Report from the Field - Deena Swenson

Ben Slavic

October 16, 2013 at 7:53 am

Fantastic. How to keep it going? There are a ton of verbs in there and although you may have gotten lots of reps on them in that process over those days, it is never enough, esp. with common verbs like those. So you want more reps on those verbs.

You also want to continue to work with your Word Wall doing Word Associations to start class and maybe to do some One Word images here after that long text you all created together. Doing OWI is always a nice break because one word images takes so much less time to create one and you also want to stay with building more static images with your students at this point (you don’t yet want a lot of action as in stories) to maintain your groove and not move into stories too fast.

Stay with those verbs in whatever CI you work with. Hammer those verbs before moving to entirely new stuff with new verbs. Remember that verbs drive the language and that each time a student in your class hears OR READS one in context you have moved them closer to fluency.

So besides OWI and Word Associations I would make a list of those verbs you used and try to script some REALLY SIMPLE stories from them. Then report back to us. This is really a fine thing you are doing.

Here is how Anne Matava says to script a story (taken from Story Scripts Vol. 1 by Anne Matava with permission):

Appendix C: How to Script a Story

I. Scripting a story to prepare for reading a novel or other text

1. Go to a chapter in the novel or short story, preferably the chapter you will be reading next with the class. [Ed. note: Here Deena you would just take two of the verbs from your list above, and they should be active, lively verbs for your first story.]

2. Read the first few pages carefully, watching for words/ structures that are:

• high frequency in real life

• high frequency in this chapter or the novel in general

• interesting enough to create an engaging script from

• not so specific as to be limiting (it’s okay to have one very specific word, like “vacuum cleaner” or “navigate”. The other two structures will need to be generic enough so that the story can go in a variety of directions.) [Ed. note: Here Deena you would just take one or two nouns that your kids know and like from what you did above and try to mix them with the verbs to create a very very very simple script. Note there should be no new verbs or nouns, just stuff they already know.]

Jot down all words/ structures that fall into one or more of the above categories. The more categories they fall into, the more useful they will be to you and your students.

3. Look at the words you’ve jotted down. See if a story line appears to you. Don’t over think it, just start writing. Write the first sentence, then the second one. See if there is a pattern emerging that could become repetitive. In my experience, the structures/ vocabulary can become repetitive in one of two ways:

• you have the main character go to three locations and do more or less the same thing in each location. (Easier, but can come across as somewhat predictable.)

• you find ways to work the vocabulary into the script repeatedly. (More difficult, but the result is less contrived and more free-form.)

4. Assuming that you are developing a script that follows the pattern of three locations, script the first and then the second location. The third location should start out like the first two but you leave the end of it open, to see how the class will resolve it. (Examples to follow.)

5. If you are not going to do the three locations, write the script so that the target structures get used more than once. It’s harder than it sounds. I shoot for three times each, but am happy with twice each.

6. Write your script into a notebook. Write what level class it is for, and when you use it, write the date. Skip lines and leave spaces to write what the class comes up with. I usually do period 1 in red ink and period 5 in blue ink, so that I know which class came up with which detail.

Example: from Chapter 1 in The Trip of His Life, by Blaine Ray

possible phrases:

tries to
takes/steals
thief
slaps his hand*
runs away*

(the last two are not from the text. They appeared repeatedly in my script. If my students already knew one of the first three structures, I might take one of these two in its place.)

Note: all underlined items are the variables. You will fill the blanks in with information supplied by your students.

Johnny is a thief. He takes/steals tacos from hairdressers. One day he goes to Toys R Us and sees 34.5 hairdressers. He tries to take/steal a taco from a hairdresser named Susie. Susie is a tall, bearded hairdresser with 24 arms. She slaps Johnny’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” Johnny runs away.

He runs to the laundromat and sees 2 hairdressers.. He tries to take a taco from a hairdresser named Jenny. Jenny is short and beautiful and has no nose. She slaps Johnny’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” Johnny runs away.

Johnny runs to school and sees 4.7 hairdressers. He tries to take a taco from a hairdresser named Mr. Lynch. He takes the taco from Mr. Lynch! While he is eating the taco, Mr. Lynch takes one of Johnny’s gold teeth.
This is what the script looks like in my notebook:

_________is a thief. He takes/ steals____________ from___________. One day he goes to ___________ and sees________ __________. He tries to take/ steal a_________ from a __________named___________. _________ is a _________________with___ _______. She slaps__________’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” _____________ runs away.

He runs to _______________and sees ___ ____________. He tries to take a______ from a __________ named _______. _______ is___________________. She slaps__________’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” ____________ runs away.

Johnny runs to ___________ and sees ____ __________. He tries to take a _______from a _____________named ________________. (Ending is up to the students.)

II. Scripting a story that is not associated with a particular text

There are a number of instances in which it is not preferable to script a story to prepare students for reading. If you are expected to reach certain benchmarks or cover certain topics, you can script your stories from those. Often, the students will ask me how to say a phrase, and because I recognize it as an important, high-frequency structure, I script a story around it. It is also fun to hear an anecdote or read a funny article in the paper and script a story that echoes the action of the anecdote or article. Anything funny that happens in the stream of life can become a story. We just remember to make all humor at the expense of no one.

The method for scripting stories that are not associated with a particular text is the same as the one described above: I jot down at least 5 or 6 phrases and look at them, playing with them in my mind, until a story line emerges. If it is hard or time-consuming at first, don’t give up. It gets immeasurably easier with practice.

[Important Note: Remember that, in TPR Storytelling, we create stories with our students in the past tense. Then, we read them in the present tense the next day. Identification of present tense forms in reading is easily done when the story has been told in the past. Most PQA activities, as well as dialogues within stories, occur in the present tense, as well, so the students get a good amount of three tenses (present, past, imperfect) as they go through their academic week. Before TPRS, teachers considered it impossible to teach three verb tenses in the first year of study, and maybe that was true with traditional methods. Now, it is easily done. The important result is that, when students thus trained respond to past tense questions, their responses are not frozen in the present tense, vastly helping confidence and overall acquisition, not to mention scores on standardized examinations that align, as all should, with the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.]

My only addition to all that Deena is to keep those stories ultra ultra simple. And certainly don’t script if it feels awkward. Scripting a story is a real talent. Anne is just a genius at it. I know from working with her over many years that she really puts a lot of work, like an artist, into the choice of each word she uses and the scripts she writes reflect that because the “pop’ with fun and laughter in classes. This could be too much too early so use caution. You don’t want the train to gain too much speed too fast. I’m just throwing these ideas out there. If it feels weird don’t do it.)

5 thoughts on “Report from the Field – Deena Swenson”

Ben Slavic
October 16, 2013 at 7:53 am

Fantastic. How to keep it going? There are a ton of verbs in there and although you may have gotten lots of reps on them in that process over those days, it is never enough, esp. with common verbs like those. So you want more reps on those verbs.

You also want to continue to work with your Word Wall doing Word Associations to start class and maybe to do some One Word images here after that long text you all created together. Doing OWI is always a nice break because one word images takes so much less time to create one and you also want to stay with building more static images with your students at this point (you don’t yet want a lot of action as in stories) to maintain your groove and not move into stories too fast.

Stay with those verbs in whatever CI you work with. Hammer those verbs before moving to entirely new stuff with new verbs. Remember that verbs drive the language and that each time a student in your class hears OR READS one in context you have moved them closer to fluency.

So besides OWI and Word Associations I would make a list of those verbs you used and try to script some REALLY SIMPLE stories from them. Then report back to us. This is really a fine thing you are doing.

Here is how Anne Matava says to script a story (taken from Story Scripts Vol. 1 by Anne Matava with permission):

Appendix C: How to Script a Story

I. Scripting a story to prepare for reading a novel or other text

1. Go to a chapter in the novel or short story, preferably the chapter you will be reading next with the class. [Ed. note: Here Deena you would just take two of the verbs from your list above, and they should be active, lively verbs for your first story.]

2. Read the first few pages carefully, watching for words/ structures that are:

• high frequency in real life

• high frequency in this chapter or the novel in general

• interesting enough to create an engaging script from

• not so specific as to be limiting (it’s okay to have one very specific word, like “vacuum cleaner” or “navigate”. The other two structures will need to be generic enough so that the story can go in a variety of directions.) [Ed. note: Here Deena you would just take one or two nouns that your kids know and like from what you did above and try to mix them with the verbs to create a very very very simple script. Note there should be no new verbs or nouns, just stuff they already know.]

Jot down all words/ structures that fall into one or more of the above categories. The more categories they fall into, the more useful they will be to you and your students.

3. Look at the words you’ve jotted down. See if a story line appears to you. Don’t over think it, just start writing. Write the first sentence, then the second one. See if there is a pattern emerging that could become repetitive. In my experience, the structures/ vocabulary can become repetitive in one of two ways:

• you have the main character go to three locations and do more or less the same thing in each location. (Easier, but can come across as somewhat predictable.)

• you find ways to work the vocabulary into the script repeatedly. (More difficult, but the result is less contrived and more free-form.)

4. Assuming that you are developing a script that follows the pattern of three locations, script the first and then the second location. The third location should start out like the first two but you leave the end of it open, to see how the class will resolve it. (Examples to follow.)

5. If you are not going to do the three locations, write the script so that the target structures get used more than once. It’s harder than it sounds. I shoot for three times each, but am happy with twice each.

6. Write your script into a notebook. Write what level class it is for, and when you use it, write the date. Skip lines and leave spaces to write what the class comes up with. I usually do period 1 in red ink and period 5 in blue ink, so that I know which class came up with which detail.

Example: from Chapter 1 in The Trip of His Life, by Blaine Ray

possible phrases:

tries to
takes/steals
thief
slaps his hand*
runs away*

(the last two are not from the text. They appeared repeatedly in my script. If my students already knew one of the first three structures, I might take one of these two in its place.)

Note: all underlined items are the variables. You will fill the blanks in with information supplied by your students.

Johnny is a thief. He takes/steals tacos from hairdressers. One day he goes to Toys R Us and sees 34.5 hairdressers. He tries to take/steal a taco from a hairdresser named Susie. Susie is a tall, bearded hairdresser with 24 arms. She slaps Johnny’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” Johnny runs away.

He runs to the laundromat and sees 2 hairdressers.. He tries to take a taco from a hairdresser named Jenny. Jenny is short and beautiful and has no nose. She slaps Johnny’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” Johnny runs away.

Johnny runs to school and sees 4.7 hairdressers. He tries to take a taco from a hairdresser named Mr. Lynch. He takes the taco from Mr. Lynch! While he is eating the taco, Mr. Lynch takes one of Johnny’s gold teeth.
This is what the script looks like in my notebook:

_________is a thief. He takes/ steals____________ from___________. One day he goes to ___________ and sees________ __________. He tries to take/ steal a_________ from a __________named___________. _________ is a _________________with___ _______. She slaps__________’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” _____________ runs away.

He runs to _______________and sees ___ ____________. He tries to take a______ from a __________ named _______. _______ is___________________. She slaps__________’s hand and says, “Stop thief!” ____________ runs away.

Johnny runs to ___________ and sees ____ __________. He tries to take a _______from a _____________named ________________. (Ending is up to the students.)

II. Scripting a story that is not associated with a particular text

There are a number of instances in which it is not preferable to script a story to prepare students for reading. If you are expected to reach certain benchmarks or cover certain topics, you can script your stories from those. Often, the students will ask me how to say a phrase, and because I recognize it as an important, high-frequency structure, I script a story around it. It is also fun to hear an anecdote or read a funny article in the paper and script a story that echoes the action of the anecdote or article. Anything funny that happens in the stream of life can become a story. We just remember to make all humor at the expense of no one.

The method for scripting stories that are not associated with a particular text is the same as the one described above: I jot down at least 5 or 6 phrases and look at them, playing with them in my mind, until a story line emerges. If it is hard or time-consuming at first, don’t give up. It gets immeasurably easier with practice.

[Important Note: Remember that, in TPR Storytelling, we create stories with our students in the past tense. Then, we read them in the present tense the next day. Identification of present tense forms in reading is easily done when the story has been told in the past. Most PQA activities, as well as dialogues within stories, occur in the present tense, as well, so the students get a good amount of three tenses (present, past, imperfect) as they go through their academic week. Before TPRS, teachers considered it impossible to teach three verb tenses in the first year of study, and maybe that was true with traditional methods. Now, it is easily done. The important result is that, when students thus trained respond to past tense questions, their responses are not frozen in the present tense, vastly helping confidence and overall acquisition, not to mention scores on standardized examinations that align, as all should, with the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.]

My only addition to all that Deena is to keep those stories ultra ultra simple. And certainly don’t script if it feels awkward. Scripting a story is a real talent. Anne is just a genius at it. I know from working with her over many years that she really puts a lot of work, like an artist, into the choice of each word she uses and the scripts she writes reflect that because the “pop’ with fun and laughter in classes. This could be too much too early so use caution. You don’t want the train to gain too much speed too fast. I’m just throwing these ideas out there. If it feels weird don’t do it.)

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Jim Tripp
October 16, 2013 at 7:08 pm

If you want to keep going with this story, there’s lots to do to keep getting reps of it for students:

-kids draw it… pick one and project it… talk about each part and expand with “extra” details from the picture whether they were intentional or not (credit Dirk from out West)… read a part and have the kids figure out which picture it goes with… etc etc

-If your school stresses using tech in the classroom, you can use Garageband or a similar story, record the story for students, then have them (individually or in pairs) add sound effects and music, and if you can, have them add the illustrations (and crop the illustrations to better reflect exactly what is happening in that moment).

But if interest is waning, move on or add another element to the story. Suerte!

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Ben Slavic
October 16, 2013 at 7:38 pm

This is huge. If you can find a way to recycle a text in the ways Jim describes, do it. Drawing the story, or parts of it, is just really effective. You get reps. That’s all you want.

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Liam O'Neill
October 18, 2013 at 5:59 am

Recycling is huge. Typing up stories outside of class can be a lot of work; I’ve found that I can’t always sustain it. This fact alone is a good reason to recycle. But an even better reason is that the kids will benefit from it.

Besides Tripp’s points above, (my classes thrive on making 4-panel (minimum) cartoon drawings, projecting them and having students retell — creating more chances for me to, through interruptions, restating, give the class more reps,) you can also come back to this story two, four, six weeks from now for half a class period.

But, and this was really, really key for me…it’s not about the story! It’s not about how clever and witty we can be. Clever and witty are also, sometimes, not sustainable. The key is that the kids are well-managed, using 90% TL, and getting tons of slow, repetitive TL.

Great to hear of your successes! Congratulations.

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Ben Slavic
October 18, 2013 at 10:09 am

This is huge and I think that many of the newer PLC members will really benefit from doing it:

…my classes thrive on making 4-panel (minimum) cartoon drawings, projecting them and having students retell — creating more chances for me to, through interruptions, restating, give the class more reps….

And I really like the 4-panel idea. I think 6 is too many panels.

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Report from the Field – Deena Swenson

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