Somewhere to Share

We’ve all seen the quotes. “It’s not a journey, it’s a race.” “It doesn’t matter how slow you go, just don’t stop.” “Life is a journey, not a destination.” We actually get bombarded by them so often that they lose their effect. We’re immune to the message. We start to just look past it.

But in education, it is true. We are on a journey. Every day in the classroom, we do a little bit better, we try another new thing that moves our students along the path to proficiency, we add a bold new unit or reader… but we feel overwhelmed, rushed, behind. The teacher next door is using 4 readers and I am only using one. The teacher on Twitter posted pictures of her students discussing green energy and mine are just learning to talk about their family life.

If I can convince you of any one thing this summer, I hope that I can convince you to embrace change at your own pace. If you’re beginning a CI journey (or a textbookless journey, or a deskless journey, or any journey), considering the journey, or are ready to dive in head first, set a pace that you’re comfortable with and add new units, readers, skills, classroom set ups and activities slowly. It’s tempting to throw everything you’ve ever known out the window to try to achieve the same results as another teacher but the changes that are most impactful and longest lasting are the changes that we take a little at a time!

My “CHANGE EVERYTHING” teaching journey started in 2005. I had failed the National Board process and I felt lost. I loved my job and my students. I loved grammar and worksheets. I thought I was doing a good job. I began to research some of the terms that had come up in my NBCT testing centers and I realized where I had gone wrong. I was teaching a curriculum, not my students. I went through the book at the same pace year after year, leaving everyone behind who wasn’t strapped in and ready for the roller coaster! In that research, through some simple dumb luck, I stumbled my way into best practice.

I began attending some sessions at my state conference with Susan Gross. She got me excited to “peel the banana” differently! I went back to my room and began by telling a couple of stories and doing some TPR. The next year, I blended story telling with the textbook. Then I added a reader… Then I got bold and ditched the textbook because I felt like it was holding me back from talking about the things my students wanted to talk about… Little by little I purged my curriculum and turned it into what I wanted it to be! I’m now 13 years in and every year I still add new things and make a few more changes. It is definitely a journey.

I teach in a small, rural school. My challenges are different than the challenges you face if you’re in an urban district. I am in a department of 3, you may be in a department of 20 or a department of 1. Remember that we’re all working within the framework we’ve been given and that whatever changes we make for the good of our students have to be framed within the context of that department.

I hope you plan this summer! I hope you plan a TON of input for your students next year! I hope you plan to read with them, to build community with them, and to fill their cups with language input. I hope my scope and sequence for Wildcat Spanish can be of use to you. But mostly, I hope that you know it takes time. Every year, rather than rushing yourself to get it all done at once, stop to smile back on the successes you’ve seen through the pieces you managed to add to your curriculum! Did you ditch the chore chapter and add a reader? HOORAY FOR YOU! Find joy in that victory! Did your department agree to skip ‘the house chapter’ in favor of Viviendas del mundo? Just keep taking steps!! Watch for the joy in your journey to more effective practice!

It was a great year in Wildcat Spanish. There were trying days but after a pretty rough 17-18, this school year was a piece of cake. As I enjoy my first day of summer break with a second cup of coffee, my bird feeders, and two (exhausted from a dog park visit) dogs, I am also reflecting on my year. I’ve found that if I completely shut down after I leave school, the urgency disappears and I forget to take the time to reflect on the highs and lows. If I don’t reflect on the highs and lows, I find myself re-making the same mistakes in the new school year!

I just finished listening to “Girl Wash Your Face” by Rachel Hollis. I loved this book. There are things I don’t necessarily agree with (I am pretty sure only those in privileged positions can chase their dreams the way Rachel has) but there are also things that really, really hit home for me. One of them: Why do you break promises to yourself? Rachel talked about how we always say we are going to do things and then when it comes down to it, we cancel on our own plans again and again. “I’m going to save up to go to ACTFL”, “I’m going to try X in class this year”, “I am going to invite a colleague in to observe and coach me”… what promises have you made yourself this year that you just let fall by the wayside as the year got busy and you ran out of time? Rachel asks what we would think if it were a friend or loved one doing that to us… What if it was your a loved one saying “I’m going to fix X at home this year”, or “I am going to invite you over for a barbecue”, or “I’m going to save up to come see you” and then kept breaking the promises again and again?? You would lose trust in that person!

As I commit to some promises to myself, I’ve made a list on a “stickie” on my computer screen. These are things I want to do differently in the new school year that require me to plan and prepare over the summer. Before I get into vacation mode and stop thinking of them, I wanted to write down these promises to myself right now, while the iron is still hot! I even gave myself some timelines to follow so it doesn’t all pile up in August!

Things that went well:

There were great moments this year. Some days I was SO proud of what they said and other days, Spanish 2 came in saying “This is so dumb.” The great thing about students is that they keep you humble as heck. Just when you think you’ve found the perfect resource to engage every child in the room, one will look at you and say “I didn’t take Spanish 3 because I hate everything we do in this class.” *Sigh*

Some things I plan to improve for next year:

I feel really solid on my level 3/4 units and readers but I feel like I need more engaging content in level 2. I would love to have some units that I love as much as Mar de plástico and Basura cero but I am SO BAD at reigning in the level to keep it strictly novice. When we do the Homes of the World unit, they always love it. One of my goals this summer is to do a unit on travel that will be specifically for these guys (plus a version that I use with my 4s) and a unit on green energy that will be the first little intro into the environment for my level 2s. These are both on my promises list so I have to make them happen. I don’t want to end next year feeling like I still didn’t even make a forward step in bringing the SDGs to the novices!

I feel solid in my ability to find songs my students will like but I feel very weak in using songs to their maximum potential. My friend Kara Jacobs is sooooo good at this… me, not so much. I frequently fall back on the standard Cloze. This is not engaging. Kids complete it then never look at the lyrics again. They download the songs and listen outside of class but I am not sure they are GETTING anything from it. So I am going to try to work with songs in better ways. I’m starting with En guerra by Sebastián Yatra. My goal is to have this unit ready for launch with my level 4s in August. I want to use it to talk about body image and about negative self talk. (I think Rachel Hollis would approve. We need to give ourselves a lot of grace!)

Finally, I feel solid in my ability to build community in the classroom but I want to do a better job of taking that community OUTSIDE the classroom again. When I was teaching in my old school, our giving project “The Classroom without Walls” raised thousands of dollars every year to support different organizations at home and abroad. Since I started in my new school I have not. done. even. one. WHAT? Why have I let this slide? I have actually even PROMISED students that we’d do a fundraiser for an organization and then my busy life flew by and I didn’t get it done. In reflection, this is embarrassing to me. I made a promise to them and didn’t keep it. Next year, we get back on track. We will support local groups and international groups as we extend our lessons beyond the walls of the classroom.

Thank you for reading. I consider it a little extra accountability to tell YOU that I am going to do these things over the summer. (Blogging once a week – minus the three weeks I’m traveling- is also on the promise list.) I encourage you to take a moment in the first few days of your vacation and really consider your year. What better time to make yourself promises than when the emotions are still raw and powerful!? Have a great summer, relax, enjoy, and get ready for that awesome feeling of stepping into the new year in August 100% ready to go at it again!

This week one of my senior boys in Spanish 4 came to class very happy. His English class was reading a Shakespearean piece and he had really been struggling. He said, “but then she gave me this (flashes graphic novel in my direction)!!! It’s the same story but I totally understand it!!!” What a cool thing to do! We know that reading builds vocabulary in L1 and in L2, but with less text, how do graphic novels build proficiency? Well, I am not sure what the exact brain processes are but it works…

“Comics can also convey a great deal of information in a short time, while allowing the reader to control the pace of reading and re-reading,” says Tracy Edmunds, a curriculum specialist. “And research shows that processing text and images together leads to better recall and transfer of learning.”

We read a ton of Fluency Matters readers in my department. 4 per year! But we also read the Señor Wooly graphic novels. As much as my students gain from reading as a class and having common discussion, I feel like the medium of the graphic novel offers them the ability to build proficiency in different ways!

A graphic novel is a story rich in images, a lot like a movie talk. While there isn’t a heavy amount of text on the page, there is a heavy amount of story in the illustrations! This lets us make predictions, describe, and discuss in a lot of different ways! Have you ever given one a try?

In Spanish 2, we read Billy y las Botas… the Graphic Novel. We have seen the very first Billy video and Billy y las Botas 1 when we read it. From their prior experience, I use predictions to have them say what might be the same/different in the graphic novel. That’s high level language for a Spanish 2 class! The rich visuals really help them develop the proficiency to narrate a detailed story!

In Spanish 3, we read La casa de la Dentista. Again, we have seen the video for La Dentista but this reader is part of a unit on the supernatural in our culture and around the world. We are going to do some heavy reading: La Calaca Alegre, adapted versions of Chac Mool, El almohadón de plumas, and La casa tomada. Starting with the graphic novel lets me do a couple of important things!

1. The first story of the unit is at the reading level of ALL my level 3 learners. Nothing gets them more fired up about a unit than starting with a confidence building read.
2. The images helped me emphasize adding detail! This is an important intermediate skill! When they can see the story, they can make a movie in their head about what’s happening… learning to do this through graphic novels helps them try to “see” the story in text heavy resources.

“We live in a visual culture, bombarded with ads and content,” says teacher Marika McCoola. “While students are taught to read in school, they’re not often taught to read visuals. In order to prepare our students, we need to address visual literacy in addition to verbal literacy. Graphic novels and comics are one way to bring this visual literacy into the classroom.”

With a brand new Señor Wooly graphic novel in production… make a space for it next year… consider trying out this type of reading! Jim and I share some ideas for how to do it here on senorwooly.com. We didn’t make the cut for ACTFL next year… do you think the title was too risque?… but Jim and I both think graphic novels are a key piece to a classroom reading program. Check them out here.

Quote source: https://www.educationdive.com/news/graphic-novels-zap-literacy-and-fun-into-curriculum/521950/