Genius Hour 2013: First Semester

Each day, I'm getting closer to introducing Genius Hour to my class.  After much thought and input from coworkers, I feel like I've got a solid plan.  Obviously, things will be a little less flexible than this last summer as far as what material we need to cover (I need to demonstrate that I'm meeting standards for Spanish classes), but we have so many more opportunities to really go big with this project so I'm very excited!  Here's what I've got planned so far...

My new classroom!

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, and I have so much to write about! I'm officially one week into my teaching career.  I've been absolutely swamped between moving and getting started with my first year of teaching.  However, things are finally calming down to where I can start posting about what's going on :)

First things first - here's my new classroom!

Here's the front wall -  it has all the most important things for students to see.

• Starting on the left, we have our class rules (LISTEN) so that I can point and refer to them whenever we need to.  
• The giant white notepad next to it is for words that the class wants to use, but aren't necessarily "in bounds".  We write the words and their translations on the pad to bring them "in bounds".
• Next is our vocabulary word wall.  I use this to hold/display curriculum vocabulary.  There's plenty of room to display our current words as well as hold all the other word sets we will cover.  Each word from each of our structures is written on a color-coded card for each chapter.  we'll put these on the board with magnets (the smiley face!) when we're using them in context and combine them with other words.
• Above the whiteboard are the ACTFL proficiency standards in student-friendly language for the Novice and Intermediate levels.  There is a little green arrow for Spanish 1 and another one for Spanish 2 pointing to where I expect them to be at the end of each class. (I'm only teaching Spanish 1, but I discussed where to put the Spanish 2 arrow so students have a long-term idea of where they'll be by the end of these classes).
• Below the board is the current Spanish alphabet with vocabulary words for each letter - great for inspiring some fun words during PQA and stories since we'll see them all year!
• On the left-hand side of the board is the "CBC" board with the date (written out in Spanish with vocabulary cards for the day and month), Objectives, Agenda, Essential Question, and Homework.
• To the right of the board are the question words as well as our props!

Here's another view of the front wall where you can see a few more items:

• My desk area - I love it!
• Above my desk are cards to remind students to tell me when to STOP (red), SLOW DOWN (yellow) and REPEAT (green).

Here's the right side of my classroom:

• There are responses for students to use during PQA and Stories, etc, that are color-coded for the type of reaction they express (for example, under "Approval" is listed "¡Qué bien!")
• I have a chart with the weather where the arrow can be rotated to point to the current weather.
• I have two windows, though we keep the curtains closed in the morning to prevent glare.
• The bookcase holds our library of books, including textbooks, Interactive Notebooks, and books for free-choice reading.

There are only a few things along the back of the room, but they take up the whole wall!

• TPRS-friendly grammar posters - these have the endings that we'll most frequently use, but the important letters are colored in with black to draw attention to them (i.e. the "-mos" on all of the nosotros forms).  I also have a "subjects" poster with all of the Spanish words for "I", "you", "he", "she", etc.
• Color words are above the computers.

Finally, the left-hand side of my classroom, with lots of fun things.

• Map of the Spanish-speaking countries of the world - I love this map!  It's so cool and has a lot of interesting information.
• Map of Mexico with illustrations of different areas.
• Poster of all the country flags.
• "How to tell time" poster.
• "High Frequency Words" poster.
• Emergency exit strategy
• Bathroom/Tardy sign out/in.

Finally, you might have noticed there are labels everywhere!  All useful words to point to when I need to :)  My desks are also set up so that I can go throughout the room with ease as well as have a nice, large area in the center for acting!  I'm so excited about my room set up and my students seem to really like it.  So far so good, and I haven't had to assign seats yet!

Quick Update

Ok, making a quick post to explain my lack of posting and responding - we've been in the middle of vacationing with family, moving, and getting started at my new school (which we can't get into until tomorrow, one week before students show up!), so things have been hectic!  I will be back to posting VERY soon, I promise!

Genius Hour - The Moment of Truth

Our Latino Culture Genius Hour projects are done and yesterday we presented our projects.  So, how did we do?  Here's the process we went through, how everything turned out, student projects, and my reflections on it all :)

20 Time in a Foreign Language Classroom

Now that I have a better idea of what I'm in for this fall when it comes to Genius Hour and 20 Time, I've started thinking about how I'm going to connect it to my curriculum.  There are two main areas that Genius Hour can (and should) be connected to in a Foreign Language class: culture and language.

NOTE: A special "thank you" to Denise Krebs and Señorita Barragan for helping me form and articulate my ideas for this post.

Genius Hour Week 3: Three Distinct Groups

Three distinct groups of students have emerged within my classroom and, though my program is a special one for students who might be considered "at risk", I imagine similar groups will emerge in any Genius Hour classroom: the "This is awesome!" group, the "Ok, I get it." group, and the "What is this?" group.

Genius Hour Week Two: 2 Struggles and 2 Successes

Last week I introduced Genius Hour to my students, and this week we spent the entire class period researching various ideas.  We had a lot of interesting experiences today - some shed light on some of the struggles my students may have and that I need to address and others confirmed how awesome this really is.  For week 2, I have two of each to share :)

Genius Hour: Week 1

"How did you know that?"

"I Googled it."

The first student had asked a fairly complicated question out loud ("Do babies dream?"), and within a few seconds, the second student started telling her about the REM cycles of babies, something he knew nothing about just a few moments beforehand.  That's the beauty of Genius Hour.

Free download, and help a school in Costa Rica!

From Karen Rowan via the MoreTPRS Yahoo! Group:

I'm working with a fabulous expert-type woman to do interesting, creative things
that will ultimately support the school in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica that I'm
trying to create a donated income stream for.

Here's how it works.
1. Write a book really, really fast
2. Publish it as an E-book and make it free for 24 Hours
3. Ask my 2000 closest friends to download it in those 24 Hours and write a
quick 5 star review.
4. Sell it for .99 cents and donate 100% of the royalties to the school.

Step 3 puts it on Amazon's book list, and is more likely to be downloaded in
Step 4 more.

The most urgent project at the school I have been donating books to for 3 years
is that one of the walls was damaged in the recent earthquake and is crumbling. 
The next earthquake has the potential to crush my precious little readers.

So. I wrote the book. It's an itty-bitty book that should really be called,
"Isabela Light." (Real title, "El secreto de Isabela." It's a portion of the
Isabela story that is super-sheltered for brand new language learners. It has 47
total distinct words, and 18 of them are cognates. The total length is 223
words. You could use it with elementary students or with adults right away.

I can only make it free once, so I'm hoping the timing will be such that
students could even download for summer reading. You can share the link with
anyone.

It's Midnight Pacific time Sunday (Monday 12:01am) and lasts for a world-wide 24
hours. So when it's midnight Monday in the last possible place on the planet,
it ends. Amazon is freaky that way.

Here's the link. I'll post again Sunday night begging for your assistance in
downloading and sharing. I really hope that this will be something you can log
into and use in your classroom's, too. Also... if you've always wanted to learn
Spanish OR if you're looking for materials for a super-short adult class, this
would probably work for you.

http://www.amazon.com/secreto-Isabela-aventuras-Spanish-ebook/dp/B00D8RX2SO/ref=\
sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370627725&sr=1-1&keywords=el+secreto+de+isabela


¡Gracias!

Karen Rowan
www.fluencyfast.com

P.S. If you want to see pictures of the school, they're on the Fluency Fast
Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/FluencyFast?fref=ts

Latino Culture Curriculum and Lessons

I'm going to be creating and adding lesson plans and activities for my Latino Culture class over the summer, so I wanted a place to organize it all!  Feel free to dive into my Upward Bound classroom through my plans :)

*Starred dates are when no computer labs are available.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
June 10 NO CLASS	June 11 What is culture?	June 12 NaZa NaZa	June 13* Who are Latinos?	June 14 Genius Hour
June 17 What is the history of Latin America?	June 18 What are typical Latino holidays and celebrations?	June 19 Movie: Peloteros (Dom. Rep.)	June 20 Guest presenter: Diana (Argentina)	June 21 Genius Hour
June 24 What are Latino communities like? (religion, family education, religion, social norms, customs, and roles, clothing)	June 25* Movie: The Devil's Miner (Bolivia)	June 26 Empanadas field trip	June 27 Genius Hour	June 28* Guest Presenter
July 1 College Tour	July 2 College Tour	July 3 Off	July 4 Independence  Day	July 5       OFF
July 8 What does Latino art look like?  Who are some Latino artists? (fine art, dramatic art, architecture)	July 9* Movie: Mad Hot Ballroom (Dom. Rep.)	July 10 Dance Class	July 11 Guest Presenter	July 12 Genius Hour
July 15 Movie: La Misma Luna (Mexico)	July 16* NO CLASS Rafting Leave at 4:15	July 17 Humberto Q&A	July 18 Movie: Las mujeres de verdad tienen cuervas (USA)	July 19  Genius Hour Presentations

Latino Culture: My Paradigm Shift

I've been pondering an issue with my Latino Culture class.  While I am a Spanish teacher and have a basic understanding of culture (especially since I've never lived abroad), I am an expert at teaching Spanish language, not culture, and most everything I could teach my students, they could learn themselves with a quick Google search.  Then I had an idea.... Why not let them do it themselves?

20 Time as a model for the educational system

What if the entire educational system was modeled after the 20 Time approach?  In other words, what if all education were inquiry-based? What if the primary goal of early education was communication - including listening, reading, writing, and speaking - so that students would be able to obtain, learn, and share information independently?  What if students as young as primary school were then asked to form essential questions, research the answers, and then present their results?  What if teachers were viewed as experts and resources in their subject areas that students approached when they needed help or direction?  What if students were then connected with professional mentors with more specialized skills and expertise?  What if student assessment was then based on the products and innovations they come up with, like a portfolio?

I envision a school where teachers are not the content providers, but rather guides and inspiration for students.  Students would more or less take the same courses as they do now, but would form questions related to the topic area and then learn the content in the process of discovering the answers to their own questions.  Students would have access to more advanced levels of instruction as their needs and interests dictate.  Moreover, students in high school (or even middle school) would take a course that allows them to research any topic of interest to them.

Education would be individualized to meet student needs and interests
Students would understand why the information was important
Students would be motivated to master content
Students would be able to apply 21st century skills to find information on their own
Students would learn to rely on one another as resources with a high degree of expertise.

Students would demonstrate not only what they know, but what they can do with what they know.

Would this really work?  I don't know.  But I sure think it's a step in the right direction.

TL in Genius Hour/20 Time

I'm having an interesting conversation on Twitter with a few other foreign language teachers about how to use the TL (Target Language) during these times.  I feel very strongly that students should have the freedom to explore and present their passions without being hindered by having to do it in a second language (yes, that even includes higher levels - I would die if all the things I wanted to learn about and/or present I had to do so in Spanish).  So, the core of Genius Hour/20Time really needs to be done without having to use the language.

However, we are generating ideas for other ways of integrating foreign language.

• Obviously, part of mine is the requirement to connect at least part of their learning to other cultures. (I just had a related idea - rather than making that culture a focus of a project, students could do a sort of mini-project as part of their genius hour to find out ways their topic connects to Spanish-speaking culture).
• Since their passions will include some essential vocabulary and terminology (like the word "input" in education), students could make a vocabulary list of the essential vocabulary for their topic and how those translate into Spanish.  Should they decide to pursue their passions and need to communicate about them in Spanish, these words will be critical to them.

20 Time with Profa Baros

This was written as my inaugural post on 20 Time In Education.  It includes a thorough introduction of who I am, what I teach, my goals for using 20 Time in my classroom, and my initial plans for what it will look like.

Teach to the Top

A product of the misguided "No Child Left Behind" act is the notion that we must teach to the bottom. The students who simply don't understand, whether or not by choice (referring to behaviors here), set the pace of the classroom, forcing higher-achieving students to wait for them.  This drags the pace of the entire course down, ending in frustration for the higher students who want to learn, the lower students who are constantly nagged, and the teacher who simply cannot get her job done.

The other day, I read about a simple notion that changes this paradigm:  Teach to the top. For example, when you notice that a few of your students are done working, move on to the next activity. Don't make those students sit and waste their valuable education time waiting for everyone else to catch up.  Don't get after the students taking forever to hurry up so you can finish teaching what you need to.  Simply inform students that it's time to move on.  Time is valuable - we're not going to wait.

At first, this sounds cruel and unusual.  While it is unusual, I'm beginning to believe that it's far less cruel - and much more effective - than teaching to the bottom.  By raising the standard, you create a sense of urgency.  People are learning in here - I need to pick up the pace!  Students aren't going to be rewarded or accommodated for not paying attention or dragging their feet.  It's time to get those gears turning and get to work!  By approaching their classrooms this way, other teachers have seen overall level of the class improve as students become focused and attentive.

Thoughts worth considering...

Flipping with Udemy and Edmodo

This is just a little teaser about a pet project I'm currently working on.  I've finally identified the resources and format I want to use for flipping my classroom and am working on getting the first quarter uploaded and organized.  For now, suffice it to say I'm using Udemy.com and Edmodo.com as my primary means of flipping.  Udemy is a platform allowing anyone to create an online course complete with a curriculum, lessons and modules, media, etc.  I think it'll work perfectly with the lessons I want my students to complete at home.  The drawback is that these courses are currently designed for independent, self-motivated, and self-assessing students, and so it doesn't provide a lot of feedback about student achievement and mastery.  Here's where Edmodo comes in on multiple fronts.  Edmodo is my means of communication both ways:  I'll post the assignment I want students to complete - including which lesson to view and instructions for submitting their work.  Once students view the lesson, they will follow the initial instructions to complete an assignment turned in via edmodo.  Finally, I can provide feedback on their assignment through Edmodo.  This gives me (and students!) real-time feedback about how well the students are learning the material through the lessons, which I can also evaluate instantly at the beginning of the next class via a pop quiz with clickers.  Using Edmodo assignments along with the clicker evaluations allows me to determine whether students are ready to move on and apply the information they learned, need some review, or simply didn't do the work.

Anyway, stay tuned for an update with more details!  The more I work on it and fine-tune everything, the more possibilities I discover and the cooler it gets!

Proficiency Scale as Decor

Way cool!  Didn't want to forget :)

http://creativelanguageclass.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/bring-the-rubric-to-life/

What do I want my classroom to look like?

OK, so in interviews, this has more to do with the environment and activities rather than physical appearance.  However, as I'm hearing more and more about our new campus and thinking of things that I'd like to have readily available to help students, I'd like to touch on the actual physical appearance of my room.  Like many of my posts, this will be one that gets updated over time :)

• Materials and resources
• "Store" - all of our props and costumes
• student library
• teacher library
• Common objects (door, clock, window, etc.)
• Spare items (golf pencils, loose-leaf-papers)
• Spanish support
• Labels for objects and areas
• Conjugation charts (not for focus, but support)
• Decorations
• window curtains
• cultural artifacts
• posters/pictures of other countries

Class Dojo

I was just reading an article about Making Time for Genius Hour in the Classroom, which led me to discover Class Dojo, free classroom management software.  It's so simple and easy to use, and this would be great to give feedback and track data!  I think it would be especially effective during all our activities, particularly asking stories to keep the flow of the story and helping students tune back in.  I especially liked the idea of letting a good student run the points - as he said, never do what you can have a student do!

20% TIme Inspiration

Need some inspiration and motivation about 20% Time that shows just how amazing our students and their ideas can be?  Check this out!

Story Format

The format for presenting my stories is similar how I prepare my lesson plans.  An example is given below with highlighted annotations explaining each component and how I implement it in my classroom.

Structures: These are in past tense in order to facilitate more "natural" storytelling and exposure to a variety of verb tenses.

• New Structures: Structures that will be introduced in this story.  I intended these to be the "notes" for the day as students copy them down as well as their translations.  I limit these to three per story.  If more are necessary, I create a new story with those.
• había [un(a)]- There was/were (a)
• quería - wanted
• fue a - went to
• Recent Structures: Structures that have been introduced in previous stories, but will likely need to be reviewed.  These will be included in the actual storytelling to build upon vocabulary and structures that have already been acquired and/or need more repetitions.
• se llamaba - him/erself called s/he (he called himself)
• era - (S/he) was
• tenía - had

PQA:These are in present tense to facilitate normal conversation.

• Hay un(a): Structures that do not lend themselves to the various forms listed below are worked into personalized questions in other ways which are noted.
• action - hand over eye and point to something An action is added to most important words through the TPR method and used throughout stories and communication to facilitate comprehensible input
• Have students stand up and tell them "Hay un(a) chic@."
• After this is done a few times, ask it as a question: "¿Hay un(a) chic@?" and students reply with "Sí" or "No."  Model correct answer in a complete sentence.
• Expand to ask ¿Qué hay? and have students respond with "chic@" or "Hay un(a) chic@."  Model correct response.
• Expand to other easy objects (cognates/basic words) with props or pictures (dog, cat, elephant, banana, etc., first asking yes or no questions and progressing to open-ended questions.
• Quiere: 
• Action - palms up wiggling fingers
• Question/responses:Most structures are manipulated into a present tense question (you form), a correct response pattern (I form), and how I will report student responses to the class (3rd person).  I write the following on the board, model them, and translate them briefly with the class.
• ¿Qué / quier/es? = What/want/you? (What do you want?)
• Shouting/calling to someone I add a chant or song to the question so that the entire class can ask it together.  I recommend repeating the phrase at least twice so students can join in on the second one if they miss the first time.
• Quier/o________. = Want/I _______. (I want...)
• Quier/e_______. = Wants/ s/he ______. (S/he wants...)
• Through a process of adding a chant/song to the question and allowing the entire class to participate, students are asked the question, allowed to create a personalized response, and the response is then reported to the class.  The class responds chorally to what the person said.  For example:
• Chant the question (¿Qué quieres?) two times, and point to a student.  Ask "¿Qué quieres?"
• Student responds: "Quiero...."
• Report to the class: "(name) quiere...."
• Class responds
• Va a:
• Action: sweep hand away with "V" fingers
• Question/response
• ¿Adónde vas? = To where go you?
• Watch Señor Wooly's "¿Adónde vas?" Occasionally, I will include resources I find helpful for teaching these phrases.
• Sing (like Señor Wooly video): "¿Adónde vas? ¿Adónde, adónde vas?"
• Voy a_____. = I go to...
• Prompts: "Voy a WalMart/McDonald's/Disneylandia." For when students get stuck trying to respond, I model "sample" answers they can either copy or manipulate
• Va a______. = S/he goes to...

Story: This is a story template limited to only the structures students have already learned.  Feel free to change and add details as you like.  In planning, I'll stick to using mostly the new and most recent structures, but keep the older structures in front of me for adding details about the characters and what's happening.  When I want more details, I'll look at the recent/old structures and ask for a new detail using those structures (hint: if you're using the "structure cards" on my tips page, the students often do this for you!).  I may add a few of these detail here, but it'll really be up to you and your class which details are added.  English translations are in red after each paragraph.  When I have my own class, I will also provide examples of how my students personalized the story.  Again, these stories are in past tense so that students are exposed to all verb tenses.  Shelter vocabulary, not grammar!

Había un elefante.  El elefante se llamaba Tiny.  Tiny era un elefante muy, muy grande.  Había un problema.  Tenía dos bikinis azules, pero quería un bikini rosado.  No tenía un bikini rosado.  Era un problema grande.

There was an elephant.  The elephant called himself Tiny. Tiny was an elephant that was very, very big.  There was a problem.  He had two blue bikinis, but he wanted a pink bikini.  He didn't have a pink bikini.  It was a big problem.

After setting up the story, the remaining paragraphs can repeat as many times as you'd like.  I design my stories so you can copy and paste and then change the details.  If students are getting it and you want to complete the story, limit the number of paragraphs.  If students need more practice, keep adding the paragraphs to include the structures!

Tiny fue a Alaska.  En Alaska, había un gato.  El gato se llamaba Whiskers y era un gato pequeño.  Whiskers no tenía un bikini porque no había bikinis en Alaska.  Tiny quería un bikini.  Había un problema.

Tiny went to Alaska.  In Alaska, there was a cat.  The cat called himself Whiskers and was a little cat.  Whiskers didn't have a bikini because there weren't bikinis in Alaska.  Tiny wanted a bikini.  There was a problem.

Fue a California.  En California, había un perro.  El perro se llamaba Clifford y era un perro grande y rojo.  Clifford tenía bikinis, pero no tenía bikinis rosadas.  Tenía bikinis negras.  Tiny quería un bikini rosado.  Había un problema.
He went to California.  In California, there was a dog that calls himself Clifford.  Clifford was a big, red dog.  Clifford had bikinis, but he didn't have pink bikinis.  He had black bikinis.  Tiny wanted a pink bikini.  There was a problem.

Fue a Hawaii.  En Hawaii, había una chica.  La chica se llamaba Suzie y era una chica baja, pero muy bonita.  Tenía muchos bikinis.  Tenía bikinis negros, azules, rojos, y rosados.  Tiny quería un bikini rosado.  No había un problema.  El fin.
He went to Hawaii.  In Hawaii, there was a girl that called herself Suzie.  Suzie was short, but very pretty.  She had many bikinis.  She had black, blue, red, and pink bikinis.  Tiny wanted a pink bikini.  There was not a problem.  The end.

Resources

Here's a compilation of resources I'd like to keep track of :)

General Professional Development resources
Twitter
Google+

TPRS
MoreTPRS Yahoo! Group

General Spanish
Pinterested board with resources

Genius Hour/20 Time
The Global Genius Hour Project
Genius Hour Wiki Space
20 Time in Education
20% Time Google Plus Group
20% Time in Education Google Plus Group
Genius Hour Collaboration
Genius Hour

Flipped Classroom
Free resources for the flipped classroom
27 Simple ways to flip your classroom

Technology Resources
Most used education Apps

Shopping List

I am compiling a list of resources and materials I'd like to gather for my classroom.  As I come across items I want, I'll list them here!

• Reading Materials
• Class library
• Children's books
• Popular books in Spanish
• Readers
• Class story collections
• Articles in Spanish
• Class sets of curriculum novels
• LICT Extended Stories
• Storytelling
• Stuffed animals
• Clothing
• Wigs
• Misc. Props
• Ben Slavic Posters
• References
• The Power of Cognates
• Songs for Spanish Class
• TPRS in a Year
• Story Scripts, Volume 1
• Story Scripts, Volume 2
• PQA in a Wink
• Stuff for Spanish Class
• Decorations
• Verb endings posters
• Rejoinder Poster
• Maps
• Cultural Artifacts
• Other
• Sr. Wooly Subscription
• Singing the Basics: Beginning Spanish
• Singing the Basics: Intermediate Spanish