[ola] Re: OWL support articles
- From: Warren Billings <wbillings@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 10:15:01 -0500
Hi Colin!
I'm not sure if my first email went through - I can't email the
presentation for some reason. Let me know if you want it and I will get it
to you.
I am in the tail end of my student push back time period and have some
things that I've stolen from others that help. I agree that community is
the number one way to combat push back. Also important is that they feel
like student voice is valued.
1. Have the students say hello/good morning to the people next to them at
the beginning
2. Say adiós inglés, hola español - makes it a smoother calmer transition.
3. Have a 5 minute debrief time at the end of class. Communicate to them
that this is a time in English to maintain student voice in an immersion
classroom. Document what people say on the projector with your computer to
show that it is valid work that is saved.
3.1 Use protocols here: driving and restraining forces: what helped
you learn, what restrained your learning.
3.2 Green light, yellow light = something that you are good at right
now, something you struggle with
3.3 Connect, Extend, Challenge - Choose either something from today
that connects with your life, extends your thinking, or challenges your
thinking.
4. English Diario: Use google classroom or google docs to have kids write a
response to one or two provided prompts. Have this be for homework.
Students then "turn it in" or share with you so you can edit it and you
write directly on the document so it becomes a recorded conversation. You
can focus on the most needy kids this way. Kids that love it are
comfortable saying so because it is a private conversation.
Diary Prompts
<https://docs.google.com/a/pittsfieldnhschools.org/folderview?id=0B2IaLgtjIsuTbWRBaFB2dXFrbTA&usp=drive_web>
5. Have the kids say 'eres fantástico/magnífico/inteligente' to each other
after every speaking activity. Also saying gracias after every speaking
activity does wonders. Saying thank you to each other helped build my
community.
6. Have them form groups to switch it up. Would you rather live on the
beach or the mountains? Give four options. This makes the classroom look
like small group work which they are familiar with and feel like they can
hide better. Still enforce no inglés and if they do talk in English then
all done with group work.
7. Call parents to tell them when their kid did a positive thing. When they
help another or ask for help. Being extra polite. Admitting when they're
wrong. Things that build the community.
8. On an English day I presented a powerpoint that went well and I focused
on why we do the circle as our default.
On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 9:27 AM, Colin Oriard <coriard@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thank you Eliza for your feedback. My student push-back is half
> academic, struggling to communicate their meaning, giving up and resorting
> to English but the other half are students that don't appear to want to be
> there, and would just rather talk with their friends than engage in a
> lesson...
>
> Harris, thank you for such a thoughtful response. I think my issues
> around all of this have to do with the fact that I haven't done a good
> enough job of creating community. I know how important this is, and yet I
> still have not been successful. I believe as well that there is
> absolutely no universal method to reach all learners, but strongly believe
> in OWL, but just need to do it better than I am doing.
>
> From my experience last year, I do understand that communities come
> together at different times, so in no way is it a lost cause as it's only
> November, but it would be really helpful to get some feedback on things I
> can do starting now and going forward to better create that community...
>
> As always I really appreciate all your support. I know one day teaching
> will get easier than it is for me now, but until then getting support is
> extremely important to me not getting too discouraged, thank you.
>
> Colin
>
>
>
> Colin Oriard
> Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4
> Grant High School
> Room 112
> Phone extension - 75612
> ------------------------------
> *From:* ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
> Eliza Pfeifer <epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 12, 2014 2:45 PM
>
> *To:* ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [ola] Re: OWL support articles
>
> I agree with Harris!
>
> On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 2:40 PM, Call Daniel <dcall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Colin,
>>
>> Here’s a blog by an adult language learner that occasionally posts
>> user-friendly digested versions of theory. You may have to comb a little,
>> but there’s some good stuff here.
>>
>> http://www.languagesurfer.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
>> Behalf Of *Harris Levinson
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 12, 2014 1:27 PM
>>
>> *To:* ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> *Subject:* [ola] Re: OWL support articles
>>
>>
>>
>> Colin:
>>
>> I'd also say that the longer I teach and the more pedagogical approaches
>> I experiment with and/or commit to, the more I recognize that there is not
>> ONE approach that is best for all learners. I have made my peace with this,
>> although it took some years to let go of the mission I had set for myself
>> while in my ed program at UW, i.e., to reach and teach well every single
>> student.
>>
>>
>>
>> Atwell's Writing in the Middle introduced many Language Arts teachers to
>> the reading and writing workshop approach and school districts and English
>> teachers throughout the States adopted it. I loved it for its use of
>> mini-lessons and fostering one-to-one relationships with students about
>> their writing and the books they were reading. Yet, some students did not
>> respond with the enthusiasm of their classmates; they preferred a class
>> where everyone was writing on a similar topic and reading the same
>> literature.
>>
>>
>>
>> A number of us have experienced this same phenomenon with OLA and OWL. It
>> helps us accomplish the goals we have for getting our students to feel
>> comfortable taking risks in speaking the language. Many students feel
>> empowered to use the language outside the classroom context and want to
>> interact with Spanish-speaking people around the world. We have evidence of
>> this and we share it joyfully....and still it is not the right fit for all
>> our students. Some don't want to push or aren't yet comfortable taking
>> risks or just really prefer sitting down doing activities from a text--it's
>> what they know and it allows them to disappear.
>>
>>
>>
>> To counter this, I believe one has to emphasize building community. That
>> is one of Darcy's central tenets and I don't think we can overestimate its
>> use when we encounter resistance. When we have buy-in from students because
>> they feel they are part of an exciting organism that recognizes and values
>> their humanity, one that lives and breathes in the target language (my own
>> classroom is NOT always that way), then we find less resistance. And even
>> still, with your best and most sincere efforts, there will be those who
>> choose not to join us, who say nay, but they will not be the majority and
>> they may even one day come to see that life is simply not as fun nor as
>> gratifying without movement, community, and OWL.
>>
>> Harris
>>
>>
>>
>> 2014-11-12 11:47 GMT-08:00 Eliza Pfeifer <epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>>
>> Colin, I am not sure that I have any kid friendly articles, but know that
>> you are not alone with push back. My first year I suffered from some.
>> Most of the push back came as students realized that they had errors in
>> their Spanish but didn´t know who to fix them. They wanted grammar rules
>> for clarity.
>>
>>
>>
>> How do you see the push back? (If and when you get a chance!)
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 9:02 AM, Colin Oriard <coriard@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Tess, most of my students are freshmen and sophomores
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Colin Oriard
>>
>> Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4
>>
>> Grant High School
>>
>> Room 112
>>
>> Phone extension - 75612
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
>> Tess Siemer <tess.siemer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 12, 2014 7:59 AM
>> *To:* ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> *Subject:* [ola] Re: OWL support articles
>>
>>
>>
>> What grade level Colin? I have several that I can share but they might
>> not resonate with freshman or sophomores so much...
>>
>> On Nov 12, 2014 6:48 AM, "Colin Oriard" <coriard@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> OWLers,
>>
>> I wrote yesterday, but it was rushed so I'd like to follow up....
>>
>> I'm still running into lots of student push-back and English use so in an
>> effort to help that, I'm putting a few new changes in place. To support one
>> of these, I was wondering if anybody had good foreign language immersion
>> and/or language acquisition articles that our students would be able to
>> follow (kid-friendly language)?
>>
>> Any resources people have would be much appreciated!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Colin Oriard
>>
>> Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4
>>
>> Grant High School
>>
>> Room 112
>>
>> Phone extension - 75612
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> *Eliza Pfeifer*
>>
>> Spanish Instructor | St. Mary’s Academy
>>
>> _________________________________
>>
>> 4545 S. University Blvd., Englewood, CO 80113
>>
>> 303.762.8300 x 393 | fax: 303.783.6201 | epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx
>> <jwimbish@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>
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>> --
>>
>> Harris Levinson
>> Teacher, Adviser
>> Vashon Island High School
>>
>> Tel: 206.463.9171 x141
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> Eliza Pfeifer
>
> Spanish Instructor | St. Mary’s Academy
>
> _________________________________
>
> 4545 S. University Blvd., Englewood, CO 80113
>
> 303.762.8300 x 393 | fax: 303.783.6201 | epfeifer@xxxxxxxxxx
> <jwimbish@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
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--
Warren Billings
Spanish Teacher
Pittsfield Middle High School
Pittsfield, NH
Telephone: (603) 435-6701 x4226
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