Here is a nice update from Erin:
Hola, Ben!
I wanted to add to the chorus of updates you’re getting.
A new semester means new high school classes for me, but I have the same two groups of 8th graders year-round. As always, my favorite class is my novice one. I’ve done the Circling with Balls cards before, but only for that short week back to school. This time, I’m doing ALL the cards. Each student is being honored by having their own scenario, and it has been fantastic. From the first day of school, they have been listening to the target language 90% of the time. I also have them reading every day, even if it’s just a PowerPoint slide with yesterday’s scenario on it that we read as a class. I’ve also taken the opportunity to re-do my grade book, borrowing from Jim Tripp’s syllabus to make Quizzes 50% and jGR/Classwork the other 50%. I typed up my quiz papers to have two additional questions on the back, where students rate the frequency of their Active Listening (encompasses Listen to Understand/Clarify/Posture/Sidebars) and Responses in Spanish. All the have to do is write Always, Mostly, etc. based on my modified jGR rubric I have posted. Many choose to add more details; most are honest.
Two other things that I’m trying this semester: brain breaks and no desks. My brain breaks aren’t anything special– just a few minutes to get up, speak English, get some water, ask to go the restroom. It really cuts down on interruptions during story time, and when I tell them I’m starting back at such-and-such time, they are back in their seats. No desks is another big change that was inspired by this blog. Last semester, I campaigned to get rid of my tables (awful!) and got individual desks and separate chairs. They are light and easy to stack out of the way. It is MUCH harder for students to hide from me/distract themselves without the barrier of the desk, and it contributes to the community atmosphere that I am trying to cultivate.
HOWEVER I am struggling with my 8th graders. All last semester, it was a fight to get them engaged in class. Several are actively antagonistic, and the “good” students are not strong enough to overcome that. I do not get strong responses from them at all, and it feels like nothing I teach sticks. I’m doing lots of jGR/Quick Quizzes, dictations, etc. with them, but when they can’t even do a dictation because more than half the class doesn’t bring paper, it gets frustrating. They’ve never been able to do stories or PQA– those activities are not structured enough and I loose them. Those are just 45 minute classes, and they feel like forever. I need to go back through your archives, because as awesome as my high school classes are, my middle schoolers are bringing me down to the point where last night, I had a dream (nightmare) that they were awful enough that I tried to call parents in the middle of class and couldn’t. Woke up feeling annoyed & powerless, and that’s no way to be.
Erin