Simple Kind of Guy

For one of my graduate school classes this semester, we had to introduce ourselves to the class using Flipgrid (this is a great web resource!). One of the questions which we had to answer was "If you were to write an autobiography, what would be the title?" Personally, I do not think that I am that interesting of a person for me to write an autobiography. If my life were a sitcom, I would not even be the main character - I would be the next door neighbor who comes over once in awhile to drop off mail or to borrow a rake. Quite honestly, I am just a simple kind of guy - that is what I would have as the title of my autobiography! However, that is not to say that I am ashamed of being a simple kind of guy, because actually I am quite proud that I am not a very complicated kind of person. 

Here are some ways in which I am just a simple kind of guy:

• Favorite ice cream flavor: Vanilla. 
• Favorite color: Blue. Do not ask me which shade - blue is blue to me.
• Favorite snack: Rice-Krispie treats, because it is just three ingredients: butter, marshmallows, and Rice Krispies.
• Favorite superhero: Superman, because in terms of powers, he's got them all. He is neither moody nor emotionally complex like Batman - with Batman, I feel like I would be walking on eggshells around him. Also, if you were stuck on a deserted island, Superman could rescue you (unless there was Kryptonite) - what can Spiderman do for you?
• Favorite potato chips: Original Pringles. I hate any potato chips with flavor on them, e.g., Takis, Doritos, sour cream and onion, etc. 
• I am more of a beer person, instead of wine, but if I had my choice, I would prefer drinking a Coke.
• I prefer to wear Birkenstocks instead of shoes solely because they are more comfortable to wear.
• When I go out to eat with friends, I will usually suggest the same three restaurants.
• As much I as enjoy being social at gatherings and interacting with people, I am equally happy eating a cookie by myself in the corner of the room.
• I love the Three Stooges - slapstick humor at its best. Being hit with pies is funny to me.
• My friend who is an interior designer says that I am all "straight lines and edges," which apparently is an interior designer term for people who rarely re-arrange their furniture and like simple spaces. I did not realize that there was an actual official term for people like me.

Camps, Part 2

(The following is part 2 in a post series called "Camps")

I am fascinated by the friendship of George W. Bush and Michelle Obama. Here are two people from completely polar-opposite political leanings, different generations, different races, and different genders, but yet they are friends. In every picture I have seen of them together, you can tell that they truly enjoy each other's company. Were you as tickled as I was when George W. Bush slyly passed Michelle Obama a cough drop during John McCain's funeral?  In a recent interview with Jenna Bush Hager (daughter of George W. Bush), Michelle Obama remarked:

I would love if we as a country could get back to the place where we didn't demonize people who disagreed with us. Because that is essentially the difference between Republicans and Democrats - we're all Americans, we all care about our families and our kids, and we're trying to get ahead. We have different ideas about the best way to get there. But that doesn't make me evil, and that doesn't make [Bush] stupid. It is just a disagreement.

As I think about the many "camps" which have been set up among language teachers regarding the best methodology for teaching students, I cannot help but think that despite our pedagogical differences, essentially, we all have the same goal for our students: we wish for our students to learn/acquire another language, and we wish for them to be successful. Where we disagree, though, is what we think is the best way to get students there. The problem lies in the villainization and demonization of those with whom we disagree. 

I do not think that any teacher ever sets out intentionally for students to fail. We are all professionals who essentially want what we think is best for students. At the ACTFL general assembly, I cannot help but feel a sense of camaraderie with the thousands of world language teachers who are there in the assembly hall, even though we probably all have our own ideas about pedagogy. I also know that there is a definite boundary where I "end" and you "begin". You are the one who is front of your students, not I, so I have to let you do what you feel is best in the classroom. There comes a point where I have to accept that there is a disagreement, but that does not mean that we have to be enemies.

I have said this before, but do grammar-translation teachers think that I as a CI teacher am both openly and secretly judging them, because there are those in the CI camp who openly do? As I have said before, do not lump me in that group at all, as I stay FAR AWAY from those people! While I may disagree with the grammar-translation method, that is all it is: a disagreement. Let's still go out, and grab a drink! Please don't ever think that I consider myself "enlightened" and that I think that you are "ignorant," because we have differing views on language pedagogy.

We teachers are a passionate group, who are primarily composed of 4%ers who are very zealous about what we believe to be the "best/correct" methods for everything - fill in the blank with whatever the problem/cause is. Yes, I consider myself to be a CI-implementing teacher, because I feel like from my own past experiences as both a grammar-translation and a reading methodology teacher, CI is the method where I have seen all students of varying abilities acquire language the most quickly and the most deeply. In addition, there are inner motivations regarding CI which line up with my personal beliefs. There are TONS of teachers out there who disagree with my stand on CI, and I am perfectly fine with that, as long as they disagree with CI and not with me as a person - those are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS! If someone disagrees with me on CI, let the disagreement be over that and not an ad hominem attack. As I have said before, teaching CI is WHAT I DO, but it is NOT WHO I AM. 

So when it comes to our teaching pedagogy, I have my story why I have arrived at the place where I am, and I am sure that you do too. Each of our stories have shaped us and our views. Let's share those with each other and understand each other first, before we start painting and labeling each other as the "enemy."

Brain Break - Do Nothing for 2 Minutes

Here is a brain break which I learned from my colleague John Foulk. It is one now which my students request ALL the time - it is called "Do Nothing for Two Minutes." Like the title implies, students do NOTHING for two minutes. It is an actual website, which count downs from two minutes, and the point is simply to do nothing during that time. 

I have been doing this particular brain break once a week for the past couple weeks, and it is not as easy as it sounds. Doing nothing for two minutes can be very difficult, because:

1. students are unaware of how long two minutes can be.
2. students are not accustomed to doing nothing for a certain amount of time.

When we do this brain break, I will project the Do Nothing for 2 Minutes website on the screen and tell students that they are to do nothing for two minutes. This means no phones, no doing other work, no moving, no talking, no laughing, no listening to music, no non-verbal communication with anyone in the classroom, i.e., doing nothing. I have a deskless classroom, so students can lie down on the floor if they wish. They can sit in their chairs and close their eyes. However, if during those two minutes, a student does "something," then the time is up, and we go back to work.

Observations

1. I am not one into mindful, focused brain breaks, since I am more of an active "brain breaker". However, I can see the benefits of doing them.
2. The website plays wave sounds during the two minutes - very calming and soothing.
3. In the beginning, it does take some "training" for students to realize that doing nothing means doing nothing. The first couple times, students will last around 30-45 seconds, because they will start looking around the room, make eye contact with someone, and start laughing or communicating non-verbally. Once I call out students for that and announce that time is up and time to get back to work, they learn quickly.
4. Students really do like this one, because it gives them a chance to "rest up" during class. I always get students asking "Can we do nothing for TEN minutes?"

Give this one a try, and do nothing for two minutes!

Storyjumper

Earlier this week, a number of Spanish teachers at my school shared with my department about Storyjumper, a digital storytelling web application. Essentially, Storyjumper allows for users to create digital storybooks with texts, illustrations, voice recordings, music, and sound effects. Below is a digital storybook which I created for a reading using Storyjumper. The story began as a dictatio of 8 sentences, but I was able to create a Tier 2 embedded reading of the story using Storyjumper:

Read this book made on StoryJumper

Observations

1. I like that having text, illustrations, and narration at the same time gives learners double, even triple input.
2. I like this SO MUCH better than screencasting a PowerPoint, because it has more of a storytelling feel to it, since it is a digital book.
3. It is a FREE web resource. However, if you wish to publish what you create, you can sell it on Storyjumper.
4. Being able to add music and sound effects does make your book more compelling and interesting to listen to.
5. I wish that StoryboardThat had a narration and sound function, since it already has a digital comic book feel to it.
6. Drawbacks
1. Compared to StoryboardThat, Storyjumper does have limitations with the amount of provided illustration choices and their capabilities. One can import pictures into Storyjumper. With StoryboardThat, there are a lot more illustration choices and what one can do with them (cropping, changing angles, poses, etc.)
2. Although Storyjumper does provide music and sound effect choices, they are limited.

Here is a video tutorial of Storyjumper:

Although Storyjumper does have its drawbacks, this is a web resource which I will be using more in the future.

Top 5 of 2018

With it being final exam week at my school and with 2018 coming to a close, it is time to share my top 5 viewed blog posts of the year: 

1. More Thoughts on Sheltering Vocabulary
2. Brain Breaks
3. Rejecting a Grammar Syllabus
4. More Brain Breaks
5. CI Latin Teacher Database

2018 has been quite a year professionally. After a hectic 2017 conference schedule, I took this year off from conferences and presenting in order to reboot. Over the summer, I led an adult tour of Latin teachers to Italy for the Vergilian Society where I led sessions on Comprehensible Input. I also started the first semester of my Ed.D. study in Instructional Technology after a 1 1/2 year break from graduate school. It was a bit of an adjustment, but I really enjoyed my studies and ended up getting A's in both of my classes!

As I begin a 2-week hiatus from blogging for the winter vacation, I want to thank all of you who read this blog. I am deeply appreciative that you think that I have something of value to say on Comprehensible Input. I am grateful to all of you who post a link to blog posts of mine on your Facebook pages/groups - especially Martina Bex!

I look forward to what 2019 has to offer!

Coloring Book Pages for Final Exams

Final exams are next week for my students, and I am getting everything prepared: creating the exam, printing up answer sheets (I use Zipgrade), and printing up coloring book pages. What? Coloring book pages? Yep, if you are like me, when students finish their final exams, I HATE it if they just sit there with nothing to do, because that gives them a reason to talk or "get into some shenannigans" while others are still taking the exam. I have taken up their phones before the exam, and they cannot retrieve them until the last exam is turned in. As a result, I give students coloring book pages to color when they are done. This is something which I learned from my colleague Ashley Allgood at my last school, and it absolutely works. Keep in mind that these are high school students, who most of the time are too jaded to do anything!

It is very simple to do - simply print free coloring books pages from various websites, and put out the pages with crayons, colored pencils, and markers for students to use after they finish their exam. Below are some sites which I use to print coloring book pages:

Crayola - a treasure trove of pages, including Disney
Hello Kitty
Coloring Pages - LOTS of different categories
Care Bears

Observations

1. This really does keep students quiet after they finish their exams, because it gives them something to do.
2. The first time I did this, I thought for sure only a handful of students would do it, but I found that most students wanted to color!
3. I usually print up 3-4 copies of the same pages so that students have access to the pages. The first time i did this, I only printed one of each page, and students were mad that there was only ONE picture of Belle and that it had been taken already.
4. Students rarely have the chance in school to just color, so this is something which they enjoy doing. I have found that the guys really get into coloring!
5. After students finish coloring their pages, they can put their "work of art" on my board for all to see.

I have already been asked a number of times this week by students if I will have coloring pages available after they finish their exams - they are ready!

Cellphone Ritual

For those of you wanting to know how I deal with cellphones in my classroom, the following is what I do. I learned this from my colleague Bob Patrick, and I have found this to be every effective.

After I take roll, I say the following every day while holding my phone out for them to see:

Salvete! Incipiamus. Ubi sunt telephona? In.....sacculis (students say "sacculis" with me). Telephona non sunt in manibus, non in gremio, non in sinibus, non sub natibus, non sub sellis. Telephona sunt in sacculis. Ponam meum telephonum in meo sacculo. I will give you phone time at the end of class.

Hello. Let's us begin. Where are your telephones? In your bookbags. Telephones are not in your hands, not in your lap, not in your pockets, not under your butts, not under your chairs. Telephones are in your bookbags. I will place my telephone in my bookbag. I will give you phone time at the end of class.

Observations

1. I use gestures when saying this (displaying hands, pointing to lap, putting hands in my pockets, patting my butt, and pointing under the chairs). Students get mad at me if I say this without the gestures. 
2. Because I establish this ritual from Day 1, students know my expectation regarding cellphones during class. Even though this ritual is behaviorist in nature, the way in which this is done is very positive, and students actually do put their cellphones away.
3. Students appreciate that I as the teacher too put my cellphone in my bookbag with them.
4. If students do pull out their cellphones during class, I simply say, "(Student's name), ubi sunt telephona?" and usually the student knows right away to put it away. I have found that many times students themselves will monitor each other and call out students who have their phones out during class by saying "Ubi sunt telephona? Telephona non in manibus!"
5. Last week, i was observed by two different non-world language teachers, and each of them said to me, "I was so surprised that your students knew to put their phones away when you told them to (in Latin) and that they actually did it!"
6. By the 2nd or 3rd week of school, because I say this every day, many students say this along with me. Again, my observers last week found it very interesting that students would actually want to recite that with me when it was not required.
7. I make it a point to tell students each day that at the end of class, I will give them phone time. "Give me time in class, and I will give you time at the end."

It is a very simple daily "ritual," which I have found to be very effective!