Brain Dump Round Up - Miriam's list of activities

This morning I came to work knowing, in great detail, the things I wanted to work with, but at a complete blank of how to do it. The normal things I tend towards would not meet the purpose of what I wanted. So, after having a much needed cup of coffee, I started on a search on my favourite blogs to find an activity I could use. What I found were a few new activities and one that I am using today. Additionally, Rachel and I were speaking about some alternatives to the things we use for review/brain break vocabulary activities. I thought I'd take this information and round it all up for you all. So, without further ado, here is my list of favourite and newly discovered activities broken up into categories (and in no particular order). I want to honour what has been said, so I will only present 1-2 sentences where needed to clarify my thoughts or provide review.

Activities with Readings

1. Fan N Pick discussed by Martina Bex - I found this activity this morning and I cannot wait to give it a try! 
2. Story Tower discussed by Martina Bex - Also found this morning, this is the activity I ultimately decided to use. Look at my twitter for some pics later today! 
3. Story Wars discussed by Miriam Patrick, original from Diane Neubauer - I love this activity to spice up a reading! 
4. Picture Relay Races discussed by Rachel Ash 
5. Seek and Find discussed by Rachel Ash - I love the variations on this! 

Activities with Vocabulary

1. Draw, Discuss, and Read discussed by Miriam Patrick
2. In my hat described by Miriam Patrick - We haven't discussed this original activity as it is. There is a variation on this, the white elephant activity, which is linked below. 
3. White Elephant described by Rachel Ash and Justin Slocum Bailey
4. TPR in the First ten discussed by Miriam Patrick with resources from Latin Best Practices
5. One Sentences Stories discussed by Miriam Patrick and Two Sentence Horror Stories discussed by Rachel - both of these ideas were snagged from other places. My idea came from ideas for English/Literature classes and Rachel's idea came from a Reddit thread. 
6. One Word Picture discussed by Keith Toda
7. Movie Talks/Movie Shorts discussed by Miriam Patrick (secondary post)

Activities with Personalisation (PQA and untargeted types)

1. Discipulus Illustris (student interviews)  discussed by Miriam Patrick with links to Bryce Hedstrom's original ideas and other follow up posts. 
2. Free Voluntary Reading discussed by Miriam Patrick (expect an update post later this year)
3. Roll A Write discussed by Miriam Patrick

This list is by no means exhaustive and I am always searching for new ideas. Share them in the comments below! 

Roll a Write - an alternative to the free write/bingo write

I readily admit, I stalk Pinterest and elementary school sites for fun ideas. Last week I was on Pinterest during lunch and came across this nifty idea that is used in elementary art classes to help kids draw and learn about landscapes. I decided it would make a great timed write activity. It requires little prep and takes the entire period.

Quick Info

• What is it called? Roll a Write
• What supplies are needed? the student document and as many dice as you have groups or students. 
• How long does it take? 6 rounds of 3-5 minutes + remaining time in class for edits and adds
• What levels could do this? I could see a level I class doing this in the late spring with much lexical help or in small groups. I did this with a level II class in late spring. 

Prep

I prepped this activity in about 15 minutes. I am linking to the version I created here. If you'd like to use my form, please make a copy of it, rather than edit this particular piece. I chose words that students knew or we were focusing on working with for our current unit. I also made sure to put in some words that the kids had expressed a love or passion for (unicorn, death, octopus, et.)

That's it. The prep was quick and if you use the form with the dice already put on it, it will be even quicker! 

Process

The process requires a little explanation for the kids, but I found that they were quick to catch on. 

1. pass out papers and dice. Read over the instructions with the kids. 
2. Explain that students will roll and then write for 6 rounds. Each round will give them an element to their story. While the general element is dictated by the roll, they can interpret it any way they want. 
3. Students roll the first die, circle their choice, and write for 3-5 minutes. 
4. Students roll the second die, circle their choice, and write for 3-5 minutes. 
5. Students roll the third die, circle their choice, and write for 3-5 minutes.
6. Students roll the fourth die, circle their choice, and write for 3-5 minutes.
7. Students roll the fifth die, circle their choice, and write for 3-5 minutes.
8. Students roll the sixth die, circle their choice, and write for 3-5 minutes.
9. BRAIN BREAK!
10. Students get whatever time remains in class to make changes, add on to their story, and connect the pieces. Some students may focus on grammar corrections (if they are ready!), others may want to add more detail. Some may simply re-write in neater handwriting. Wherever they are in the process is fine.
11. Have students put this in their timed write folders/notebooks. 

Tips and Tricks

A few things stood out to me as being helpful in this activity:

• I have enough dice for each student. I bought a bag of 60 dice. Each student had his or her own dice. I prefer it this way. This could easily work if you only have enough for each group, just adjust the writing time. Similarly, if you have no dice, kids can google "roll the dice" and google will roll a die for them. Apple phones also have this feature I believe, or they have an app kids can get.
  
• Keep the dice rolls quick. If students get caught up in the dice, they won't have time to write!
  
• A brain break is NEEDED for this activity. Asking students to write for this long, even with dice rolling breaks, is hard work. Here is a list of brain breaks I like to refer to.
  
• Keep the atmosphere light! While I won't answer any "how do you say" questions, I will answer "what does it mean" questions for kids who don't know the words on the paper. Even though they are writing, this kind of support helps lower the affective filter and keep it fun!
  
• Edit the categories as you will. I like having multiple problems in a story because it gives it twists and turns and keeps it compelling for students.
  
• When students get stuck: tell them to go back to the description: focus on the detail, who, what, where, why. What things are in a place? What body parts do a person/monster/animal have? What animals/objects are in a forest?

I'd love to hear what stories come of this if you do it, or what categories you add/change! It's a great activity for a day when you need a little quiet, or you want to give the kids a chance to be creative in their writing. I plan to do this again, but in groups. 

Everyone needs a little R, R, and R

I am very excited to write this post. This is something that I've been working on since we decided to switch to Standards Based Grading: R, R, and R, or, Review, Reach, and Relax.

My original idea was that every once in a while, we'd give kids a chance to get some review, do some extra work that they needed or wanted, and connect with each other in a way they may otherwise not. Since then, we've all been working on ways to make this work well inside a classroom.

What is it?

What it isn't:

• a free day
• a day to work on other classes' work
• a day to check out
• a sleeping day

What it is:

• an opportunity to get extra work and prove proficiency
• an opportunity to make up missing work
• an opportunity to get tutoring
• an opportunity to go beyond requirements and prove proficiency
• a brain break

Set Up:

We began by creating a document with each standard at the top of a page. Then, as we go through activities and content, we add possible review, and reach activities to help students demonstrate proficiency. Here's the Latin I list of activities.

For relaxing activities, we all offer whatever we have. Rachel has more games than I, but what I offer is: card games (regular cards and Crazy 8s), various puzzles, the lego Minotaur game, or books in Latin, on history, and on culture to read. I am trying to expand this whenever I stop by the dollar store or Target and look at the simple game and puzzles they have. I also bring in books, and am looking at games made for Latin as well.

How it works in real time:

We've so far done this two ways. Rachel gave an entire day to Latin II to work and I gave half a day to Latin I. I'm breaking these down a few ways: procedure, observations, changes.

Latin II - Full Day

Procedure

Rachel and I posted all the standards we had activities for on the board and asked students to check their grades. If they had less than an 85% proficiency rating overall, they were required to work to bring up this grade. If they had better than an 85% proficiency rating overall, they could choose to better their grade or relax with some activities. 

Observations

These are observations of my own:

• Most, if not all students met the requirements.
• Because of their grades, few students chose to better their grade.
• Students chose a brain break and really got into it, making for a great bonding experience
• Because of the variety of activities, everyone had an opportunity to do something.
• Students seemed to appreciate the opportunity, and were very open to this new way of doing this.

Changes

Rachel and I discussed a few things and I am making these changes for next time.

• More activity options for each standard
• More relax activities to make smaller groupings
• More time between R, R, and R days instead of the planned once every two weeks.
• Take students to a computer lab and go over how Active Grade specifically works so that they can use it properly and not just as a "viewing" of their grades.

Latin I - Half a period

Procedure

We began our day with a review of a story we'd read. I was out the previous day and so this was a great way for me to see if students understood. Then, I explained R, R, and R day and my requirements. The main difference here is that I did not offer all standards or activities and I added a requirement. Students must have a proficiency grade of 85% overall and if they had a 0 or 1 in any standard (50-60%), they had to work on that standard, or a similar one. If they met both requirements, they could better their grade, or choose a relaxing activity. The other difference is that, in these classes, I did review grades and pulled students who were missing grades and asked them to complete an assignment.

Observations

• Most students met at least one requirement, if not both.
• Students were very open to completing or re-doing assignments, more than I've seen in the past where make up work or tutoring is extra and outside of class.
• Students found assignments easy to complete quickly.
• Students chose a brain break and really got into it, making for a great bonding experience.
• Because of the variety of opportunities, everyone had an opportunity to do something.
• Students seemed to appreciate the opportunity, and were very open to this new way of doing this.
• Half a period seemed like an appropriate amount of time to do this in for Latin I.

Changes

These are changes that I either wanted to do this time, but couldn't, or things that I noticed as the day went on. Between the Latin II day and the Latin I day, I did have time to bring in a few more books, Crazy 8s, and a new puzzle, so I even could implement the smaller group change.

• Take students to a computer lab to go over Active Grade so they feel more comfortable using it.
• Schedule another R, R, and R day in 2 weeks or so. 

Final Thoughts

I am really happy with this activity. I think, after doing it twice, and typing up this post, that it serves a lot of great purposes. My hope is that the more we do this, the more benefit the kids get. 

1. Allows me to check in with students
2. Allows students to really understand grades and proficiency levels
3. Allows students to have a brain break.

Extra Extra! Read All About It! One Sentence Stories

As we progress through our first year of complete Standards Based Grading, I find myself being more critical of the assignments and tests I give. I also find myself trying to find new ways to assess things, while still keeping the affective filter low for my students. One of our county standards is that students can write simple sentences appropriate to their level in Latin. In Latin II and above, this isn't such a big problem because they already have experience with this through timed writes and they can write for longer. In Latin I, however, I need to ease them into writing and prepare them for timed writes, which we plan to start in a week or so.

To achieve this, I've started including some basic writing and transcribing activities like:

• Dictationes
• Sentence Frames - mad libs for Latin. Here is an example.

I wanted one more activity, with a little more freedom, to review vocabulary and see what skills they'd already picked up (while not grading those skills for accuracy). So, we did an activity called

One Sentence Stories. 

Process

I set this up very simply by creating a document with instructions and also an approved list of words. I expanded this list to include est (is) and et (and), as well as the new words we'd learned that day on the board. Students were to write a single sentence that could tell a story, much like a newspaper headline. While their sentences could be simple and didn't have to be "above the fold" quality  (if you will), they needed to be interesting and make sense. Students then accompanied them with a detailed picture. The picture gave the assignment a visual quality and a fail-safe which allowed me to understand what they were saying even if the sentence wasn't perfect. These were graded on a 5 point scale as follows:

0 - student wrote English sentence, or only submitted a picture

1-2 - Student wrote an English sentence with a Latin word or two

2-3 - Student attempted a Latin sentence, but used names instead of Latin words or the sentence didn't make sense

3-4 - Sentence mostly made sense, but had an extra word (or was missing one)

4-5 - Sentence made sense and may have had the extra verb "est" (see observations below)

Observations

1. Students got very excited with this activity. The vocabulary list provided assistance, but also kept the assignment simple enough for those still working on vocabulary acquisition.
2. Most students worked with what they were given. Some wanted to know extra words or constructions. I told them to "work within the confines of what we know."
3. The most, by far, common mistake was that students would put "est" (is) and another verb. This is a reflection of how English works. In English, we often use a helping verb along with
   
   another for present tense. In Latin, however, this is not the case. I've seen this mistake year after year, so I am not at all surprised by it. I did not cause a huge deduction on account of this because it is a common mistake for beginners to make. I do, however, want to draw their attention to it. 
4. Students were excited to be using vocabulary outside of the context of our stories.

Conclusions

• This was a great way to get kids thinking outside the box. They weren't tied to the mythology we'd been reading and were able to enjoy the vocabulary in a new way. 
• There were lots of grammar mistakes, but I know these to be later acquired for a Latin I class.
• I know which vocabulary the students know really well and which they don't. 
• My purpose was to see if they were able to use Latin vocabulary to create simple, meaningful sentences. They were. 

Beating the End-of-Year Doldrums with Video

We all feel it.  It's the end of the school year.  The high school I work for is testing for the next week, and then it's finals, and then it's, well, over.  The teachers and students are really just counting down the days and ticking off the minutes until that final bell rings and we can all do a little resting.

As much as I love teaching, I pour so much energy into my profession and work so many hours in a week that once summer comes, I am very, very ready for it.  Not that I'll stop working in the summer, but I'll at least get to tone it down.  And stop the 5:30 AM wake-up call.

So at a time of year when all of us, student and teacher alike, are having to force a facade of energy and eagerness, I like to introduce a video project.

Video has come a long way in the nine years I've been teaching.  VHS was the main modus operandi for my students when I started, and editing video was a complicated process involving multiple VCRs and wires, and which degraded the quality of the picture with every copy.  I usually had to help my students edit the video because it was something I had done often in college (I had two VCRs simply for that purpose) and not something they had felt the need to do before.  When I started doing video projects in my classes, it was neat, and rare, and really hard to accomplish.  Now making a video is as easy as turning on a cellphone and many computers come with video editing software already packaged in them.

The video project has enlivened my students.  Comparing last week, with its half-dead eyes (to be fair, we had a performance final to prepare for and take, so it was not an exciting week anyway) and barely-concealed sighs, to this week, with laughter and natural activity abundant, is like comparing Saltines to chocolate truffles.  And they're doing basically the same thing (composing in Latin).  The difference is the method of assessment.

Students have choice in this project.  I am not yet ready to relinquish control and leave the project destination open-ended with only a couple of requirements (though Nicholas Provenzano makes a great argument for doing so here), but I really value the chance to see my students shape their own expression for a story we've discussed in class.  I hand out a rubric, discuss it with them, and then let them go--usually with exciting results.  I check in with my students constantly, roaming around the room, answering questions, and offering direction if they are having a hard time figuring out their focus.

That said, the basic concept of the project is simple: write a script (in Latin) for a video about either a myth or historical story we discussed this year in class.  I have videos ranging from simple to complex.  I have videos that evince a strong love for cinematography and acting.  I have videos that have surprised me--students who have spent the year coasting suddenly have come to life for this project.

Students get to create something in this project.  The end goal is not some essay students didn't care about written on a piece of paper.  The goal is a video, a product, that has the potential to become something students are proud of and want to show off.  I hope some day to collect videos into a library of simple Latin stories--but for now, I have at least one video I can offer as an example:

This has been a great way to review Latin (we'll do a more formal review next week) and at the same time just have fun with Latin.

What are some ways you've used video in your classes?  I think I want to include more next year and always appreciate inspiration.

Interactive Display: Make your wall or bulletin board a discussion board

So this year as I prepared to put up my usual decorations in my classroom (about which I was unusually ecstatic, but that's another story), I had a sudden, simple inspiration.

In my second year teaching, desperately jealous of the festive, fun rooms my Spanish-teaching friends got to set up for their students, I went into school a week early and began creating.  I created inspirational posters in Latin, Latin question posters to help me teach class in a conversational way, and large cutout versions of the main characters from our textbook (if you are frustrated now because you think you can't draw well enough to do this sort of thing on your own--that's what projectors are for!  I traced every image).

Since that year, every year, I have glued or taped these characters to my wall as a traditional start to my school year.  And every year I try to arrange them in interesting ways, to spark discussion among my students (a popular discussion centers annually around whether the mother is having an affair with the cook!).

This year, as I was hanging them and deciding how best to cause soap-operatic speculation, I realized that I have been sitting on an inspirational gold-mine for many years and never realized it.  My students love to comment on these images.  Why not have them do it in writing?  In a very direct way?

Using only the latest in technology, I quickly grabbed everything I needed and set to work.  Before long, there was also a pad of post-it notes taped to the wall beside my little Roman family.

Characters from the textbook--covered in Latin comments!

I proudly introduced this innovation to my students on the first day of school.  They looked terrified.  They didn't know how to write in Latin yet, so this seemed very much beyond them.  I decided to wait and remind them later.

Around two weeks later, I mentioned the board again.  By this point they had a working vocabulary of over 40 words, so it was no longer a scary prospect, and I had made class a safe place to experiment with language.  No one moved at first, but by the end of the week, I had three post-it-notes safely stuck to various characters.

As the month progressed, I got new notes pretty regularly, and students liked to read the new notes that showed up there between classes.  The notes got progressively more intricate and used better grammar, but I still really enjoy the earliest notes best.

Some early notes inflicting violence with the only violent words they know how to use:
eat and cook.  Oh, and explode.  Because who doesn't need that word in his or her daily life?

Next year, I will be doing this again.  But I think I will rotate the wall more often; interest fell away after about a month.

I can't wait to see what my new students will write and think, in Latin, outside of class proper, voluntarily.

Sometimes I think I've created a monster.  But it's a Latin-loving monster, so I enjoy it.