Blog – Page 9 – Path 2 Proficiency

Creating Classroom Community

We all talk about building classroom community and building relationships with the students, but I have to share a story with you all.

I recently lost my voice for two weeks, which really messed with my identity as a teacher, much less a language teacher. But even though we’d only been in school a few weeks, I’m very proud of how my students worked hard on their interpretive skills since I could only whisper. Each day, one class kept a tally of how many days I had been without my voice, and they even marked their papers with the hashtags #FindProfesVoice2k16 and other fun hashtags like #StillNoSignOfIt. They asked about my voice and were concerned because they knew they were missing out on the excitement to grow that we had built upon during the first couple of weeks of school.

This year, I have tables instead of the traditional desks, so my students are able to facilitate more of a community and collaborate more on their work, and I think it’s really working so far because we have “Table Talk” (said in my best/worst imitation Brooklyn accent) before we have any whole group discussion. I think “Table Talk” really solidified the classes’ idea of community, especially while my voice was–ahem–on vacation because they really had to rely on each other to navigate the texts rather than try to convert me into Señor Diccionario.

And when my voice finally did come back, I entered each class with a simple “Hola”, and each class smiled and clapped for me. The class that had been keeping track of the hashtags erased them all and simply wrote #CaseClosed. It was truly heartwarming.

I know that what we have in our world languages department is special because each of us develops relationships with our students; we laugh, we joke, we let them talk with their friends–in the target language, of course. But most of all, we care, and they know that.

It’s all about them!

August happened, there’s no turning back… So I mustered up the courage and walked through the classroom door. Greeted suddenly by the off-gassing of new tables, I immediately threw the windows open. Then came the deer-in-the-headlights moment. What will I do with them? How will I arrange them? Should I figure that out first before digging into the “real work” of getting ready for that first day? I have to admit that I’ve always put the classroom arranging and beautifying tasks ahead of every other task in August; after all, I can’t really “think” until my stage is set. I had asked for the tables, but hadn’t anticipated what they’d mean to my space. I’ve always put a great deal of importance on my physical environment, be it my childhood bedroom, run-down student apartment, or my classroom. I can’t wait to hang up pictures, create color combinations that are soothing, make the atmosphere gemütlich; and that goes for my classroom as well.

I’d always felt very confident about the learning environment I provide my students. They like my room, and they say so. The couch is a seriously comfy 70’s floral monstrosity, there are interesting ads, pictures, posters, infographics, and reference charts everywhere, and we’ve even had a communal crossword puzzle going. But as I sat there that day, probably breathing in way too many airborne chemicals, I decided to re-think my yearly process. I decided to assess my confidence and maybe get some guidance.

I heard myself say “my space,” “my stage,” “my classroom,” and it suddenly felt contrary to what I thought had always been my primary goal for arranging and decorating the classroom; that I had been doing it to benefit student learning.

I was questioning my motives and needed to redirect. I wanted this to be my students’ classroom. I’d just hang out here a little more often.

So I accessed the TELL Framework Environment Self-Assessment and got my pencil out. I filled it out, but what jumped out at me were E4 and E5.

Disclaimer: It has taken me some time to approach these self-assessments with anything less than fear and trepidation and choose instead to use them as a tool to guide growth rather than another opportunity to self-judge. It helped a lot when I started taking each statement and having a friendly conversation with myself or a trusted colleague rather than going straight to filling in the circles. And, the self-assessment is for me, right? I don’t think I’ve ever left a self-assessment without wanting to set a goal, even if it were a domain that, at first glance, I felt I did with confidence.

E4 : I create a classroom environment that is culture-rich and encourages the use of the target language.

How did I do? Well, my big eye-opener from E4 was the phrase “my students and I.” Sure, I consider the needs of my students when I put the classroom together, but do I really involve them in the process? Give them input? Then I put the phrase “my students and I” together with the verbs “select,” “participate,” and “create,” and I realize that this is work that we need to do together at the beginning of the year in order to make the classroom our space. Much of what I see in my classroom is here for my benefit and not for my students’.

E5: I maximize the organization of the physical environment to support the performance objectives.

E5 is all about physical environment. Many of the statements in E5 are also included in the Physical Environment Self-Assessment (Feedback Tool Self-Assessments), which I plan on putting in the hands of a colleague I’ve invited to the room a few weeks into the school year to provide feedback on what I felt we’ve accomplished.

Again, it’s all about the students. I’m not sure my students always feel like there’s an open invitation for them to access available resources. I want them to explore the classroom, but have I established the procedures with them to do so? Do I leave sufficient space to display current samples of student work? Do I really provide enough space for them to receive information they need from me? Shouldn’t they be invited to add their own messages to these four walls?

So now it’s time to decide how to proceed. Based on my responses on the self-assessment, I’ve come to the conclusion that too much of “my” classroom is about me. First off, I think I’ll put books and reference materials I seldom (or never) use in boxes and get them out of here. Resources I use for planning are primarily web-based and, in all honesty, I can’t point out which books I’ve pulled off the shelves and truly referenced in the past few years. That will clear out about 75% of my shelf space and create student space; and I can ask the students what they might want to do with it!

And the walls? Sure, I’ll keep some favorites on the wall, but otherwise I’m going to keep it simple. I think that Megan Smith wrote this blog just for me, except that the question word posters aren’t in German 🙂

http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/teacher-problems/keep-it-simple-classroom-decor/

For a more comprehensive array of ideas, check this out, too!

http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/category/planning/class-decor/

Next, I’ll explore the resources that TELL has identified for further reading on the topic of Environment.

Finally, I’ll go back to the Environment Self-Assessment.

E2 invites me to reflect on how I collaborate with my students to promote a safe and supportive learning environment. I’ll easily identify some goals that we will weave into those weeks of class.

And all this time I thought I wasn’t doing the “real work” of getting ready for that first day…

Brain Food

I tweeted earlier this week about getting my brain food ready in preparation for the TELL Collab in Austin, Texas, this weekend, and it really got me thinking about the kinds of ways we teachers feed our brains even on summer break. I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m engaged in some serious thinking–from taking exams to preparing them to collaborating with colleagues–I get seriously hungry because I almost feel the same kind of tired as if I’ve just worked out! In the same way I’m ravenous after a good session in the gym, I’m tired, hungry, and a little sore after a good collaboration and planning session with colleagues.

But it’s the middle of June, and summer break is in full swing. Why think about the next school year and working with colleagues now that the school is already over? I don’t have to go back until the fall; we’ll have a more collaborative year next year.

The thing about being a teacher is that we’re always thinking and planning and talking and researching, and often as soon as the year is over, we’re reflecting on how to make the next year even better. There was a post on edutopia last summer entitled “The Myth of Having Summers Off”, and it’s an excellent read because we teachers are constantly on the lookout for new ways to feed our brains, even in the summer, even during our “off” time. Like in the gym, we seek out new ways to train our brains in order to help our students make the gains they need as they become more proficient in their target languages. I use the Pocket app (thanks for the suggestion, Amy!) to organize authentic resources as I’m just searching through my Twitter feed and come across something I might be able to use in my class. Just because we’re not in the classroom during the summer months doesn’t mean we’re not

And there’s the TELL Collab. The TELL Collab is one of the most tiring and refreshing PD opportunities I’ve ever been a part of because it not only gives us the space to ask questions about best practices, the sense of the Collab is to encourage asking those questions in order to help us language teachers be equipped to move our students along the path to proficiency. Also, the spirit of the Collab is to collaborate with colleagues who are also along the path to proficiency in their teaching. Like in the show American Ninja Warrior, teachers at the Collab are both encouragers and participants in the sessions. No one is left out on their own to attack the course because too much is at stake for our practice and our students.

This year, I’m excited to be heading back to Austin and the fantastic setting at the Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning for a truly remarkable, open, fun, brain-stretching, and tiring experience! I’ll just stop by snacks table in between sessions to refuel and maybe to stretch a little in between sessions.

Make sure to follow Path 2 Proficiency on Twitter and Facebook for updates and Hot Seat sessions from the TELL Collab this year! And, of course, check out #tellcollab on various social media to hear what participants are saying!

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132832534@N03/18779200068

Focusing on the Long Haul

In thinking about assessing proficiency and growth as I approach the end of the year, I sometimes feel overwhelmed and a bit of self-inflicted pressure. Since making the switch to teaching for proficiency, I’ve come to understand the importance of assessment and feedback like never before. I am greatly influenced and inspired by the wonderful proficiency focused teachers on #langchat–many of whom work in secondary education, and have planned creative, effective IPAs for the end of the year. At the elementary level, the process of assessment looks a little different– and when I feel overwhelmed with the task of assessing all of the levels I lead, I try to remember what makes language learning in elementary so unique–it’s the long haul. The privilege of teaching elementary world language is developing a long term relationship with my students and the students’ long term relationship with the language.

What this means in my school setting, is that I’m not looking at where the children are at the end of 2nd or 3rd grade always, rather where they are functioning at the end of 8th grade. It may take up to two years to see real measurable growth–especially because I only see my students three times per week in elementary, four in middle school. I want to make sure the children are progressing in a concrete, measurable way, but one of the challenges of working in an elementary setting is the amount of preparation–for years I taught 1st grade through 8th grades. With so many levels to prepare, I find that I need to focus and prioritize my efforts. As this year closes, I’ve decided to focus on the 8th graders, who are nearing the end of their journey with me.

For the first time, I’m administering the STAMP test to the 8th graders–as the results roll in, I am both excited and nervous– I know the assessment will provide the data I need to better facilitate learning with future groups and will support and encourage the students as they transition into high school. What’s exciting to me is that we’ve been talking about the proficiency path and setting goals based on performance levels before this year. Now the students are going to get solid, objective feedback on where they are on their journey. What’s nerve wracking is that our program has operated under the notion that the 8th graders, on average, graduate within the range of novice-high to intermediate- low proficiency. Now, I’m going to have the facts to support, or not, that goal. Based on those results, I will be taking a hard look at what I do at all of the other levels–starting in kindergarten.

The 8th graders are coming off of a unique opportunity to test out their proficiency–an immersion/homestay experience in Costa Rica. This is where the rubber really hit the proficiency road, and the students have the opportunity to focus on what they can do using the language. They all were successful in their own ways–and proved to themselves what they can do with Spanish. An added bonus is that I keep a blog about the experience, which is shared with all of my younger, elementary-aged students. They are already setting their eyes on the prize of using Spanish for a big, practical life experience. It’s the ultimate Understanding by Design lesson.

By looking at my graduating students and their journey, I’m developing a bigger picture of my program. Are the students developing proficiency? If so, at what levels? What about independence and ownership in their language learning? Where are their cross-cultural skills? What are they carrying with them that feeds life-long learning? I find myself also waxing sentimental. I remember these students when they were six years old singing songs and playing hand-games in my class. And I feel grateful. I helped them to tie their shoes and wrap up lost teeth. I doled out band-aids and hugs. We went on field trips to restaurants, museums and the market together. And we learned Spanish. I got to walk with them for the long haul.
Yes, I want to get better at writing IPAs for my other levels, and set some measurement tools for the end of 3rd and 6th grades. I’m flooded with ideas about assessing the children’s performance for next year. But, for right now, this is enough.

Building Up

Teaching AP Spanish, for me, is as much a reflection on teaching Spanish 1 as anything could be. A couple of years ago, I was teaching several sections of Spanish 1 in addition to levels 3 and AP. Before that year, I knew what I was supposed to teach in level 1 because I was striving to provide them with the best basis possible for moving up the pipeline and to be ready for college level Spanish. But bridging from level 1 to college seemed so nebulous for my students. In Spanish 1, many of them were freshmen, so thinking about college seemed like an experience too far away to even think about that kind of investment.

But what does it look like when students are taking Spanish 3 or 4 and are going to be in AP next year? How could I build into my students this year so that they’re ready for the next year? What should my levels 3 and 4 students know before coming to AP?

Well, I asked them.

Overwhelmingly, they said that students need to be able to talk to someone else. Not translate. Not script. Not conjugate. Talk.

This was satisfying to hear, as their teacher, because that’s my main goal, too–to get them to maintain a conversation. According to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, that’s solidly Intermediate Mid. Besides, students aren’t going to be in a situation outside of class where they have to write out what they’re going to say first, have it corrected by a teacher, then read their script to the next person. Our classes must have authentic situations in order to prepare our students for success. For my AP classes, however, they asked me to push them to design tasks that would allow them to show how they would negotiate a problem or be able to narrate across time frames. Since the students had such specific requests on how they can push their own proficiency, that really drove me to dig in to what they would need to say in order to provide them the practice.

I’ve heard teachers say before–and I have, too–that since we are often the only model for target language the students may get, then we need to make sure they have a good model and can learn the language correctly. While that is true, it is incumbent on us teachers to have our students do the heavy lifting in learning. It is not enough for us to share with them the proficiency guidelines; we must show them. And to take it a step further, we must not leave it at showing them how to grow, but teach them the strategies of the targeted objective and let them stretch and grow under our tutelage.

It is not enough anymore to say that students in levels 1-4 must learn a bunch of loosely connected topics then really bare down when it comes to AP. Advanced Placement classes shouldn’t even be seen as the culmination of language study; rather they form a bridge between the classroom and college or career. The skills students learn in levels 1-4 about spontaneously having a conversation, about reading and talking about an article, about listening to an interview then writing a persuasive essay–these are all skills that are needed for students to be productive and proficient communicators. So why are teachers waiting until levels 3, 4 or even AP to teach them?

Teaching for proficiency gets us out of our comfort zone of vocabulary quizzes and fill-in-the-blank conjugation drills. It moves us beyond writing skits and memorizing speeches. It pushes us to do more than watch movies about the target language culture; our students can create movies in the target language. We didn’t become teachers to be complacent workers; we joined the ranks of educators to innovate and help shape the future generation because we recognized something inside ourselves that we wanted to impart. We know what lies ahead for our students, so it is incumbent on us to prepare them for what is on the other side of our classroom door.

If you want honest feedback about what students need, ask them; they will definitely tell you and challenge you to let go of some hard and fast beliefs about how skills match up with standards. They will push us to continue to strive for what is best in order for our students to grow beyond a recognition of the language parts to being able to use the language in a proficient way.

On their own path (05/14/16)

Oh, the tension of end of the school year. Can you feel it already? Teacher nerves are shot. Students have checked out. Just about everyone including the janitors are counting the days until everyone is gone for the summer. But the year isn’t quite over yet and how you close a school year might be almost as important as you start one, so I’m thankful for those teachers who continue to push themselves and the learners in their classes. Even more thankful when they continue to share their reflections that cause me to think. Hope some of these posts from the past couple of weeks will do the same for you.

“Why We Are Doing This?” – Intentions Set Expectations For the Interpersonal

This just might be the most frequently asked question by learners in classrooms today and if you can’t answer that question for each and every one of your activities, you may want to rethink your plans for the day. Japanese teacher, Colleen Hayes, reminds us that it isn’t enough to share learning targets or agendas with students, but to help students see connection between the activities and the potential learning outcomes. Give our lesson a purpose and the students the motivation to actively participate in what is about to happen (or even what just happened). Read Colleen’s post –>
Lost Pets

A short fun post from Spanish elementary school teacher, Jennifer Kennedy, that provides a great example of how you can move from just teaching vocabulary to teaching for a communicative purpose. Animals … a favorite topic of most elementary school teachers. And why not, kids LOVE animals and they do provide a great opportunity for input. However, far too often it is treated like a topic and students output is limited to novice low utterances (identifications) of animals. In her post, Jennifer shares how she has students create lost pet posters helping kids to produce language beyond the single word level and even providing the option to perhaps create with the language. Read Jennifer’s post –>
Love is

I don’t even know how to summarize this post from Spanish teacher, Laura Sexton. I’ve read it so many times over the past couple of weeks. It has shaken me. It has made me pause. It has made me reflect. It has made me think. It has made me wonder. Read Laura’s post –>
Join me on Kifi

While this post may not be focused on language teaching, the teacher nerd me got all excited with Spanish teacher and blogger, Sara-Elizabeth, posted about her experience with a new link saving and link sharing service. Much like her, I have never found Pinterest to be an effective tool to save all of my work bookmarks, although I love it to get inspiration and find new resources. Can’t wait to play with this new toy this summer. Read Sara-Elizabeth’ post to discover Kifi–>
From the Path 2 Proficiency: Surviving EPIC Failure

“Sometimes things happen and we have EPIC failures in our classrooms, but we don’t need to buy stock in Kleenex or Ben & Jerry’s. It’s going to be ok.” This is a must read from Spanish teacher, Rose Rhodes, for any teacher, because we have all been there. Read Rose’ post –>
From the Path 2 Proficiency: The countdown has begun!

Go ahead and admit it. You are counting the days until the end of the school year. That’s ok. It’s only natural. World language educator, Alyssa Villarreal, has some tips to make the most of the end of the school year and. Read Alyssa’s post –>

Surviving EPIC Failure

This post is not shiny or flashy with great pictures of my kids engaged and working on creative, fun, or culturally relevant tasks. This is a reflection on a week that ended with crying and an unhealthy amount of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. This was my week of EPIC failure, and I feel that you should know when it falls apart for me as much as when things are clicking along on this proficiency path. Sometimes, for any number of reasons, we don’t do what we know we should do, and our kids fail. This is what happened in my class this week. Someone once said, “no student has ever died from bad world language instruction”, which I’m sure is true although I haven’t fact-checked that statement, so I would like you to come with me and reflect on the results of my recent experience with my own “bad world language instruction.”

Let me set the scene for you…I am giving a Benchmark exam: the summative assessment of the whole unit. The listening passage plays, the speaker is speaking, and my children are staring at their tests with expressions ranging from slight confusion to horrified awareness that they have no idea what is being said. The passage ends…my students do not even move. You know how normally they get that look of recognition on their face and hurriedly scribble the answer? Yeah, no. Nada. The passage plays again. My one native speaker quickly writes a few answers. Slowly, my kids kind of shrug their shoulders and start to answer the questions. This continues through the rest of the listening passages, and the reading sections as well. I pass out the writing prompt: I had kids just put their heads down and sleep or turn in blank papers. Blank. I have word walls. I have taught them the emergency plan to beat the rubric when they don’t know how to respond to that particular prompt. At this point, I’m panicking thinking “just write SOMETHING in Spanish so I have SOMETHING to grade!!”Nope. Nada. Lots of nada.

The test is over, and my kids leave. I usually score the reading and listening immediately because it’s quick and easy. I didn’t even want to, but I had told them I would have those two pieces in by the end of the day, so I did. The scores start…45. WHAT?!? I checked the key. I checked the scanner. Something has to be wrong. Nope. The next ones were: 60, 45, 50, 75 (yay!), 30 (really, is that even possible?!?!), 65…and so on and so forth. By the end of scoring roughly 60 students, my averages for reading and listening were 69 and 70 respectively. I was freaking out. I’m the department chair! I can’t have these scores! I can’t take these scores to share with my department! Do you have to compare data with your department? Yeah, let’s talk about the long walk to that meeting…When I tell you I was trying to figure out how I could mysteriously get sick on the way and get in my car instead, I am not exaggerating at all. *Please note that my reaction was completely ego-driven and NOT AT ALL about my kids.

So…needless to say, everyone else’s data was WAY higher than mine. Oh, and this was the meeting that the administrator decided to sit in on because we were comparing data and they like that. Let me tell you, my 69/70 looked pathetic next to the 77/79 and 84/85 of my colleagues. They asked me what happened, and I said “Well, it’s not great, but it’s not that bad considering I was out several days before the test for this and that reason, and I had several kids absent who came back and took the test even though they weren’t prepared because they didn’t come to tutoring, and I have changed some things around and am trying to make them more accountable and obviously they’re not doing that…” I can barely type that without feeling ill. Listen to me putting my instructional failure on the backs of these kids and some inconvenient circumstances. I’m making all these excuses for whom? To what end?

Fast forward an hour, and I did finally get in my car. And I cried. A lot. And then I was mad. And then I contemplated quitting. And then I ate ice cream. Please tell me I’m not the only one who has ever felt like this. As I ate my ice cream, I looked back on the weeks leading up to this test. I can tell you honestly that I was just marking time, not really making a focused effort with my planning. I had reasons, but they don’t really matter. My lessons weren’t designed well, my TL speaking in the classroom was nowhere near 90+ on several days, and I was just getting through. I was gone a lot, and I was trying to give them a few more tasks online than I’d done before, and I did have several kids absent for extended periods of time, but mostly it was me not doing my job well. So of course I cried again. I’m pretty dramatic about things.

Fast forward another few days, and I still hadn’t gotten over it. We were moving on to the next unit with this terrible taste of failure in our mouths, and clearly no grasp of last unit’s content. Then the most amazing thing happened: I told that story to a very wise woman and she said “So that’s feedback. Do it again.” I said “Yeah, but…” and she said “It’s ok. Do it again.” No drama. No excuses. Nada. Just do it again.

I kept thinking about her statement, and that Maya Angelou quote “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” So, my problem is, I know better. I know proficiency-based teaching works. I know that I need to use the target language 90% of the time. I know that I need to have daily learning targets and checks for understanding and all of the things. I know that. But this time, I didn’t do it. And my kids failed. Let me rephrase: I failed…and their grades reflected that.

So how do you get over an EPIC failure? I don’t know if there’s a right way, but here’s what I’m going to do. Are you ready? I’m just going to do it again…and I’m going to do it better. Monday is coming. I have my feedback. The kids are going to get their feedback from me, and we are going to try again. It really is that simple. I’ve got three parts to my plan.

I’m going to apologize to my kids for letting them down and not bringing my best to the table last unit.
I’m going to design purposeful lessons that mix in the last unit’s content with this unit’s (it’s all language, right?), and we are going to rework all the areas that got missed.
I’m going to put in more frequent checks for their learning on the specific targets I have, so no one is blindsided by any assessment.

Sometimes things happen and we have EPIC failure in our classrooms, but we don’t need to buy stock in Kleenex or Ben & Jerry’s. It’s going to be ok…it’s not that serious…language teaching and learning is a growth process, and as we all know, no student has ever died from bad world language instruction.

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/yevkusa/4675848148/

On their own path (04/30/16)

It’s been one of those really busy weeks, where I have been counting the days, hours, and minutes until the weekend. For some reason nothing seemed to work this week and everything was due at once. It’s nice to know though that I wasn’t alone and going through these blog posts reminds me that we are together: a family of educators. Hope you find these posts from “my family” as helpful as I did this week.

The Empty Desk

Being a language teacher is so much more than inspiring young learners to acquire a new language and explore new cultures and perspectives. Anyone that has spent some time teaching, knows that the “it’s all about relationships” mantra couldn’t be more true. This certainly hit home in this incredibly raw post by Spanish teacher Jessica Pederson dealing with a sudden loss in her classroom. What Jessica describes just might be the most important task you have as a teacher. While I hope that not every teacher has to experience this, it provides me with comfort to know that our students are in good hands. Read Jessica’s post –>
They couldn’t hear the word “no”

This rich post from Spanish über-Blogger, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell, is like getting a Buy-One-Get-One-Free post as she is reminded of one of her earlier entries she wrote addressing a level 1 teacher from the perspective of an AP teacher. Now that she is once again teaching level 1 and experiencing some unexpected challenges, those words from her past ring once again true. Sara-Elizabeth’ advice covers everything from using authentic resources, to using real-life contexts, and teaching idiomatic expressions. Read Sara-Elizbeth’ post –>
A toe in the water

If you are considering making changes in your teaching and helping your students move along towards higher levels of proficiency but don’t know where to start, then this post from Spanish teacher Brian Riordan might be for you. Sure, the beginning of the school year is often the easiest for big changes, but how about taking the time at the end of the school year to try something new. What do you have to lose? “I announced to the kids in Spanish 3 & 4 that there will be no more (explicitly-taught) vocabulary or grammar quizzes the remainder of the year. I just couldn’t continue on the old way in good conscience.” Intrigued? Then you should read Brian’s post –>
From the Path 2 Proficiency: Forge Ahead, Finish Strong

“This time between Spring Break and the end of the school year may seem like Heartbreak Hill of the Boston Marathon.” If you are on of those teachers, who is counting the days until the end of the school year, then Spanish teacher, Paul Jennemann has an inspirational story that might make you want to make the best of these last few remaining days. Read Paul’s post –>
From the Path 2 Proficiency: Make sure your students get F.E.D.

Many of us understand that using rubrics is important and this week’s #langchat discussion brought out many great ideas and suggestions for doing so effectively. World language educator, Alyssa Villarreal, reminds us in her post about the true purpose of a rubric and shares how to close the feedback loop. Read Alyssa’s post –>
From the Path 2 Proficiency: Finding Time in the Crunch

The newest author in the P2P family, Spanish teacher Valerie Shull, provides some honest insights into how she tries to incorporate reflection into her planning process despite “a rapid fire class schedule”. In her post, she shares four specific steps that have allowed her to “assess how effective (or ineffective) my unit/lesson/interaction was, and think about what comes next.” Read Valerie’s post –>
From the Path 2 Proficiency: Fashion Forward

Sure you have heard about the importance of using authentic resources. Sure have some lessons that are stale but you don’t know how to change them. Well, Spanish teacher, Rose Rhodes, felts the same and shared some ideas on how she effectively upgraded a lesson from last year using authentic resources. Read Rose’s post –>

Reflection … Finding Time in The Crunch

There was a time not long ago that I would write a week’s worth of lesson plans at a time. On Friday I sat down (with my textbook teacher’s edition) and planned out the next week’s lessons, pulling the support materials, and then following the set plan. Since making the shift to teaching for proficiency, I’ve found that, for me, that practice had to be left behind along with my 15 year old textbooks. I find that by following a thematic unit, and planning a lesson at a time, I am able to be more responsive to the children’s needs and language development. But, it’s more work and has required a shift in how I use my planning time. I am in the process of writing units, and a normal teaching day involves 7 classes spanning an age range of 7-14. Truly, I love teaching the various levels, but at the end of the day, working with a rapid fire class schedule, there’s never enough time and something is often missing: Reflection.

It’s this piece that is often left off in the time crunch, but it’s so, so important to me. Reflection is when I can assess how effective (or ineffective) my unit/lesson/interaction was, and think about what comes next.

When I leave it out, I feel at sea, disconnected and as though I’m just plowing through (often!).

How do I address it? Well, I’m still working through it. I want to get better at it, and here’s what I’ve done so far:

1) Keep a notebook for jotting down thoughts after a class or at the end of the day.

This works for some of my colleagues, but for me, I had a hard time finding specific reflections on lessons or children, and then the notebook became where I wrote to-do lists. So, I discarded this method.

2) Build reflection into the planning process.

I’m using the unit and lesson plan forms from The Keys to Planning for Learning by Laura Terrill and Donna Clementi (I’m using the electronic versions so I can search them easily on Google Drive). At the end of the lesson form, there’s a place to reflect on what worked, what didn’t and what to do next time. This is working for me, and was just what I needed to be able to find my notes and reflections on specific lessons. Due to my schedule, I am not able to sit down and write about every class, every day…but I’m working on it! I like that it’s built into my lesson planning process and I’ll be able to revisit it next time I present that lesson or activity.

3) Blogging

The act of writing in the lesson plan is helpful, but blogging and tweeting (microblogging) allows me to participate in dialogue with other teachers about my practice and theirs. Colleagues in my PLN reflect back to me and provide thought provoking questions, and sometimes, the gentle words that I’m not always able to give myself.

4) I ask the children about how they’re doing.

I can’t believe that I’ve taught for so long, and have only now started doing this—I’m holding to the “better late that never” school on this one. I’ve started asking the children to reflect on how they’re feeling about their growth (yes—in elementary I talk to the children about proficiency—we use the ice cream cone rubric from Alyssa Villarreal’s post), whether they understand what’s happening, or how they feel about the work we’re doing (does it feel too challenging, just right, too easy?). In their reflections, I’ve found a win-win—they’re developing awareness and agency in their learning, and helping me to reflect on their learning. At the end of the day, I can sit down and flip through their note cards and think about the day’s work and about their language development generally. While this is new to me, I think it’s a breakthrough moment in my teaching.

It’s in reflection that I really think about the children. How are they in class? What’s working for them? What were those great “ah ha” moments? What did they hate or not engage with? How did I respond in those situations? This is a piece I’m willing to struggle with and work toward figuring out. It’s how I’ll get better at what I do. How do you reflect on your practice?

Forge ahead, Finish strong

I like having new ideas and providing solutions. I like trying new things. I like changing. And I don’t like hearing excuses. This doesn’t mean I’ve not had my fair share of adversity; rather adversity, in part, has helped me forge ahead and maneuver through the situation to find a solution.

In my senior year of college, I only applied to two graduate schools, so when one rejected me and the other accepted me, I was on my way to Spain to study. Yet, halfway through my year-long stint abroad, I became extremely ill and had to withdraw from my program and move in with my parents because I had Guillain-Barré Syndrome and, subsequently, couldn’t walk for about a year and a half. I was in a wheelchair during that time and had to relearn to walk while using forearm crutches. (Can you imagine having to learn to walk at age 23?) Not one to sit by and let life happen, I re-enrolled in my undergraduate university–the one I had just left six months prior–and worked on an additional degree during the next three semesters, then returned to my graduate program during the summers.

I couldn’t just stay where I was–in my wheelchair at home alone during the day while my parents were at work–but I reflected on what I could do, what I wanted to do, and decided to forge ahead with what I had. Thanks to the love and support from my parents, friends, and classmates, I was able to finish both programs strong and recover.

Because of my own story, I don’t like to maintain the status quo in my classroom, nor do I accept many excuses from my students about not wanting to stretch beyond what they currently do. We never know what we can do until we try, but so often, students are discouraged from trying new things because teachers say it might not fit exactly with the curriculum or the students themselves might even fail. What I want to do in my classes is reflect on what has worked well in order to maintain those tasks or procedures, but also reflect on what I could do to improve in order to ensure my students are not only making gains in their proficiency levels, but also able to learn.

To that end, I’ve taken more time this year to reflect on my practice with my students, which can be a raw experience because teenagers will tell it like it is no matter what, but in creating an open space for my students to share how they felt about the assignments without judgement, they freely spoke about how they did plus what they needed from me in order to improve. As I took some time to do this and reflect on my lessons, I felt like I could double back and work with my students to build into the instruction and practice time in order for them to yield greater results.

In taking more time to reflect with my students, they feel empowered to try new things in the language because they feel like they have more of a stake in their own learning. But if I open myself up to students’ opinions, how can I tell if the students’ feedback is valuable or not? How can I ensure my students feel like I’ve listened to them? How will they feel if I don’t do what they suggest?

Take notes. I need my students to see that I care about what they have to say. Plus it serves as a record where I can go back and track things that are repeated–either in the section for what worked well or the section where I can improve.
Ask questions. Just like any interpersonal speaking task, I ask follow up questions: What do you mean? What would that look like? How could you connect this to what we’ve learned before? What else might interest you?
Find your top 2 things you’d like to change. Sometimes I feel like a new teacher because I feel like I need to scrap everything and start over. But, just focus on the two things you’d like to improve on and start there. You can always add in more things as you feel more comfortable, but only after you have a good handle on what you chose to focus on initially.
Track your changes. Use the TELL Framework for Planning to help you as you plan the next task or assignment. Match that with your goal of what you wanted to change, and see how it worked. Did it work the way you wanted it to? Did your students achieve the learning objective? How can you tell your students are progressing even further?
Continue to reflect. Just like we give our students feedback to help them grow, let the students continue to give you feedback on your lessons. They are the experts at what is most relevant to them and can tell you how to best reach them. Merge their opinions with your best teaching methods, and you’ll find your students are more engaged.

This time between Spring Break and the end of the school year may seem like Heartbreak Hill of the Boston Marathon, where we almost reach the end, but it just seems impossible to continue one more step. However, just put one foot in front of the other, gather your supporting friends and colleagues, and forge ahead to finish strong!

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jayneandd/4450623309/