Changes and Establishing Routines

I changed the participation rubric today.  The kids thanked me for the simpler format.

I've started with an activity that I call "photo du jour".  I started it for my juniors as a way to get their brains going in French at stupid o'clock am, without getting in their face about it.  Here's the photo I used today:

 buddhist-monk-pray-tattoo_12070_600x450.jpg


I ask the kids to identify their objective for the day, then freewrite about a photo.  Some students are working on perfecting a single sentence.  Others are listing word after word.  Everyone is buried in a dictionary.  No one is talking.  I can hear pens and pencils, pages flipping.  

After about five or ten minutes, I ask students to go up to the board and write key words.  I say "volontaires?" and hold out a marker with the top off.  I can see the visible relief in my students' eyes when they are able to understand my simple, one-word directions.  I'm also willing to make a complete arse of myself in front of them via dance moves, pantomime, sound effects, anything to help then comprehend.

Today we came up with:
culture, custom, ceremony, head, tattoo, kneeling, painful, needle, buddhism, chinese, sweatsuit, orange, jewels, ouch, wounded, and were-wolf.  The were-wolf is from my abstract-random thinker, and I'm satisfied that he now has added to his list of favorite words, which also includes "banana".

the kids wrote the words, then ended up drawing little pictures to explain their vocabulary.  Some of it I acted out, such as painful, and others we had to use cultural references to explain, such as "Le film de Michael J. Fox où il change en Loup-Garou."

I think I'm going to start asking students to email me the photos to use for Photo du Jour.  This will save me endless time surfing for a "cool photo that will resonate with teens" and solve that problem altogether.

They really seemed to like this kind of warmup, and it will be an excellent vocabulary builder.  I think I just might keep it for all classes... regardless of what time they actually become conscious.

Je suis frustrée!

I'm trying to set things up.  Going through them once to prepare helps me, but the problem is that I go through them first with 23 juniors (antsy frustrated juniors) and have it perfected for the laid-back, industrious seniors.  After careful reflection I've decided to push my seniors ahead one day of my juniors with the Identity unit.  That way I'll work out bugs in advance with 11 kids, and not be springing them at 7am onto 23.

So far the juniors are being patient, and rolling with me, but I will lose them fast if I don't start scaffolding better.

Here are my worries for the juniors

• I have six students who are from a lower-level class in with the rest of the 23.
• We are doing an intensive review activity that's individual, which they hate, and is dragging out.
• They really need a detailed review.  For some reason I'm reluctant to provide this. 

This last reflection is interesting.  I don't want to have to provide it.  I don't want to *waste time*.  How could it be wasting time if the kids need it?

So I need to use my resources, dig up review, build some games that are played only in French, and get their confidence back up with the language before I throw them into the Identity unit.  Otherwise I will be dragging them by their hair through the course, and they will never forgive me for letting them actually be excited about returning to my room.

I started writing this blog today because I was overwhelmed and needed a strategy. 
So I will begin with the categories of review that we need to work on, taking chunks of vocabulary from one place, and actually teaching them to use the vocabulary dictionary that I gave them.  (novel idea, Mademoiselle)
I think that about sums it up.  Now if only there were 48 hours in the day.


Well it is now 9pm and I've since managed to get some things done and planned for tomorrow: 

1. I broke down each day this week with a major verb to review, and the section of the book that it is from.  We will focus on verb conjugations, and major vocabulary.  All other grammar at this point is overwhelming for me to think about, so I won't even make the kids go there.
2. I have decided that the participation rubric I made for the juniors and seniors is rendered inappropriate by the fact that I am asking them to pick a daily objective to focus on.  Such as "speak five times in class" or "ask for Mlle to repeat at least three times  when I don't understand."  Filling in an overall participation rubric is something that doesn't seem plausible if we're focusing on such a minute piece at the beginning.  maybe we will graduate to the big bag wolf rubric.  For now, we'll go with the simple basic one I made along the lines of "I speak French, not English."  and they choose, yes, sometimes, or no.  Way easier.  I am anticipating a sigh of relief.
3. I am forcing myself to recycle powerpoints and games that I've already invented, but never used in an immersion setting.  I will be inventing soon enough.  No need to reinvent what I already have.
4. Once I realized that I was prejudice against reviewing, I realized that I was really prejudiced against the old games I used that involve English.  Now I'm looking forward to review.
5. My personal objective this week: Enable the students to use what they know in order to reduce fear.  Fear of failure, fear of judgement, fear of rejection.  

Assessment

Working on the assessment piece for the Identity and Acceptance unit.  There are four main concepts involved, Identity, Acceptance, Tolerance, and Rejection. 

Thanks to the help of a colleague, I was able to hatch an idea for final assessment that isn't campy or inappropriate.  The last thing I want to start out my semester with is dragging a bunch of junior boys through an emotional ditch with something like "describe a time when you were rejected" or "merely tolerated".

I've invented a new style of theater for this: Théâtre du Remonter.  Rewind Theater.

The kids will be asked to write a skit that branches off into three different directions at the same point.  They will act out the given scenario (A new neighbor moving in and introducing him or herself) and the freezepoint comes when they explain a bit more about who they are. 

Hello my name is John Smith, and I'm a ____________.

the kids will have to fill in the blank with three different identities that provoke each reaction: acceptance, tolerance, and rejection.  They will play each reaction all the way through, then "rewind", then re-enact again with a different identity. 

For example:

Hello my name is John Smith and I'm a gardener.
I'm a muslim.
I'm recently released from prison.
I'm actually a woman.
I'm pagan.
I'm a trumpet player who plays only between the hours of two am and five am.


Whatever they decide... and where-ever they take it, they will have to demonstrate their understanding of the role identity plays in society, what happens when people are "tolerated", "rejected", and why these things happen. 

Part of their score will be based upon the class figuring out who is which reaction.

I have a lot more work to do, I have to go back over all the validity of the assessment, especialyl in light of my essential questions. 

The moral of my story today: teamwork helps.  Brainstorming with that other teacher really led me away from emotional wreckage towards an application of their understanding in a safe and appropriate way.

Wish me luck.

Metacognition

I have asked the junior and senior French classes to bring a journal to class that stays in the room.  During the day they will use this journal to

beginning of class:
*propose daily and weekly objectives
*free-write in French about a proposed topic.  juniors: a picture, seniors: a writing prompt.

end of class:
*reflect on their objectives
*evaluate their class participation for the day

This will happen every day. 

I've designed a chart to help them identify objectives.  I am trying to focus my ... focus... as small as possible.  Beaucoup de zoom. 

I'm trying to use the SMART method for goal setting. 

Specific: speaking
Measurable: three times in class
Attainable: challenging, quality over quantity
Relevant: part of immersion
Time Bound: one week or one day

For example, the objective "Talk more in class" becomes

I will speak French at least three times during the class conversation.

"Listen better"' becomes
I will listen when the teacher speaks and write down three words that she uses that I didn't know, but can figure out.

I hope they feel that this is within their grasp.  by the third week of class we'll add daily objectives.  For the moment, their objectives will only be weekly. 

Everyone essentially will have the same objective: Getting over FEAR of speaking French.

I remind myself to slow down, pull back the pace, and break things way way way down into little tiny pieces.  I don't want to lose anyone.  Not during the first week.

Good luck, Mademoiselle.  Good luck.
 

Understanding

I spent my entire evening yesterday combing back through Understanding by Design.  My principal gave me his copy of the workbook that goes with it, and today I made a "Unit Planning" kit out of the templates that I liked and found useful.

It's so amazing how different the unit already is after one template.

I found out that my unit on "Identity" isn't actually about Identity at all, but self and social acceptance.  The film that inspired me to attack this unit is "Ma Vie en Rose", about a seven-year-old boy who is transgender.  I picked it because it's rather benign compared to most French films (no nudity!  no sex!  no cussing!) except that it is rated R.  We can't have little boys wearing dresses, now can we?  Let's examine that!  I also picked it because it reviews simple vocabulary.  Locations in the community, house, family, clothing, adjectives, but with a twist. 

As I write this, I think... are there French men who choose to use feminine forms of adjectives, and vice-versa?  I've heard about japanese girls using "boku" which is the masculine casual form of "I", while girls are are supposed to stick with the long "watashi".  I'll have to ask Didier what the implications of adjective switching are.

Four templates later, and the bell rings for my final exams.  My students finish, turn them in, give me solid fives (outstanding!) for the teaching and course review, and then reluctantly leave.  They promise to return and visit as often as they can.  In a school of 150 kids, it's not like I won't see them every minute of every day regardless of which classes they have, but it's good to be loved.

One area where they scored me low (4 for above average) was "Encouraged students to express their views and opinions."  I completely agree, because this almost always related to off-topic tangent voyages.  But as I plan my lessons for Semester 2, I find myself trying to cram as many opportunities for this as possible.

The lower-level immersion course was great preparation.  I have so many rubrics that I love, that make sense, and that will hopefully encourage the students to take a more active role from day one.

My biggest concern: I have big classes, 23, 23, and 14.  Because of these class sizes, the way I assess them will have to be different, although I'm not sure how I will do this.

I've added a daily journal for the 3 and 4 class, where they identify objectives each week that they want to work on, such as "actively participating in class discussion" or "writing better quality"  or "listening comprehension" and they pick and build from a list of verbs and nouns to build thigs like "I will listen to my classmates carefully" or "I will take notes during discussions".  This journal will be pretty central.  They will start each morning with a brief free-write on a picture that I display (first block juniors will be certainly groggy), they can take notes during class, and at the end of class they will write a daily reflection on the day's conversation based on a prompt, and then assess their participation.  In 90 minutes, I think that's doable.  I just have to structure the class right.

Structure, structure, structure.

Small pieces, start smaller than small. That's what I tell myself.  Build from pairs to three, threes to fours, fours to sixes, and then back to the whole class. 

I wish I didn't have such stupid individual desks.  Where are the tables and chairs of social interaction?  Bah.

It's almost 6 pm and I'm in my classroom writing this, listening to music, avoiding going home to work on my research project.  I want to bury my arms elbow-deep in UBD, but I have nothing to do all day tomorrow until 12:15 for my semester 1 classes... so I should leave it here at school.

oh look.... somehow the books all got into my bag. 

Oh look... the computer is logging off and the lights are turning out. 

Looks like UBD and I will be sharing dinner.

Note to self: After grad school, get a social life.

Ending Beginning

This semester is ending, and I will be changing classes.

Teaching Immersion is hard.  Because it requires so much thought.  Because I have to plan.  It takes time, time, time, and creativity.

I was not perfect.  There were times I used English, especially once my students began to assert themselves as active learners.

I give myself a seven out of eight.  Seven students committed.  The eighth cannot be saved because he's not ready yet to save himself.  It goes deeper than the immersion.  For him it's personal.  I have to be aware of that, and separate it out from my own self-critique.
 
I could have continued to try harder, but my patience gave out.  I am rejuvenated this week.  Three new classes, all full speed ahead French.

I'm more stressed out about the physical structure of the class than I am about using the French.  How much credit to assign?  Which documents to use?

That is the source of the stress.  There is no fear now, only stress.

Thankfully stress can be identified, hacked up into little pieces, and then annihilated step by step.

as my exiting students tell my entering students, the first two weeks are tough, but it's not hard.  You got this.

:)

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.