[ola] Re: Trust Falls - Help!
- From: Lori Leedy <lori.leedy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:47:51 -0800
Maybe a specific discussion of jobs/roles in the trust fall activity?
Obviously for NM it would be something like: help, important, catch,
strong for the catcher and faith, hope, scared, need, trust, take a
risk/chance for the falling person so that eventually you can connect it to
the importance of taking risks, having hopes, and helping others in a
language environment and in a community as a whole.
I love your determination Warren. Tomorrow you will do it again. And then
be able to discuss why did yesterday fail and why was today successful?
What does this tell us about our community??
I recommend letting students choose their partners for something like this.
You may also try the 'yurt' activity. In circle students link arms with
strong feet as base. Number students. Evens lean forward while odds lean
back. For success ---each person must complete their job, use strength,
support, etc. Then try: Switch directions, Attempt to hold longer, walk in
a circle while holding, count by 10's to 100???
Hope this helps.
On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 10:20 AM, Heidi Hewitt <heidihewitt13@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I had a hard time getting my students back into the swing of things after
> break and they were really not being good about paying attention/staying in
> Spanish.
>
> I broke out the writing the ESPANOL on the board and erasing a letter when
> English was spoken rule. It quieted them down REMARKABLY. I recommend this
> if the problem is English. Talking about how you're going to suffer if
> others speak English and emphasizing the phrases of "No English" "Attack,"
> etc. is important. Students yell at each other and then get afraid of being
> yelled at and keep themselves in Spanish much more readily. Then it's not
> me yelling at them, it's them against each other.
>
> As far as the trust fall, I haven't done it. I think this might be a tough
> activity for them to do even in English. A different setting might help. I
> only really remember doing this as part of a ropes course and we were
> outside.
>
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 1:10 PM, Martin Kathryn <kmartin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> I have to chime in—this year has been much more challenging than last
>> year with the use of English in class and lack of participation. Anything
>> you all have to suggest would be greatly appreciated!
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
>> Behalf Of *Shahla Brown
>> *Sent:* Thursday, January 15, 2015 9:56 AM
>> *To:* ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> *Subject:* [ola] Re: Trust Falls - Help!
>>
>>
>>
>> It is so great to know that others continually deal with students who are
>> unengaged or constantly distracted.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 11:45 AM, Jody Soberon <
>> jodyso@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>>
>> I am so looking forward to responses on this. I haven't even dared to do
>> this yet, though I probably could have success with my Span 2 classes that
>> are pretty much on board with immersion. But my Span 1 classes have so many
>> issues similar to what Warren describes about English, being off task,
>> playing on their phones, uninvolved, non-participatory, chatting in English
>> in circle, not following instructions etc.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 8:11 AM, Warren Billings <
>> wbillings@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Good morning!
>>
>>
>>
>> I just did trust falls with my first period class and honestly it failed
>> and I am discouraged by this.
>>
>>
>>
>> QUESTION: Does anyone have tips on how to make trust falls successful? I
>> think I just brought the class backwards in their trust for each other.
>> Again, I am discouraged and frankly upset by this. Give me some basic
>> advice on how to make it work!
>>
>>
>>
>> There is a split of half the class that works super hard and does well
>> and the other half of the class talks in English, doesn't have notebooks,
>> plays on phones, wants to eat their breakfast, is late, absent often, etc.
>> I've been talking to them and to their parents but the issues are
>> continuing to come up. I maintain those high expectations in class but they
>> are still exhibiting this behavior even though I have created a safe
>> environment where it is easier to simply participate than to be off task.
>>
>>
>>
>> They just had a writing performance assessment and those that aren't
>> working just had a reality check - lots of 1.0's (equivalent to D or F).
>> They are performing at NM with incomplete sentences. It was a true
>> assessment though because all the ones that I expected to pass did pass.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am planning on doing a critique session of exemplar work later but
>> wanted to first establish that community of people that trust each other
>> when they need help.
>>
>>
>>
>> Today I did trust falls to fortify the feeling of community before we
>> start critiquing tomorrow. Here is the process that I went through:
>>
>> 1. Hook: sing the song we just learned
>>
>> 2. Modeling: I modeled a trust fall (with one of the struggling students)
>> saying in L2 Ready? Yes! Trust!
>>
>> 3. Pairing Activity: Sneakers inside the circle, boots outside
>>
>> 4. I wrote the key words on the board: ready? yes! trust!
>>
>> 5. Modeling: I asked one pair to perform the trust fall and had everyone
>> watch.
>>
>> 6. I then counted down from three and asked everyone to fall onto their
>> partners.
>>
>> 7. They said thank you and gave their partner a high five and switched to
>> do it again.
>>
>> 8. I asked if trust was important in class and said that trust was like
>> saying help
>>
>> 9. I wrote trust = help on the whiteboard and we drew pictures of people
>> needing trust and people needing help.
>>
>> 10. We then drew pictures of people helping the drawings on the
>> whiteboard.
>>
>> 11. We then shared some sentences as a group
>>
>> 12. We then wrote five sentences about help and trust.
>>
>>
>>
>> The trust falls were a fail because one boy let another boy fall and I
>> didn't do anything because I thought it was an accident. I will talk to
>> them tomorrow. Lots of people doing the shuffle step when they fell back.
>> They were too clumped up with room to hide and misbehave. I should have
>> stopped, made space, then had those two boys do it again in front of
>> everyone.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tomorrow I am doing it again. We need to have success here. Today was not
>> successful. I know that this is only one step in our journey of
>> establishing a positive community. Everything we do in class either builds
>> or takes away from that community.
>>
>>
>>
>> QUESTION: Does anyone have tips on how to make trust falls successful? I
>> think I just brought the class backwards in their trust for each other.
>> Again, I am discouraged and frankly upset by this. Give me some basic
>> advice on how to make it work!
>>
>>
>>
>> Un abrazo,
>>
>> Warren
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Warren Billings
>>
>> Spanish Teacher
>>
>> Pittsfield Middle High School
>>
>> Pittsfield, NH
>>
>> Telephone: (603) 435-6701 x4226
>>
>> Visit our Website! http://pittsfieldspanish.weebly.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
--
*Lori Leedy*English Language Development/Spanish
Crater Renaissance Academy
541-494-6329
Other related posts:
