Units, textbook, Progressions & Threads This is a topic that has come up a lot recently on the listserv and I would like to share some thoughts with you all. I appreciated an earlier post about how there was a personal disagreement with OWL’s philosophy of not using units. Firstly, I would like to clarify that there is no official OWL stance on using or not using units, there is no official OWL stance on anything to be honest, just a series of values, created by teachers, that can guide us as we try to find practical strategies for our classes. (I have attached these values if anyone would like to see :) Starting from the values, according to the value of students guiding the curriculum, the biggest issue with both the textbook and pre-prepared units is that there is no space for student interest to drive the curriculum. Often times the book or units do not reflect the appropriate language level either, but rather pre-determined grammar sequences or topics that in truth, many times do not even correlate to their language level or interest. Our challenge is to find ways to create Threads and Progressions that relate to student interest AND their language level. Here are some definitions to guide the conversation: Athread is a way to connect students with students, and students with teacher, to create an engaging and relevant space for language acquisition to occur. Threads are happening everyday, all day, in our native languages. Creating or following a thread is what sustains face-to-face conversations, social media comments, text and phone conversations, magazine articles and the newspaper. As an OWL teacher, we practice developing the skill of recognizing how to pull threads from real-life happenings and build progressions off of them. Simply put, a thread is a topic and we react to any topic that comes up as we would in our native languages. A progression is how the thread is stretched and manipulated to practice, reinforce and further develop communication skills. Progressions can last 5 minutes or 5 weeks depending on the language level and/or interest of your student. Progressions are an important part of the post-planning process and should always include supporting literacy components throughout. (Essentially a progression can also be called a ‘mini-unit’, the difference is that is not pre-determined, and is born from the students. A progression lasts as long as you feel the topic has been explored sufficiently and/or student interest maintains. It could also relate to how they have used the functions in the topic. You may still want to encourage them to express opinion or compare or describe more with that topic.) The goal of a progression or thread is to reinforce the students’ language level and push them to the next one: What level are they currently at? What skills are they currently exhibiting? What needs to happen to push them to the next level? What skills / functions do they need to be able to do to achieve that? The whole goal of a typical unit is to find a way to drive curriculum. Thematic units are a way of taking it and making it applicable to the students and their lives. Those are good things. However, take it one step further, and think about how to create ‘mini-units’, or threads and progressions that are happening in response to what is happening in class. That elevates student interest! This post continues with some more practical applications. Stop here, or continue reading to see some examples. I will also attach the continuing part as a document --------------------------------------- Practical Application and Example: Units, that is ‘mini-units’ or progressions are constantly happening in a student-based (OWL) classroom. Essentially, a progression or thread is a mini-unit that occurs spontaneously, or sometimes can be something that you know is coming up, so you might plan for it (Again, that may or may not happen ;). For example, you could plan for a ‘winter’ theme, but instead out comes something different. Recently, I planned for Xmas vocab, but instead a girl wore a Batman shirt to class and out came superheroes, so my ‘mini-unit’ totally shifted. For the next day, I then planned an activity where we talked about the characteristics of superheroes, and they had to write about those characteristics, etc. That could lead in to a progression where we talk about heroes and who are heroes in our lives. We could even bring in famous people, and incorporate Nelson Mandela and authentic texts! The idea though is that we are constantly weaving together oral activities and literacy activities so that they are using the language at and above their level. Having a pre-prepared unit, for example, on reflexive verbs, daily routine and clothes might feel safe, but it is often more work because you have to come up with activities to make it feel relevant (often forced). Although it is attempting to create an interesting unit for students, it usually happens at a level when 1)They’re not ready for that kind of grammar 2) They may or may not care about it 3) Memorizing lists of clothes is boring. How about instead, wait until something in class happens with someone’s morning, or there’s a disruption in a schedule (like a snow day) to talk about what our routines are, and who does what when (do you shower at night or in the morning? Who has dinner with their family? Etc.). The grammar would not be taught, but rather students could see the patterns of when they are using or not using reflexive verbs. It’s introduced and that’s it. Then maybe brought back later again in the year. Then again later on. The point is that students will be able to talk about things that actually matter, when it matters. You also will not need to teach every reflexive verb. Bring in the ones that relate to the topic, then move on. Don’t kill them with irrelevant grammar at an inappropriate level. When they are ready for it, they will begin to ask about it, if they have been exposed to it. Also, you do not need to teach every clothing item. Teach two or three that are relevant to the convo and move on. Or don’t connect clothes to it at all! Whatever the topics are, they can be shifted. This then leads to planning. The last set of lesson plans sent out were an attempt to show that planning can be simplified. If you have your base structure, and your toolbox of activities, then just planning in your ‘Thread’ or ‘Progression’ makes it happen quicker. You just plug in the content and authentic texts, which is constantly shifting based off the class. You will find that once you get your structure down, lesson planning will become quicker and more effective, since student interest is driving it! Having a student-based classroom is possible and can be more fulfilling since students will be truly driving the curriculum. If you were to make a list of all of the topics in your textbook, or pre-planned unit, that you want to teach, I bet you will be pleasantly surprised to see that those, and more, will come up in a student-centered environment. The goal is simply to provide a structure where there is space for student interest and language development to happen. Let's share some thoughts on how this is possible in your class, starting with where you are right now. Below is an example of what a thread or progression could look like. Of course, it could be adjusted based on language level. Examples: A student mentions something about the student lunches. Boom: a progression or thread (mini-unit if you will) on healthy food standards. Start the progression with: What do you eat for lunch? What does the school offer? Is it healthy or not healthy? What is considered healthy? How many of you eat a healthy breakfast? Bring in a food pyramid. Activities based around that. Have them bring in food pyramids from other countries. Compare health trends. Talk about what kinds of foods there are in different countries (do they think it’s the same as here?). Share your own stories (In Ecuador for example, no burritos or tacos, all potatoes, meat & veggies. Challenge stereotypes) Show the pictures of the ‘Hungry Planet’ (groceries from countries around the world) Where would they like to live, based on the food? What do they usually eat in a day? Keep track of what they eat for 3 days. Etc….. Possible assessments and/or real life application: -If they had to open a restaurant, what kind of food would they offer and why? How could they create a healthy restaurant? -What would you do to change the food in the cafeteria? Who could you talk to about that? -Do a food drive at school for less fortunate families -Go grocery shopping at the local store (field trip!) -Write a letter to the principal about (yes, in the L2-of course she speaks Chinese! :) about why they should change the food in the cafeteria. -Pen pal from a country of L2 about what they eat -Get ideas from what other classes are doing to see if it can relate See what new threads come up off of any of these possibilities, then turn them in to progressions! At any point and time, this may detour off in to something else. Follow it at the point you want, and begin a new sequence of questioning, mixed with oral & literacy activities that include authentic texts. What activities relate to the topics that are coming up? The trick also is to begin practicing questioning sequences and observing your students. What can you pull from them? Darcy Rogers Organic World Language (OWL) Phone: 541.601.4509 Fax: 541.776.4099 Website: www.organicworldlanguage.com Facebook: tinyurl.com/organic-language-facebook El Jueves, 19 de diciembre, 2013 12:09 P.M., Ricardo Linnell <hurricanetumbao@xxxxxxxxx> escribió: Hey Everyone, I am a bit confused now because I thought this thread was to talk about progressions. Anyway, I will address the Text issue quickly and then we can set up a gotomeeting to talk about the ideas and use of Progressions in classes. I do not use any text from textbooks. I am not saying that the text from textbooks is bad to use, but I don't use it because I feel it is not genuine for the most part. I prefer to use authentic texts. Also, though I do agree that it is possible to assess student comprehension by having the students say what they understood from an L2 text in English, I do not think it is the best practice. I feel that level-appropriate questions that are based on the authentic text being used, are the most interactive way to not only assess what a student is comprehending, but also a way to get students to interact more with the text and with each other. That is why I recommend the book 21 Cuentos from Teachers Discovery. It has very short texts and on the other page from the reading, it has a series of questions (all in the L2) that students can use to interact and gauge their comprehension of the text. What I have found to be true about reading authentic text is that the students pick up the grammatical structures and those structures over time, show up in the students' writing. As it becomes regular in the writing, then the speech patterns begin to develop more (sometimes it is the opposite, but they both help each other out). I just feel that the L2 text should be addressed (in whichever way we can) by an L2 assessment piece. Just my two cents on this topic. "Don't kid yourself. The students understand far more than you could possibly imagine they do." - Ricardo Linnell On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 10:40 AM, Young, Lisa <lyoung@xxxxxxxx> wrote: Interesting thanks! > >From:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of >Rebecca Rice >Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 9:30 AM >To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [ola] Re: Progressions > >Texts that work for my Spanish 2 class are short stories where there is some >clear, identifiable vocabulary and there are obvious themes. From there we >talk trama, do a ton of vocab repetition and tell our own stories with similar >themes and vocabulary. We learn vocab through actions and drawings and "test" >our understanding through games of memory or other fun vocab games. > >You can find a lot of these stories online and Blaine Ray offers some good >stuff through the TPR stories. > >Becca > >On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 9:22 AM, Thomas Hinkle <thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >wrote: >Just to clarify, by L1 texts I meant L2 texts, ie target language texts (maybe >that shows how much I've internalized the 100% L2 goal?). > >I have trouble finding good texts that are accessible. I try to draw heavily >on magazines (both physical and online). For low level students, I've used a >lot of advertisements in the past because they are heavily contextualized. One >thing that happens to me is that I go back to the same kinds of texts again and again when I'm just doing a conversational class, which is why I want to experiment with a more unit-based curriculum, because I think it will actually be easier to look for an appropriate, accessible text that connects to "la casa" or "la política" or "las amistades" or what have you than it is to find a text without a clear anchor to begin with. > >Tom > >On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Thomas Hinkle ><thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >To me, the issue of grammar and the issue of units are two separate issues. > >I think there's a *lot* to be said for focusing on competencies rather than >grammar, as Arnold pointed out in a recent post to this group. > >I'm becoming more and more skeptical, however, of the OWL belief in not having >units. For me, as a teacher, I find I can get in a rut and easily not >introduce nearly enough material. Often my best days (and I'm currently *not* >using units) are when I quickly grab onto something from the kids and use it >as a base for teaching a particular vocabulary area (yesterday we did >cleaning, for example). My current plan is to design units of vocabulary for >next semester to make sure I am teaching a breadth of material and not getting >bogged down with kids reviewing the same old words or topics. I'll let folks >know how it goes, but I am suspicious that organizing my class into "units" >will (A) give the kids a feeling of security and structure (B) improve the >variety of topics and engagement that I get from kids (C) inspire me to do a >better job bringing in L1 texts and materials for kids to practice with. > >Tom > >On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 11:02 AM, Young, Lisa <lyoung@xxxxxxxx> wrote: >I am another one struggling to make sure the grammar piece is included so I >explain to my parents that I actually teach a modified version of the OWL >program. I had a conversation recently with my feeder school teacher who told >me that she is happy when the kids come in to Spanish 2 with “Lots of >vocabulary” and able to conjugate verbs in present, preterite and present >progressive. I guiltily will take days to explain in English certain grammar >concepts that I am trying to teach in the circle. I try not to do this and >am convinced as my program develops with my younger kids I won’t have to do >this anymore. One thing I have done staying in the language that I think >helps is showing student work examples that are correct and then modeling on >the board and in the language what is not correct. > >My little kids are another issue because it is difficult for me to stay in the >language with the discipline issues that arise. K-2 will totally tune my out >in the language and it is hard to stay in the language with them and keep >their attention. Maybe someone out there has some good advice for me? > >From:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of >ANGELA STEPHENS >Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 3:12 PM > >To: 'ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' >Subject: [ola] Re: Progressions > >Calysta et all, > I find that I too am leaning toward the UNIT driven class though it stresses >me out because I feel like I am not being “faithful” to the OWL though we do >aim for 100% Spanish and I do not have desks or chairs. Most of my kiddos >have no issues sitting on the floor when we sit and they absolutely love using >the small whiteboards for a variety of activities. The small whiteboards are >available through Carlex and Teacher’s Discovery for fairly reasonable >pricing. We also use them as hard writing surfaces, so they are >multi-purpose. > >The grammar stuff is not an issue for me at this point because I am the only >Spanish teacher in my building, but I do worry about how the kids will >transition to the next level. From what I am seeing, my 6th graders are >adapting to the speaking and accepting the “lack of grammar instruction” much >better/easier than the 8th graders who spent time in the traditional classroom >style setting. For example, my 6th graders are always trying to tell me >stories about what happens in their lives in Spanish, even with their limited >Spanish vocabulary. They draw, act out, point, and mimic just like we really >do in authentic situations. One such story was told by a young lady who was >trying to tell me that her mom, her sister, and grandparents had gone to the >pier to watch the boats for someone’s birthday and her mom turned quickly and >dropped her Bluetooth in the water. She knew azul and pointed to a tooth in >her mouth, I was quite confused but when she pointed to her ear, I finally understood that she meant Bluetooth for her phone, and the story became funny to all of us. We then were able to add vocabulary for cell phone and technology and money, stuff we would never traditionally cover in an exploratory level class. This story stemmed from the student next to her mimicking that he likes to go fishing. Just the fact that kids are using the language, without the fear of making mistakes or looking foolish/uncool, is so awesome to me. This is what we all work so hard to accomplish. This makes changing the “rule for teaching” so worth every sleepless night! > >Thank you all for sharing in this journey! >Angie > >From:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of >Calysta Phillips >Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 1:07 PM >To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [ola] Re: Progressions > >Yes! I know I am NOT ALONE in doing a traditional UNIT driven class in the >CIRCLE. How do I know my circle is Unit driven? In Spanish and French 2 we are >wrapping up a "Doctor/reflexive verb/body parts" unit. In Spanish and French >1, we are wrapping up "Classroom/Emotions/Prepositions of Location/estar/ir" >Unit (Avancemos 1, Unidad 2 anyone?)...While I left room for a lot of "extra" >stuff to come up, we were hanging ornaments on the very tips of my >predetermined branches... > >The good news???? I FINALLY GOT RID OF MY DESKS!!!! :) I did it, Darcy! > >The bad news???? Still not letting it go, letting the Question Hook Sequence >happen... feeling "obliged" to my department that they arrive at levels 3 and >up with a knowledge of the grammar.... > >Who else is teaching traditional "UNITS" in the circle... bringing the agenda >to the table? I have several things stopping me: >Fear >Department Alignment >Lack of knowledge/comfort with ACTFL levels and progressions to really be able >to monitor my students that way. > >Would love to know who else is in my boat. Thanks! Calysta > >On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 4:21 PM, Call Daniel <dcall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >Very helpful, Ricardo. I still feel that I could use a lot of practice and >mentoring with this, but every little bit helps. > >Dan > >From:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of >Ricardo Linnell >Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 11:46 AM >To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [ola] Progressions > >Hey Everybody, > >I wanted to take a moment to talk about progressions. I am sure that quite a >few of you understand how to use them in your classes, but there are probably >as many or more teachers who are unsure of exactly what it is, much less have >the confidence to unleash it in your classes. I felt like that for a long >time, until I was able to visualize it and draw it. A progression as a visual, >looks a lot like this (see photo). You have the central topic, either dictated >by vocabulary from that day, the previous day or such. For many of you who >have been through one of Darcy's workshops, you probably remember the types of >questions that we used in one part of the workshop. Creating relevant >questions around the topic is a great way to generate interest and motivation >to speak. IE: we are wrapping up a Canned Food Drive at my school and so we >counted our cans and it was just an instant, built-in topic for the class. I >asked them to discuss in groups the reasons for giving food during the holiday season. I gave them a couple of minutes to speak and then asked 2 or 3 of them to tell the class their reasoning. We got time, money, resources, things...etc out of the students as far as vocabulary were concerned. I asked the students to discuss the different types of resources that they felt they could offer to those in need. Again, more discussion. Finally, the last question was if they had a friend, family or if they themselves ever had a need to rely on the Oregon Food Bank or another organization for food and resources. If so, to explain what that experience was like. This all happened within the course of no more than 15 minutes. It can go longer or shorter, depending on the amount of questions, activities or depth to which the class goes. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday and vacation. I hope this helps. > >Ricardo > > > > >-- >Thomas Hinkle >English & Spanish Department Coordinator >Innovation Academy Charter School > > > > >-- >Thomas Hinkle >English & Spanish Department Coordinator >Innovation Academy Charter School > >
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OWL Values, Goals & Research Summaries.docx
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Practical Application & Examples, Progressions.docx
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