  Moreover, students know when they are missing information and actively come to get foldables, glue-ins, and copies of notes.  It's so easy to simply tell them which page to open up to, and everyone has exactly what they need!  Here's how we finally made them work:

School Supplies
The first step was to make sure students had the materials they needed in order to create their notebooks.  The items I included on my required supply list (related to the notebooks) were:
  • Regular size 100-sheet notebook (200 sheets) - if you aren't specific, you'll get notebooks of all different shapes, sizes, and page counts that throw a wrench into your plans!
  • Glue stick

These two supplies have been essential and we've used them at least a few times per week.  Sure, it takes a week or two for students to get the RIGHT notebook (even with being specific, people still brought in the wrong size of notebook) and sometimes kids don't have their glue sticks, but they figure it out.  Keep checking supplies the first two weeks of schools and reminding students they need to get these!

Classroom Setup
I encourage students to keep their notebooks at school and provide study materials online in place of their notebooks.  This way, they always have their notebooks when they need them.  So. I needed a storage system that allowed easy access to the notebooks but wouldn't create a mess.  I am also using personal white-boards this year, so whatever I figured out had to store them, too.  My solution came in the form of the plastic hanging file folder boxes - they were perfectly sized to fit the white boards AND the notebooks for all of my periods!  Keep in mind, I have my desks in groups of four, so with three periods of Beginning Spanish I had to fit 5 white boards (I always keep an extra), an eraser or two, and 12 notebooks.  The crates are quite big to put on the desks - I have them sit on the floor next to the group, but out of any traffic.  The system is working beautifully - I can quickly move everything out of the way if needed, students have quick access to everything that they need, and there's minimal mess as students *attempt* to keep their basket semi-organized.

Notebook Setup
Rather than taking a day to set up notebooks, we did it as we went.  On the first day of school, I had students number their notebook to page 20 as soon as they walked in to the class and then start doing the warm-up on page 4.  The students without notebooks simply completed the activity on a separate sheet of paper, but were also put on notice that they NEED their notebooks!  For homework, students had to number the rest of their pages by the end of the week.  On the third day of school, we were working on pages 21-24, so students who had not yet numbered their pages quickly did so through the pages we needed and continued working.  Nearly everyone had their pages numbered by Friday, when we did a culture activity on page 153.  We added section dividers (Vocabulary and Culture) as we used them rather than all at once.  It worked out well and didn't use up a lot of time.

Students glued in pages as we talked about them - I handed out the syllabus in half-sheet form toward the end of the week since most students had their notebooks by then (I posted the syllabus online as well so most parents had already read and sent in the signature page by Friday).  Plus, we'd already gone over most of the information throughout the week, so students didn't need to sit and read the syllabus - they just needed to put it in their notebooks.  I think I will do this a little earlier in the future (probably mid-week) so we don't' just forget about the syllabus in their notebook.

During Teaching
When I hand out a worksheet, I first tell students which page it goes on (and how to glue it in if it's a foldable) and what to title the page.  Then, as I'm handing out the paper, students are already gluing the paper into their notebooks and are looking over it.  The entire glue-in process takes about 2 minutes and students are very good about sharing glue sticks when needed.  For other notes, I simply tell them which page to take notes on and begin.  Students are very good now about asking which page they need to put information on (and getting better at looking at the board to see which page) - they know information can't go just "anywhere"

Keeping Notebooks Updated
I do a notebook check about once every 2-3 weeks.  Basically, I wait until there is enough new information since the last check to merit a new check.  I may throw on a few items from previous notebook checks that I notice aren't completely done and then check every new item we've added that students should have completed.   I also do not check the notebooks myself - I give students a simple rubric and they check one another's notebooks, then turn in the rubric to me!  They are pretty honest and very quick about completing these notebook checks - usually I can have my fastest quiz/test-takers check all the notebooks by the time the entire class is done with the test.  Other times, I just have them swap notebooks and the whole process is done within 3-4 minutes.

In order to facilitate keeping the notebooks updated, I update a Google Doc with the pages students should have, pictures of what the completed pages look like (courtesy of an excellent student's notebook), and links to any hand outs that students may need to print out.  Absent students can check the online notebook to get their notebooks caught up AND students can check the notebook at home if they feel the need to look at the notes.  It all works nicely as long as I do my part to keep it all updated!

*****

In summary, I'm very pleased with how the notebooks worked out this year.  I know we will continue to use them consistently throughout the year (which hasn't happened in the past) as we use them basically every day.  I don't use them in my higher classes at the moment, but they are definitely a valuable resource for my middle school students still learning to organize materials and who must have ready access to their notes.
0 Comments

INteractive Notebooks Revisited

7/13/2014

0 Comments

 
Many of you liked my ideas for using Interactive Notebooks last year.  I did give them a shot this year, and learned a lot about implementation, especially about WHEN they're appropriate.  Unfortunately, they didn't work out as I'd hoped for one main reason: my class is more handout-heavy than it is note-heavy.  Let me elaborate.

In my class, we don't do a lot of note taking.  For the most part, some key vocabulary is introduced and students write down that vocabulary and anything I point out that might help them.  I don't emphasize grammar.  If I did, there would be a lot more notes to take and the Interactive Notebooks would have worked better.  Indeed, when we did take notes, it worked like a charm.  However, we do a lot of learning through discussion and songs.  Discussion doesn't lend itself to notes (obviously), while it's just not efficient for students to copy down lyrics to songs and translate them.  Instead, I provide handouts with the lyrics, a CLOZE activity, etc.  The trouble with all these handouts is that they have to go somewhere.  When using an Interactive Notebook, especially when utilizing a composition book, the only way to get the handouts in there is with tape or glue, which resulted in a number of problems.  Tape is the best since it's least likely for the papers to fall out - that is, of course, assuming that students realize that the tape needs to be positioned in such a way that about half of it is on each paper (some students would tape with 99% of the tap on the handout out and the tiniest sliver of tape actually connecting it to the notebook.  Moreover, students didn't have tape, didn't take the time to actually tape things in, and things fell out.  Not good in a handout-heavy class.

My last complaint is that, while IN's offer so many cool opportunities with foldable, foldable frankly eat up time in a secondary classroom.  Often, there's so much time spent creating the foldable that could be better spent simply instructing and moving on.  Thus, foldables in my classroom were more or less eliminated in order to make sure I had enough teaching time.  At this age, I could very easily provide the information online and ask students to make the foldables at home if I felt they were necessary (I don't - students often find equal or better ways of studying).  I'd like to revisit foldable at another time (and possibly their application in another subject as I can see how it would better organize certain information, but I don't have anything that calls for that just now), but they just weren't efficient in this class.

I also ran into issues with students who never created their notebook for one reason or another.  This is likely a first-year teacher symptom, but a small number of students either joined the class late or simply didn't have their notebook on the days we put them together, so they ended up just taking notes on random pages of their notebook or didn't take notes in a notebook at all.  This was a bit frustrating, especially since these were the students that may have benefitted the most from the structure of an IN.

I guess the moral of the story is that, while IN's can work well in some situations, they're aren't necessarily the best option in others.  If I had a note-taking heavy class where I could title pages and have students take relevant notes (my high school economics class comes to mind), this would be a wonderful tool that would fit the job well.  On the other extreme, if you have a class where note taking is minimum and your class calls for more organization of handouts, IN's are not the answer (this is where I fall).  If you fall somewhere in the middle where you have a lot of note taking, but you also have handouts, I might suggest (and am considering, given some changes to my curriculum) having students combine a folder/binder with an IN - have students put their handouts in the folder/binder and keep the IN for notes in the pocket.  I'm still toying around with what I want to do for next year.  I think I have too many handouts for a folder to suffice (if you do go the handout route, I would suggest using one with the brackets in the middle to keep things more secure), but a small binder with a limited number of tabs to organize the handouts may just be the trick and I've already checked that a composition book will fit nicely in the pockets of said binder.  Plus, binders are more sturdy than folders anyway.

As a final note, here are some things to specify to students about getting their composition book that I didn't anticipate: I didn't realize different composition books had different numbers of pages.  Thus, when I told students to put things on page 95, but they only had 80 pages, we ran into some troubles.  Also, somehow students assumed that all IN's were equal and showed up with these itty bitty notebooks (wha...?).  Moreover, some assumed a spiral notebook would work just as well (they don't).  So, be VERY specific about what notebook students should be getting.
0 Comments

Get rid of the desks!

4/26/2014

0 Comments

 
Over Spring Break, I had the opportunity to observe a French classroom that did Organic World Language.  While there are still some things I'm hesitant about with the method, I did get a huge takeaway regarding classroom organization.

I've never been a fan of desks.  They're in the way, clunky, and hinder true interaction.  This is a major point of the OWL method.  So what do they do?  Students stand or sit in a circle!  The desks are gone.  Students are all able to see and interact with one another as well as the teacher.

I decided I had to give this a try in my own classroom and did so as soon as I got back.  My initial thought is that I love it - suddenly, my students who don't usually interact are in the front row and able to participate - many of whom did so on their own.  They're able to see what's going on with everyone else and comment on it.  I can see all of them and move freely about my classroom - as can they.  With only two people next to them, classroom management is easy enough to simply ask someone to move to another part of the circle.  We can act things out in the circle or I can bring people to the middle.  If I write something on the board (which is kept to a minimum), students can move around to see it clearly.  No more heads down on desks or texting/reading under desks - and definitely no sleeping!

I can see a few clear issues that are easily solved with the right resources and classroom management techniques - both of which are going to be difficult to adjust in the final quarter of the year, but not impossible.

  1. Students want to sit down - I don't see this being as much of an issue when the standard is set at the beginning of the year.  I also think that high schoolers will accept standing up for an hour better than middle schoolers since it's simply what has to be done.
  2. Leaning - Students migrate towards areas such as walls and tables where they can lean instead of stand.  This takes some of the energy away and ties students (often in groups) to certain areas, as well as makes the arrangement unequal across the entire classroom.  When sitting down, this takes the form of half-sitting and half-laying, which is worse than the desks themselves.
  3. Chairs - traditional chairs/desks will inhibit the free-flowingness of the classroom.  I am willing to provide chairs, but need to do so in a way that students can still move freely and easily.  I think I'm going to manage this by taking a weak spot (for me) and turning it into a strength - I'm going to use the chairs as a resource for much more than sitting.
So what kind of chairs will solve all three of these problems?  Drawing on my youth camp days, I remember using 5-gallon buckets that we upholstered and then packed all of our gear into for a cheap, effective, and unique seat/suitcase.


http://finditmakeitloveit.com/2013/05/5-gallon-bucket-seat.html
How does this solve my problems and then some?
  1. Compromise - students may sit, but they cannot lean.  I still have all the benefits of students standing in a circle (and the bucket chairs should prevent there from being a huge height difference if some want to stand and others want to sit).  I also still have the power to take a student's chair away if needed.  They are easy to move (and even come with a handle!) and put away, enabling me to change the classroom configuration when needed (i.e. when we're watching something on the projector/board or taking a test).
  2. Resources - I can put everything I need students to have right under their seat!  Think about it - no more passing out/handing in class sets!  Inside, I can put class books (novels and textbooks), white boards (white paper sealed in sheet protectors), dry erase markers, erasers (a sock), clip boards (when we need to write), props for our stories and conversations..... And more!  Other items that might be useful for other classes might include coloring/glueing supplies, the kind that are generally in a cup in the middle of a group or whatnot.  If I really needed to, I could put extra paper and pencils in each bucket, but that's getting a little generous haha.  And, since students have to get up, take the lid off, dig in the bucket, and then put the lid back on to get anything (which isn't a big deal when asking them to but otherwise it's very noticeable), I doubt students will be getting things out that they're not supposed to have at the moment.
My plan is to have students deposit their belongings in a certain area (backpacks/books/phones out of reach!) and grab their buckets for the day.  (This does lend itself to providing paper in the buckets since I rarely ask students to get out paper, but I wouldn't want them trying to dig it out of their backpacks when I do - they can bring their pencil to the circle).  I could easily ask students to simply leave the buckets in the circle and then put away extras/get out any more that we need.  This opens up so many opportunities for activities and especially interactions!

What do you think?  How would you put in your buckets seats and what activities would you do with students in a circle?
0 Comments
    Follow me:

    Author

    Spanish teacher
    GSA Advisor
    Researcher
    LGBTQ Advocate
    she/her, they/them

    Located in Kelso, WA

    These are my insights, ideas, and thoughts about my teaching, research, and growth.

    Great Stuff

    Dr. Beniko Mason
    ​Dr. Stephen Krashen
    ​Dr. Krashen's Blog
    ​Tina Hargaden
    Watch Tina Teach!
    ​Rita Barret
    Claire Ensor
    Ben Slavic
    Chris Stolz
    CI Liftoff - Facebook
    iFLT - Facebook

    Archives

    April 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    September 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    20time
    Accountability
    Affect
    Assessment
    Circling
    Class Artist
    Classroom Environment
    Classroom Management
    Collaborative Learning
    Compelling Comprehensible Input
    Compelling Input
    Comprehensible Input
    Cooperative Learning
    Curriculum
    Differentiation
    Doctoral Degree
    Documenting Learning
    Engagement
    Evaluation
    Feedback
    Foldables
    Free Voluntary Reading
    FVR
    Genius Hour
    Google Classroom
    Grading
    Heritage Speakers
    Homework
    I+1
    Interactive
    Interactive Notebooks
    Jobs
    Kagan
    Krashen
    Language Acquisition
    Language Chunks
    Lesson Plans
    Library
    Materials And Resources
    Methods
    Music
    NBCT
    Noise
    Non Targeted Instruction
    Non-targeted Instruction
    Notebooks
    Note Taking
    Note-taking
    One Word Images
    Organic
    Planning
    Principles
    Reading
    Reflection
    Research
    Review
    School Supplies
    Señor Wooly
    Spanish
    Stories
    Story Listening
    Student Input
    Studying
    Syllabus
    Targeting
    Technology
    Trust
    Units
    Vocabulary

Home

Products & Services

Blog

Menu

Contact

Copyright © 2019
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Jillane Baros, Ph.D.
  • Spanish Courses
    • Pre-K and Kindergarten
    • Elementary Spanish >
      • Lesson Guide
      • Lección 1.1
      • Lección 1.2
      • Lección 1.3
    • Independent Study
    • Additional Languages
    • Storify Me!
  • SpeakEasy Podcast
    • Free Podcasts
    • SpeakEasy Spanish PLUS
  • Student Travel
  • Contact