Today I Got Reminded of What Happens if I Don't do What I'm Supposed to...

I had a bit of a breakthrough today that I hope will promote a conversation among all of us.  Late for work due to a lack of shoes for my son and then also later not feeling well myself, the "meat" of my lesson today was hastily put together and in contrast to my normal stuff.

To practice using the theme and grammar of the unit, I threw up on the screen a couple of workbook pages and they got started.  I then called on volunteers to read their work out loud in order to earn "puntos," or participation points, something I learned from a colleague long ago.

I couldn't believe how dull it was and how incompetent the kids seemed.  If I asked them a follow-up question or even tried to role play the "person A" part of the activity, they seemed so lost and stuck as compared to normal.  It hit me that it was the type of activity that was doing it, not the lack of proficiency of the kids.

Using techniques I learned from Jo Ellen Nott (my former chair at a different school) and "circling" from Susie Gross, a well known teacher educator, I usually pepper my kids with structured questions that vary one piece of content at a time, like "Is it raining or is it snowing in the picture?  Is it raining or is it sunny?  What kind of weather is it in the picture?  What kind of weather is it outside right now?  Do you like the weather today?  Why do you like the weather today?  Did you like the weather yesterday?" etc. etc.  Dozens and dozens of 'em.  And boy, when we get going, it's so much fun, because the kids start chunking together pieces of the language that I've been feeding them to make up their own original ideas.

Yet, there were these same kids today, inert, fossilized, and bored.  I realized the beauty of the "right" way that others had taught me.  It's about the reaction.  Keeping kids reacting in my class inside of a fixed structure, as opposed to having them prepare something ahead of time to read out loud, gets them firing those neurons that create more proficient-looking behaviors.  Either way, they are conjugating and using vocab.  But the latter type of in-class work forces them to hear, seek clarification, and react, something they'll need to do a lot of outside of the class if they ever use the TL away from school.  It feels less scripted, more fresh, and so much more authentic.

I invite your commentary.  Thanks!

Taking Data to See if a Cool New Reading Tool Actually Makes a Difference to the Kids

Using Strips to Teach Reading in the TL:  Does it Increase Acquisition (or Perhaps Recognition) Even a Little? 

     As long as I was a high school teacher, I believed that there was too much antipathy or nonchalance exhibited in my classroom for me to yet feel satisfied with my teaching. I saw the vapid stare, the look of exhaustion, or the ferocious interference of other parts of my students’ lives, and I wondered, “What will keep their interest?” On the way, I learned about music, technology, computer labs, centers, etc., all the while trying to make my classes engaging and entertaining, frankly. Most of the high-power innovations that I employed were learned during workshops. The one I’ll tell you about today was no exception.
     I was at FLAG (GA's state FL conference) about 3 years ago, and the speaker was the coordinator of the largest county in Georgia, and very successful at raising the game of those who taught FL in his county. He put up a slide that asked if we FL teachers taught reading by having students read in “round robin” fashion, going around the room and reading a few lines of a piece of realia before moving on to another student. I mentally acknowledged that I did, and I knew of colleagues who did, as well. (You can see that slide and more HERE http://readingstrategiesflag2011.wikispaces.com/file/view/Get%20them%20Reading%21DeKalb2011.pdf/252407804/Get%20them%20Reading%21DeKalb2011.pdf)
      He then gave out strips of paper that had pieces of text, parts of a larger artifact, on them, and gave us some quick assignment that asked us to find another piece that was held by someone else in the room. We had to go around and find that person (I’ve detailed the steps for how to create an activity like this at http://www.flageorgia.org/publications/Journal-2014-5-rev.pdf, p. 25). Of course, the first person I encountered was not the holder of my needed strip, nor the second, third, etc. While finding my companion, I got a peek at other pieces of the whole and started, without realizing, to make guesses about what the themes and tone of the general reading were.

It was enticing as anything

     What I wanted to describe to you here that I didn’t talk about in the FLAG article linked above was how palpably intriguing it was to hold that strip of paper and wonder about the rest of it. It was like peeking through a keyhole to watch your parents’ dinner party. It played right into my psychology. By the time the presenter put the whole reading up on the wall, I really, really wanted to know what it had to say. And I then hoped that my students (and, later, your students) would have that same desire.
     Cris Tovani, an author I discovered thanks to this workshop, talks about the two types of voices we have in our heads when we read. One of them distracts by daydreaming, complaining, or bringing up competing outside topics, while the other pushes us on by making predictions, connections, and the like. I felt the power of that second voice when the presenter finally put up the whole reading on the wall. I was GOING TO SEE what the author said, no matter what. My inner voice had been making all kinds of guesses about the general nature of the reading, and I wanted answers. I went on to employ the technique in my own classroom, enjoying the 100% engagement that comes with this sort of method (a variation of a jigsaw activity) and honing my craft a bit. I never, however, thought to take data as to its effectiveness. After leaving the classroom, I wondered, “Will this fervent interest create more measureable comprehension?”, because although I believe in engagement, if learning then can’t be measured, then the technique gets called into question in today’s teaching environment.
     Toward this end, I started looking (as a consultant) for a chance to test this “jigsaw” method of interpretive mode while measuring its effects. As a teacher coach at Kennesaw State University, I had developed some new relationships in the metro Atlanta area, and so I asked one of the mentor teachers I was working with if I could do a guest lesson: One day, one period, to see if the kids learned. She said yes, even suggesting that I guest teach in two of her classes (back to back). Bonus!
     To determine what reading would be appropriate for this class, I asked the teacher to tell me what content was coming up, and she sent me a vocab list and the following themes:

1.       To talk about clothes, shopping, and prices

2.       To describe plans

3.       To talk about what you want and prefer to do (recycling)

4.       Point out specific items (demonstrative adjectives)

5.       Understand cultural perspectives on shopping.

The second chapter of the theme has the following objectives:

1.       To talk about buying gifts

2.       Tell what happened in the past (introducing the preterit)

3.       Use direct object pronouns

     To this end, I did a search for short stories on the web that involved clothing, and came across this gem: http://www.eljardinonline.com.ar/10cuento06.htm (I teach Spanish, so some of you will benefit from this more than others). I vetted this with the teacher, got approval, and then rewrote it to meet the objectives more closely, getting approval for each “tweak” along the way from the teacher. The resulting short story is at the end of this article. The process worked well, as the students had received about a week of exposure to the preterite when I visited, an appropriate amount to have seen for the level of proficiency necessary to navigate the story.
      Again, if you would like a generic explanation of how to use this technique, go to p. 25, here: http://www.flageorgia.org/publications/Journal-2014-5-rev.pdf. I am attaching below the specific PowerPoint lesson in this middle school, Spanish 1 context. You can see how the jigsaw method unfolded specifically, which you are welcome to adjust to your use.

A brief summary of the lesson is that I...

1.  introduced myself,

2.  passed out a pretest,

3.  passed out strips from the reading (where only half of a sentence was present), stressing that the students find partners in the room who had the other half of their strips,

4.  gave the students a few minutes to scurry about the room looking for partners and asking teachers for help with vocabulary, and then,

5.  asked them to return to their seats to take some guesses about the general nature of the reading and the meanings of some of the key vocabulary. 

We then affirmed their presuppositions about the text by looking at it in its entirety (very briefly), and then I administered a post-test.

Here are the questions that I asked of the students in the pre- and post-tests:

__A__1. Carlo no limpia su recámara. Nunca saca la basura, no barre el piso, no hace la cama. El ___ mucho sus responsabilidades.
a. descuida b. mantiene c. se afeita d. quita el polvo

__B_2. “Hoy es el primero de mayo, 2014, ¿correcto?”
a. -No hay moros en la costa b. -Tienes razón c. -No vale la pena d. -La media naranja

__B_ 3. ___seis años ___ George W. Bush fue presidente.
a. Son, de b. Hace, que c. Descuida, hasta d. Tal vez, a lo mejor

__D_4. Vestidos, camisas, faldas y chaquetas son ejemplos de __.
a. Manchas b. joyas c. bufandas d. prendas

__C_5. Hombre viejo <-------> chico joven; Ella es una persona cuidada<------> Ella es una persona __.
a. madura b. dependiente c. descuidada d. sudadera

__A_6. En la historia Margarita _____ sus deberes en su casa.
a. ignoró b. ignoro c. ignoré d. no lavé

__C_7. El suéter y la bufanda se ______ mucho de su tratamiento.
a. quejó b. mancha c. quejaron d. manchamos

__D_8. La madre de Margarita ___ mucho para mantener los vestidos de Margarita.
a. trabajar b. hago c. cansado d. trabajó

A test of the Input Hypothesis

     As you can see if you know some Spanish, the first five questions are vocabulary-centered, and the last three are seeking a correct verb conjugation.  I wanted to know if after seeing all the input of looking at several strips and then discussing them in class (in Spanish, with the teacher doing almost all of talking, in the form of summarizing the story), if these middle schoolers could then discern what made sense in Spanish and what didn’t utilizing terms and constructs from the story.  All of the examples are concepts that are part of the reading and that I emphasized in the lesson, repeatedly.  You can find my lesson in a PowerPoint format below.

The theme:  Be interesting when it costs nothing

     I’d like to tell you two things before I move on to the results. First, this activity assumes that you pass out parts of the reading, on strips, as explained in the FLAG article. Which parts? To decide this, I reflected on what happened to me at the workshop in Augusta. I found out what the author believed and said in little pieces that made me want to know more. The voice in those texts reflected strong opinion, conflict, and drama. I looked for a similar level of emotional value in my story, and would recommend that you do the same.
     My results are compelling from my non-social-scientist perspective. What you can’t tell, even after seeing the data, is how the results compare to some other method, such as the round-robin method mentioned in the intro, with a nice, long vocabulary list to accompany it. Let’s assume they are comparable. The technique I am suggesting creates near 100% student involvement kinesthetically for several minutes at a time and compels the kids into the ZPD by fostering motivation and curiosity. I want student who construct their own Spanish and create and then satisfy their own curiosity about the language this technique has a shot at doing these things for many.

Results

     I’m not a professor or statistician. You who are can do a better job of examining my data than I can. What I see is useful, however. Here is some of the analysis that I performed, based on a random sample of 22 students, or over a third of everyone. As an average, this group scored a 35% on the pre-test and a 57% on the post:

 Results, A:   Average results of all students in sample, per question, pre- and post-test

On average, here’s how students improved from a wrong answer to a right one, per question:

1	32%
2	36%
3	27%
4	45%
5	36%
6	32%
7	18%
8	36%

Results, B:    Average of all students who got a question wrong on the pre-test but then went on to get it correct afterwards

There were also students who got questions correct on the first pass, and then went on to get them incorrect (There’s no scholarly sounding way to say >facepalm!< here).

1	0%
2	0%
3	9%
4	23%
5	9%
6	18%
7	18%
8	9%

Results, C:  Average of all students who got a question right on pre-test but then went on to get it wrong afterwards

Thus, their correct distinction/identifications of key words in context (I would argue that it wasn’t yet acquisition) almost doubled for the sample, although some students actually guessed (I myself am guessing that they guessed, heh) worse after the stimulus of the lesson.

     Imagine for a moment the environment which these youngsters entered on this day. A teacher they had never met came in to teach them, using a different variety of the Spanish than the “real” teacher. Further, I was using a method of teaching they’d not experienced with vocabulary and phrases that they either had never heard, or very many times (particularly the word “prenda,” #4 in the “Results, C” section).

Conclusion

     I’d say, then, that the method worked well enough in a way for me to keep it in my bag of techniques and to recommend that others use it. Generally, it appears that students who receive input via small pieces of a level-appropriate reading, a summary of the main points of the reading afterwards, and then a look at the whole reading, can then improve in their discernment of correct usage of the newer concepts. It also appears that they can distinguish vocabulary (questions 1-5) in context better than verb conjugation in context (6-8). This makes sense, as a conjugation in Spanish requires two sorts of recognition of the input (both recognizing the vocabulary and then also the orthography of conjugation, at least in Spanish), so it makes sense that simply hearing input of verbs would not lead to their correct usage as fast as other parts of speech. The next time I try this, if I’m teaching for around 50 minutes, I’ll try a shorter story than what you see below. I wonder if by having less content and perhaps having more repetition in the lesson of that content if my post-test scores will rise.

Story, as re-written:

My goals, in re-writing the story this way as well as choosing what to highlight, were:

Notice the repetition of phrasing and give meaning to it,

See lots of examples of the preterit and try to give them meaning, and

Be able to see the major components of the story at the activity’s and story’s end.

Los vestidos de Margarita, por Barthe, Raquel Marta (y editado por G. Sánchez)

La gran mayoría en el pueblo de la niñita Margarita compraba su ropa nueva en las tiendas y almacenes de su centro, pero no esta familia.  Como de costumbre, la mamá de Margarita hacía toda la ropa de su familia, preparando las camisas, faldas, y otras prendas a mano en su cocina.  Esta vez, estaba cosiendo un hermoso vestido para su hija.  Fue blanco con margaritas bordadas.

Pero ¡Margarita no mantenía su ropa en orden para nada!  Nunca tenía cuidado y siempre obtuvo una mancha, un agujero u otra imperfección por ser tan descuidada. Margarita rató su ropa como basura o una cáscara de banana.  La pobre mamá estaba siempre muy ocupada cosiendo, lavando, planchando, y reparando la ropa de Margarita.  Por eso, cuando la mamá bordaba las flores del vestido blanco nuevo, las viejas prendas, desde el armario, se hablaron con tristeza:

“¡Pobre vestido… tan lindo y tan blanco…!” lloró la primera prenda, una bufanda roja, “y ¡sólo hace dos semanas que yo llegué y ya estoy arruinado!”

“Sí, tienes razón,” continuó el suéter de cuadritos desde su estante, “hace tan poco tiempo, el invierno pasado de hecho, que yo fui nuevo también, y ahora me siento barato, con estos doscientos manchas…,” y empezó a llorar.

“Con una dueña como Margarita, uno no se puede ser ‘nuevo’ por mucho tiempo!’ se quejaron las pijamas de rayitas.

“Tienen razón, hermanas pijamas, después de un día de uso, ya somos ‘viejos’” se lamentó el vestido de los lunares azules.

“Sí, no es justo,” dijo un vestido rosado con una mancha horrible y negra, escuchando desde un rincón, “yo llegué hace apenas una semana, y ya estoy aterrorizado todo el día.  ¡Quiero escaparme de esta chica que descuida a todos nosotros!”

Entonces habló una de las prendas más importantes del armario de Margarita: el abrigo amarillo.  “Todos tienen razón, claro.  Yo ya estoy cansado también de este abuso, particularmente estas manchas de caramelo y chocolate.  Hace tres días que las recibí y ¡ahora son permanentes!  ¿Por qué no le damos una lección a esa niña descuidada?”  “Estoy de acuerdo, pero, ¿qué podemos hacer?” preguntó la sudadera con la manga descocida.  Y después de conversar un poco más, decidieron hablarle a Margarita, la dueña de todo de ellos.  Y esperaron y esperaron hasta el anochecer, cuando la luna apareció.  “Miren las manchas en la luna, también” declaró un zapato de tacón.  “Ssssss, ¡silencio!” respondieron los demás.

Y así fue que cuando Margarita se acostó, todas las prendas salieron del clóset, saltaron sobre la cama, y, uno a uno, le protestaron en voces bajas de su abuso y mal tratamiento de la ropa.  Cuando terminaron, volvieron a sus ganchos y estantes mientras Margarita continuó durmiendo.

Al día siguiente, cuando tomaba el desayuno, Margarita vio el vestido que su mamá estaba bordando y dijo:
“¡Qué bien está progresando! ¡Es tan bonito! Y, ¿sabés qué, mamá?  A este vestido lo voy a cuidar mucho, mucho… A toda mi ropa la voy a cuidar tanto.”
La mamá quedó sorprendida por la declaración tan, tan rara de su hija, pero antes de poder decir algo, Margarita la interrumpió, diciendo:  “Anoche tuve una pesadilla espantosa, pero ahora no te la puedo contar porque no quiero llegar tarde a la escuela.”  Le dio un beso grandote, y se fue.  Y toda la ropa por la primera vez se sintió apreciada y amada en el armario de la chava Margarita.
Y la mamá, satisfecha y sonriendo, se sentó a terminar el bordado de esas flores que, como su hija, se llamaban "margaritas".