[ola] Student pushback and English use
- From: Colin Oriard <coriard@xxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:33:22 +0000
Hi all,
Thank you to so many for writing me back with words of encouragement and ideas
around my struggles. I really appreciate it!
To further my reflective inquiry, I was wondering if more people would be
willing to weigh in how they handle English use in the classroom? Do you have
consequences for English use? Is there a progression of consequences if it
continues? Discipline is definitely not one of my strengths, and I had hoped
that expressing the importance of the immersion environment and then giving
reminders and call-outs when students use English would be enough, but it is
not. I need to tweak something.
I teach first and second year (NL-NH/IL) at a high school that is predominantly
white (about 70%). There is 33% poverty, internet access for about 90% of my
students.
My tentative plan to implement starting next week is that when a student uses
English, I will ask them to do 5 vocabulary words with the class to get them
refocused on using Spanish, and then some class applause to appreciate their
efforts. Then I'm thinking that on a second offense, they will need to sit on
the sidelines and answer 5 essay questions in English about our language
learning environment to get them to reflect deeper on their choices in our
class and hopefully get them to regulate themselves better. Once they finish
the 5 questions they can rejoin the group. If they still can't participate
according to the rules of the class I will give them a written activity to work
on.
I'm very open to suggestions and improvements on all of this. Absolutely every
student has the right to learn, but I'm finding I need to draw the line when a
student is taking away other student's rights to learn.
Any feedback on this, and how you handle English use would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks
Colin Oriard
Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4
Grant High School
Room 112
Phone extension - 75612
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