The Key to Teaching

**NOTE - Though this is a management post, it has some very specific and important implications on my use of Spanish and CI in the classroom as I get to the specific examples of what is happening in my classroom now

Last May, I hated my job.  I was overwhelmed with all of my responsibilities for a number of reasons, including personal circumstances.  However, I'd also created a monster at school through my lack of solid plans, including classroom management.

When discussing what the most important aspect of teaching was during my teacher prep program, I decided on classroom management since it forms the structure of everything else we do and provides us an environment conducive to learning.  I did not realize how true that was - and that the classroom management plan cannot be a half-baked idea with the expectation that students will fill in the blanks like young adults might in order to make class time useful.  Last May I absolutely realized that and vowed that I would not let my classroom deteriorate like that again.  I do not want to hate my job in May.  It's such a wonderful, rewarding, miraculous job - and I want to want to keep coming back!

So, this last summer I overhauled my classroom discipline and management plans.  This led to a number of small but significant changes in my classroom, all adding up to a class that I'm absolutely loving now that we're 2 weeks into the school year.  My classroom feels more like a place of learning than it ever did before.  My solid plans are what kept my sanity through two straight weeks of non-working technology, students being added/dropped/switched daily (even just yesterday!), starting XC practices on the second day of school with a first-year team, and still managing things in my personal life (including a trip during the entire weekend with no time to prep for week 2!).  Students are still learning the procedures and expectations, but they're working like a charm and it's only going to get better from here!

The book I've been using to overhaul my classroom is "Discipline in the Secondary Classroom."  By working through the chapters step by step, I developed a vision of what I want my classroom to look like, clear expectations to communicate to my students, procedures that will help my classroom run smoothly, and more physical management artifacts such as my Course Expectations and even the arrangement of my room.  Here are some examples of things that have worked wonders these first two weeks:

Behavior Log/Rules and Guidelines for Success
I used to groan at things like behavior logs and grading behavior/participation at first.  Now, I will never teach without one.  The first week made me a fan - the second week made me frenzied fanatic over this thing.  The basic concept is that I keep a clipboard with all students names on it and a column for each day of the week Friday-Thursday.  I have codes for specific behaviors I want to encourage and discourage.  Students start the week with 15/20 points, and their behaviors are tallied and then totaled Thursday nights.  My items are directly linked to the rules (LISTEN: Look me in the eye or where I direct your attention, Involve yourself, Show me when you get it and when you don't, Tune back in, Español only, No talking over), which are 6ft high on my wall right next to the door.  We began with a discussion of the rules as well as the Guidelines of Success (Susan Gross's "Responsibility, Respect, Results"), also posted on a large poster next to the rules.  In addition to these individual points  The results of this practice has been miraculous:

• Since students are starting with a "C", I'm constantly looking for behaviors to reward.  This constant effort ensures (and keeps track of) how many positive/negative interactions I'm having with regard to behavior and ensures that I keep it at that ideal 5:1 ratio of positive and negative comments.  In fact, my ratio is MUCH higher than that.  For students that are having regular behavior problems (and point reductions), I make an extra effort to notice things that they're improving on, such as rewarding these students for things as simple as raising their hand BEFORE they speak, making a comment that is on-topic and adds to the class, or simply being on task.  One particular student started this year right where we left off last year, but I was able to correct the behaviors that continued all last year within one week this year!
• I am effectively encouraging students to do the things that are typically harder to get them to do.  Rather than being something embarrassing that only pays off in long-term learning, by stopping me when they don't understand, raising their hand to ask a question, or taking a risk by answering a question (particularly discussion questions), students are immediately rewarded with recognition for something they did awesome and a point toward their grade.
• All students participate.  Because they need their points, they involve themselves more often and no one can just sit back and be a fly on the wall to earn the grade they want to.  This really gets to my smart kids whose input I want, but they're sometimes so used to just sitting back and understanding the material without getting involved that they don't participate the way that I'd like them to.  It also ensures that I'm interacting with everyone - No more doubt about who has answered all the questions and who hasn't said a thing.  I have the proof in my hands at all times!  Especially toward the end of the week, I'll check to see who hasn't earned any points and remind them, as well as put a priority on calling on them if/when they raise their hand.  Likewise, I have justification to tell an over-eager student that they have all of their points for the week, and I'd like to give another student an opportunity to earn a point before I call on them.  Thus, they're rewarded, but I make sure all students get the attention they deserve.
• Students get immediate feedback.  Both during the class time and then when the grades are posted on Friday (hence the Fri-Mon schedule).  Students know that their performance is (or isn't) up to par with my expectations.  I feel justified assigning this as a grade, too, since our "classwork" is mainly made up of interactions and communication, and this system measures the efforts they're putting in to do so.  Even in two weeks, students are adjusting their behavior and involvement in class based on the number of points they've received (or didn't receive!).
• I'm constantly re-teaching and reminding about my rules as I inform students they've received a point and why.  Even the students who came late have caught on the to the rules and expectations without direct teaching and are participating/behaving the way I want them to.
• I know every single one of my students names.  I had all but a handful down by the end of the first week.  I never realized how huge this is for both me and them.  It became a very quick and rewarding game for everyone as I had to address them by name in order to give them their points throughout class.  Students visually "approved" of me (or were exceptionally pleased) when I called them by name, especially if it was a name that took me an extra day or two to get.  When new students showed up on my roster (or in my class), I immediately knew who they were and was able to welcome them to class and make sure they stayed caught up.  Attendance was a breeze (especially since it was obvious when a student was missing indicated by their lack of a point for that day and the constant reminder to take attendance with their names in front of me).  By the middle of the second week, I even knew where everyone sat (and where the empty seats were for new students).  I feel a sense of community that's already affecting the class in a positive way, which is amazing in only the second week.  Granted, I only have about 130 kids and about a third of them are students I had last year as well, but I'm better with their names than I ever was last year.  I'm pretty darn proud of myself.  This in itself made the behavior log worth it.

Class Points

Similar to the individual points, class points are earned when the whole class is being awesome.  These are awarded as marbles in that period's jar.  There's not a hard-and-fast rule to this, but I do try to give some points every class period.  Oftentimes, I'll give multiple points at once (usually 2-3 marbles, 5 marbles for something that I really want to recognize, though I did give 10 marbles to one class yesterday for a very lively rendition of the "Taco Song" that out-did all the other classes).  When the jar is full, they'll get a PAT activity that they'll vote on as a class, but will still encourage CI (i.e. a game, kindergarten day, etc).  When marbles are messed with they also make a loud, tinkling, and unmistakeable sound - whether they are being put in or taken out of their jar.  It instantly gets the attention of the entire class and the response is immediate (especially if I feel like I'd have to work to get their attention again when they've gotten a little out of hand - the marbles quite them down immediately!)

Posting Grades and handing back work
Even though I only posted one grade on the first Friday, nearly every student wanted to see what they got for their behavior and participation.  I collect all work on Fridays (including their daily journal, quizzes, and any assigned work), as well as hand back the items from the previous week (though they should know their grade before it's handed in with the way that I grade and because they do immediate peer-corrections for items that they may not know the grade for).  This was extremely reinforcing for them as well as myself as I knew that they were invested and interested in their achievement.  Since all work is handed back on Fridays, they're able to immediately compare the posted grade with the grade on their work and let me know if there are any issues as well as check the no-name pile for items they thought they turned in and rectify the situation.  These weekly postings keep me on top of my grading and the students are responding to this beautifully.

Passing out work
A system that is working for me is to front-load the passing out.  There is a pass-out folder that I put copies of each day's handouts in (great job for a teacher's aid!).  My "Capitán de Pasar" (Captain of passing) grabs their folder at the beginning of each class and then passes out the items in the folder WHEN INSTRUCTED (still teaching that to a few of them).  The folders don't go back until the end of the day.  Passing in work follows similar procedures, but is only done on Fridays.

Student Surveys

Students have been taking their time to fill out my short surveys after each Friday quiz indicating which activities helped (or didn't) help them and why as well as giving me a percentage "grade" for how much of class time we spent in Spanish.  I've gotten a lot of really constructive comments and am adjusting my teaching accordingly.  It's great to know what my "customers" think and it seems to be fostering a truly open learning environment where we are all learning and making an effort for one another - even me!

Powerpoints

Essentially, my entire class is guided by PowerPoint slides.  At first, I started doing this because I have very limited board space, so I needed something I could change quickly.  However, they've essentially become the lesson plan that I can follow easily and maintain the flow of my class.  Moreover, I can explain more in Spanish and make sure students are understanding as they can see the Spanish (and sometimes English) "subtitles" for the instructions I'm giving them.  For my more novice classes, I can start with bilingual instructions and then transition to straight Spanish as students become familiar with the instructions and specific slides.  Plus, I can copy and paste slides we didn't get to onto the next day's slideshow.  As a teacher, these have drastically improved my instruction - and my students have noticed.  Though I never said anything about my slides in my surveys, at least two students in different periods commented on how much they like them.

There are a number of other little things I've done, but the bottom line is that I'm enjoying my job more than ever and I feel like I'm achieving my goals as an educator.  Both returning and new students have commented on how much they enjoy my classroom.  Though I got over being "liked" last year by students, more effective management and therefore teaching seems to be resulting in more positive student experiences and "liking" my class more because they are organized and successful!  And, I would have to say that I have pretty high expectations for their behavior and don't compromise (like I did last year) - It's my classroom I refuse to let my students (or sometimes a student) take control.  We play by my rules, and we're all happier for it, especially since they're LEARNING!!

Getting the Act Together

One of the number one things I learned this year (and I've heard it's a common lesson for first-year teachers) is that I need a little work on Classroom Management.  Between the normal struggles and the extra stuff that was going on in my life, I was SO sick of being a teacher by the end of the year.  However, I've got three months to figure out how to make things go differently next year, and my goal for next year is to still like my job come May (that could be a very tall order!).

Classroom management was the place to start, so I researched a number of books and chose the one that seemed best: Discipline in the Secondary Classroom.  (The reviews for the current edition are lacking, but the older edition got a number of glowing reviews, so I assumed the third edition would also be good).  I am not disappointed.  I have to say, this book is completely changing my views of my classroom and making me re-think every little detail, while still providing flexibility for me to do things my way and customize them for my classroom.  It's an easy-to-follow, step-by-step how-to instructional manual for all things classroom management.  The worksheets on the DVD are an added bonus that I'm using along with my own documents that I've created according to the activities in the text and I'm going to have a solid Classroom Management binder to refer to throughout the year.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who teaches in a secondary classroom that would like to fine-tune their classroom management plan.  Right now, I'm working on the activities for the first half of the book, which involve nailing down exactly what my plan is and articulating them in a way that I can clearly visualize how every aspect of my classroom should function like a well-oiled machine using the STOIC model.  Below is a summary of this, including what I've done thorough Chapter 5 (I recommend reading chapters 1-5 and then working on your plan since things in later chapters will influence your plans related to earlier chapters - I find I'm jumping back and forth to fine-tune things a lot):

Section 1: Structure your classroom for success (S)
Chapter 1 - Vision: Understand key concepts about managing student behavior

• Documents I created: Guidelines for Success, Family Contact Plan, Self-Assessment Plan, Family Leter

Chapter 2 - Grading and Instruction: Design instruction and evaluation systems

• Documents I created: Clear Goals for Instruction, Feedback on Behavior - Monitoring Behavior, Feedback on behavior and effort - Grading/Assessing behavior, Plan for students to review their grades

Chapter 3 - Organization: Prepare routines and procedures

• Documents I created: Instruction and evaluation procedures, Schedule of daily activities, Expectations for independent work periods, How to get students' attention, Student materials, Beginning and ending class, Addressing absences, Procedures for assigning/monitoring/collecting student work, Physical space and classroom layout

Chapter 4 - Classroom Management Plan: Plan to encourage responsible behavior and to respond consistently to student behavior

• Documents I created: Guidelines for Success, Family Contact Plan, Self-Assessment Plan, Family Letter

Section 2: Teach Expectations (T)
Chapter 5 - Expectations: Plan to teach students how to be successful

• Documents I created: ACHIEVE acronym breakdown, Plan for students to get my attention and communicate that they need help, Preliminary lesson plans for teaching expectations, list of common activities and transitions, ACHIEVE activities worksheets (detailing expectations for each common activity), ACHIEVE transitions worksheet (detailing expectations for each common transition)

Chapter 6 - Preparation and Launch: Pull it all together for the first day

Section 3: Observe Student Behavior (O)
Chapter 7 - Monitor Student Behavior: Implement and adjust your classroom management plan

Section 4: Interact Positively (I)
Chapter 8 - Motivation: Enhance students' desire to succeed

Section 5: Correct Fluently
Chapter 9 - Proactive planning for chronic misbehavior

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!

Behavior Plan

I'm currently doing a long-term subbing assignment until just about the end of the year.  It's with a great school in the Extended Resource Room.  I'm working with the kids that are "integrated", but come to this reading lab to help with their reading and comprehension skills as well as work on homework from other classes in a supportive environment.

However, given the nature of the class and the students in it, we've been running into some issues - on an academic level but also on the behavior level.  Students have 3-4 pages of work that need to be completed each day.  The students receive their week packet on Monday (with different activities) and I list the pages students need to work on, then support them as they make their way through at their own pace.  Each should only take about 5-10 minutes (in a 45-minute class), so students should generally be able to complete the work and have time left over.  For some students, it's working great.  For other students, not so much - and they're making it harder for the students who would be getting their work done otherwise.

Some of the problems we are having on the academic level is a lack of comprehension and, though the class is small, I cannot attend to the quiet, struggling student sufficiently because I'm dealing with the behavior problems.  The behavior problems are general off-task issues, which are usually fairly disruptive and distracting to me and the other students.  We need some sort of solution that motivates students to behave properly and do their work, but also one that allows me to give students more support to make sure they're actually understanding the work (which not being able to understand is part of the behavior problem!).

In trying to figure out a viable solution - especially since I'm only here four more weeks - I recalled a strategy that I had read about on the MoreTPRS Yahoo! group and then also experienced in a few elementary-school classes.  Moreover, my supervising teacher began using it in his classroom and loves it.

The basic principle is to award students points for good behavior/work, leading up to a certain goal.  What makes it powerful is how it's customized for a class.

In this class, I'm thinking of setting a timer for 10  minutes and starting it after I explain the worksheet.  Every student who finishes their work with a B or better within that time will get a point for their class and have the remainder of the 10 minutes to choose what they do (within reasonable limits, of course).  When the timer goes off, I'll collect all papers - completed or not - and hand out the next activity.  When students reach a certain number of points, they get a reward (in this class, it'd be a "free day").  This allows me to make sure students are actually with me to hear my instructions and work on the proper worksheet that I've just explained with help - and a motiviation to get it done!

In the future, I want to use this in a class to motivate students to stay in Spanish.  I can have a designated student be the "timer" who starts the timer for 8 minutes.  If anyone speaks in English without permission (including me!), the timer restarts.  If we make it the entire 8 minutes, we get a marble in a jar!  Once the jar fills up, it's reward day!  I'll let students pick their rewards, but it'll be something along the lines of a "kindergarten day", movie, etc. - it'll be educational, but fun and relaxing.  This is what my supervising teacher is doing, and he says it's made a huge difference in his class!

Storytelling Self-Evaluation

Reblogged from Señorita Barragán:

I had to clip this to my Evernote the other night:

Photo credit: twitter.com/soccermom2013

Fabulous find. Thank you @soccermom2013! I’d heard of guided notes during storytelling (students write down target vocabulary, jot down main points of the story, such as main characters, the conflict, etc., draw pictures, and write a summary), but I think I’m more likely to utilize something like this as the occasional exit slip. I took the liberty of creating a file to share. You can download it below:

TPR Words

This is a list of words I want to TPR before getting into stories in order to help students form a base vocabulary as well as experience success at the beginning of the year.  In addition, many of these words will be used frequently in day-to-day activities as well as in stories and novels.  I've chosen to put these into 3rd person form since that is what they will be hearing and using most and can tranfer that knowledge to understand commands when given during class.

1. ayuda
2. grita
3. se llama
4. trabaja
5. pone
6. necesita
7. endtiende/comprende
8. mira
9. saca
10. se levanta
11. se sienta
12. baja
13. agarra
14. habla
15. toma
16. camina/anda (hacia)
17. toca
18. escucha
19. pregunta
20. lee

Popsicle Stick PQA

I picked this one up from the elementary classrooms I subbed in.  When students came in, they had certain "housekeeping" chores they needed to do before getting to work on an activity already prepared for them.  I loved subbing in these classes because students had a routine that got them ready for learning and in the "school" mindset.  Often, one of these routines was to move a marker with their name to another location as part of a choice.  For instance, one class had a can with Popsicle sticks with all of their names on them, and they had to move the Popsicle stick to another can to indicate whether they had cold lunch or their choice for hot lunch.  What I loved most about this was that it made attendance easy - I simply wrote down the names of the Popsicle sticks that were left!  I hadn't figured out an attendance routine I really liked, so I was determined to figure out how to incorporate this into my classrooms.

It dawned on me that this would be an excellent way to lead into PQA!  I could have a question written on the board - either a question with words they know or a question with new words and translated - and multiple choices.  As students come in, they know they'll need to read the question and move their stick to their choice, then get started on a warm-up in their notebooks.  Then, we could do PQA and a discussion based on their responses.  It could be as simple as observing how many students chose each item (counting practice!) and moving on, or you could dive into a full PQA lesson.  Either way, routines are established that prepare students for learning, attendance is taken care of, and you have a starting point for discussion!

Note: I would generally double check or read off the "absent" names.  It's easy to double check whether the correct names have been moved by doing a quick head-count and comparing that to the number of people absent. If there's a discrepancy, then some sort of discipline would be in line.  In my class, to avoid a "who did it" issue, I'd likely take away some of the marbles they've earned as a class.

Spanish Nicknames

During the first week of school, students choose nicknames that they will use throughout the year.  I provide a list of nicknames, but students are also allowed to create their own as long as it's school-appropriate.  I love this activity!  It achieves many things that are critical in my classroom.  First and foremost, the students learn to "play" and develop a unique relationship in my classroom with me and their peers.  Another perk is that students have a jump-start to their vocabulary as they're already interested in what the names mean and will get many repetitions of these words throughout the year! Rather than real Spanish names, I use nicknames such as "Pato" (duck) or "Vato" (dude).

Personally, my nickname is simply "Profa."  This is a great way to introduce "llamarse" (to call onseself).  I write "Me llamo ________." (I call myself_______.) on the board with a translation.  I give them the example that "Allá, me llamo Jillane.  Aquí, me llamo Profa." (Out there, I call myself Jillane.  Here, I call myself Profa.)

I use this to establish the "play" in the classroom and explain that who you are in here doesn't leave the room, and we even have different names.  It's presented like a "club" where we can all be someone different. (Especially at the beginning of the year, when students are uncomfortable getting a little silly in class, I remind them this is Spanish and we're all someone different in here, etc.)  In fact, we even add sounds and actions to their names!

In practice, students get out a piece of paper and fold it into thirds to create a triangle name-card on their desk.  I display the list of nicknames and tell students to pick three possible names from the list and write it small on the inside of their card.  They'll only be using one of their nicknames, but they have three just in case theirs gets picked before their turn.  Nicknames can be a combination of the words I display or their own appropriate words, but encourage them not to make their name too long since we'll be calling them that and they'll be writing it on their papers for the rest of the year.  

Then, we do a modified PQA activity (from Lesson 1.1.1: Descriptions)

• Write on board: ¿Cómo te llamas?/Me llamo ______./Se llama_______.
• Translate with the class on the board and add actions (box on shirt like a nametag)
• ¿Cómo te llamas? = How yourself call you?
• Me llamo ______. = Myself call I_______.
• Se llama_______. = Him/erself calls s/he_______.
• Watch "¿Cómo te llamas?" song
• Chant "¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo te llamas tú?", and point to a student.  Ask "¿Cómo te llamas?" (you don't have to do it before every student, but you can chant it once for a group of students and then ask each student in that group one-on-one "¿Cómo te llamas?")
• Student responds: "Me llamo..." and fills in the blank with their chosen nickname from their list of 3.
• Report to the class: "Se llama...."
• Class responds

After the student reports their name, they write it on the front of their name tag.  You could have them write their real name on the other side, but I choose to only have them write their nickname so that it encourages consistent use of nicknames from everyone, including myself.  Students keep their tags and are required to have them out each day (at least, until I feel like I don't need them anymore!).  They are encouraged to personalize them, which many do by illustrating what their name means.

Follow-Up

Students are asked to come up with an action and sound for their name as "homework" - this further establishes "play" in preparation for stories!  When they return, we do the full PQA activity as it's written in Lesson 1.1.1: Descriptions, but students respond with their name along with their action and sound and responses are circled and compared.