Kerir Colwell shares a few ideas with us and thank you Keri!
Hi Ben
I have been using two techniques that I wanted to share although I’m sure many members of the PLC already do something similar. They have been working very well for me so I thought I would just mention them.
1. Students in the class are the main characters of our written stories. This was not my idea. I wish I could remember on who’s website I read this idea on, but every since, our written stories have been so much more interesting than before! The kids can’t wait to see who the next story is about and this keeps their interest level way up!!
2. “Pay me” cards. This of course is Blaine Ray’s idea and I’m sure you’ve heard of it. I changed my way of gauging participation two times this year since this is my first year with TPRS I’m trying to figure out what works for me and my classes. However, I give each student a bunch of cards that say “Pay me” in the target language. Each is worth 5 points. Any time during our acquisition activities, the kids must be on task (eye contact 80% of time, no English, letting me know if there is a word they do not understand, etc.) Each time a student does not do what they are supposed to do, I say to them “Pay me” (in the target language) and that is 5 points deducted from their participation.
By the way, I have a small light in the front of my classroom and when the light is on, that means we are doing our “acquisition activity” and that means that their “pay me” cards come out. This has been working well and I have been doing this for about a month now.
I also have a student who has volunteered to put tally marks next to the name of each student on a class list who actively participates (giving cute answers to all my questions). Each student must have at least 8 tally marks before the end of the month (I give them a monthly participation grade) in order to maintain the grade they have. If they have anything less than 8 marks, I automatically deduct ten points from their participation grade. I tell them that it’s great if I don’t take away a “pay me” cards because it means you are not speaking English, etc…but you also need to speak Spanish! I also tell them that if they have 25 points or more that I will give extra credit. (Just a few got there but it gives them something to go for instead of just not participating as much knowing they already have their 8 points.) Also, in case you’re wondering how I came up with the number 8…We meet about 10 times a month on the block schedule so I figured that it’s a little less than one time per class.
This “pay me” system works a bit better for me when implementing your classroom rules than the “yes/no” sheet I was filling out before. One of the question was “Does student give cute answers”. Well, if they had just 2-3 tally marks then the answer is “yes”, but it wasn’t enough nor fair when others had 8, 10, or more tally marks. Also, since we are all human, there are two easy ways that a student can get a “pay me” cards back. They can simply shake my hand and acknowledge what they did or make me some type of card in the target language. However, this can be used only once per marking period…and again, they receive a monthly participation grade. The third way to get back a “pay me”, which is not as appealing to students, is to write a “free write” at home. This assignment can be done once a week if they wish, but no more. I have had about 20 handshakes this month so far. I want to make it clear that this is not my idea either. I found this on another TPRS website. I am so sorry I can’t think of the names of the people at this time to whom I should give credit!
Ok, I just wanted to share this! Feel free to post if you would like. Again, I want to make it clear that neither of these ideas are mine but I am using them and they work very well! Also, any feedback from you would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Keri