Saturday, August 29, 2020

Reflections on the First Week of Pandemic School

Welcome back to the blog. I thought I'd share some lessons learned during our first week back on campus with our learners as well as some reflections on my experience and plans for moving forward before I have to get a corner of my bedroom ready to film some teaching on this Saturday morning. 

Let me begin by saying that we began the year with an A day/B day hybrid model that we plan on continuing until Covid spread dictates otherwise. I did not experience a single day of eLearning last spring because my sweet baby boy was born 10 days before South Carolina schools shut down on Friday, March 13th. The kids didn't even say "See you soon on Zoom!" because we were told that we'd try to head back to school in early April. Lolol. Little did we know that I'd be enjoying maternity leave while helping my -- at the time -- 9 and 12 year old children succeed at virtual school. 

Flash forward to August of 2020, and here we are.....still living the pandemic life. Last week, during our teacher work days, I had the good fortune of attending most meetings via WebEx and then there were very few of those, so I had lots of time to work in my classroom. Despite the generous amount of time we had to prepare ourselves, I was working Friday evening, most of Saturday, and all day on the eve of the return to campus. It was like the first few years of teaching relived. Noooo. But here I am still making it. It's all going to be OK. Here are a few items I want to share about my week:

1. It is best (and required by our district) to have EVERYTHING ready to go on our LMS (Canvas) before Monday rolls around. I spent way too much time during planning making sure I had published what I needed to have up and ready each day during this first week of school. (This chaos happened this week because of necessity, but it also drove it home to me that there is no time to post lesson work as we go. No time.)

2. I just spent this entire week writing personal emails to each student with the exception of three people who still need to submit their Google Form student info sheet to me. (I must note that we can have a maximum of 12 students in each class, so I don't have the load I normally would in a given here. Writing each and every child takes a ton of time.)  I ask at least one question in each email after I comment on the books, TV shows, hobbies they like. I also commented on their goals and/or concerns about French class. Reply emails have been rolling in, and the conversation continues, at least with some students. I've received photos and memes and been told that I taught a brother or sister or cousin. This has taken forever to accomplish, but I am THRILLED that I took the time to do it, and I now realize that I want to make an attempt to do this every year --- not just during this pandemic. In the past, I often wrote a quick email to students who wrote a question or something I needed to address on their student info sheet, but didn't write to everyone or engage in conversation with them about much of what they wrote. In the past, the getting-to-know-you work happened live and in the classroom, of course. That will still occur, even in this pandemic, but I felt it was worthwhile to reach out to each and every young person right away. 

                                                          A student sent me a puppy photo!

3. I want to touch base with each parent or guardian next. This is a lot, but so important. 

4. A great result of this pandemic is the scheduling of classes. At the high school level, students can begin entering the building at 8:30 a.m. with first block beginning at 9 a.m. Our day ends at 4 p.m., and everyone seems to be doing fine with that schedule. It also feels like school is not moving at the rat race pace it normally does because we have to stop and clean, for example. We also have to travel farther to use the restroom and to fill up water bottles. We must slow down. This is nice.  

5. Pandemic school challenges us every day to recognize what doesn't work and what we could do better. I'm designing the course as if it's all digital so that we will be at ease (hopefully!) when the schools shut down again, therefore, I'm making videos of all concepts to teach as well as words to pronounce, beginning this weekend. These accompany live instruction on days when learners are on campus with me. I look forward to seeing what impact this has on learning because I rarely made lesson videos in the past due to time constraints. 

6. As for the structure of our hybrid model schedule, I've decided to teach concepts every day which means eLearning day learners will watch my lesson videos and do the practice on their own. When they are on campus the next day, we will relearn that material if need by (It's likely.) AND learn new material when needed, before working one-on-one with me as much as we can. If this fails, of course, I'll come up with a new plan, but that's my vision for our semester for now. 

7. Boundaries. I'm going to try to log off from school every day at 4:15 p.m. It's a goal I really believe I need to work towards, so we shall see if that happens. It didn't happen this week, but that's OK. 

                                                   First Friday Afternoon of Pandemic School


Best wishes to all of the educators across this country and world wide who are trying to get it all done so that our learners can succeed while we all work to stay safe during this pandemic. 

If you've already seen your students on campus, what have you learned? Please do share your tips!

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Quiet Kids in the World Language Classroom

During the school year, I will often join a weekly, general education chat on Twitter called #satchat which begins at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings.  One particular time back in November, there was no decision to be made as to whether I would sleep a little longer or join in the conversation because the topic was quiet kids.  I had been thinking a lot about how I could better serve the quiet kids with whom I was working in French class last semester (and quite frankly, almost every semester,) so I was looking forward to acquiring some tips from a wide range of educators who participated in the chat. Chrissy Romano Arrabito, the guest moderator, also wrote a book on this very topic!

After participating in what was an insightful chat, I thought to myself that I would like to extend the conversation about quiet kids with a focus on the world language classroom. I reached out to Romano Arrabito to ask if she would be willing to be interviewed about her quiet kids research, and she so graciously accepted my offer.  Read her bio below.

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Chrissy Romano Arrabito is a career teacher and proud of it! She is currently an elementary teacher at Nellie K. Parker Elementary School in Hackensack, New Jersey and has over 26 years of experience as an elementary and middle school teacher.

Chrissy is dedicated to teaching the whole child, stimulating and supporting innovation in classrooms, and strives to provide authentic learning experiences for her students. Her true passion lies in nurturing the quiet kids, those that tend to fall through the cracks, those that truly need a champion to support and advocate for them. Her new book, Quiet Kids Count: Unleashing the True Potential, presents stories and strategies to better meet the needs of the quiet kids in your classroom.

Connect with her online @TheConnectedEdu or follow the hashtag #QuietKidsCount.

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Interview:

1. How would you describe a quiet kid? 

People think that introversion means shy, but it's not. It's how you manage your energy; how you recharge. Think of a quiet kid's energy level as a cell phone battery -- on lots of apps, and the battery drains quickly. Also, introverts like people. If comfortable, they like being around people. 

2. What inspired you to take notice of the quiet kids and their classroom needs?

My son. He is a shy introvert who struggles in world language classes. He is taking Spanish class right now. I asked him why Spanish is your least favorite class. He explained that it's high energy with lots of speaking. The teacher is high energy, and it's draining to be around. 

3. In the world language classroom, learners acquire language skills through interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication. What would you recommend world language educators do to best meet the needs of the quiet kids who might not want to engage in  conversation with their peers or present their work to the entire class? 

The teacher could partner the kids up, followed by groups of around four, for interpersonal work.

Do choral/echo work (lots of repetition all together.)

Regarding presentations, give the quiet kids a choice: video or in front of the class. To be noted that videos will be shown to the class. 

For partner work, keep the same partner for a length of time -- maybe a month for classes that meet every day or for the duration of a unit of study.  (Side note: Romano Arrabito is not a fan of inside-outside circle tasks.)

My son's ninth grade Spanish teacher last year offered to administer the speaking exam at lunch or before or after school, and those times were open to all learners; otherwise, the exam would take place during class. 

4. Participation is sometimes factored in as a grade in world language classrooms. If this was a mandated practice at your school, how would you accommodate the quiet kids? 

We need to rethink the definition of participation. The old school way is to think that it means raising one's hand. There are ways to focus less on participation and more on engagement.  Tools like Google Docs for conversations and Padlet can make it possible to accomplish this goal. Voice options like Voxer allow us to hear kids' voices, and exit tickets are a good way to see evidence of engagement, as well. 

Ask yourself: What does participation look like in your classroom? 
    -Are students :
          -active listeners in partner work?
          -responding to prompts in a thoughtful way?
          -looking at their partner when they are speaking?
          -listening to their partner?
          -doing discussion prompts?
          -keeping the conversation going and growing?

5. Should we be concerned about student preparedness for the expectations of college professors or the demands of an employer after high school if the quiet kids are not required to step out of their comfort zone from time to time?

Quiet kids do function after high school, and are some of the most successful people in society. We must teach the introverted kids how to be successful with strategies that work. I have taken elementary school students aside who struggled with shyness, for example, and I equipped them with strategies to use to get to middle school. "Striking Early" is one such strategy: if I have something to share, and want to get my thoughts out there, I make sure I'm one one of the first to say what I need to. It alleviates anxiety. People are not shy when they are comfortable. (Romano Arrabito also shared that introverts spend 70% of their time listening; 20% of their time thinking; and the rest is spent speaking.)

Teach strategies that help quiet kids LOOK engaged in class: 
-provide actual conversation starters,  (Romano Arrabito shares some examples in her book.)
-provide tips on keeping conversations going, 
-know 3 things about the topic to keep the conversation going, 
-do homework literally: Do homework. Be prepared. Form study groups. 

Keep in mind that exhaustion is a side effect of introversion. Where is the quiet time built in? Our school day does not include breaks and there is constant interaction, etc. I recommend that teachers do flexible seating. I taught middle school for 15 years, and did not do assigned seating. Build relationships and a sense of rapport. The quiet kids eventually open up more. 

If nobody is teaching the quiet kids these strategies, it's our job as their teachers.  I use strategies to help my own son succeed as an introvert. In 7th grade, I made him advocate for himself. We would craft an email together, and he's functioning really well now. He'll ask people if they've read his 504, and then he'll tell them that he makes As and Bs. 

[To conclude,] remember that there is the "mask of an introvert" which means that quiet kids have to pretend to be something they're not to be successful. Strategies like the ones I just mentioned can enable them to accomplish that goal.

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If you'd like to learn more about Romano Arrabito's work regarding our quiet kids, you can purchase her book on Amazon at this link.

Additionally, click on this link to read the archived transcript of the November 9, 2019 #satchat on quiet kids.

What are your takeaways from this interview on quiet kids? What strategies do you already use to help your quiet kids find success? Feel free to leave a comment below.