A Hard Lesson Learned the Hard Way

I've been in my own head a lot lately. I haven't meant to be, but this year I've been working on my master's thesis, which has caused me to become more introspective and much less aware of what is happening outside my own mind.

This wouldn't be so bad (it still wouldn't be great) if it was limited to missing world events. However, I've been so wrapped up in my thoughts and theories and writing that I forgot to watch my students.

The warning signs started in early November, but I was getting ready for my presentation at ACTFL so I attributed my students' restlessness and distraction to the upcoming holiday and heavy work loads from other classes. When we returned after Thanksgiving break, I was scrambling to compose and organize my research into something I could turn in to prove I had spent the semester researching my thesis topic, so I attributed some of my struggling students' difficulties with the readings to not paying attention, because this was easier than stepping back and reassessing my approach, and I didn't have time to do that anyway. I already more or less had the rest of the semester planned, so why would I take valuable thesis time to change all of that?

I had a lot of excuses, and my students lost out. And lost faith in me. Latin was becoming "hard."

I had originally planned to write a blog post between Fall and Spring semesters, because finally, after turning in my research and turning my attention back to my students right before finals, I realized the mistake I was making, and felt I should share it.

I didn't write it, however. I had also been failing a little as a mother, and decided to turn my energy during the break toward my son.

Luckily, the delay means that I get to report a happy ending to all of this struggle.

The year is by no means through, but I am already seeing the result of my rethink. I did my best to start over this semester with my students. I had them read something light to refresh their Latin at the beginning of January, and from that point on I have focused on repetition, slowing down, and making sure there is enough reading and practice that my students really understand the new material.

One of my students who commonly struggles, and who was acting out the most at the end of last semester and the beginning of this semester (I had to earn his trust back), is now participating and comprehending and has declared our most recent reading "easy." My students who were not paying attention or struggling against me because they were frustrated are beginning to to return to me as the charming people I knew them to be last year. Slowing down is working.

It is easy to forget how important it is to go slow and make sure all of your students understand and truly comprehend what you are reading. It is easy to get caught up in goals or time restrictions (either your own or imposed on you). Even though I've been teaching with comprehensible input strategies for twelve years, it was easy for me to get involved in my own ideas and forget to notice my students.

It is easy. So, we need to be mindful. Studies show that students need comprehensible input to successfully acquire language, and moving too quickly takes even simple readings and makes them incomprehensible to students.

Sharing my failing isn't easy; I don't think this is my best-written post, because I have had to work to find the words. But Miriam and I promised when we started this blog to share things that didn't work as well as the things that did, and moving too quickly did not work.

Hopefully this will help someone else think about pace and consider whether he or she is moving too fast for the students in his or her program.

Don't be afraid to go slowly!

(btw, I've been catching up on the blogs I didn't read while working on my thesis, and I came across this post by the great Grant Boulanger, and it also stresses to go slowly!)

Dealing with History in a CI classroom

One of the struggles I've had this year in my CI classroom, in which we are untextbooking, is covering history and culture. These things can be compelling, but so often can be tedious as well. This Spring, my Latin I classes are reading Magus Mirabilis Oz as I write it and I decided to include "brain breaks" (if you will) from the text to cover history and legend. We are covering two major topics with some smaller points as well:

1. Caesar's De Bello Gallico - geography of Europe, The Druids, relationship with Egypt
2. Vergil's The Aeneid - geography of Africa and Asia Minor, Dido, basic Roman African history

In part, I am choosing to focus on these because this is where my area of research has been drawn and it is compelling to me. In a much larger part, I am considering the following things:

• In giving students a choice between AP Latin and Latin IV, covering these two items helps prepare them for that choice and creates a spiral effect in the curriculum. Students who study Vergil and Caesar further already have background knowledge in the matter. 
• These stories are key to understanding other aspects of Roman history and culture. By looking at these, students are better prepared for higher level discussions later. 
• These essential pieces of Roman history paint a truer image of what the Roman world looked like. Rome was diverse and Roman ideas were uniquely different than our idea of diversity. 
• In covering stories like these, I can get more repetitions of the current vocabulary we are learning.

When deciding how to start these stories, I was given assistance by national Black History Month and Women's History Month. I chose, specifically, to start Dido's story in the month of February and am continuing it through March. It was incredibly easy for me to do this and to focus on Africa's role in Roman history because Africa played an important role in Roman history that is often overlooked by many people, teachers or not. Here are the points I considered:

1. Egypt's role as a trade location and as a connection between the Greco-Roman world and African peoples
2. Dido's role as a female leader in Africa considering her origins and her husband's death
3. Carthage's role in the Punic War and as a powerhouse before the war
4. Two African emperors
5. Ethiopia as an unconquered land
6. The presence of diversity in Rome

After starting with a basic geography presentation in Latin, I wrote three embedded stories that told Dido's Story. Each was accompanied with images that ranged from classic paintings to modern interpretations. The stories were no longer than a page each, with images. Each lent itself to a specific discussion and we used specific activities with each.

Dido's Story: regina Carthaginis - We meet Dido on her journey to Carthage. She has just lost her husband, but wants to be a good queen. The other kings in Africa want to trick her, but she ends up creating a large city and is loved by her people. This story ends on the cliff hanger that Aeneas is on his way to Carthage. 

This passage lent itself to a discussion about the important of Carthage historically along with the implications of Aeneas' arrival. 

Activities Used:

1. Read and Discuss
2. Choral Translation
3. Geography Review
4. New vocabulary reviewed

Dido's Story: Ira Iunonis - This story gives Aeneas' back story and follows him to Carthage. The focus of this story is the storm created by Juno. It follows what Vergil writes, but in an embedded format. 

This passage lent itself to discussion on fate and free will. We also discussed Vergil's imagery and some rhetoric devices. 

Activities Used:

1. Read, Discuss, and Draw (including a video I made so that students could check their work) 
2. Culture Discussion
3. Student map building (Aeneas' Journey)

Dido's Story: Mors Amorque- This story picks up with Aeneas in Carthage. We learn of their love and then we learn about Dido's tragic death. We also see Aeneas go to the Underworld and see Dido, where she meets her husband, and true love, once more. 

This passage lent itself to discussion on pietas (duty), fate, and love. We talked about Dido's death and what it meant for Aeneas. This passage also ended up being the most compelling. Students loved and hated this (in a "I want more hate"). They wanted Dido to get real revenge. See more responses. 

Activities Used:

1. Circling discussion and prediction in Latin with images from previous and current story.
2. Choral Translation
3. Culture Discussion

Conclusions

This was incredibly compelling and comprehensible to the students. They loved the idea of reading what the uppers were reading and they appreciated being trusted with content considered this heavy. They really appreciated my taking time to honour Black History Month and that I chose a woman as our protagonist. They loved the imagery, the language, and the story. They even loved the ending... even though it was sad. 

This has set them up for success (as this is the content on the midterm) and has made them excited to read about Caesar and the Gauls and Celts (who are the same people, but in different areas). 

Did you (and how) incorporate Black History Month into your lessons? 

Report from the Classroom: Same Conversation

This activity is a spin off of what Keith Toda has written about here:

Part I 

Part II

Part III

Here are my simple instructions for same conversation.

I've done this activity with my students before and it always has its ups and downs. This year, my fellow Latin I teacher, Dr. Robert Patrick, and I came up with some news ways to do this and have had some great success.

Director

In the past I've done this with students, allowing them to call out various things. This year, however, we wanted a focus on Latin and using Latin as much as possible, even in Latin I. So, Dr. Patrick and I brainstormed this list of ways to do a same conversation script in Latin. The list includes things like "with hate" and "with love", as well as things like "loudly", "sadly", and even has some animals like "as frogs", "as cats", etc. 

This list seems to be a really useful way to do this because it keeps offensive ones out of the mix and it keeps students from picking things that are too hard. Plus, they seem to like the randomness of the list. By far, the class favourites are:

• ut pirati - as pirates
• ut infantes - as babies
• magna voce - in a loud voice
• susurrante - whispering
• amore - with love

Script and Process

For the lesson today, we used this script:

I want to pause and point a few things about script:

1. These words are pertinent to our reading. We are beginning to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in Latin. Chapter 1 takes place on a farm. 
2. These words are not high frequency words in Latin. And yet, we are doing them. These words are highly compelling to students. Students love being able to talk about the world around them and everyone has a favourite animal, so these words become important and high frequency to our students when the connect and it is compelling. 
3. These words serve another important purpose. In Latin, the words for animal sounds are examples of onomatopoeia; that is, when said they make a sound. (My students call it a sound in a word). By doing this now, they can listen for and look for these things in the future and rhetorical devices are an important part of vertical instruction towards upper level Latin and AP, as well as being very useful outside the classroom. 

We did each scene separately and had different actors for each. They got to do it once normally and once with direction. Then, we'd sing the appropriate verse. This took up half, if not more, of the period, and we could have continued if the bell hadn't rung. 

Findings:

• Already the majority of kids like this game. There are some classes where it is difficult to get volunteers, but even in those classes, they still enjoy watching the scenes. 
• In one class, they even gave the song a beat, which made it extra fun. 
• Because the nursery rhyme is so well known in these parts, and the song itself is so repetitive, kids will learn these words very quickly. 
• This work is VERY compelling for students. They love it! 

Extra Resources:

Minimus Website - shows animals and sounds

Do you do same conversation? Have you ever tried it to teach words like these? How did it go?

Challenge: Know It's Compelling

Today, my Latin I students read Chapter 7 of the book Pluto: Fabula Amoris. My lesson plan was to project a word cloud with all the words in it and have them record the words they didn't know and, after reviewing those words, complete a Read, Discuss, and Draw and follow with a timed write. The majority of this is done in Latin, but I did spend a little time in English at the end to ensure everyone understood the cultural implications of what we were reading. What follows below is a short post on what I imagined would and what did happen.

What I expected

I really intended this to go smoothly and to take a class period. I expected some questions, a lot of answers, and a small discussion afterwards regarding culture. Something along the lines of:

Me: So, why is her choice to eat the fruit so important?

Students: Because it means she can't leave the Underworld.

Me: Any questions?

Students: No! We understand completely! 

What Actually Happened

Each period was different. I've written about them in no particular order. 

• Class A - This class is one of my most animated when it comes to reactions. They react in the moment, almost in unison. When we got to the pivotal moment in the chapter, the entire class gasped just slightly, then sighed and there was a collective "aww".
• Class B - This was probably my most interesting response of the day. This class read the chapter very quietly, and then there was an eruption of sadness and anger. This class really bonded with the characters in a way that no other class did and when those relationships were betrayed for love, they were actually upset and offended by this. There was a great discussion that went from being a cultural discussion to a discussion of vocabulary choice which, as one of the authors of this text, I found absolutely fascinating. It brought to light an interpretation and perspective I had not foreseen or been prepared for.
• Class C - This class is later in the day and very expressive. We have a lot of great discussions but, equally, a lot of off in the wilderness moments too. By the time I got to this class, I didn't know what to expect. Theirs was the most expressive of the day. I'd chosen to pause and discuss right on the precipice of the action and I saw in their faces the anticipation of what was going to happen. When we finally read it, there was an audible sound from the majority of the class and with each sentence I could hear, I didn't even have to look, their reactions: "what?" "oh no!" *gasp* "awwww" "aaaaaaawwwwwwww"
• Class D - This class tends to be more quiet in the moment and lets things sink in. Their reaction was almost unnoticeable, but they started a great discussion about the culture behind it. They wanted to know the why, the how, and the meaning behind it all. 
• Class E - This particular class is very full of kids and personalities. Sometimes they enjoy things and sometimes they argue about things, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this group. What I found was an entire class of kids actively cheering for the romantic love story that reveals itself in this chapter. 

So, here's the challenge. Let's share our experiences, get others interested, and widen the comprehensible input community. Share a picture and/or a message on any social media platform (I'll be using Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook) and tag it with the following: #iknowitscompelling

Seek and Find: A Reading Activity

Recently we were working on a passage from Caesar in my class, and I felt that the students really did not have the section we were reading down and needed both more vocabulary review and more reading review of the section. Miriam and I brainstormed and created this really simple review that involved a huge number of repetitions and a little bit of tactile experience with the language.

For this particular text, which included a lot of complex and compound sentences, I took the passage and sectioned it out into clauses (you can see it here if you like). On the day I used it, I handed out a copy to each student and had them cut the sections out with a time limit of 5 minutes (otherwise they find ways to make cutting out rectangles take an entire period).

Starting with vocabulary I knew students were having trouble with, I called out the words in English and had them point to the correct Latin word in the text. We repeated the ones they were getting wrong until everyone was getting all of the words when they were called out. Then I said sentences in English and students had to hold the correct Latin sentences up. I also drew pictures for each clause and students had to find the sentence that matched the image I projected. Lastly I had them arrange the clauses back into the story.

Miriam did a variation where instead of the pictures, she described things in Latin and students had to hold up sentences that contained the thing described.

The idea is not super complex or original per se, but it created great buy in by the students, it was a great break from the regular activities we had been doing, created repetitions without being repetitive, and students came out of the activity with thorough comprehension of a section of Latin that they had been struggling with significantly before then.

Simple and effective, with minor preparation needed. Seek and find is now definitely a permanent addition to my reading toolbox.

The Glorious Moment - They are Hooked!

In August Rachel began the year with an adapted novella for her Latin II classes. I also teach one class of Latin II, so I was able to follow along with her and experience much of the same things she did.

Now, in Latin I, we are reading the original Latin novella Pluto: fabula amoris. It is different from Rachel's because it is not a play, but rather a narration, told from people's point of view. I am building teachers' resources as I teach the novel (which will be offered through PBP later this year) and I am learning some things as I go. I borrowed from Rachel's experience, along with the plethora of research she and I did in the hopes of finding activities and suggestions for teaching a novella in a second language. I also am keeping notes on things I see in my students as well.

Building To It

We started the year using edited version of mythological stories Rachel wrote last year. They covered the beginning of the world, the birth of the gods, and introduced us to important characters like Jupiter, Juno, etc. Students were exposed to vocabulary based on frequency lists and the 50 Most Important Verbs list. As we read, the length of the readings increased slightly, but were still fairly short. We also discussed culture and mythology as well as the implications of it. 

I purposefully made sure that we'd learned most of the words in the novella by the time we read it. My intention was to spend a little time at the beginning of chapters filling in words, but by the time we got to the chapters with the action, just be reading with the class. 

Basic Structure

I will post more on this when I discuss the details of the teachers' resources for the book, but we've settled into a general schedule for things in which activities may vary or may be options for teachers and students:

Introduction and Vocabulary Instruction

This beginning section can include a variety of things and may be as simple as 5-10 minutes before reading or, in some cases, an entire day or week before reading. Here are some of the things we've done for this:

• Culture videos, presentations, and discussions - Some of these will be included in the teachers' resources, others are readily available on the internet. I used a variety of videos, and artwork from various eras to introduce our two main characters and discuss perceptions of them, prior to reading. I also used this opportunity to pose questions that students have been considering as we read. Some will have definite answers in the book; others are open to interpretation. 
• Activities with Vocabulary - You can see more details of the things I typically do here. This activity greatly varied in time depending on how far into the story we were and how many words needed to be introduced. Today, for example, we had two new words, so I introduced those words, we took brief notes, and then I circled them a little during our reading. At the beginning of the book, when we'd have 5-8 new words, I'd take a week or so to teach new words and circle.

Reading and Comprehension

I am including any and all activities that we use to ensure comprehension while reading in this section. Here is a link to some of the regular activities we use. Typically, I space these things out like this:

• Dictatio - I only do this for some chapters. Since they were short, I did not want to do one every time. These activities are very useful, but only if done once in a while. They are tedious and students tire of them very quickly.
• Reading and Discussion - This can take many forms. I try to alternate between them to keep things moving and give students lots of ways to demonstrate their understanding. This usually takes between 1-2 days to do, depending on the activity. 
• Comprehension Checks - These activities reinforce the reading, help me see just how much students understand on their own, and provide support for students who need more. These can be whole class activities (like the seek and find activity we're doing today - Rachel will post on this later), group activities (like musical/popcorn reading) or individual (use of the reading guides, comic strips, etc.)

Follow Up

One of my first presentations that I gave to my colleagues was on teaching culture in the target language. Since then, I've tried as much as I can to make culture applicable to students and keep as much as I can in the target language. The same holds true when I consider teaching culture in my novella. So far, I've been keeping a list of things students ask questions about and things that I want to teach. I will discuss this in more detail when I finish the teachers' resources, but for now, we've done a variety of activities including:

• Artwork Discussions - Latin and English - 
• Character Analysis - Latin and English -
• Reflection on Products, Perspectives, and Practices  - Mostly English - Students write, or discuss, in English the products, perspectives, and practices of Roman life based on our readings.
• Discovery of Traditions (Practices) - Mostly Latin - I am writing a follow up post on this for the teachers resources; essentially I am using dictations, picture vocabulary, and manipulatives to teach culture traditions. 
• Audio Recordings - Latin - As we've posted before here and here, we're beginning to build students' listening skills with audio activities. We pair these with text, an opportunity to take notes and discuss, and, often, artwork. 

Conclusions

I am still working on teaching this novella and I find myself trying to come up with new ways to teach vocabulary and the text so the kids don't get bored. What I've found, however, is that a compelling text that is in their range keeps them from getting bored. We are now in the section of the text where actions are occurring and things are getting interesting. Students are asking to know what happens next, who people are, why they are doing what they are doing. They want to know when we'll see certain characters again and what people are thinking. They are analysing on their own, without little to no guidance from me and, as I teach this, I am finding their interests and aspects of history and culture that go with this novella that I otherwise wouldn't have thought of. 

Do you have success teaching a novella? Do you have any suggestions for my class? Let us know in the comments!

Standards Based Grading - a mid semester update

It's now been three months with grade books and assessing strategies completely aligned with Standards Based Grading. So far, we've posted three times in particular about how we are using Standards Based grading:

• Making SBG work in a traditional grade book
• Setting up our new grade books with SBG
• Everyone needs a little R, R, and R

For this mid semester update, I want to focus on the reactions we've had to what we are doing and the things we're noticing in our students. 

Grading Procedures and Schedules

Doing this the way we are, by using Active Grade in conjunction with our county grade books has resulted in a few road blocks that we are over coming, but also some interesting things we otherwise wouldn't be able to do. 

1. Extra Time - Yes, doing it this way requires extra time from us. It takes me longer because I enter grades into Active Grade (which does all the math for me, so I think it's worth it) and then transfer them to our county grade book. What I have done is that I separate my schedule out and grade one class a day and transfer grades once per class each week. A student or parent can log onto Active Grade at any time, but since our county grade books only update at night anyways, we can do this once a week. We are all handling this in our own way, but this is what I've found works for me. It also keeps the pile of work to pass out from stacking up and getting mixed together.
2. Saved Comments - Using Active Grade allows me to put in specific comments per student, per standard, per assignment. These comments are saved online for my or their viewing any time. Unlike a traditional grade book where the grade is input and nothing else, I can pass messages to students and save them so that when a parent or student comes to me with questions, a record is saved. Since it is done by standard, comments have moved away from things like, "you missed 5 questions" to "you should try the following extra exercises to help with this" or "you got this grade because you...." They are more detailed and personalised. 
3. Student Perspective - The by far most difficult part of this, I feel, is changing the student perspective. When I presented the idea both to my former students, and to this year's students, they were on board, but they struggle to understand that the numbers mean different things. Whenever I pass back a test, or quiz, or assignment I get a barrage of, "what does 4 mean?", "I missed 2 questions, what grade is that?", etc. I have to remind them that they  need to check Active Grade and familiarise themselves with the proficiency guidelines. Some are becoming familiar and appreciate how things are being done, others are trying to master this new territory, but need more guidance. 

Assessments

1. Terminology - I have really had to change my terminology when considering assessments with SBG. Students have commented how my assessments (see bullet point 2) are more like their quizzes in other classes rather than tests, so we've changed the name from quiz or test to quest. Students aren't panicking and appreciate the brevity, clarity, and content of the assessments. Students are also understanding now how each assessment is broken into sections by standard. It makes it clearer for them, and reminds them, what we expect them to be proficient in and gives a nice guideline of what they need to work on, should their proficiency level be low. 
2. Structure - It occurred to me as I was writing my first test that, if I'm grading by proficiency in standard, I really ought to separate the test by standard, so I began doing that. Rachel was thinking along the same lines and we've both found it very helpful for students and for us. Organising the assessments this way speeds up grading tremendously and allows for easier commenting on proficiency. Grades are no longer about missing a certain number of questions, but rather about how proficient someone is in a certain skill.
3. Teacher Perspective - By assessing standards repeatedly and in multiple ways, I view assessments very differently. I no longer view them as this end all activity that students must make a certain grade on for us to move forward, but rather a checkpoint. What standards are they proficient in? What standards do we need to practice more (see our recent posts: The Fault in our Plans and Robert Patrick's Guest Post)? It is like a little reminder each time of where we are, where we've been, and where we are going.

Student Voice

1. Confidence - Students seem somewhat more confident when it comes to their voice, their concerns, and their needs. Students know what is expected of them more clearly and so they know what they need to do or what they need to ask for. 
2. Student Choice - Without a textbook, student can have a real say in what they are learning. This year in Latin I, I've decided that I want them to read longer readings and really learn how to communicate in Latin (based on our standards) at a deeper level. To that end, I gave students choices for the Spring semester. All were longer readings (novels really), but they had a wide span of content from science and history to legend to fantasy and adventure. The students really appreciated being able to make their own choice, which means they will enjoy what we do next semester - making for happy students and happy teachers. 

I'd love to hear if you guys are trying Standards Based Grading and how it is going for you. Are you seeing these things? What else are you observing?