[ola] Re: second day and question
- From: P Cooke <pcooke2003@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2013 10:44:44 -0700
Dear Jody,
I'd re-frame the situation -- not see it as "bad behavior" but
understanding where the kids are coming from. It requires a lot of trust
and confidence to participate fully, and for a lot of kids just being in
such a large class is uncomfortable. (I like aspects of OWL, but I have to
admit that I am not a diehard supporter because I feel we need more variety
of styles in order to address different personality types and learning
styles and the different circumstances of each class). Kids want to learn
-- that's our natural human condition -- but there can be obstacles to that
and lack of trust is a huge one. I think of Maslow's pyramid - A lot of
our kids (at least at my school) are struggling with the lowest levels and
jumping straight to the top might not be possible for them.
As for 100% English, a lot of kids need to be reassured that their brain is
in the process of helping them 'get it' and that they don't have to know
the words to understand. When I see someone with that
deer-in-the-headlights look, I try to connect with them individually and
reassure them by giving them the most-of-communication-is-non-verbal and
I'm-here-to-help-you-before-or-after-school-if-necessary talk.
Anyway, maybe doing more community- and trust-building activities with the
group would be helpful instead of launching right away into instructional
goals. These can be done OWL-style, and vocab can still be posted. Small-
and whole-group and collaborative activities help, and posting group
results/products. The listserv has lots of ideas on team-building that I
have found useful.
I hope this helps!
Best wishes for a great year!!
Patti Cooke
Denny Int'l MS
Seattle, WA
อย่างจริงใจ
* patti*
On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 10:16 AM, JoAnna Coleman <joannac@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Today my students filled out a student information form that I do every
> year (age, name, interests, how they did last year in Spanish, contact
> info, etc...) - for Monday we are going to start talking about interests
> and likes/dislikes, so I am pulling the info from their sheets as the
> vocabulary that we will be learning :)
>
> Question about the journal: if I am handing out some handouts (calendar,
> songs, etc...) and kids are writing notes and homework in their journal on
> a daily basis, how do you all keep things organized? I can't really number
> pages because kids write bigger or smaller or more or less, do you number
> entries? just go by date? I want them to be able to quickly find certain
> entries - thanks!
>
> 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
> Jody Soberon [JodySo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 05, 2013 7:57 AM
> *To:* ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [ola] First day HELP! and awesomeness
>
> Hi!
>
> Yesterday was my first day of classes. Every class went as planned, was
> awesome and responsive and then 7th period, a Spanish 2 class with 38
> students, came on. They were excessively chatty, in English. And there are
> about 8 students who are the disruptive type and talk out in English a LOT,
> 3 of whom just really don´t care. We only achieved half of what we did in
> all other classes and got no vocab up, though we did in every other class.
> 5 were sent out of the circle for a minute, 1 was sent out of the circle
> and then outside the class for a minute twice!
>
> So it looks like I am going to have to debrief TODAY with them and not
> during English days/week. It can't wait. My thoughts:
>
> -Have a discussion about trust and decency
> -Talk about the effect of breaking out into English which switches the
> brain. Somewhere I heard that research says that it takes 7-8 minutes to
> get back to before the brain switch. Can someone hook me up with that
> research?
>
> I also plan to go over consequences including what one of the members of
> my PLC shared with me. It is a Debrief behavioral sheet that the student
> has to fill out. I'm going to try this for students who have to leave the
> room for disruptions or incesssant English. The doc itself is in English,
> but if I can nip bad behavior in the bud in the beginning, the whole class
> will benefit. (I've attached it for your perusal.
>
> In other thoughts or comments? Thank you and happy OWLing,
>
> Jody
>
>
> Foreign Languages
> Brookings Harbor High School
>
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