Report from the field: My Daily Routine

Recently, I posted about Monday tips and tricks and included John Piazza's weekly schedule. Last week, John Foulk, my colleague and friend, posted about finding support for the CI classroom.

I want to further that discussion a bit and talk about my daily schedule. I am going to skip my history with it... although, if you are interested in it you can check out our subscription service and our recent summer reflection series where I discuss in length.

My Schedule

My schedule this year is a little different in that last year and the previous year (when I started this), I had one prep. This year, as I am in charge of Latin IV (and we have 2 classes of Latin IV), I am also teaching one class of Latin II and two classes of Latin I. This has created a need (for me) for regular routine. My IVs were already used to the way I do things by now, but the IIs and Is have never had me before and so this was brand new to them (in the way that I do it). 

Daily Breakdown - ALL CLASSES

There are a few things that I do with all my classes. Variations (or lack thereof) are highlighted in orange.

Telephone Ritual

I give credit to Robert Patrick for this routine. I used to do it as needed, but now it is the first thing we do every day. In Latin, we go through where our phones should be and where they shouldn't be. Of course, this looks a little different by level:

Latin IV

These students know this by now and this serves merely as a reminder. We go through this quickly. 

Latin II

These students are used to it, but still need regular reminders. We go through it together, saying the words at the same time. 

Latin I

For these students, what I am asking is new. We go through each one and we do hand signals to show that we are ready for class. 

Date

I do the date in Latin in every class, no matter what. It is done the same way in every class, but in my lower levels I sometimes break in English to make sure we understand or to ask follow up questions. I do not do the old Roman calendar. I see its benefits, but find it more useful to my students today that they use our calendar for the date. 

I don't vary this. We do it the same way every time because I want my students to feel this routine so that when I'm not here or when we do timed writes, they can do it on their own with little thought. 

Weather

We do the weather every day in my class. Last year I did not vary how we did it, but took advantage of the.... interesting weather we had: an eclipse, a hurricane, ice, snow, etc. But, this year... things have been relatively... stagnant, with the exception of rain, so I've gotten creative. Here are some variations I've done with a brief follow up on each. 

1. with pictures - I started this way in August for my ones, who had never done this before. This was a way to provide some circling and give them visual input. My upper level also benefited from this. Each day I added a new picture. The first day was just the sun. The second day was the sun and clouds. The third day added hot and cold. The fourth day added wind, and so on. This led into a few days of slides with just the questions, no pictures on them. 
2. with seasons - we are smack in the middle of changing seasons. In one month, fall officially begins (yay sweater and chili season). Most of my students are tired of the heat and the humidity and are hoping for some relief. This provided an opportunity to put up the seasons and discuss them and their differences. Day 1 included the change from summer to fall. Day 2 included all four seasons and a discussion of who liked what. Day 3 (tomorrow for me) will include all four seasons and the typical weather one finds in each season. 
3. with the world - This may be one of my favourite ways to do weather right now. Here in Georgia, we are getting two types of weather: hot and sunny... and hot and humid... It gets boring. So, I picked some other kinds of weather (tornadoes, hurricanes, snow, monsoon, flood, lightning, etc.) and we talk about where in the world those things are happening. We've talked about Hurricane Lane, snow in the mountains in South America and Europe, lightning in Germany and Italy, and dust storms in Arizona. 

Daily Breakdown - Some classes Some Days

There are a few other things I do, but they don't happen every day or in every class. I've highlighted class specifics in blue and day specifics in green. Variations appear in orange. 

Nuntium - News

I only do the news in Latin II and IV. Originally, I had only intended to do it in Latin IV, but recently I accidentally showed the IIs the slide and they got really excited.... so now we do the news in Latin II as well. We do a news item on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I choose news items that I hear on my way in on the radio or that I have heard about recently. This year alone we've talked about Hurricane Lane, a robbery of a lemonade stand in North Carolina, the fire in California, and Senator John McCain's death. Typically I will  I do it a bit differently in these classes:

1. Latin IV - This is done entirely in Latin. I usually try to include the grammar topics we are covering as well to provide an in context example. We will discuss as needed and sometimes we get into a debate or discussion about a variety of things. 
2. Latin II - This is done part in Latin and part in English. Mostly my goal is to get them understanding things in Latin about our current world. 

Grammar Topics

This is only in my Latin IV class. They are ready to receive a bit of explicit grammar instruction, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we spend about 5-10 minutes discussing a topic. Last year, students covered all the declensions of nouns and all 7 cases. We also discussed sentence structure and poetry. This year, we've covered: ablative absolutes, fear clauses, ablative of time when, accusative of duration of time, ablative of description, subjunctive uses. However I should state that all of these things are not new. We've been using them in class as needed since day 1 of Latin I. In their first week of Latin I students saw an indirect statement. In Latin II we used the ablative repeatedly (including ablative absolutes) and worked with the supine. It is a common misconception that teachers who use CI do not use/teach grammar. We use grammar every day and our students see (often considered) complex grammar structures before their traditional class counterparts, however we don't explicitly talk about it until the students are ready. 

Free Voluntary Reading

I promise I am working on a post about how I do this. In fact, it should come out some time in October! But... in the meanwhile. I do free voluntary reading across the board, however it starts at different times of the year. Once we start it, we do it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I've broken down how I do it (or plan to do it) below by level. 

1. Latin IV - These students have been doing this now for 3 years. They started reading this year in the first week. Right now (August 2018), they read on Mondays for 10 minutes, Wednesday for 12+ minutes, and on Fridays we hold a class "book club". We talk about what we are reading, what we like, and other things like this. 
2. Latin II - these students are in their first year of FVR with me. They started reading last week. Right now (August 2018), they read on Mondays for 5 minutes, Wednesdays for 5+ minutes, and on Fridays we hold a class "book club" (see above.)
3. Latin I - These students have not started FVR. They are still acquiring basics and I won't start FVR until probably January of next year (2019). When we start, we'll read on Mondays for 5 minutes, Wednesdays for 5+ minutes, and on Fridays we'll hold "book club" (see above). 

I posted a few weeks ago on the FVR project my IVS did. You can read it here. Be on the lookout in October for my post of posts on FVR!

Reflection

I am loving my daily routine right now. It keeps me accountable to (a) start class on time and (b) get us into the swing of Latin. Right now, my IVs are comfortable with 90%+ time in Latin. My IIs just experienced their first few days of 80%+ in Latin, and my ones are averaging about 50%+ in Latin right now. I credit this, in part, to my daily routine. It gets us speaking Latin right off the bat and sets clear expectations for class. If I don't have all the pieces ready, the kids know and they ask about it. 

This is something I will definitely continue doing and I am excited by some of the unique things my colleagues are coming up with! I'm hoping he'll post on it, but Keith has us doing things with "quot videtis" (how many do you see) and visual illusions as well as "quid hoc die accidit" what happened on this day. 

Do you have a daily routine? What is it like?

Invisibles - Who, What, Where, When, How

The Invisibles. It kind of sounds like a weird sports team that is probably the biggest underdog you've ever seen... in reality, it is has become one of my "go to" plans for just about everything.

Who

Firstly, I must give a shout out and credit due to Ben Slavic and Tina Hargaden for creating the Invisibles. You should head over to Facebook and check out their group CI Liftoff (also available on Instagram where I follow them), and you can check out Ben Slavic's website: www.benslavic.com

I'm going to go ahead and also ask their forgiveness for a few things:

1. I am not fully untargeted. :)
2. I may not get everything perfect. If I miss something, please leave a comment so I can update and get it right.

What

An image from a Latin II student.
We were working with fantastical
creatures and unique body parts
and stories. 

To put it briefly, Invisibles are (essentially) student creations of characters that don't really exist in the physical world. Ben Slavic writes that there are a few iterations of these in the original process:

1. One Word Image creation (all class)
2. Invisibles stories from the OWI
3. Kids are invited to create their own individually created characters
4. More stories come from the newly created images.

One thing is key, however, the invisible must be fully created. For the original process, this means that they have a bio/backstory and a problem needing to be solved. (1)

Where

According to Ben and Tina's original plan, as I understand it, this is both a whole class thing (steps 1-2, 4) and an individually based thing (step 3). For me, this is a.... 

• whole class thing (although I don't do this often)
• a group thing
• an individual thing
• a sub thing

When

That's one of the things I love about the Invisibles... it is completely workable into any lesson and plan. It is often one of my go tos for sub plans because it gives me lots of good material to use when I get back, and I often do!

This student added a "like" of their
Invisible. This Invisible likes to eat
hot wings. 

One thing I will say is that if this is done in the lower levels, you may have to provide some lexical support for them as they create, if you are asking them to also work with the language. This may be in vocabulary and translation support. This is an activity that I will do with my ones this year, but not until a little later after we've gotten more vocabulary under our belts. 

How

If this is your first encounter with the invisibles. I strongly recommend you check out Ben Slavic and Tina Hargaden's work. They are the original creators of the texts involving the Invisibles. There is lots of discussion on this on the Facebook group CI Liftoff and on Ben Slavic's website as well. 

As for the how, I've done this a few ways and I really like the variety I can get from it. Below are some of my variations on doing the Invisibles.

Before I share, please allow me to remind us that I am not fully untargeted. You will see elements of both some of my targets and the untargeted-ness (if you will) that is the nature of the Invisibles.

Variation 1: completely individual

This may be good for lower levels and is GREAT for a day when you are worn out or for a sub day:

1. students are given a document that walks them through choosing aspects that you might be targeting, like:
1. body parts, number of body parts, colours, shapes, places, names, etc. 
2. After students decide the details, they draw a detailed image of their invisible and label everything as they had decided it. 
3. optional have students use the building sheet from step 1 to write a few sentences describing their Invisible. 

Variation 2: Individual + Group

This works much like the previous one, but for step 3, have them get with a partner and choose 1 image to write about. They can work together to create a description and, in higher levels also provide:

• back story in TL
• problem
• full problem and story (solved)

Variation 3: individual-ish + Group

1. Students are given a document that asks them to choose 1 thing about their Invisible.
2. Students trade papers.
3. Students choose a second thing, on a new document. 
4. Students trade papers.
5. Process continues until all aspects of Invisible are chosen. 
6. Students get their paper back and illustrate the Invisible. 
7. Students get with a partner and together pick one to write a story about/describe. 

I like this for a day when I need a break and also, if I have a sub I know will do it the way intended, I might leave this for a sub. Doing it this way takes the entire class, for sure, and provides some truly unique images. 

Follow-Up

One of the BIGGEST pay offs for me and my kids with the Invisibles is what I do after. Sometimes we will create a story, but I admit that I am not that great at, nor do I have the skill to follow through and remember them so well. Rather, I like to use Invisibles with a picture description follow up. Here is my general process. 

1. Choose 3-5 images that are clear and unique and write descriptions of them. 
2. I read the descriptions 3 times, slowly, to my students who listen and attempt to draw the image. 
1. 1st time - listen only
2. 2nd-3rd time - draw and edit drawing
3. I project the image. We check our work and discuss. 

I love this. It can take an entire period and the students LOVE seeing their work on the screen. I like

watching them listen and draw. Sometimes they'll figure out it is their image and get excited. It is the best. 

The discussion can range from the very concrete (what's in the image) to the abstract and imaginary. It is a great discussion, gets more reps in, and is enjoyable by all. 

How are you doing Invisibles (if at all)? I'd love to hear about it! Comment below. 

(1) credit to Ben Slavic's post on Invisibles.  

Post-its and Classroom Community: Quick Vocabulary Check-in

Shortly into the school year, I wanted some quick and easy feedback from my Latin I students to find out what, out of the new vocabulary, they felt like they really knew and what they felt like needed more work. That way I could focus the beginning of the next week on the vocabulary they needed most, and I would be building trust with them that their input is valuable to me. Wins all around.

Okay, so that's partially a lie.

I really wanted an excuse to try out a new toy: printed post-its!

The fabulous Meredith White (@PRHSspanish) has been sharing some of the things she's been doing with printed post-its on Facebook and Twitter lately, and I just wanted to try out the new technology. You can find the tutorial she shared on printing post-its here.

I quickly printed the template, put my own post-it notes on the template, and then put important vocabulary from the first couple of weeks on a word document, spaced out so it would end up on the post-it notes, and, ecce! printed post-its!

At the end of each Latin I class, I asked students to divide into groups of 5-6 and gave each group a set of post-its. I also posted the following papers that said the following around the room:

1. I really know this

2. I sort of know this

3. I don't know this

Students were told to discuss the words in their groups, then stick the notes around the papers that best applied. Afterwards, I took pictures of the results to be my notes for planning the next week! Much easier than rifling through a bunch of papers. Sadly I don't have any images from the prep--I was too focused on putting everything together, but I do have a couple of pictures after the first class to offer (I figured you didn't need three sets of Latin I results).

I took the pictures, re-sorted the post-its, and reused them for each Latin I class.

I then used the results--especially that "dat," "dies," and "cape" were commonly in the "sort of" know or "don't know" categories--to design a story for the next week so we could focus on those words.

Miriam and I are now planning to print more post-its for much more intriguing uses--with templates that we'll share with you in future posts!