[ola] Re: OWL support articles
- From: Harris Levinson <hlevinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:26:42 -0800
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
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