January+18

=9:10 - 9:15 - Housekeeping=


 * Set the timer!
 * Learning Logs
 * Travel abroad materials are available for perusal at break
 * Oral proficiency March 21 or 28

=9:15 - 9:45 - Teaching Demos=

(This week, we'll use the time to debrief the videos from last week)
//Decide which video your group wants the rest of the class to view, and list that person's name next to your group number, along with your group's reason for choosing this video. Try to choose something that will broaden or deepen your colleagues' understanding in meaningful ways. Selection criteria might include things like:

Exemplifies a common problem we are all struggling with Gave us insight into something we do in our own teaching that we didn't see before we watched this Generated good discussion in our group that we want to extend to the whole class Helped us understand students' needs/thinking better//

__Group 1__ - Mary Cartier

__Group 2__ - Bridget

__Group 3__ - Amanda & Amy

__Group 4__ - Dawn

__Group 5__ - Steve (?)

Absences

Gaby Butcher Ashleigh Sara A.

We are the interview panel. We are divided into 3 different groups. Each group will be thinking about one of the following questions as we watch the video clip. We will watch the 3 minute clip, and then discuss for 3 minutes.
 * Curriculum & assessment (How does this teacher organize learning for students and evaluate their understanding?)
 * Classroom management, instructional strategies, & student engagement (What do students and teachers do in this class?)
 * Philosophies of teaching and learning (What do these students and this teacher believe, fear, need, think, value, worry about?)
 * What is the relationship between students and content? Students and other students? Students and teacher? Teacher and content?



Attention Prioritization Interpretation Repertoire (Perspectives & Practices) Decision-making Evaluation

=9:45 - 9:50 - Frame: Special Education Inquiry Project=

(Sarah Blitz)
=9:50 - 9:55 - Frame: Service Learning Inquiry Project=

(Emily, Mary, Steve, Ashleigh, Lisa, & Melissa)
Instead of any formal presentation, our group has agreed that anyone interested can peruse our website: http://servicelearningisfun.wikispaces.com user:decortem

= = =9:55 - 10:15 - Thematic Planning Think Aloud=


 * What do you already know about thematic planning?
 * What is the issue?
 * What are the needs?
 * What opportunities to learn and to use language do they present?
 * What connections do these opportunities have to the 5 Cs and your curriculum? (In other words, can you see ways to use these community issues/needs to engage students in communicating with authentic audiences for meaningful purposes, in developing cultural understanding, in learning more about other disciplines, etc.)
 * Why should students care about these issues?
 * What do students already know about this?
 * What scaffolding will students need (especially with respect to the language) so that they can use it to serve others?
 * Planning Sheets [[file:Graphic Lesson Planning Template.doc]]
 * Zotero





=10:15 - 10:45 - Mini-Experience: Ring Around the Triangle - Round Robin, Rapid-Fire Planning with the 5 Cs=




 * Culturally authentic children's book, poem, short story, or song
 * Cultural practice
 * Community event/need, current event, or social issue

=10:45 - 11:00: BREAK=

=11:00 - 11:30: Resume Time=

Design Principles

 * Proximity
 * Alignment
 * Repetition
 * Contrast
 * Flow

Analysis in Small Groups

 * http://susanireland.com/sampleresumes/images/alexandra.gif
 * http://www.top-resume-tips.com/images/teacher-resumes.gif
 * http://www.resumes-for-teachers.com/images/phys-ed-teacher-resume-pg1.gif
 * [|http://www.io.com/~tcm/images/ch1fg4.gif]
 * http://reswriter.com/sample5a.html

[|List of Action Verbs for Resumes & Professional Profiles] - Categorized list of words formatted as a 2-page, printable PDF

=11:30 - 12:00: Insights & Issues=

//Nominate new ones for this week. If nothing is nominated, we'll do a crash course in grammar.//

When a Problem Becomes a Crisis - Managing Emergency Situations user:chericem1

One potential perspective on last week's insights and issues . ..
Explaining the difference between "mucho" and "muy"--so that my kids can understand it, and differentiate when to use which... because the grammatical explanation is difficult and they don't have the intuition to say which one "sounds" better. user:cartierm - It is the difference between "a lot" and "very."

So in English, you would NOT say, "I have VERY books." And in Spanish, you do NOT say, "Tengo muy libros." In English, you would say, "I have A LOT of books." Ditto in Spanish, "Tengo MUCHOS libros."

Normally, the differences are pretty clear cut in both languages. One thing that might be confusing the kids, however, are expressions like, "Tengo mucho frío." In English, we wouldn't say, I am A LOT cold, but in Spanish, because we are using the verb "to have," it makes sense, "I have a lot of cold." user:chericem1

Right... they usually don't have a hard time with that... but for example when they use caerle (which is a verb they have a hard time with anyways) they want to say "me cae(n) bien mucho" and not muy bien... and when I tried to explain it they asked about the difference between when to use muy/mucho... because you can say things like "me molesta mucho" but can't use muy here. I understand the difference here... but I have a hard time verbalizing it to the kids that can help them understand. user:cartierm

Explanation of grammar in general in a non grammatical way--ie in a language my kids will understand... I think no matter the topic, I would benefit. user:cartierm - Okay, I'll try to remember to work these in during our demos user:chericem1

Teaching verb conjugations without being boring...I have trouble thinking of ways to intro basic conjugations without doing (boring) explicit lessons. user:decortem - GOOD! That should be telling you something about what you are asking kids to learn. How many times did your mother make you sit down and conjugate your verbs in English when you were learning? Language is a LIVING entity, and when we reduce it to verb conjugations, it is like taking a live butterfly and pinning it to a board--not nearly as interesting, beautiful, or engaging as the live one! On the other hand, a butterfly that flits around all the time is hard to get a look at long enough to understand, so we need to find ways to slow the language down without putting it into complete rigor mortis. ;-) One important thing you can do is STOP thinking about teaching grammar and think more about pointing out PATTERNS that arise in the natural language, and then addressing kids' questions when they arise (instead of trying to present everything in advance). Being responsive is harder, because it means you REALLY have to know your stuff, but presenting everything at once isn't very effective. Our work with thematic planning and service learning today should help you with this.

How to address a class that is more "social" than others even though you have tried several things to get them to be on task. Basically, I would like several pieces of advice on things to do when a class needs more structure and how to deliver that structure in a solid, effective, and non-confronting way. user:butche11 - This is another example of how your own questions are leading you in positive directions. You've identified that "social" relationships are very important to them. You are correct about that. However, you are assuming that too much socializing means that your response as a teacher should be the opposite--impose more structure. The reverse is often actually true! Sometimes, it is a question of building MORE opportunities to move and talk about things they care about into your classes.

Having said that, there are many reasons classes are chatty, so until you can figure out which reasons apply in which circumstances, you can't be certain of the remedy. Often, the class may, indeed, lack structure.


 * Do you have clear routines and procedures in place? In other words, do you put an agenda on the board for each day (or pass one out)? (Sometimes they chat because they don't know what is coming next and are trying to find out.)
 * Do you have an opening routine? (Sometimes, things break down because you are trying to get organized, so they start chatting, then they don't want to stop because THEY are almost always more interesting to themselves that you or your subject are.)
 * Do you have routines and procedures in place (for getting make-up work, passing back papers, turning in assignments, posting homework)? (If not, while you are handling those kinds of issues, the class will tend to become chatty.)
 * Are your instructions for each assignment clear? Do you break things down into very small steps with which your most unsuccessful student can experience success? (Students will often ask a neighbor what to do when they don't understand what to do or how to do it, then that can lead into a social conversation--or sometimes they'll just realize they have no clue, so they'll chat instead.)
 * Do you use pre-, during, and post- activities for each segment of the lesson? (Students' prior knowledge needs to be activated, they need to be guided while they are working, and they need help processing what they've just done so that their long-term memories can consolidate it.) user:chericem1

=Assignments due today:=


 * Bring videotapes for class presentation
 * Nominate particular items you need help with under Insights & Issues (or on Angel)