Today marks the end of our first week of the 2014-2015 school year. I'm exhausted beyond measure but I'm feeling pretty successful.
This year I've taken part of each period to not only remind students of the rules, expectations, and procedures, but to teach them WHY I do what I do. With the exception of about 2 students, everyone seems on board. I think taking the time to do this may eventually head off problems that typically arise during the October slump.
The other thing I've done this week is to keep the kids on their toes by switching activities frequently. I LOVE Ben Slavic's circling with balls, but with a 70 minute period, I will lose the students quickly if I only do the circling. So we do a mix of TPR, reading, Kindergarten Day, songs, circling, teaching procedures, PQA, comprehension checks, and (in French III) a little partner work. In Latin I, I read the book "Quis Me Amat" and did PQA throughout, while the kids sat on carpet squares. We talked about maybe adding a small snack to kindergarten day and that idea went over very well! So far all of this is working well. I enjoy the first few weeks of the new semester because I love getting to know all of my students.
How was your week?
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
New School Year
After a very busy summer during which I didn't do much actual schoolwork (even though I thought about it a lot), I feel refreshed and ready to roll. I attended a meeting Friday afternoon with my dear colleague, Cynthia Hitz, in Bryn Mawr, PA, organized by Carol Hill, Lori Belinksy, Anny Ewing, and La for the Tri-State TPRS/TCI Teachers Peer Network.
This was an awesome jump-start to my school year because it reminded me of how exciting those first few weeks of newness are. Since beginning my TPRS/CI journey, the first month of school is always my favorite. I start with Ben Slavic's circling with balls activity and just let the language flow.
For French I and Latin I, I plan to explicitly teach the students what I want them to do, and as Carol Hill put it, "Norm the class". This is the fourth year I've taught using the TPRS/CI strategy and I usually wait to teach them how to act until we are in the moment. This leads to frustration later in the semester when I still have students who don't respond to my directions and questions, still blurt out in English, still don't sit with their heads up and eyes up. So from day one, I plan to teach them and tell them what I want from them every day. In both level I classes, I plan to start with a mini-story introducing "She has" and "She wants" just to get students into the groove of what a usual TPRS class will look like. From there I will move into circling with balls and toss in some TPR to get them out of their seats.
For French III, I plan to review expected behaviors before moving into CI with student-provided pictures of summer activities. These are students who came directly from French II in the spring, so I know them well. Last year's French II class was the best of my career, so I am eager to talk to them about their summer activities.
By this time tomorrow I will be one hour away from completing my 16th first day of school (well...34th if you count my own schooling--haha). I'm ready and excited to meet this year's students. Hope you are too!
This was an awesome jump-start to my school year because it reminded me of how exciting those first few weeks of newness are. Since beginning my TPRS/CI journey, the first month of school is always my favorite. I start with Ben Slavic's circling with balls activity and just let the language flow.
For French I and Latin I, I plan to explicitly teach the students what I want them to do, and as Carol Hill put it, "Norm the class". This is the fourth year I've taught using the TPRS/CI strategy and I usually wait to teach them how to act until we are in the moment. This leads to frustration later in the semester when I still have students who don't respond to my directions and questions, still blurt out in English, still don't sit with their heads up and eyes up. So from day one, I plan to teach them and tell them what I want from them every day. In both level I classes, I plan to start with a mini-story introducing "She has" and "She wants" just to get students into the groove of what a usual TPRS class will look like. From there I will move into circling with balls and toss in some TPR to get them out of their seats.
For French III, I plan to review expected behaviors before moving into CI with student-provided pictures of summer activities. These are students who came directly from French II in the spring, so I know them well. Last year's French II class was the best of my career, so I am eager to talk to them about their summer activities.
By this time tomorrow I will be one hour away from completing my 16th first day of school (well...34th if you count my own schooling--haha). I'm ready and excited to meet this year's students. Hope you are too!
Bonjour et Salvete!
After much debating, coaxing and complaining, I decided it's time to post my teaching experiences online. I am fortunate enough to teach next door to Cynthia Hitz, who owns the Teaching Spanish w/Comprehensible Input blog. I say fortunate because without her to bounce ideas off of, on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis, I would probably still be happily copying worksheets, writing verb conjugation charts, and pulling out my hair every time my students had to write in the language.
Mind you, teaching with TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) and CI (Comprehensible Input) does not make my day like a piece of cake. I struggle daily with the following issues: classroom management, student engagement, workload (I have 4 preps (well, 5 if you count my single French V student when I have her do different activities than the IV kids)), switching between 2 languages and variety. However, even with these struggles, I know more about my students than ever before. I feel like I have a better connection to them and their lives than I ever have before. And I don't rip out my hair when I ask them to write in the language.
I hope that this blog enables me to vent about my failures as well as flaunt my successes. Thanks for reading!
After much debating, coaxing and complaining, I decided it's time to post my teaching experiences online. I am fortunate enough to teach next door to Cynthia Hitz, who owns the Teaching Spanish w/Comprehensible Input blog. I say fortunate because without her to bounce ideas off of, on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis, I would probably still be happily copying worksheets, writing verb conjugation charts, and pulling out my hair every time my students had to write in the language.
Mind you, teaching with TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) and CI (Comprehensible Input) does not make my day like a piece of cake. I struggle daily with the following issues: classroom management, student engagement, workload (I have 4 preps (well, 5 if you count my single French V student when I have her do different activities than the IV kids)), switching between 2 languages and variety. However, even with these struggles, I know more about my students than ever before. I feel like I have a better connection to them and their lives than I ever have before. And I don't rip out my hair when I ask them to write in the language.
I hope that this blog enables me to vent about my failures as well as flaunt my successes. Thanks for reading!
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