2020-2021 End of the Year Reflection

Every year is different... but this year was DIFFERENT. I know every state, district, and school did it differently, but my district made it in the news repeatedly, mostly, this year, for the decisions the board made regarding school this year and the pandemic. Just a quick list of some things we... experienced: 

1.  year starting off 100% in person
2. sudden change to 100% digital
3. change to 100% parent/student choice
4. school choice in how to handle transitions from in person to digital, etc. 
1. some schools gave deadlines for when students could change from one to the other
2. some schools said students could change whenever
5. concurrent teaching (teaching in person and online at the same time)
6. fire-y board meetings with intense comments from parents, students, and teachers
1. this included comments from parents whose kids no longer attended public school with us

This is an oversimplified list. So, this year has been different... to quote TikTok: This year was "built different". 

I'm not going to spend this post talking about everything I did this year, but I will list a few things I've talked about or have done that were unique to this year:

• implemented code switching stories
• implemented Latin Vocab TikTok
• explored ways to deliver CI in a concurrent environment using three word pictures
• updated and reconsidered how I do review and retakes
• explored ways to deliver CI in a digital environment using TPR
• implemented Black History Month in a concurrent environment
• reflected on teaching during the pandemic

One other thing I did this year, this semester in particular, was to conduct a classroom action research study on the effects of Comprehensible Input on output, particularly in disabled students/students with disabilities. I did this as my thesis for my Special Education degree from Saint Mary's University in Minnesota. For those interested, you can read the study here.

Needless to say, it's been a busy year for me. There are things I wish I had more time to do and there are things I wish I had explored more fully. But, it is May and next year is already gearing up to be an amazing and new adventure because... I am teaching an ESOL class in addition to Latin! It is going to be an exciting experience for sure.... But, back to this year. 

As always, I give my students a three question survey at the end (okay 4 question). The questions were:

1. What have we done that you've liked?
2. What have we done that has helped?
3. If you have magistra Patrick next year, what would you like more of?
4. Is there anything else you want me to know (doesn't have to be school related)?

As always, nothing is a valid response. Answers are still rolling in, but so far I've gotten some great feedback that I want to share. This will definitely shape what I plan to do next year. So... Student response are in bold and my thoughts are highlighted purple. Ways it is going to affect what I do next year are written in teal.

We like games. Honestly though, who doesn't? This year we heavily employed blookets and gimkits in class and as asynchronous assignments. We also adapted the word chunk game to allow digital play (should I do a post on this?). Kids like games... fair enough. Next year I want to employ more hands on games, games that involve physical movement. I miss them!

CS Stories are helpful. This we knew. We worked to get immediate feedback when we implemented these. However, it is great to hear on the end of year survey because it has been a bit since we've done a CS story and so the fact that it stuck out in students' minds means it really is a great thing. Next year I want to employ them more often. We experimented with different ways to use them and I cannot wait to try more. 

More hands on! Um... yes please! I miss this aspect of teaching in person. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) says we provide multiple forms of engagement, representation, and expression.... hands on things are the best for this! Things I am working on or have done in the past that I will continue with include: braille inclusion, use of Wikki sticks, student choice assignments. I also want to have a regular supply of play-doh, legos, and other physical things in my room. 

The teacher is always willing to help students, no matter what. Okay, ya, this touched my heart. It is my goal to always answer with compassion and... it's hard when you are teaching concurrently and are always exhausted. I greatly appreciate this comment. 

The way we do things. this is vague, but students remarked on how "non traditional" our classes are. One student specifically listed that we don't hand out vocabulary sheets for memorisation. 

As always there were the typical listings of likes and things that helped including: games, movie shorts, story listening, and dictations. These things, of course, will go nowhere :) 

I won't say I made lemonade out of lemons this year. (1) I hate lemonade; if I'm making anything out of lemons it's a lemon cake, and (2) I hate that saying. Buzzfeed recently used it to highlight 10 teachers and, while I appreciate the sentiment.... we all worked our butts off this year during a pandemic, during staff shortages (which are really living wage shortages), during substitute shortages, with lack of funds... and all the other things we regularly deal with... to say that we "made lemonade out of lemons" does not do accurately describe all we've had to deal with.... Rather, I did the best I could and I won't speak for anyone else on that matter. For me, the best I could meant answering with compassion, and listening to my students, all while trying to innovate and move my own professional skill forward. I have no regrets...

I learned a lot this year and I will definitely carry that forward... But I am SO ready for a new and better year. <3

Teaching Digitally as an Adventure (Part 3)

It's that time again! When I realize I have postponed posting too long and now have a lot to update--but less than I should because honestly I felt a little lost off and on recently. 

I think that's okay.

I think this year, if we don't treat ourselves with grace, we are going to implode.

So I don't have as much, but I did create a couple of new things and I'm going to continue to share all my stories with you because..I don't know what might or might not inspire and if what I have can help someone, then I want it to be out there!

I changed the organization this time because it has been so long that I just figured it would be easier to wade through the things I have made that way.

The Story So Far
Here is the story of Andromeda so far. I have illustrated parts 1-3 and not part 4. There are definitely going to be mistakes because sometimes I am throwing this thing together at the last minute. But I am excited to be working on this thing.

1. Andromeda Prima (illustrated Google Slide) (text)
2. Andromeda Secunda (illustrated Google Slide) (text)
3. Andromeda Tertia (illustrated Google Slide) (text)

Vocabulary Activities

1. Match Cards (and template) I made a board using Google Slides that is based on the Memory 
   
   card game. The basic set up is simple: they have "cards" that they move, and below each is a picture or word. They are to match the Latin words to their meanings, either as pictures or English words. Setting up the board was a little more complex because I wanted them to be able to work independently of me and I wanted each student or group of students to be able to progress at their own pace. So I designed this so that you can set up three different memory boards and the students can change to a new board as soon as they finish the old one! To edit the boards does take a little finessing, since you are going to create a background that you then add to one of the master layouts, but I have included a video below to help you out. This game is best used shared with all students able to edit the same Google Slides.
2. Vocabulary Categories I made a simple template for students to organize the vocabulary we
   
   were working on into categories that can be used in various ways. You can leave it as a basic exercise in thinking more deeply about the vocabulary itself or you can make it a competition (one I learned from my friend Patrick Yaggy): If students hit on the same category, they get points for any vocabulary words they used that no one else did in that category; if they come up with a completely unique category, they get points for all the words in that category. This template is ready to use! If you want, you can edit the Instructions in the master view and other parts, etc., to be in your target language. This activity is best used in Google Class as a copy for each student.
3. Vocabulary Drawings This is a mashup of Keith Toda's Vocabulary Olympics and my Read, Draw, and Discuss. Basically, using whiteboard.fi (thanks, Meredith White!), I gave students
   
   nonsense sentences to draw on whiteboards that only I could see, then I would clip two images per sentence, put them on a slide, and discuss them with the class to review the sentence and the vocabulary. This is easy to prep: put sentences that will create fun images on Google slides that also use the vocabulary you want to focus on. This activity is best used shared with all students able to view the same Google Slides.

Reinforcing the Story

1. SNAP (and template) I made a new game! I can't help myself. I get bored with old games. This
   
   one is meant to be a replacement for Slap Jack, which I created last year to be a more accessible version of Flyswatter. The basic idea is that I put sentences that describe pictures--some from the story and some vocabulary-based pictures--on "cards" that I could read aloud and show students, and I put the pictures in groups, lumped together in order so that students can self-select what level of difficulty they are playing at. To help explain game play and game setup, I have created a video below! This template is easy to edit for your class needs by just changing out the pictures and sentences. This game is best used shared with all students able to edit the same Google Slides.
2. Class-Sourced Video I just learned about Screencastify Submit so I of course immediately created an activity for it. This is not an especially deep concept. Students each are assigned a sentence of a story we've been studying. They create a video using the link to Screencastify Submit that I provide. Their videos end up in a folder together, then I put all the videos in Screencastify's video editor and made it into one video that we watched as a class! voila! 
3. Quis Dixit The last story-related thing for this post will be Quis Dixit, inspired by an activity
   
   John Foulk made where students chose which sentence went with a picture. I wanted to dig a little deeper into their character knowledge since we're three stories in, so I gave students either direct quotes from the stories or quotes that could have been said by characters. I also used images of the characters as the background, and on each slide, students were to match the statements to the correct characters. The activity is modified similarly to other activities such as SNAP and Match Cards: go into the Master View and to change out the character images and names (I have them grouped--you can ungroup them with a right click), then in regular view you can change out the quotes all you want. This activity is best used in Google Class as a copy for each student.

Culture: Connecting to the Modern World

I was thinking about how little choice Andromeda has in anything that happens to her in this entire story and that made me start singing some stuff from SiX: The Musical so then all the stuff below happened.

1. Letter from Catherine Parr Students read this for independent work one afternoon. It is just an excerpt from the song "I Don't Need Your Love" put on a pretty background. I put this on Google Classroom as a material to view.
2. Exploring Catherine Parr I had students use this as a guide for discussion. We broke into discussion groups via breakout rooms in Zoom and in class. Students were expected to fill out the form with their answers individually. Between each boxed "breakout" we reconvened as a class to discuss their answers to the questions. We also watched the song in context on youtube and therefore got the entire song that way. I put this on Google Classroom as a copy for each student.
3. Gallery of Choice (and template) After we did the class discussion, I had students take the final
   
   question of the discussion and enter it into a Google question on Google classroom. I used those answers to fill frames in my gallery so students could explore each other's ideas about other modern stories with a similar theme. We then were able to discuss these as a class. I also got a new book to read! This is not too hard to set up and personalize, but to make sure I made a video for you below. This is best offered to students to view on their own at their own pace.

Videos

Now, for the best clarity for a few items, I thought it was most prudent to offer some videos. (I also may have been reading some Jane Austen recently so my vernacular may be a little affected.)

Match Cards

SNAP

Gallery of Choice

That is everything I am going to put into this one humongous post! I hope you find something helpful in it! Let me know if you use something in it or if you have questions! And good luck. We all need it right now.

Want more ideas? Check out my previous posts here:

Teaching Digitally as an Adventure Part 2

Teaching Digitally as an Adventure Part 1

Posts by others:

Teaching Virtually: A TPR Alternative by Miriam Patrick

Todally Comprehensible Latin Keith's blog has been basically completely focused on online teaching activities.

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?

Coming Full Circle - using Pliny to hold interest

In my first post, I discussed building my unit and in my second, I talked about some variations on dictations that I've been exploring. In this post, I want to talk about a few ways I am playing with student interest and keeping things compelling.

General Recommendations

Often I will hear students talk about things in the hall, during guided study (advisement), and before or after class. They won't be helpful to me at that moment, but if they seem important to the students, I'll figure out a way to write it down or store it in memory until it is. This has helped immensely in building this unit in a few ways:

• Pop Culture References - These are most helpful when we have our cultural discussion days, but they are helpful in that I can pull stories students know and reference them and bring them into a discussion comparing our culture with Roman culture. So far, My Little Pony (unicornis story), American Horror Story (vrykolacae story), Harry Potter (unicornis story), and a few others have all proven very useful in our discussions. While this may seem weird or off topic, using it to discuss Roman culture and opinions has proven important. Students need to be able to identify with something in some way and this is one way of doing it.  
• Bacteria - Believe it or not, I've had a group of students who have believed, completely, that bacteria must play a role in our stories. They have argued for it and fought for it, much to my and our class's amusement. When I decided to do a creepy story (vrykolaca) I ultimately chose what I did because bacteria plays a role in the science. I could have decided to step away from this focus, but it fits in our ultimate goal of being able to understand perspectives. 
• Santa - This is not quite come up in class yet, but students made many references to the European idea of Krampus and Santa. They took what they understood in Latin about the vrykolaca (large and round, hair on the face, stretches out) and decided it was an evil Santa type figure, similar to the Krampus. They were incorrect, but it created great discussion driven by student interest and made this story even more compelling for them. 

In Choosing Stories

There have been many discussions and argument regarding targeted vs. non targeted CI. Without opening up a large forum for discussion here, I want to address one way I use both in my classroom. I never want to curb student discussion based on student interest. I also want to expose students to the wonderful world of Latin literature from all the periods - Classical, Medieval, and Modern. To do both, I take into consideration a number of things:

• A spiral sort of curriculum that we have in our program - Many groups place heavy emphasis on a vertical curriculum which should prepare kids for the most rigorous course in that subject. I like to argue for a more spiral format. As students progress in a course, they visit and revisit ideas, increasing their skills in that idea. If I know students might revisit this idea in another class, I feel slightly more compelled to offer it in my class. Here are two posts on this topic: one on student choice as we offer it and one on how the spiral worked last year in Latin I. 
• Using shorter readings in some units to allow student input - Whit this particular unit, I purposefully did not choose two of the stories and waited until students expressed some feedback on our first one. When students started asking questions like, "did the Romans have a unicorn?" and "Are they all just versions of real animals?" I included the unicornis story and the basaliscus story. 

In Artwork

Not all kids like to draw, but all kids like crafts in various ways. I've worked to provide multiple opportunities for kids to use what they like and what they know in the classroom in this unit. Here are some ways I've accomplished that. 

1. Lenticular Art - Rachel wrote about this last year and I revisited it this year. I had nearly forgotten about it, but then found it when I was trying to find an activity to see just how kids were connecting to the stories that I had ultimately chosen (even if based in student interest). We did this project and the requirements were:
   
   * Choose a monster we've read about and illustrate it as one perspective of your work. It can be any part of the story, but the monster should be portrayed accurately.
   * Connect this monster to something specific that has importance to you. It can be anything, but it should be specific so that I, the viewer, am clear on what is important to you and how it relates to what we've read. 
   
   Ultimately I got a wide variety of works of art. Many related to movies the kids enjoyed or stories they were familiar with. Some related scenes from our stories to current events that the kids were moved by. Some related ancient perceptions of monsters to the animals we consider "weird" or "gross" now. The variety was quite lovely and I am overall very pleased with their work. The kids loved this, despite its logistic difficulties in cutting and folding and appreciated the opportunity to have a say in how they expressed their opinions in my classroom.
2. Cultural Discussion - I will write more about this in my next post, but I have used our culture discussions heavily to let students express their interest and choice. This week, after reading 3 of our 4 stories (and just before Thanksgiving break), we did an activity where students were to relate our story/monster to one they knew. They had to do research, use Latin, and science to build their argument and they were graded based on clarity and detail. Some examples:
   
   * Relating the Roman unicorn to the Indrik Beast - The Indrik beast is of Russian origin and relates to the unicorn in themes of savageness, purity, and innocence.
   * Relating the Greek vrykolaca to the legend of Slender Man - The students related these two through their creeping/stalkerish presence and the requirements for them to attack/leave their victims.
   * Relating the Roman polypus to the Kraken of Norway - Many students discovered that Roman authors had also written of the Kraken, which created an interesting connection they had not thought of. They also related these two in size, ferocity, general description, and contrasted them in the nature of their "attacks" and setting. 
3. Timed Writes - You can read about the specifics of timed writes here. While most of ours this semester have been rather normal, using specific stories, our last one allowed for student choice and resulted in some fairly interesting considerations and experiences. Our last timed write (last week) covered the polypus, unicornis, and vrykolaca. We did it shortly after reviewing all three monsters again and, in the spur of the moment, after watching their excitement and passion talking about the monsters, I decided to open the timed write to student choice. I did this because I knew they were ready by the quality of discussion and their desire to continue the discussion. The prompt I gave students was to pick any of the three monsters we'd read about and write about it. This opened the floor to a whole series of questions and my answers:
   
   * Wait, we get to pick? of course.
   * Can we write about all three? of course.
   * Can we make up a story about one specific one? hmmm..... of course.
   * Can we name ours? give him a name that fits his ferocity.* Can we write a love story? of course.
   
   And it went on. Students wrote for around 15 minutes in Latin II that day. No one stopped early. Everyone wrote furiously. I was actually excited to watch them write!
4. The Invisibles - This is an alteration of a CI activity/idea/class/etc. that revolves around storytelling that creates characters that students have complete say in. While I have not read everything on this topic, and would not feel comfortable trying to explain it all away, I can tell you how I altered it and what I did with it. I got sick in the middle of one week when the weather changed (my allergies are bad when that happens). I knew I was going to be out the next day, so I left this assignment for my kiddos to complete. When I came back, I took their descriptions and rewrote them as an activity. I would read the description out loud three times and kids would listen and draw what they think they heard. Then, I projected their student created art on the board and we discussed. Students like seeing their own work, especially if they recognise it from the Latin description, and seeing how close they get to what others drew. 

Conclusions

I have spent a good bit of time reading arguments for or against student choice. I agree with both sides, especially as a Latin teacher. I do feel as though there is a reason to read some works that are teacher chosen/written. I love exposing my students to a world they didn't know existed and discussing with them the nuances of that world and seeing their reactions. I also agree that student choice is key to learning language. Stephen Krashen's Comprehensible Input Hypothesis is the core of my teaching and part of that is student interest (the compelling piece).

So, I try to marry both as best I can. It takes work, but it is worth it to me. I also love learning and this large unit, compiled using what I know and what they want, has really allowed me to learn a lot. I've never considered myself good at science, but I now know more about decomposition, and the differences between Indian and African rhinos than I ever thought I would need. I also got to impart on the kids one of my interests which I proclaim from the rooftops - cephalopods. The kids learned more about cephalopods than they ever thought they wanted to know, but they enjoyed it. So much so that it is now somewhat of a joke in some of my classes.

This seems right to me - through conversation between teacher and students, using student interest and teacher knowledge, we learn language. This is how we learn in most situations I feel.

How are you gauging student interest? How do you include it in your classroom?

Coming Full Circle - Pliny and Dictations

In my last post, I detailed how I built my Pliny the Elder unit for this year and discussed some upcoming posts. For this second post, I want to talk about how dictations have evolved for me and how we are using them in this unit.

I am still a big fan of the dictatio in the way discussed here. It is a great Monday activity and a great activity for days when I need a brain break. It lets the high flyers take all the notes they want and ask those questions burning in their brains and lets those needing extra time move at a slower pace. It is also a great way to introduce key vocabulary.

I also love the dictatio currendo and its alternate version: scrambled eggs. They provide unique ways to still achieve much that the regular dictatio does, but provides an opportunity for movement. I used the scrambled eggs dictation for the octopus story.

Today I want to talk about a few variations of the dictatio that I've been working on in this Pliny unit. They each highlight different things and are used in different ways:

Monster Building Relay Race

This is a play off of Rachel's Relay Race using a dictation. I took sentences students had seen in a dictatio activity and had purposefully left off a vital clue. For this particular instance, students were reading (unknowingly) about the unicorn. They had already received the following information:

• head of a deer
• body of a horse
• tail of a boar
• feet of an elephant

What they were missing was the monster's single long horn. 

When I created the relay race cards, I included distracting sentences that had nothing to do with the monster in question. This tested student's ability to understand. After they had all the sentences (including the distractors) they were to put together the monster and show me the picture. The process was as follows:

1. Send a runner to get a sentence.
2. When the whole group understands the sentence, send a different runner to find the corresponding picture. 
3. When the whole group agrees that the sentence matches the picture, send a different  runner to check with magistra. 
4. Repeat this process until ALL sentences and pictures are matched.
5. Using these, build the monster based on the dictation, determining which one piece of new information also applies to the animal. 

Example:

This one is incorrect. The pieces do not fit the description and one is mislabeled.

This one is correct. All the pieces fit the description and they are correctly labeled.

QR Code Dictatio

This is a new activity that I adapted from Meredith White's QR activity (@PRHSspanish). I created QR codes for students that had a sentence with a clue regarding the monster on it and a sentence as to the location of the next clue. Students had to run from location to location looking for clues and writing them down. Then, they had to make an educated guess (without outside resources) as to what the monster was. I did not confirm or deny the accuracy of their guess, but I would send them back to try again if their guess did no make use of the clues.

After all students had discovered all the clues (and checked them with me), we went over each sentence. Since they had already worked on these in groups, there were few questions and going over it went quickly. Students took notes on the new words as well.

Examples:

Student work from Latin II - vrykolacae story

Here is a link to the clues Rachel gave her Latin III students for the "monster" Fama. 

Sub Day Dictationes

Unfortunately, I was out twice during dictatio days for this unit. What I ended up doing was a variation on sub day plans we've used in past years. This particular plan required:

1. Students to read sentences that contained new key words (identified at the top). 
2. Draw a picture of these sentences (since they detailed the physical description of the monster).
3. Write their own Latin sentence using the new word.

After students complete ALL the sentences, they were to take information they had already obtained using the QR code dictatio the previous day and this new information to make a new guess about the identity of the monster. No one guessed right (and I refuse to tell them if they were right). It kept the mystery and it required the students to use Latin to make connections and let me in on their thought process. I can see how good of use they make of clues and Latin descriptions.

Example:

Conclusions:

I love finding news ways of doing my favourite or most useful activities. Do you have any other ways to do a dictation? I still haven't written the final story's lesson plans, so I am all ears! 

Coming Full Circle - Pliny 2016

When Rachel and I started this blog, we were beginning our journey into untextbooking. We've shared our successes and failures, our ideas and research. Now, we are beginning to come full circle. Both Rachel and I have successfully defended our Master's theses and we both used our original inspiration in untextbooking as part of that process: Pliny the Elder.

This year, our third full year of this process (four if you count the half year of work and half year of research), and we've come full circle. This year both of our classes are reading Pliny the Elder again. Both of our classes chose to read about fantastical creatures. Rachel and I are taking two different, if similar, approaches and we are reading different pieces, but we are both drawing on and improving upon what we did four years ago.

The next series of posts is going to detail some of the activities and unit building we've been working on. I plan to write, in this post, about how I am building my units and in subsequent posts about specific plans and ideas that I've been developing.

Nota Bene: this is a lengthy post. I have decided to break it up with colours and images of work I've done thus far. Please feel free to comment with questions if I am unclear at all!

The Overarching Goals

Since we use standards based grading and untextbooking, there isn't a specific vocabulary list or grammar list I want to reach. Rather, those come from the authors we are reading and high frequency lists that we rely on. We want our kids to be able to read literature in Latin, so we use high frequency lists to help inform our teaching. 

The Authors

I decided that I wanted the main author to be Pliny the Elder, as we decided four years ago. But, I also realised that I wanted to include some stories and things that aren't included in Pliny's work. So I expanded the list to include some medieval authors.

The students chose the unit fantastical creatures last year when they voted, but I chose the monsters we were to read about. I will readily admit that I chose some of them because I've read the stories and fell in love with them. I chose the others based on what I knew student interest to be. To that end, we read/are reading about:

1. polypus Plinii - a giant octopus invades an Italian coastal town and terrorises its residents and dogs, and eats their food. (Author: Pliny the Elder)
   
2. unicornis ferus - the unicorn is a composite monster that is the exact opposite of what our contemporary mythology tells us; further, only a young maiden can tame him. (Authors: Pliny the Elder, Isidore de Seville)
3. vrykolacae - the excommunicated dead are possessed by demons and they wander the towns looking for specific people to kill; one story tells of a group of children who find one in an open tomb and proceed to use him as a trampoline until stopped by a priest. (Author: Leo Allatius)
4. basilisci serpentes - the fearsome basilisk wreaks havoc on plants, animals, and humans with its smell. They say looking at it can kill a man. (Authors: Pliny the Elder, J.K. Rowling)

It's all about perspective

In our standards, a lot of those for Latin II this year deal with students expressing themselves, their opinions, and backing them up with evidence and discussion. A few weeks ago I was speaking to a college professor (not a foreign language teacher) who said one of the biggest issues he sees is students who cannot work out problems on their own or express their own views or thoughts. They want to be given a list to memorise, a series of correct answers for a test, but that is not how many college classes work, nor is it how life works. What he said re-validated my purpose this year to get the kids more comfortable talking about and expressing themselves and their ideas. 

For this unit, we approach each story from three levels:

• What does the story tell us?
• What does science tell us?
• What does urban legend and contemporary mythology tell us?

These three perspectives not only serve to bring more student interest into the class (seeing Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony on the screen certainly got a reaction), but also provide multiple perspectives from which a student may draw connection and information. Students were expected to discuss the stories from these perspectives, not only speaking about the culture and history of the Romans, but also understanding connections to contemporary times and their own personal interests. 

Building the Unit

To build this unit, I followed a pretty similar process for each story. I will detail the activities in other posts. To compare, here is Rachel's post on a unit she built four years ago using Pliny the Elder's work.

Step 1 - Identifying key vocabulary

I relied heavily on the authors for vocabulary, even the stories I was not familiar with. I read the original Latin and used frequency lists to determine what words were high frequency. I did keep some low frequency words in, but this was because they were essential to the story. To give you an idea, here is the vocabulary list for the polypus story:

ascendere - to climb                                                        videtur - it appears

adflatu - with his smell                                                   cognoscere - to recognise

inauditus - unheard of                                                     mare - sea

polypus - octopus (Pliny's word)                                    lacus - lake/container

The vocabulary differs from story to story, but I use a variety of methods and activities to build repetitions and confidence in the vocabulary. 

Step 2 - Edit/Adapt stories

My goal was to keep to the originals as much as possible, if not in form, in story line. So far, I've been able to do this 100% (which makes me exceedingly happy) and in doing so, I've realised a few things:

1. When we read excerpts or translations, we often miss the best parts. -- prior to this, I'd only read excerpts of Pliny for class or for research (although my research opened me up to some new parts of his work) and some only in translation. By going back to the Latin and really reading it closely, I was able to get great stories and descriptions and a great list of vocabulary
2. By relying on given knowledge, we may miss something interesting, vital, or cool. -- I readily admit that I did not know about all these stories originally. Some I learned in classes, some from individuals, and some from my own reading. What I discovered, however, is that if I relied only what I remembered, or a single passage I was familiar with, I missed whole portions of the story that were, often, more interesting than what had been shared with me originally. This is no one's fault (otherwise we'd be sharing pages and pages of stories for days and days), and yet I think it is important to find sources for this reason. 
3. By sticking to what may be called a "canon" or "accepted" or "approved" reading (depending on who you are, where you are, and what your program is like), we limit our knowledge and range of interest. --  Medieval literature is often overlooked in favour of Classical Roman writers (particularly those whose stories appear in textbooks or whose work is most often discussed in our wider circles), but I think this can be a mistake. I think we need to widen our horizons. I don't mean we should ignore those great authors (I have been made more certain that Caesar is awesome) but rather, we can combine and support them with other more contemporary or lesser known authors.
   
   Without medieval and contemporary works, I would not have had half the story of the unicorn to share (how to defeat it). Nor would I have had any of the vrykolacae story, which is uniquely Greek and medieval. Nor would I have had something to compare Pliny's discussion of the basilisk to.
   
   Yes, this required me stepping out of my comfort zone. It required some time and research from me. However, I think it was worth it and I know my students' Latin, understanding of Roman culture, and ability to express themselves in English and Latin are better because of it. 

When I took the originals, I tried to keep the vocabulary as close as I could (bearing in mind frequency) and the structure, if I felt it was appropriate. What happened was a marriage of Classical, medieval/contemporary, and teacher written stories. 

In the image to the left, you'll see a portion of the unicorn story we read in class. I want to point a few things out that might make this process clearer. Throughout this story I married Pliny's own words with Isidore de Seville's and my own (which were heavily influenced by the two authors. Below is the text again, but with mine, Pliny's, and Isidore de Seville's colour coded. 

dixit in India animal ferissimum esse. unicornes erant feriores quam omnia animalia. reliquo corpore equo similis, capite cervo, pedibus elephanto, cauda apro, uno cornu nigro media capite erat. nemo negabat ferum unicornem esse. nemo unicornem vivum videbat.

vocabatur rhinoceron a Graecis; Latine significabat “cornu in nasu.” erat unicornis. unum cornu in medio* capite pedum quattuor habebat. cornu acutissimum erat. cum elephantos pugnaret, elephanti in terra ceciderunt. quam ferus erat unicornis. etiam homines unicornis necabat.

erat fabula; omnes cognoverunt qui naturas animalium scripserunt

My edits mostly include original vocabulary, but word order or grammar is changed to make it clearer to students. This passage does not shelter grammar, but rather vocabulary: sticking to words that students know/are learning and using grammar that is needed. 

* this was a typo in the image that has since been corrected. It read "media". #reasonswhyautocorrectisawful

Step 3: Develop your teaching strategy

I mean this to say - How will you capture students in the moment and find something for them to grab on to. We teach using Comprehensible Input, so I drew from those activities to build my lessons for my stories. The basic thought of how this works for my class is:

1. Keep it a secret! Don't give the monster's identity away until you absolutely have to!
2. Delay it! Fill the space with vocabulary reinforcement and CI activities to build suspense. 
3. Explain it! When you finally reveal, plan a day to discuss products, perspectives, and practices to students to help them see points of view and understand the stories better.*

* Credit to Robert Patrick for this work.

Bearing these in mind, I have a basic outline of activities that I do for each story:

1. A dictation of some kind (will be in next post).
2. Vocabulary Reinforcement through:
   * movie shorts
   * TPR
   * TPRS
   * One Word Images
   * etc.
3. Reading of the story and follow up activities (will be in future post)
   * Reading Option A
   * Read, Discuss, and Draw
   * Reader's Theatre
   * Reading Experts (also in future post)
   * Read Dating
   * Timed Writes
4. Products, Perspectives, and Practices Discussion (will be in future post) -- This combines the story, science, and legend. 
5. Assessment

Using these steps, I've built each lesson around our stories. I look forward to sharing them with you.

The First Ten - TPR in Two Weeks

I am often asked how I start a level I class (or any level) using Comprehensible Input and using no textbook. Certainly the beginning of the year is overwhelming, even ignoring the question of what your curriculum/vocabulary list may be, so my hope is that this post provides some insight into what I do, and why I do it, as well as an easy to follow lesson plan for those who with to make use of it.

The What

TPR stands for Total Physical Response. There are a variety of ways this is employed, but the key components of this technique involve spoken language and/or commands in the target language and a physical response, usually involving the entire body. The benefits of this technique vary, depending on the way you do it. For this post, I am going to talk about a basic version that involves giving commands and completing actions in various ways (whole body response). Other ways of doing this include:

• using American Sign Language or another form of sign language to communicate while speaking in the target language.* 
• assigning gestures and signs (often made up by the class) to teach vocabulary and communicate.*
• assigning gestures and signs to help students connect with grammar while communicating in the target language.* 
• assigning gestures and whole body responses for key words to help tell a story

There are probably more ways to employ this technique, so feel free to share them in the comments! 

*I distinguish between ASL and gestures. ASL is a language and I treat it as such, employing communication using Latin and ASL. Gestures are non-ASL signs often made by particular teachers, groups, and/or students to serve a unique purpose. 

The Why

I love this technique. It is the first thing I did when I started teaching on the recommendation of my father because it was an easy way to give Comprehensible Input, builds community, and is a very easy way to quickly assess understanding. In addition to these reasons, I start every year with a little TPR because:

• It give students quick and easy success, building language confidence and skill.
• It serves to remind students of what they already know and our daily processes.
• It sets the expectation for time in the target language. 
• It allows first time students (whether you have a level I class, or some new additions) to quickly build vocabulary and early success (which I think is key for setting the tone for the year). 
• It is easily changeable based on class size, ability, etc on a moment to moment basis. 

This is why I love TPR and use if often. It is a great activity for a day when I am feeling tired, or want to review vocabulary quickly. 

The How

To begin, I take stock of what's in my room and use this list that Bob Patrick shares to help form the vocabulary we'll learn during the two weeks (roughly 10 hours). There are some things I bear in mind when choosing which vocabulary to teach and focus on:

Is it high frequency AND/OR will we use it frequently in class? 

We base our vocabulary choices, in writing novellas, stories, and our lesson plans based on a few high frequency lists:

1. Dickenson's Frequency List
2. 50 Most Important Verbs
3. Super Set Vocabulary (I developed this based on the frequency lists above AND on the Super Seven set that languages like Spanish and French have)
4. Essential Latin Vocabulary

The second piece of this is to consider if we'll use it frequently in class. This will vary from class to class (e.g. if you have a window or separate chairs from desks), but the 50 Most Important Verbs can be very helpful here ask well. If it is high frequency and/or will be used often in class, I will teach it in the TPR session as an important word to know, rather than an icing word. 

Are there other words that go hand in hand?

This can be very useful when building which 4-5 words you will focus on in a day and can help with making connections. These can be verbs that work together or opposite each other, nouns and verbs that go together, etc. Some obvious pairs are:

• open - close (door - window)
• hit/knock - touch - demonstrate
• draw - write - erase
• marker - pen - pencil
•  sit - stand (desk - chair)
• floor - ceiling
• walk - run

I may then teach these pairs on the same day or on subsequent days, which allows for review on a daily basis.

In what order will I teach these words?

If I bear in mind the goals of: being in Latin 90%+ of the day, giving kids easy and quick successes, and showing students they can understand Latin from the beginning, I will start with the very basics:

• sit
• stand
• chair
• desk

Already this builds for a very easy, and fun day. Especially if you add the icing words (words that you are using, but that kids don't need to know yet): quickly, slowly (more on this below). 

I will then build off that list and slowly add things so that each day I can review a little and introduce new things. 

The Plan

Below I link to and detail two lesson plans (Latin I and Latin II). I have left each document open to comments, so feel free to leave any comments or questions and I'll answer them on the document. Each lesson plan contains:

1. key words in Latin
2. icing words in Latin
3. notes and sample scripts

Level I Class

Here is a link to the lesson plans I used last year when teaching Latin I using this TPR method for the first ten days (approximately 10 hours). I have left it so that anyone can comment on it. Please feel free to leave comments and questions. A few caveats to this link:

• You'll notice the first day has more than 4-5 words. What we discovered was that this particular group of ones was ready that day for more and we improvised and then edited the list. You may find your students are also the same, OR that they need more limiting of vocabulary. 
• We also required students to complete a picture dictionary that had to include: the Latin word, the English word, a picture defining the word. I maintained this the entire year. 
• These words reflect the objects in my room. You may wish to edit the Bob Patrick's list (linked above) to make your own list. 
• At the end of these two weeks, we did a TPR quiz. I took role this day (and, was also observed this day surprisingly) and when I called a student's name, I asked them to stand up and do something like open the door, demonstrate their pen, etc. 

Student progressed very quickly this year using this method. By the end, they knew a lot of words that were easily accessible to them and were used fairly regularly. 

During these two weeks, we also used "Circling with Balls" to teach words like to have, to want, to give, etc. You can see more on this below in the Latin II Class description. I like Circling with Balls (even though I don't use balls, but rather stuffed animals) because it lets individual students shine as well as allows for one on one interaction. I also like this because it forces me to learn student names actively, rather than looking at pictures, lists, or alphabetical things (which I'm not super at anyways). 

Here are some nifty things that I do to liven up class:

• use adverbs to describe how students should sit/stand/run/walk/etc.
• make students sit or stand VERY slowly or VERY quickly and scold if they do not follow exactly.
• have students walk outside the room while people say goodbye
• have students turn in circles while touching a desk or chair

Latin II Class

Here is a guide to the TPR I am doing currently with my IIs this year. Please note that this will update this and next week as I teach and add my notes. I have left it so that anyone can comment on it. Please feel free to leave comments and questions. I will answer them as I see them. I am really relying on circling this year, partially because I have new students whose names I want to learn and partially because I want to really drive home the idea of doing specific actions repeatedly in various contexts with students. Some caveats to these lessons:

• I am working with my former students, students I inherited from my colleague, and a handful of students from other schools who have varying degrees of ability with CI, oral practice, etc. 
• I am working with students who have a variety of vocabulary. For example, I usually use "sic" to mean yes, while some of my colleagues use "certe" or "ita". So, students are gaining some icing knowledge in how words are used differently. 
• My colleagues this year are using a variety of ways to teach and review this vocabulary via my lessons. While I love TPR and circling, Rachel prefers TPRS, which works great for her and her students. We work together and collaborate, but still maintain freedom to work in a way best for us. 

This year relies heavily on Circling with Balls and uses TPR as an introduction and reinforcement of what we are doing. Students indicated one of their goals this year was to have more daily Latin and use Latin more often in our daily routine. To this end, I'm targeting words I know I will need to deliver instruction, help students get materials and complete assignments, etc. 

Reflection

What you will find, in both years, is that certain students will lend themselves to being the "stars" of the day while others take a back seat and ride along This is okay! What this means is that some days will be really rich with circling and other days will rely on TPR and teacher direction. This may even vary from class to class. 

Some classes will move slowly and require some more prompting, and some classes will move quickly and may want more words or may be able to have a deeper discussion. This may also vary from day to day or student to student. Personally, I use those high flyers to deepen the discussion and provide more repetitions. 

Students LOVE stuffed animals. They like to hold them, play with them, tell stories with them, trade them, no matter the students' age. Use this to your advantage. 

If you use TPR in a different way or have other reflections, I'd love to hear them! I'd also love to see some discussions on the documents on how we can use this and expand this! 

Hannibal Romae: a Strategy-based Game for the Latin Classroom

I was looking back at my recent posts and realized I never linked the article I wrote (in December) over the war unit I did with my students.

Here's a preview section of the article:

The game I made is strategy-based and loosely historical. I kept the rules relatively simple so students could navigate them in a short amount of time. It gives context and purpose to the readings: now students are reading about these ancient battles to learn strategies that they can use in the game. In groups of four, students are officers of a cohort. Each office has different duties (outlined in the instructions and materials I’ve linked below), and together the groups decide what action their cohort takes each session. Their actions need to be historically founded, and they can provide research if they suggest something I doubt is authentic. I require them to judge their movement based on the mileage key on the map of Italy I hang on the wall, and the class as a whole is fighting for the same end result: to keep Carthage out of Rome.

Not only am I having fun playing the brilliant general Hannibal and attempting to crush my students’ cohorts, I am watching students get excited and focus who often check out halfway through class. When we recently read a short passage from Livy in which Hannibal tempts a Spanish army to charge into a river and then demolishes them with his cavalry, one of my students–a student I almost always have to remind to be on task--immediately asked “Can we use this against Hannibal?” Not only was he paying attention, he was taking in the point of the passage and ready to apply it to a ‘real life’ situation! After I said yes, he responded, “Good. Because I really want to kill Hannibal.”

You can find the entire article at the Classical Journal Forum. Feel free to comment and question!

Reflections on being a first year teacher.. again!

While this was my 6th full year (7th including all teaching time) teaching, this was my first year in a new school. Not only was the location different, but the school population, size of my department, and school atmosphere was different.

• This was my first year working with another Latin teacher in the building (okay, well 3 other Latin teachers)
• This was my first year having less than four preps (5 classes of Latin I and 1 class of Latin II)
• This was the first time I proctored an AP exam. 
• This was my first year without a window in my room. 
• This was my first year sharing a door with another teacher. 
• This was the first time I did not know every single Latin student in my school.
• This was my first time, in a number of years, being in the same building with fellow foreign language teachers. 

There are a lot of lessons and firsts that I experienced this year and I thought I'd write this post to reflect on those and maybe, if it is useful, pass on some things to those who have yet to experience their "second first year". 

1. Collaboration is key. This was true last year for me as well - since we untextbooked. But, it continues to be true. Even though we are all in the same building and we teach a variety of things, collaboration is key. I don't say this to say something like, "you have to follow every lesson plan to the letter and be on the same day every day." I say it to say things like:
   * A fresh pair of eyes can be helpful.
   * Sometimes you are tired and need an alternate plan.
   * Hearing someone else's perspective might give you new ideas.
   * Stealing your colleagues ideas is okay! 
   I can't tell you how many times this year my colleague Bob Patrick (and my father) would take my lesson plan and tweak it and then we'd collaborate briefly at the end of the day and I liked so much of what he did that I did it myself the next day. Similarly, he'd tweak a plan and then see what I'd done with it and do it himself that way the next day. This made light work for both of us and gave us many new ideas. Similarly, we collaborate across levels. I would watch things Rachel did and steal them for Latin I or hear about what Caroline did in Latin III and adapt it for my kids to read. 
2. Communication is bread and butter. I came from a school where I was an individual Latin teacher. I worked well with my colleagues, but there was much in the Latin world that I was on my own to do. It is important, whether you are going or coming from a place with more than one teacher, to communicate. There was so much I had to learn (and am still learning) about how things are done here. It can be frustrating because I am used to trying to figure it out on my own and I don't always remember I have a group with me now who knows what it is I am dong. I am so thankful for how kind and understanding they've been with me! 
3. The stuffed animals may remain the same, but their personas will not! I took my stuffed animals with me and I've added to my collection since then. The animals that were my previous students' favourites are no longer sitting on a golden throne. The kangaroo has been traded for the llama; the koala for the grizzly bear; the sheep for the hippo. Similarly, the stories we tell aren't the same. This has been an adjustment for me, but it has been fun. I have had to forget 6 years of names and back stories only to discover new ones. 
   On a side note: I am more convinced than ever of the healing and therapeutic effect stuffed animals have. Students who are allowed to hold one are often calmer than without and they can be a quick and easy way to tell which students are feeling down or need a break. 
4. Learning a new campus is STILL hard. I have gotten lost so many times (and this is with a guided tour)... I've been late to meetings, ended up on the wrong side of campus, and even exited a building only to re-enter from another door and not realise what I'd done. This is one of my biggest learning curves, but it has given me something to bond with my youngest students over and we laugh about it. 
5. Duties, Drive-ins, and Dues. Chances are, no matter the school, district, etc. that the way duties, parking, and various "dues" are done is different everywhere you go. There will be things you like and things you don't. What I've found is that, even with the things I wasn't fond of, they work for this school. They wouldn't work for my old school, and so I am glad they are done this way here. Even as I adjusted to this way of doing thing, and grew tired of it, I still remember being glad of the change: having an assigned parking space, having my new duty station, proctoring the AP exam (yes, I enjoyed it!). Ya, I still groan sometimes, but what would school be without them?
6. It's okay to occasionally enjoy the cave that is your classroom. I will be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of change. Even change I initiate (and I am always looking to be better), has to sit with me for a bit before I'll take the chance. I am also a fairly strong introvert and I recede into my brain as often as possible; not because I hate people, but it is how I think best and recharge. Yes, making friends is important. Yes, being a presence in the school is key. But, also taking time to become comfortable and to make your space feel like your own is important. My first few days here were spent in and out of meetings, but we were also given a good bit of classroom time. I put my headphones in and took my time setting up my space. I didn't have it completely ready by day 1, but I enjoyed getting to know my space and make good use of it. I still put in my headphones during lunch and after school while I grade, or plan, or whatever. The school is new, my colleagues are new, but my cave is mine. There are some things, if you are like me, and find change and new people daunting that you can do to ease into it:
   * Meet one new person a day/a week.
   * Have a mentor of your choosing: someone you already know or are already comfortable with.
   * Make a 10-20 minute time of day, especially in the new year, where you don't check email. Get up and clean or decorate something. Read an article or catch up on teaching posts.
   * Leave early/on time (depending on your school's rules) one day a week. You can stay late, get caught up in work, plan far ahead all the other days. 

New schools, rules, people, and students can all be overwhelming, and they certainly were for me. There were days when I arrived, went into my room, and locked the door to prepare. I still get lost going to a new room or lab and I feel my students' frustration when I don't have the answer of where the lab is or how to get to a testing room. But, in all of this, I've learned a few things and come to enjoy a few things:

• I have great colleagues! 
• I have supportive administrators! 
• I have hilarious students! 
• I have a space that is my own and that I've made my own. 
• I actually liked proctoring an AP FL exam. (yes, I'm weird)

And all of these things don't mean that I didn't have them at my old school, or have them all the time. We all have bad days, weeks, and even months. I loved teaching my former students and I enjoyed working with my colleagues. I also love working with my current students and enjoy my current colleagues. Both are okay. 

I think I've learned that as much comparison as we all do when we move schools (it's natural). I've also learned not to compare them. My two schools have different demographics, different layouts, different rules, and different people. I like them both. and that's okay.

I want to close with this quote I saw. I don't know who said it, but I saw it on instagram and it spoke to me:

You'll be fine. Feeling unsure and lost is part of your path. Don't avoid it. Breathe. You'll be okay, even if you don't feel it all the time.

Activity - Who Is Better?

This is a two day activity (it could easily be a three day activity or a one day activity with an upper level class) that I came up with to review vocabulary for both our story and the final exam. I am calling it: Comparisons - Who is better?

Some Notes

There are a few things I want to point out in case you are exploring Standards Based Grading, Untextbooking, etc. 

• This activity would be great for standards that involve writing, writing with accuracy, list making, descriptions, and comparisons.
• This activity is great for novella reading with lots of characters or descriptions. It can be a review activity that leads into a chapter with lots of descriptions
• This activity works really well with nature vocabulary, body parts, colours, places, prepositions, and adjectives. 

My Set Up

We did this activity before reading chapters 6-7 of Magus Mirabilis Oz and also before the final. We've done a lot of nature, body parts, and colour vocabulary to read this book and I wanted something to review that before reading these chapters because, in these chapters, we meet the Cowardly Lion, review everyone's desires, and we have our first dangerous adventure with the Kalidae (fearsome half lion, half bear creatures who chase the characters across a ditch). 

Process

Day 1

approved animals with feet, hands, ears, eyes, hair, horns, wings,
teeth, fins, and a variety of colours!

On day 1, put students into small groups and give them some object to focus on. In m classes, we used a variety of stuffed animals that I chose based on the number of descriptors students could use and how easily these animals lent themselves to the "most" portion of the activity. 

Students were to describe the animal as best they could using their vocabulary notes and any resources I'd given them to describe the body, colour, etc. of the animal and then to describe where the animal lived (nature vocab). 

Finally, students were to pick from a list on the board of "most" adjectives and give a reason, in Latin, why the animal was the "most". 

Example using image to the right:

homo est mirabilis. Iacobus vocatur. aures duas habet. oculos magnos habet. os magnum habet. Iacobus dua bracchia et duos pedes habet. est homo mirabilis. Iacobus cornua longa habet. Iacobus est coloris caerulei. Iacobus est homo mirabilis. Iacobus sub aqua habitat. Iacobus magnam domum habet et cum coniuge habitat. tres filias habent. Iacobus est fortissimus quod cum trebus filiis habitabat. 

Translation:
This man is strange. He is called Jacob. He has two ears. He has big eyes. He has a big mouth. Jacob has two arms and two feet. He is a strange man. Jacob has long horns. Jacob is the colour blue. Jacob is a strange man. Jacob lives under the water. Jacob has a big house and lives with his wife. They have three daughters. Jacob is the strongest because he lives with three daughters. 

Day 2

On day 2, I took their responses and created this comparison presentation. We circled the descriptions themselves before I asked the question.... quid est.... melior/maior/sapientior? We then debated the reasons why one thing might be better than the other. You can see some student work below as I put it in the presentation*.


* all images used are either my own photos or obtained via google image search with creative commons or public domain status. 

Conclusions

I did this activity at the end of the year, so there was some push back because we had to write. That being said, students jumped into this activity immediately. Students got to choose an approved animal and, since I had gotten a few new ones recently, they were excited to grab one. Students very quickly described the animals and used me to extract the vocabulary they needed. 

I did give an example of what I expected because I wanted them to understand the three parts of the writing: description of the animal, description of where they lived, and an explanation of why the animal is the most whatever. 

Having the students do the writing (when they are ready) gave me plenty of material to pull from for a more formal discussion the next day.

Students REALLY liked this activity. They enjoyed choosing their animal, writing their description, and choosing their "most" adjective. They were visibly and verbally happy to see their work presented the next day and "show off" their skills when describing their animal. They loved having control over which animal was "the most". I think their excitement and pride came from the fact that we did this when I was 100% sure they could do all these things. This is definitely something I will use again.