17 November 2010
The good news
The immersion program is working for five of my eight students. I shouldn't say that. It's working for all of them, even the three mousquetaires. I smacked down some rules about the behavior I've been struggling with, and ended the group work. Some kids just can't handle partner work, and that's sad, but I have to move on. This week we begin instructional videos about irregular verbs Venir and Aller. They have three days in the computer lab to build the videos. This should be interesting.
09 November 2010
Writing
Asking my students to write anything is like asking them to perform surgery on their own pet while it's alive. You'd think I was the cruelest prof in all the land.
I think the next project will be a podcast, or a video where the students have to teach something in French. Like the verbs Aller à and Venir de.
Truth: I spend 75% of my energy in this class babysitting three students. It's exhausting. Especially since I put so much time and effort into the actual curriculum. They are wearing me out. I never want to teach this level class again. It's not the class that's wear me out, it's the students that don't want to learn, but want to be in my room becuase I'm fun, but don't want to do any of the actual work because that means learning. These students need a completely different environment. I have to allow that I cannot be perfect in every way for every student, and in many ways, that feels like me giving up. Immersion is great. The behavior is not. The work is not. But the learning is there. Now what? I'm too exhausted to synthesize what this all adds up to, so I'll have to come back to it later.
Signing off... one fatiguée mademoiselle.
I think the next project will be a podcast, or a video where the students have to teach something in French. Like the verbs Aller à and Venir de.
Truth: I spend 75% of my energy in this class babysitting three students. It's exhausting. Especially since I put so much time and effort into the actual curriculum. They are wearing me out. I never want to teach this level class again. It's not the class that's wear me out, it's the students that don't want to learn, but want to be in my room becuase I'm fun, but don't want to do any of the actual work because that means learning. These students need a completely different environment. I have to allow that I cannot be perfect in every way for every student, and in many ways, that feels like me giving up. Immersion is great. The behavior is not. The work is not. But the learning is there. Now what? I'm too exhausted to synthesize what this all adds up to, so I'll have to come back to it later.
Signing off... one fatiguée mademoiselle.
08 November 2010
Collages: Action Research
Here are two collages that students made, which were studied in an action research project this semester.
Here are two pictures which relate to the second activity in my data.
Photos, first quarter
At the beginning of the year we did chalk drawings on the sidewalk to review what we knew how to say about ourselves.
This past week the kids have been making towns.
They constructed the buildings from a website: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/letters/make-a-town.html
and labeled them with vocabulary from the book.
Today they wrote sentences about which street everything is on.
Tomorrow they will be writing out directions to get to five places from their house in the town.
Then they will test the clarity of their directions with a partner.
One girl brought in 50 matchbox cars, so they all chose a car, and will use it to test out their directions.
French is fun! :)
I even got my own street!
02 November 2010
Exhausted.
Scaffolding. Scaffolding is my weakness. I need to be scaffolded in my scaffolding.
And my blog sucks. The homework blog, not this blog. I think the kids hate it. I'm pretty sure they hate it. I kinda hate it.
I've got to be more creative with it, I've been trying to use more images, more videos, but it poses a problem technologically with school software. Erk!
That's another problem. I feel like I've got to be the awesomest awesome all the time, and when I have an off-day, or don't organize something to the last minute, everything derails and is awful and impossible. I'm so very tired. Halfway through the semester. Hopefully, focusing on scaffolding will give me a better framework to plan my lessons. Otherwise, this last quarter might just be my own personal hell: unproductive but incessant work.
Chinup, Sheldon. You got this.
And my blog sucks. The homework blog, not this blog. I think the kids hate it. I'm pretty sure they hate it. I kinda hate it.
I've got to be more creative with it, I've been trying to use more images, more videos, but it poses a problem technologically with school software. Erk!
That's another problem. I feel like I've got to be the awesomest awesome all the time, and when I have an off-day, or don't organize something to the last minute, everything derails and is awful and impossible. I'm so very tired. Halfway through the semester. Hopefully, focusing on scaffolding will give me a better framework to plan my lessons. Otherwise, this last quarter might just be my own personal hell: unproductive but incessant work.
Chinup, Sheldon. You got this.
28 October 2010
Student Quotes
What aspect of the course do you like the most?
-The learning. Speaking French all the time is difficult but really helps you learn.
-using French more than we used to because this is the only time I ever use French
What aspect of the course do you like the least?
-The frustration of speaking French.
-I miss the games.
How has the immersion changed your participation and your work in class, and why?
-I participate less because I become annoyed when I can't just say something, I have to really think.
-I pay more attention to speaking French
-The learning. Speaking French all the time is difficult but really helps you learn.
-using French more than we used to because this is the only time I ever use French
What aspect of the course do you like the least?
-The frustration of speaking French.
-I miss the games.
How has the immersion changed your participation and your work in class, and why?
-I participate less because I become annoyed when I can't just say something, I have to really think.
-I pay more attention to speaking French
21 October 2010
Direction direction direction
I am constantly reinventing this course. It is difficult to find a stable ground or framework when I'm making it up as I go along. In the future I look forward to being able to plan out the organization of it in advance. This week I gave a survey about the structure, and let the kids answer in English. We even had sort of an English allowed day, but they didn't use it. They stuck with the French! The classroom environment alone just four walls of my classroom urge them to speak French, they feel uncomfortable speaking English. Mission accomplished there. Now, about that teaching part...
Some of the responses:
-I am learning a lot, really learning it.
-When I go home from school, I'm in French mode for like two hours. It's awesome.
-Sometimes I forget to speak English, and I speak French to my mom.
-I forget to do the blog. You should remind us every day.
-You should let us speak English when we don't understand the assignment and projects and stuff.
-I get really stressed when I don't understand the French when you're giving a project.
All of these responses are paraphrased from my memory, and I plan on posting some actual quotes later this week.
In short, we're moving beyond little grammar nuances like negation with indefinite articles and complex adjective agreement. They have their lists and notes and I'd rather let them use those resources than waste class time trying to cram it into their brains.
Next week: Town vocabulary. I'm wondering how I can get the kids to build their dream towns, and how I can connect that to a concept. Living in a place? What makes a good place to live? Ugh. It all seems so textbooky. It's going to be a busy weekend.
Some of the responses:
-I am learning a lot, really learning it.
-When I go home from school, I'm in French mode for like two hours. It's awesome.
-Sometimes I forget to speak English, and I speak French to my mom.
-I forget to do the blog. You should remind us every day.
-You should let us speak English when we don't understand the assignment and projects and stuff.
-I get really stressed when I don't understand the French when you're giving a project.
All of these responses are paraphrased from my memory, and I plan on posting some actual quotes later this week.
In short, we're moving beyond little grammar nuances like negation with indefinite articles and complex adjective agreement. They have their lists and notes and I'd rather let them use those resources than waste class time trying to cram it into their brains.
Next week: Town vocabulary. I'm wondering how I can get the kids to build their dream towns, and how I can connect that to a concept. Living in a place? What makes a good place to live? Ugh. It all seems so textbooky. It's going to be a busy weekend.
06 October 2010
The Concept: Identity
Sooooo.... today the kids discussed the concept of identity within the movie Spirited Away. It sounds fancier than it really is. Mostly because they don't know that this is what they're doing.
I'm actually hitting the same ideas with this group of kids as their English teacher. She's teaching them the Crucible, and the difference between static and dynamic characters. When I walked into her room today, and saw character maps, I realized that I was essentially doing the same thing. She told me they were struggling. *Gulp* And here I was going to try to push them farther tomorrow! Screeching halt.
Over the last two days the kids have been building collages that represent a change in identity in the main character, and why and how this happened. Looking at where they are with their English class, I'm astounded with the work they did today. They know they're struggling with it, but I'm probably asking them to do the work of seniors or juniors. I have no concept of where these kids are with things like this, I'm used to chapter four vocabulary list stuff.
When I enrolled in college, I originally thought that I wanted to English teacher. Then I thought to myself, "wait a minute, I hate English". Meaning, I hate grading essays. But I really don't hate English. I hate grading it and English grammar. I love English class, and now I'm taking all the best parts and pushing it through a French sieve instead of an English one.
My hope is that the students will be able to transfer what we're doing with this main character to their own lives, and their own identities. I'd like them to examine an aspect of their identity (that they are comfortable with discussing) and digging to see how events and people have come into contact with it, shaped, influenced, changed it. Not bad for the chapter on adjective agreement, hein?
My action research project is focused on verbal and non-verbal perspective taking (thinking). I had a colleague take field notes for me during the collage conversation activity. I read them quickly before I left for the day. The one that sticks with me is "student stroked his chin as if he had an imaginary beard". Squeee! What a great note! Thanks English teacher colleague!
During the activity, I let my hearing wander. I heard French. French chatter. French French French. I let myself think back to the book exercises I was trying to get the kids to do last year, and how frustrated I was with their inability to transfer that info to anything in reality. Now they do it on a constant basis. Their favorite expression is "Je t'aime!" which they use as often as possible. I use it often as well, especially when they are frustrated, or being particularly annoying. they beam. They know this expression, and don't have to "think" about it. They just live those words.
I'm looking forward to going back through the video I took today and watching what I've got. I let the kids manhandle whatever they wanted, be as off-task as they decided to be, and giggle and distract each other. These are the behaviors that they think are non-learning behaviors. I'm convinced there is a gold mine somewhere underneath.
One area that I MUST improve with, especially if I'm going to continue this immersion next semester with all three classes, is scaffolding. Breaking down activities into really small pieces is difficult for me, and I find that i don't have the patience to do it. I think back to my Japanese class in 2006, and how difficult it was to follow, and I was at the head of the pack. The curse of knowledge is real, and it may be the only thing I remember from my methods class from my BA, but it's a key piece for me. I think I need to blog regularly about my work, in all of my classes, the reflection is so important! IB definitely has that part figured out.
So tomorrow: having the kids use their collages to build a huge character map on the board. Then discussing the ideas as a class. I've got to find a way to get my sleepy space-cadet boy involved in this... I'm going make him the marker captain I think. That way he has to write what everyone says on the board instead of spacing out. Next week they'll be working on their individual projects while I'm in Michigan, music, song, video, mobile, collage, whatever it is they want to do that shows an aspect of their own identity. Wish me luck!
I'm actually hitting the same ideas with this group of kids as their English teacher. She's teaching them the Crucible, and the difference between static and dynamic characters. When I walked into her room today, and saw character maps, I realized that I was essentially doing the same thing. She told me they were struggling. *Gulp* And here I was going to try to push them farther tomorrow! Screeching halt.
Over the last two days the kids have been building collages that represent a change in identity in the main character, and why and how this happened. Looking at where they are with their English class, I'm astounded with the work they did today. They know they're struggling with it, but I'm probably asking them to do the work of seniors or juniors. I have no concept of where these kids are with things like this, I'm used to chapter four vocabulary list stuff.
When I enrolled in college, I originally thought that I wanted to English teacher. Then I thought to myself, "wait a minute, I hate English". Meaning, I hate grading essays. But I really don't hate English. I hate grading it and English grammar. I love English class, and now I'm taking all the best parts and pushing it through a French sieve instead of an English one.
My hope is that the students will be able to transfer what we're doing with this main character to their own lives, and their own identities. I'd like them to examine an aspect of their identity (that they are comfortable with discussing) and digging to see how events and people have come into contact with it, shaped, influenced, changed it. Not bad for the chapter on adjective agreement, hein?
My action research project is focused on verbal and non-verbal perspective taking (thinking). I had a colleague take field notes for me during the collage conversation activity. I read them quickly before I left for the day. The one that sticks with me is "student stroked his chin as if he had an imaginary beard". Squeee! What a great note! Thanks English teacher colleague!
During the activity, I let my hearing wander. I heard French. French chatter. French French French. I let myself think back to the book exercises I was trying to get the kids to do last year, and how frustrated I was with their inability to transfer that info to anything in reality. Now they do it on a constant basis. Their favorite expression is "Je t'aime!" which they use as often as possible. I use it often as well, especially when they are frustrated, or being particularly annoying. they beam. They know this expression, and don't have to "think" about it. They just live those words.
I'm looking forward to going back through the video I took today and watching what I've got. I let the kids manhandle whatever they wanted, be as off-task as they decided to be, and giggle and distract each other. These are the behaviors that they think are non-learning behaviors. I'm convinced there is a gold mine somewhere underneath.
One area that I MUST improve with, especially if I'm going to continue this immersion next semester with all three classes, is scaffolding. Breaking down activities into really small pieces is difficult for me, and I find that i don't have the patience to do it. I think back to my Japanese class in 2006, and how difficult it was to follow, and I was at the head of the pack. The curse of knowledge is real, and it may be the only thing I remember from my methods class from my BA, but it's a key piece for me. I think I need to blog regularly about my work, in all of my classes, the reflection is so important! IB definitely has that part figured out.
So tomorrow: having the kids use their collages to build a huge character map on the board. Then discussing the ideas as a class. I've got to find a way to get my sleepy space-cadet boy involved in this... I'm going make him the marker captain I think. That way he has to write what everyone says on the board instead of spacing out. Next week they'll be working on their individual projects while I'm in Michigan, music, song, video, mobile, collage, whatever it is they want to do that shows an aspect of their own identity. Wish me luck!
28 September 2010
Weight
Today I figured out how to properly weight the grades. The kids have two folders, one with their blog post grades, and one with their rubrics, objectives sheets, and personal progress trackers. 30% of their grade is my evaluation of their responsibility to work in class, their attitude, their participation, and how much French they are using. 30% is their self-evaluation of the same things. 20% is the actual work that they do, and the remaining 20% is their final project (exam).
Today we figured out grades. So far, we're in a range that I feel is much more appropriate than my former system of "on time and complete for full credit". While they "like" the blog, they aren't very good at sticking with it on a regular basis. Everyone has missed at least one. A couple of kids have done zero blogs, because they "forgot" or "didn't know they had to do it everyday".
Today I had four girls finish their work for the lesson in the unit, take the quiz, and then ask permission to make posters. They're drawing up all of the vocabulary and organizing them according to gender. This from kids who "just don't like learning".
I see a level of confidence in their language skills with the book work that they're doing that has never existed before. I also see a level of focus and dedication since they know that if they fail the quiz, they will have to re-do a massive amount of work in order to earn the right to take the quiz over.
I let them work on their own with headphones on, and they are downright industrious. The girls work faster than the boys, for the most part, and the class is separating itself into two groups, one advances, one works slowly and methodically.
Next week I will be recording for my grad program, and I will have the students work with the concept of identity, and how that shifts according to role and context. We will see how the "homme brun sympa intelligent drôle 21 ans" handles the "femme méchante, petite, bête, pénible 81 ans" at the café.
I think they will enjoy this role play. At least I hope so. For my part, I will be bringing donuts this Friday. As far as their work ethic and total turn-around goes, they've earned it!
Today we figured out grades. So far, we're in a range that I feel is much more appropriate than my former system of "on time and complete for full credit". While they "like" the blog, they aren't very good at sticking with it on a regular basis. Everyone has missed at least one. A couple of kids have done zero blogs, because they "forgot" or "didn't know they had to do it everyday".
Today I had four girls finish their work for the lesson in the unit, take the quiz, and then ask permission to make posters. They're drawing up all of the vocabulary and organizing them according to gender. This from kids who "just don't like learning".
I see a level of confidence in their language skills with the book work that they're doing that has never existed before. I also see a level of focus and dedication since they know that if they fail the quiz, they will have to re-do a massive amount of work in order to earn the right to take the quiz over.
I let them work on their own with headphones on, and they are downright industrious. The girls work faster than the boys, for the most part, and the class is separating itself into two groups, one advances, one works slowly and methodically.
Next week I will be recording for my grad program, and I will have the students work with the concept of identity, and how that shifts according to role and context. We will see how the "homme brun sympa intelligent drôle 21 ans" handles the "femme méchante, petite, bête, pénible 81 ans" at the café.
I think they will enjoy this role play. At least I hope so. For my part, I will be bringing donuts this Friday. As far as their work ethic and total turn-around goes, they've earned it!
22 September 2010
One giant leap for teenkind
Today was actually ok. Hopefully yesterday was just the breaking point.
Possible secret ingredient: second cup of coffee.
I had more energy today. We did listening activities. Then we had four presentations, and then the kids worked independently. I think they felt more comfortable today because they now had a sense of the routine. I've started writing our agenda on the board (I'm always bad at that) and actually checking things off as we do them.
Dialogue I never want to forget.
Garçon 1: Mademoiselle, j'ai faim.
Moi: Tu n'as pas mangé? À la cantine?
Garçon 1: Oui.
Moi: Qu'est-ce que tu as mangé? Une pizza?
Garçon 1: Oui, avec frites.
Moi: Oh là là, La pizza, c'est stupide. Voilà. (I tossed him a granola bar from my cabinet)
Garçon 1: MERCI! (He begins eating)
Garçon 2: S'il te plaît! Je veux! (to garçon 1)
Garçon 1: J'ai très très faim! Non! j'ai faim!
Garçon 2: S'il te plaît?
Garçon 1: Non! J'ai faim.
Garçon 2: Je t'aime! (looking at and pointing at the poster of two sheep in love at the back of the room)
Garçon 1: D'accord. (Gives garçon 2 a small piece of granola bar)
HOW PRECIOUS IS THAT?!?!?!?
Possible secret ingredient: second cup of coffee.
I had more energy today. We did listening activities. Then we had four presentations, and then the kids worked independently. I think they felt more comfortable today because they now had a sense of the routine. I've started writing our agenda on the board (I'm always bad at that) and actually checking things off as we do them.
Dialogue I never want to forget.
Garçon 1: Mademoiselle, j'ai faim.
Moi: Tu n'as pas mangé? À la cantine?
Garçon 1: Oui.
Moi: Qu'est-ce que tu as mangé? Une pizza?
Garçon 1: Oui, avec frites.
Moi: Oh là là, La pizza, c'est stupide. Voilà. (I tossed him a granola bar from my cabinet)
Garçon 1: MERCI! (He begins eating)
Garçon 2: S'il te plaît! Je veux! (to garçon 1)
Garçon 1: J'ai très très faim! Non! j'ai faim!
Garçon 2: S'il te plaît?
Garçon 1: Non! J'ai faim.
Garçon 2: Je t'aime! (looking at and pointing at the poster of two sheep in love at the back of the room)
Garçon 1: D'accord. (Gives garçon 2 a small piece of granola bar)
HOW PRECIOUS IS THAT?!?!?!?
21 September 2010
20 - 21 september
Ugh. UGH. UGHHHHH!
So after presenting and explaining the two possible tracks, written verses oral, I have only one student doing any recording. One. Out of Eight. After all this moaning about writing and worksheets, they've all chosen writing and worksheets.
They're doing an oral presentation tomorrow. No complaints about the homework so far... except that restricting students to the only members of my french blog is making it extremely difficult for them all to log in. It's quite a mess. Next semester, I'm going to explore the dream that is supposedly Google Apps.
I have an informant that has told me what the kids are saying when they are not in my presence.
They hate the class.
They hate all French.
They hate having to do the work.
Not only that, they've gone as far as to say they want to drop the class, and that they don't understand why other kids even enjoy my classes at all.
Despite the fact that this is all hearsay, the last statement is the only one that carries any sting, although it's mild.
My first reaction: ENRAGED! ANGRY MADEMOISELLE! ANGRY SMASH!
My second reaction: Seriously?
My third reaction: That's it. Worksheets, since that's all they want to do anyway.
Followed swiftly by fourth reaction: No! Don't give in! They ASKED for this. And if they drop, they drop. You have administrator backup! This is what you've decided to do!
Fifth reaction: I wish it was January.
So I'm torn because after all, these are children. Human beings that are worthy of my time, my energy, and my love for fellow human beings, RIGHT?! (canna getta hellyeah?) Because I'm honestly wearing myself out over these kids. And for what? So they can roll their eyes at me and then whisper in English to their classmates like I'm a moron?
Ugh. UGH.
I will not give in. It's not speaking French that's the hard part. Caring. That's become the hard part. And what happens when you don't care about your students anymore? I mean, I care about them as people, but as students, they're making it very difficult.
Ugh.
So after presenting and explaining the two possible tracks, written verses oral, I have only one student doing any recording. One. Out of Eight. After all this moaning about writing and worksheets, they've all chosen writing and worksheets.
They're doing an oral presentation tomorrow. No complaints about the homework so far... except that restricting students to the only members of my french blog is making it extremely difficult for them all to log in. It's quite a mess. Next semester, I'm going to explore the dream that is supposedly Google Apps.
I have an informant that has told me what the kids are saying when they are not in my presence.
They hate the class.
They hate all French.
They hate having to do the work.
Not only that, they've gone as far as to say they want to drop the class, and that they don't understand why other kids even enjoy my classes at all.
Despite the fact that this is all hearsay, the last statement is the only one that carries any sting, although it's mild.
My first reaction: ENRAGED! ANGRY MADEMOISELLE! ANGRY SMASH!
My second reaction: Seriously?
My third reaction: That's it. Worksheets, since that's all they want to do anyway.
Followed swiftly by fourth reaction: No! Don't give in! They ASKED for this. And if they drop, they drop. You have administrator backup! This is what you've decided to do!
Fifth reaction: I wish it was January.
So I'm torn because after all, these are children. Human beings that are worthy of my time, my energy, and my love for fellow human beings, RIGHT?! (canna getta hellyeah?) Because I'm honestly wearing myself out over these kids. And for what? So they can roll their eyes at me and then whisper in English to their classmates like I'm a moron?
Ugh. UGH.
I will not give in. It's not speaking French that's the hard part. Caring. That's become the hard part. And what happens when you don't care about your students anymore? I mean, I care about them as people, but as students, they're making it very difficult.
Ugh.
18 September 2010
Week 1: 13-17 September
I am exhausted! This week has been better than previous weeks since the students are actually speaking French now, but I feel as if they have been merely "tolerating" me. My teaching has barely changed, I still found myself asking students to écoutez, répétez... and the looks on their faces were... disbelief? Tolerant, but bored.
My mentor, Lise!, advised me to give homework every night. Every single night. Every night. I've made homework 30% of the final grade, and since these kids LOVE using their laptops, I've made it a blog based homework. Every single night they are required to log in to the class blog and respond to whatever post I've presented. I'm going to focus on pictures, videos, music, and websites. They will be required to respond via comment, and have a rubric that assesses each post.
They are excited about the homework, and it will begin Monday night, the 20th. They have 24 hours to respond, with comments being due by 12:47, the time their class starts. This enables students who can only access the internet at school to use library computers. Many people in our area still have dial-up because some small towns don't have access to cable. DIAL UP! Yikes.
The Blog sounds great, but is a complete pain in the toosh. The computer teacher helped me with the logistics of setting it up, but after deciding on using Blogger (Wordpress was so complicated that I couldn't even work it) and not finding anything remotely close on Google Apps, we ran into Google pain in the toosh. The blog is private, and I had to invite students to be members in order to read it. The result of this was a catastrophic crapstorm of Google asking over and over for cell phone numbers to verify that the students were actual people. One student gave his number for everyone so that they could all get in without telling me. I would NEVER have authorized that!!!!!
Now that they're all in, they're trying to figure out all the French on the blog, and master all the vocabulary that comes with it.
Their initial review of the homework once I described it, was "Yay! I'm going to LIKE this homework!!!" They love their computers, and I don't blame them. We shall see how enthusiasm wanes.
The students continue to speak in English in class, to each other, under their breaths, and when they are confused and asking questions. One student gave me the "I'm in a coma" face for two days straight, and when I confronted her about it, she told me that it was hard, and that she really didn't want to speak French.
She enrolled in an elective FRench class. But she doesn't really want to speak French.
I told her that it would get easier, and that she has to let me help her. I told her it was ok to take mental breaks when she gets overwhelmed, but that she can't let herself shut down.
When it comes to the formatting of the class, I'm realizing that I have to change a TON of things. I can't teach the same way, immersion or not. I've decided to give students options about the way they acquire the langugae.
So far I have two options:
Written track: Written book work, written worksheets.
Speaking track: computer recorded book work aloud, and a presentation in front of the class (poster or such) relating to the same information.
Both tracks will also have to view the video from the chapter, complete the listening exercises, and do online practice texts with at least 18/20 before they can move on.
Once a track plus the required materials are complete, students receive "Permission" to take the quiz over that section. If they pass the quiz, they can move on. If they don't pass the quiz, they must do the "other" track to prep for the quiz, and retake it, for a grade of B or better.
I would also like to incorporate a song or a video project where students "teach" a grammar structure or concept from the book.
This way, students will be on their own, but high structured. They are also not driven to complete certain amounts of lessons, but instead focus on the quality of what they are doing. It will be my job to move them through the lessons at a pace that I feel is appropriate.
In some ways I think this will solve my frustrations, and many of theirs. It creates more work for me in some ways, but not in the ways I dreaded.
I have four hours tomorrow to develop this plan before I roll it out on Monday. Wish me luck.
My mentor, Lise!, advised me to give homework every night. Every single night. Every night. I've made homework 30% of the final grade, and since these kids LOVE using their laptops, I've made it a blog based homework. Every single night they are required to log in to the class blog and respond to whatever post I've presented. I'm going to focus on pictures, videos, music, and websites. They will be required to respond via comment, and have a rubric that assesses each post.
- On time and complete
- Quality of ideas
- Quality of language
- Student tries to express him/herself
- Student responds to other students' comments
- Student is honest (reflection questions only)
They are excited about the homework, and it will begin Monday night, the 20th. They have 24 hours to respond, with comments being due by 12:47, the time their class starts. This enables students who can only access the internet at school to use library computers. Many people in our area still have dial-up because some small towns don't have access to cable. DIAL UP! Yikes.
The Blog sounds great, but is a complete pain in the toosh. The computer teacher helped me with the logistics of setting it up, but after deciding on using Blogger (Wordpress was so complicated that I couldn't even work it) and not finding anything remotely close on Google Apps, we ran into Google pain in the toosh. The blog is private, and I had to invite students to be members in order to read it. The result of this was a catastrophic crapstorm of Google asking over and over for cell phone numbers to verify that the students were actual people. One student gave his number for everyone so that they could all get in without telling me. I would NEVER have authorized that!!!!!
Now that they're all in, they're trying to figure out all the French on the blog, and master all the vocabulary that comes with it.
Their initial review of the homework once I described it, was "Yay! I'm going to LIKE this homework!!!" They love their computers, and I don't blame them. We shall see how enthusiasm wanes.
The students continue to speak in English in class, to each other, under their breaths, and when they are confused and asking questions. One student gave me the "I'm in a coma" face for two days straight, and when I confronted her about it, she told me that it was hard, and that she really didn't want to speak French.
She enrolled in an elective FRench class. But she doesn't really want to speak French.
I told her that it would get easier, and that she has to let me help her. I told her it was ok to take mental breaks when she gets overwhelmed, but that she can't let herself shut down.
When it comes to the formatting of the class, I'm realizing that I have to change a TON of things. I can't teach the same way, immersion or not. I've decided to give students options about the way they acquire the langugae.
So far I have two options:
Written track: Written book work, written worksheets.
Speaking track: computer recorded book work aloud, and a presentation in front of the class (poster or such) relating to the same information.
Both tracks will also have to view the video from the chapter, complete the listening exercises, and do online practice texts with at least 18/20 before they can move on.
Once a track plus the required materials are complete, students receive "Permission" to take the quiz over that section. If they pass the quiz, they can move on. If they don't pass the quiz, they must do the "other" track to prep for the quiz, and retake it, for a grade of B or better.
I would also like to incorporate a song or a video project where students "teach" a grammar structure or concept from the book.
This way, students will be on their own, but high structured. They are also not driven to complete certain amounts of lessons, but instead focus on the quality of what they are doing. It will be my job to move them through the lessons at a pace that I feel is appropriate.
In some ways I think this will solve my frustrations, and many of theirs. It creates more work for me in some ways, but not in the ways I dreaded.
I have four hours tomorrow to develop this plan before I roll it out on Monday. Wish me luck.
12 September 2010
Day 1: Poster-5 personnes dans ma vie
So Friday was the first day of immersion. I expected it to be rough because I didn't have any time to prep the kids. All they knew by heart with the "Can I go to the bathroom" song, which includes the requests to borrow pens, sharpen pencils, ask questions, and speak English. There was lots of English spoken, but the kids made some effort to stay in French as long as I was in the room. They definitely spoke French to me, and were able to understand everything that I said, regardless of the context.
I found myself saying things, like "Marc with a tall M, not short m!" to differentiate between capital and lower case.
The kids had an instant appreciation for the French they did know, as well as a realization that they should remember more than they did. At the end of the day, they were smiling, and throughout the project they worked on, they were on-task.
I'm so very proud of one student in particular, who is normally the self-proclaimed laziest kid we know. He worked so hard, and his project looks great.
What really strikes me the most about these kids is their capacity to rely on each other when I least expect them to. Their assignment was to create a poster showing five people from their lives, and to provide the following:
I found myself saying things, like "Marc with a tall M, not short m!" to differentiate between capital and lower case.
The kids had an instant appreciation for the French they did know, as well as a realization that they should remember more than they did. At the end of the day, they were smiling, and throughout the project they worked on, they were on-task.
I'm so very proud of one student in particular, who is normally the self-proclaimed laziest kid we know. He worked so hard, and his project looks great.
What really strikes me the most about these kids is their capacity to rely on each other when I least expect them to. Their assignment was to create a poster showing five people from their lives, and to provide the following:
- Their name, age, and relationship
- Four adjectives to describe them
- Two adjectives that they are not
- Two activities they like to do
- One activity they don't like to do
The majority of the class chose each other for at least three of the people on the poster. It was downright heart-warming. For a moment I thought I was in a Mrs. Butterworth's commercial. Children were beaming, snapping photos of each other to print out, and frolicking back and forth from the library to type out their paragraphs. 180 degrees from the day before.
Making the choice
This fall 2010-2011 semester I am teaching three courses, French I level 1, French I level 2, and French II level 2. Level 1 indicates a faster-paced curriculum, standard for most students. Level 2 is an option for students with learning difficulties, students who prefer a slower pace, or those that require more hands-on learning. The level 2 courses are typically smaller, and do not cover as much material as the level 1 courses. The level 2 courses also count less than level 1 courses with regards to GPA averages.
My French I courses this semester are very active learners (so far), who verbally participate on a regular basis without much coaxing, and are eager to use what they are learning immediately. French I is a required course for graduation.
French II course is not a required course. There are eight tenth grade students enrolled in this course, and all of them took my French I level 2 course last spring. These students have requested my class, and come every day for ninety minutes, the last class before they leave school.
I characterize this group of kids as a V-8 engine block, each student representing a piston within the cylinders of the engine. There are usually at least two students participating actively in this group, although it is rarely the same two. As I step on the gas, adding more energy to my teaching style and trying to coax movement and involvement from the rest of them, the engine floods and goes nowhere. I liken this experience to trying to drive with an engine full of oil-sludge.
This group of students is notoriously passive, unmotivated, and unresponsive to teacher-driven lessons. They frequently request games, which I use often to review information and skills. Introducing new information and new skills has been extremely difficult, and I've felt as though I was forcing the content down their throats. The end result of these classes was that I was exhausted, disheartened, and discouraged.
This past summer, during my graduate studies at Bennington College's Masters of Teaching a Second Language courses, I was introduced to the concept of teaching in immersion by my professor, Elizabeth. I say "introduced" although I have obviously known about immersion for a long time. Lise (as we affectionately call her) emphasized to us that immersion was not only the best way to teach, but in her opinion, the only way. I was intrigued by the benefits she raved about, intimidated by the work-load she promised would come with it, and inspired by her positive attitude that as teachers we were more than capable of succeeding.
The more Lise spoke about immersion, the more I thought of my up-coming class of French 2 level 2. I wanted to take a passive, and occasionally apathetic, group of teens, and turn them into a group of active learners who took responsibility for their own success. Lise encouraged us to do Immersion with all of our classes, for the entire year. In her mind, there was no halfway, only dedication.
After an exhausting summer, I returned home to my tiny New Hampshire town, and crashed. Grad school started the same day as work, and my immersion goals flew out the window. I was back to the old Mademoiselle. All was going well with my new French I classes, but I managed to last only four days with my French 2 class before things came to a grinding, crashing, halt.
I created stunning visuals, I spoke with energy and animation, we played games, I implored, I begged, I came up with creative projects, but nothing I did could cut through the sludge. That was it.
Time to go for broke.
With the support of my principal, my mentor teacher, and my local florist (whose encouragement and friendship is invaluable to me), I approached the class.
We discussed the beginning of their year, and their other classes. I asked them to explain the concept of level 2 courses to me.
Here are their statements regarding why they choose Level 2 over level 1:
We discussed our class, and the direction it was going. They noticed that since many students from their class last semester did not take this elective course, the energy level of the group is much lower than it was. They acknowledged that they are very passive, and quiet students, and agreed with my analogy of the engine block firing on only a few cylinders at a time. One student, in an attempt to reassure me that it wasn't just me, told me that they were like this with all teachers, and often did nothing at all to communicate in class. They listed off their dislikes, including learning in general, worksheets, independent work, homework, and writing.
I presented the idea of immersion to them as a solution, and independent writing and worksheets as another solution. The more I told them about immersion, and how it would change their class, and require them to be more active, the more they sounded interested. The prospect of doing nothing but writing and worksheets on their own for four months was clearly not the direction they wanted to go. I told them that they were smart enough to do this, because sixth grade canadians could do it, so they certainly could. I also told them that they had to support each other, and that it would only work if they agreed to it every day.
They gave me the go ahead. Great!
Now what?
Then I went to visit the florist and burst into tears, overwhelmed with the prospect of re-inventing curriculum for eight students while taking two graduate courses at the same time. Thank god for friends, and for flowers.
My French I courses this semester are very active learners (so far), who verbally participate on a regular basis without much coaxing, and are eager to use what they are learning immediately. French I is a required course for graduation.
French II course is not a required course. There are eight tenth grade students enrolled in this course, and all of them took my French I level 2 course last spring. These students have requested my class, and come every day for ninety minutes, the last class before they leave school.
I characterize this group of kids as a V-8 engine block, each student representing a piston within the cylinders of the engine. There are usually at least two students participating actively in this group, although it is rarely the same two. As I step on the gas, adding more energy to my teaching style and trying to coax movement and involvement from the rest of them, the engine floods and goes nowhere. I liken this experience to trying to drive with an engine full of oil-sludge.
This group of students is notoriously passive, unmotivated, and unresponsive to teacher-driven lessons. They frequently request games, which I use often to review information and skills. Introducing new information and new skills has been extremely difficult, and I've felt as though I was forcing the content down their throats. The end result of these classes was that I was exhausted, disheartened, and discouraged.
This past summer, during my graduate studies at Bennington College's Masters of Teaching a Second Language courses, I was introduced to the concept of teaching in immersion by my professor, Elizabeth. I say "introduced" although I have obviously known about immersion for a long time. Lise (as we affectionately call her) emphasized to us that immersion was not only the best way to teach, but in her opinion, the only way. I was intrigued by the benefits she raved about, intimidated by the work-load she promised would come with it, and inspired by her positive attitude that as teachers we were more than capable of succeeding.
The more Lise spoke about immersion, the more I thought of my up-coming class of French 2 level 2. I wanted to take a passive, and occasionally apathetic, group of teens, and turn them into a group of active learners who took responsibility for their own success. Lise encouraged us to do Immersion with all of our classes, for the entire year. In her mind, there was no halfway, only dedication.
After an exhausting summer, I returned home to my tiny New Hampshire town, and crashed. Grad school started the same day as work, and my immersion goals flew out the window. I was back to the old Mademoiselle. All was going well with my new French I classes, but I managed to last only four days with my French 2 class before things came to a grinding, crashing, halt.
I created stunning visuals, I spoke with energy and animation, we played games, I implored, I begged, I came up with creative projects, but nothing I did could cut through the sludge. That was it.
Time to go for broke.
With the support of my principal, my mentor teacher, and my local florist (whose encouragement and friendship is invaluable to me), I approached the class.
We discussed the beginning of their year, and their other classes. I asked them to explain the concept of level 2 courses to me.
Here are their statements regarding why they choose Level 2 over level 1:
- Level 2 courses are smaller, so they get more help from the teacher.
- The level 2 courses are not as academically competitive, where Level 1 students sometimes make them feel stupid if they ask questions, or need more help.
- Therefore, they feel more comfortable, and are more likely to get up in front of the class, or ask questions.
- The pacing is accessible to them, and they do not get lost or fall behind in content.
- The homework load is minimal, or non-existent, unlike the hours and hours of homework they think is assigned in level 1 courses.
We discussed our class, and the direction it was going. They noticed that since many students from their class last semester did not take this elective course, the energy level of the group is much lower than it was. They acknowledged that they are very passive, and quiet students, and agreed with my analogy of the engine block firing on only a few cylinders at a time. One student, in an attempt to reassure me that it wasn't just me, told me that they were like this with all teachers, and often did nothing at all to communicate in class. They listed off their dislikes, including learning in general, worksheets, independent work, homework, and writing.
I presented the idea of immersion to them as a solution, and independent writing and worksheets as another solution. The more I told them about immersion, and how it would change their class, and require them to be more active, the more they sounded interested. The prospect of doing nothing but writing and worksheets on their own for four months was clearly not the direction they wanted to go. I told them that they were smart enough to do this, because sixth grade canadians could do it, so they certainly could. I also told them that they had to support each other, and that it would only work if they agreed to it every day.
They gave me the go ahead. Great!
Now what?
Then I went to visit the florist and burst into tears, overwhelmed with the prospect of re-inventing curriculum for eight students while taking two graduate courses at the same time. Thank god for friends, and for flowers.
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