[ola] Beginning of the year ‘review’
- From: Darcy Rogers <rogersdr25@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 22:53:04 -0700 (PDT)
Hello OWLers!!!
As I was
thinking about many of you who are just starting OWL, or even those of you who
have been doing it for a while, and thinking about the role that grammar has had
traditionally for many us in our beginning of the year, I wanted to challenge
us all to think about it from a different perspective.
I am
guessing that many of us are used to starting each year with a ‘review’, and
this generally consists of some kind of grammar practice (conjugation games or
quizzes, vocab quizzes, etc.), which actually tells us nothing about their
actual language level. I would
challenge you instead to think of the beginning of the year as investigative,
trying to find out what LANGUAGE your students DO have. There is no need for
‘review’, since
your only goal is to identify what level they are at so that you can figure out
how to move them forward. They should be able to talk and write about lots of
different topics at whatever level they are at (NM, NH, IL, IM, etc.). Our job
is to give them exposure to as many different opportunities to show us their
level as possible.
These are
some questions to keep in mind as we lead them through this:
What level are my students at?
What functions can they do?
What kind of language (text type-lists, phrases, sentences, etc.) am I
hearing?
What is our content and context, that is how many different topics can
they
talk/write about?
Where are they on the ACTFL scale?
What overall language am I hearing/seeing in writing?
Think of
yourself as an investigative reporter trying to collect as much ‘information’
as possible about each student. Between all the activities in class and the
written journals and/or pre-assessments within the first two weeks, you should
have a solid idea of where students are. If you are still unsure of certain
students, pull them aside to do oral interviews and determine better where they
are. You could also do oral pre-assessments for all if you felt so inclined.
I keep
track of all their levels and they set goals based off what level they think
they are, with proof (their journal, pre-assessment, conversations, etc.) I
compare where I have them at with where they placed themselves. If any
discrepancies arise, it leads to some wonderful conversations and possible goal
re-setting. It’s very empowering to have the language and conversation be about
their language level and what they CAN do and what they need to do to get the
next level instead of how well they can or can’t conjugate or what vocab they
don’t remember from the previous year.
What other
ideas are out there?! What specific things do you do? I would love to hear some
different ideas around transforming those first two weeks of class and creating
an investigative, fun, community building space!!!! J
Darcy Rogers
Organic World Language (OWL)
Phone: 541.601.4509
Fax: 541.776.4099
Website: olaed.com
Facebook: tinyurl.com/organic-language-facebook
________________________________
De: JoAnna Coleman <joannac@xxxxxxx>
Para: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Enviado: Miércoles, 28 de agosto, 2013 6:49 P.M.
Asunto: [ola] Re: Songs!
We sing everyday in class - I incorporate the daily song into the OWL format
sometime during the class period - sometimes we play musical chairs while
singing, or use the song for Smoosh! or sing in a circle while doing something
(ie. send the clap, swaying, moving in and out like the tide), we play "don't
forget the lyrics" or combine singing with gestures.
We'll also watch the video without sound and one partner will describe what
they see to another who isn't looking at screen, then watch all together and
sing. Dance offs can be fun, too.
I am going to try a modified version of the embedding literacy activity we did
with Annie with songs this year as well
JoAnna Coleman
Spanish Teacher
Wilson High School
503-916-5280 ext. 75231
joannac@xxxxxxx
http://profecoleman.wordpress.com/
________________________________
From: ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] on behalf of Harris
levinson [hlevinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 1:50 PM
To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ola] Re: Songs!
I think the key is to make sure that everyone practices singing it as a class.
They need to risk singing aloud even though they fear they can't sing or "don't
have a voice." Singing in a group is powerful, fun, and can help build
community. You might give one quarter of the class verse 1, another verse 2,
another verse 3, and another the chorus. Or let everyone join in on the chorus.
Perhaps you ask one of the dancers in class to choreograph some moves and then
teach the class his/her steps.
You might also ask them to develop a storyboard for their own music video to
the song, or to craft a lyrics book, puppet show, live theatrical presentation,
lo que sea.
Singing with my class has become one of the greatest joys of teaching for
me...and I am not one who looks to sing solo or even in public, but with
students in the classroom it's a real pleasure.
Suerte con las canciones.
Harris
2013/8/28 Heidi Hewitt <hambrozaitis@xxxxxxxxx>
Hi everyone,
>
>
>I'm doing my música miércoles (music Wednesday) this year with OWL... AH! This
>morning I had one tough class and one decent one with a Juanes song and am
>wondering what kinds of things people have tried.
>
>
>Thanks!!!
>
>Heidi
>
>
>P.S. First day was GREAT! :) Thank you all for being so supportive.
--
Harris Levinson
Teacher, Adviser
Vashon Island High School
Tel: 206.463.9171 x141
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