Tuesday, May 20, 2008

  • Jerks

    I have been contemplating the jerky student for the past week.  This is the student I longed to rescue as an ingenuous student teacher--the same one that seasoned mentors encouraged me to get rid of so I could do my job.

    The thing is, above the din of spring fever and everyone's waning attention span, I can hear, plain as day, a few of these kids' plaintive cries for attention.  When I say plaintive, I mean they're working so hard at looking stupid that the cries come across as pathetic.  I know somewhere in the recesses of my brain that sitting down five minutes a day, maybe during Channel One or announcements, or during the song starter, and concentrating all of my attention in a short, steady beam on their goofy countenances, willing them to understand and to try, I could penetrate the jerkiness, and thereby perhaps turn my whole class around.

    The girl who loudly blathers over me about her myspace and randomly says "Oooooh!" at any of her own comments would probably make an effort if I offered her a little sincere face-to-face pep talk every morning.

    The guy who sleeps in the corner, having long since decided Spanish was irrelevant to graduating, might perk up if I pulled up a chair and came up with a plan for him to get a passing grade and maybe actually learn something.

    The one who blurts out inappropriate comments and asks to say stupid things in Spanish while the lesson is going on might learn if I met him in the middle on the Spanish he wants to know and the Spanish that'll be on the county-wide final, if I bribed coached him on colloquialisms he could use at work.

    They each get excited about class sometimes, either when they get the hang of conjugating, when they get to use the smart board or pass out papers, or when we're playing games where they can shout out answers.  Still, that doesn't mean they're not jerks.

    But maybe the one who lets them sleep, sends them out, and doesn't let her heart bleed a little for them a few minutes a day because she's too tired or has too much else to worry about...maybe I'm jerk too.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

  • I want!

    So there's this smart board lesson contest, and I want to win.  Or enter.  I would be fine with simply submitting a worthy entry.  The trouble is, I have made up a bunch of games, though no cohesive lessons.  I see all of these cool things where people give notes, have little interactive quiz games--literally with bells and whistles--and feel suddenly that my little games are insignificant and kind of...stubby.

    Not only that, but many are weak, possibly pointless adaptations of low-tech games my co-workers already play without smart boards, including one that I thought I'd invented on the spot, one I thought rather ingenious.

    So my thinking is this: I will either have to do one of my all-out cultural lessons, a la Botero, in SMART form, or I will have to beef up some of my puny little one-trick games (though a vocabulary or grammar lesson would probably come across as pretty lame).

    I do have an Afro-Latino powerpoint I used for Black History month that I have been touching up and could adapt to SMART settings, with links to an interactive map and videos from MiamiHerald.com (via Jose Vilson), but I keep forgetting to ask my old friend Gaurav for permission to use his sound bites from last year.

    Oh wait!  I know!  It's perfect!  It might take some time, but it would be a labor of love...

    I will make a conjugation review lesson!  Better yet, an irregular verb conjugation review lesson!  I can incorporate the little sound clips of Spanish pop songs I started making with audacity and maybe record my kiddos chanting the irregular preterite chant...

    What could I include to make it extra cool?  A brainstorm:
    • Refresher notes on different kinds of irregulars

    • A visual combining a picture of each pop artist with their country of origin for students to click to hear the clip of choice

    • The line contained in each clip with a blank for the conjugated verb--all hidden behind a SMART shade until needed, and perhaps another hint with the verb's meaning in English to be revealed if necessary also

    • The conjugation koosh game I whipped up the other day (the first student to say the Spanish meaning for the word given gets to hurl a koosh--or foam--ball at the board to determine what tense they will conjugate it in for an extra credit point on the quiz)

    • Different students chanting each yo form for the preterite chant to be clicked to listen (plus the whole class chanting the whole thing?)

    • Dice conjugation game with SMART die?
    Then, of course, as per the contest, I would simply have to see what "digital content" they have available for the contest.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

  • Work day oath

    After my umpteenth* workday devoted to catching up, I am making a new commitment to myself**:

    I will not lay collected assignments on the first horizontal space available;
    I will designate trays, folders, or boxes for collection ahead of time:
    A place for everything, and everything in its place.

    I will not go home before homework and class work collected that day are graded;
    I will grade projects, big and small, the same week I get them:
    Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

    I will not let disorder and clutter disturb my learning environment;
    I will delegate and designate helpers and systems to distribute and organize materials:
    A clean classroom is a happy classroom.

    I hereby pledge my commitment to organization and order.

    * I am tempted to go back and count them over the past 5 years.  But that's what happens on workdays: I am tempted to do anything but work.
    ** Once I emerge from this murky pool of papers, which may or may not be after today.

Monday, May 05, 2008

  • Cinco de Mayo lies

    Nearly all of what I'm about to tell you happened.  The rest is lies wishful thinking.  See if you can tell the truth from the...rest.
    1. I collaborated with 2 of my co-workers to design a culminating poster project for students to work on today.

    2. All three classes watched an excellent, up-to-date, relevant, and informative video about what Cinco de Mayo really is.

    3. Students took notes on the key words provided for as they watched the video.

    4. Students gathered more information from the internet to enrich their video experience and find visuals for their posters.

    5. Students worked in pairs to put together attractive and informative posters.

    6. All warnings that tequila-corona-tecate-dosequis-margaritas-modelo-and-all-other-alcoholic-beverages were not to be included were heeded.

    7. Spanish I students incorporated Spanish vocabulary words into their posters and Spanish II incorporated grammatically correct commands relating to the day and its true meaning.

    8. The best three posters from each course will be displayed in the cafeteria and earn the winners 5 points on a test.

    9. Students were so pleased at the chance to watch a video and do something artsy, they didn't even mind not having a fiesta.

    10. Students worked so efficiently that their projects were finished by the end of each period.
    1. True--Although individually it probably would have taken 1/3 the time it took us together (it was an exceptionally taxing Wednesday afternoon), it was neat to be on the same page...though of course I could not resist tweaking it.

    2. True--Believe it or not, Cinco de Mayo 2006 was pretty cool!  It had just the information one would want in an interesting man-on-the-street very simple format that the kids could relate to and laugh a little with.  (I dread the day when it looks dated, however.)

    3. True--Mostly.  Even some of the slackers were filling in some info here and there.

    4. False--I wish.  My compatriots thought ahead of time to schedule computer lab time, and next time I will too.  This way, we all had time to watch the video, since they started the whole thing on Friday, but I forgot how handy it would be for the young ones to look up images to use and print.  They made do with tracing from the smart board projector though.

    5. True--We'll call this true, anyway. Their posters aren't done yet (which I suppose gives away #10), but they were working together.  And we'll call what they were doing work, though 4th period stretched the definition.  Though with a workday for the primary elections tomorrow, I can't say I blame them for a little antsiness.

    6. True--So far.  Spanish I kept wanting to work "tomar" and "beber" in, and II wanted to command people to drink for the occasion, but at least I did not see any cerveza bottles on projects yet.

    7. True--Some ones even had complete sentences ("Chicanos están morenos"--a valiant effort, grammar notwithstanding), and the twos were flipping and stealing those verb endings like they knew what they were doing!

    8. True--Not one to dole out the test points willingly, I was hesitant to award 3 per period, since they're working in pairs anyway.  But, hey!  I made a nice little coupon to complement the occasion.

    9. False--Of course they complained.

    10. False--Some might have been if I had had the sense to give the assignment at least over the weekend so they could bring in pictures.

Pulse

  • Have I ever been further from accomplishing the organizational vows I made to myself only 2 days ago?  Probably.  I'm so ready for summer.
  • By golly, they didn't sign in 4th either, because I kept printing the wrong roster.  And I think I'll postpone yesterday's oath.
  • I got most of 1st to sign that they received progress reports, but totally forgot until too late 2nd.  4th WILL sign!
  • Who's to blame?  Monday? Tornado warning?  Kids?  Me? Boring Spanish?  It's been one of those days for SURE.
  • Volunteered to do English in the summer: wise choice for one on the 10-month payment plan or foolish waste of break?
  • Took about 15 min. to whip up 2 games for Spanish II before school, but it took about 30 during planning to tweak them.
  • Multiple choice extra credit quiz on cultural stuff from daily starters is helping no one. Double point values or sigh and move on?
  • Test B for Spanish 2 graded, month-old projects graded, entered, and hung up--if they were good enough. Tomorrow, more tests and projects.
  • Already finished collage grading; now on to the month-old projects and--dare I hope?--a set or 2 of tests before 3:30.
  • So I'm at school.  My goal is to grade "imperfect plates" (will show photos later) and clear off the left table.