Avoiding a Crash and Burn Lesson

Short and simple: when you sense your lesson headed toward an eminent crash and burn - ABORT. Change things up or recreate your lesson on a fly but do NOT continue down that sad little destructive path.

Last Wednesday, I had what I thought was a well-planned, great lesson and I was going to provide loads of CI to my Spanish 1 students. But, for whatever reason, one particular group of students came to class and it felt as some unknown force had sucked out all of their energy on the way to my classroom, or maybe even in a previous class. Whatever caused it, was beyond my control. What happened in my class to turn that low energy into attentive and engaged students, was my task at hand.

Before I took my advice above, I trudged on, through a warm-up that was a bit too challenging, past the mini-lecture I gave to tell them about the power of a great education, and even a tried-and-true brain break that fell flat. I was minutes from a complete crash and burn.

Here I was, ready to go into the main part of the lesson, with a classroom of students running on "E" (empty). I was going to tell them a story about two friends that went to a horror movie, but in my mind's eye I didn't envision a good outcome.

Thankfully, I remembered what I've heard countless times at conferences and workshops and have told others many times: STUDENT ACTORS. Don't simply tell the story; have students act out the story. As (good) luck would have it, when I asked for actors, 5 students raised their hands, two of which can naturally draw and keep the attention of their classmates. 

Within minutes of "hiring" the two actors and starting the storytelling process, the tide started to turn. The actors were funny but not distracting, I added movement (student actors "ran" around the room to arrive at the movie theater), I used props (Monopoly money and canisters for popcorn) plus a 3rd actor to sell the popcorn), and coached them to act scared, really scared, during the "horror movie". 

My student actors were the difference between a ho-hum story and a funny, interactive story. The students' energy during the story as they watched the student actors and laughed with them, flowed over to the retell of the story and to the Write & Discuss. It allowed for loads of CI to receptive ears.

So, when you see the Crash and Burn nearing, abort. There's nothing wrong with that and everything wrong with ignoring the fact that something needs to change - immediately.

A few reminders when "hiring" student actors:
- be prepared to coach the students to bring out the best of them and the story
- don't accept mediocre
- if you need to "fire" student actors, do it swiftly, but gently
- thank the student actors for a job well done.

El Escape Cubano, Chaper 6-11

This is the 3rd of 3 posts with explanations of the activities than can be used when reading Mira Canion's novel, El Escape Cubano. You can find the previous blog posts by clicking on the following links: 

- Preparing to Read a Novel
- El Escape Cubano, chapters 1-5

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 6
The title of chapter 6 is "Llueve", so it's the perfect time to sing about the rain.  I use the song, "La lluvia" by Los Pompillos.  I distribute the lyrics to the song. There are 4 stanzas in the song and each stanza has 4 lines. Then I divide the class into 4 sections. Each section sings one line of each stanza.  Group 1 sings the first line in all the stanzas; group 2 sings the second line in all the stanzas; etc. 
At the end, the lyrics are "la lluvia bendita" (2x). For this groups 1 and 2 sing "la lluvia" and groups 3 and 4 sing "bendita". Everybody sings the last two words "la lluvia".

We practice before we sing by me reading a line and the group repeating. This is one of the rare times in my class that I ask students to repeat after me. The song is fast paced and I know that there is no way they will be able to sing some of the lines in unison with the members of their group and the video, but it's fun and a nice brain break. Try it! 

In chapter 6, the characters dance to the song Guantamera, which you can also play for the students beforehand. I had planned to play this song as students entered the class for several days leading up to chapter 6, but I forgot to do this. 

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 7

Acting a scene from chapter 7

Miguel and his dad and friends encounter a shark in chapter 7. It is another chapter that works well with reader's theater.  The first time I read this with my students, there was a student in my class that received in the mail a shark costume that she was going to wear for Halloween. She asked me if she could bring in the shark suit! Obviously, I said YES!! 

(The second time I read the novel with a different group of students, I used a felt board instead of acting. See Chapter 9 for a photo.)

How much do your students know about sharks? This is a good opportunity for your students to learn about sharks in the target language. I do not have this completed yet, but it is my goal to add a comprehensible reading on Tiburones before next fall when I read this novel again with my students. First I'll make a Kahoot with several questions about sharks and then follow up with the reading.
 
In the meantime, here are two links to websites for children that students can find information about sharks.

-       http://rincondelecturas.com/lecturas/60025-tiburones/60025-tiburones.php

-       http://algarabianinos.com/explora/los-tiburones/

The second link also has easy to follow directions on how to sketch a shark.

For those that have an A-Z Reading account, there is a book on Tiburones.

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 8
After reading this chapter, students chose their partner for the next activity (or groups of 3 depending on the size of your class). I also asked for a volunteer to sketch sentences from the chapter. Each group had a small marker board, a marker, and an eraser.  I showed a sentence to the artist and she sketched it on the board. The students looked for the sentence in chapter 8 and wrote it down. I gave students a minute or so and then told them to lift up their marker boards. Groups with the correct sentence earned one point.

The document with the sentences and instructions can be found HERE.   
The student that was my artist was very talented, so I took a photo of her sketches and uploaded them to a powerpoint. The following day I projected the sketches on the powerpoint to review chapter 8. If you don't have a student that wants to be an artist, you could use the powerpoint instead of having a student artist. Click HERE for the powerpoint. 

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 9
I used to use a felt board in Spanish class on a regular basis when I was teaching the story "Cuentos de Ensalada". To mix it up a little, I cut some felt into some (very simple) shapes: the characters, (I wrote their names on the shapes to help identify them), a shark, the sun, the raft, tire innertubes, and water.  As I read the chapter, a student volunteer moved the pieces of felt to correlate with what I was reading. 

El Escape Cubano - Chapters 10 & 11
Students read the chapters on their own and wrote a short summary in English.

There you have it. 
The only thing I didn't include was the final assessment. Please understand, the reason I gave the assessment was because I was confident that the students understood the storyline and the vocabulary, so I took that opportunity to let them show their comprehension and ability to respond to questions about the plot and characters. As expected, the results of the assessment were impressive, showing the students how successful they had been in reading the novel.

El Escape Cubano, chapters 1-5

After you have introduced your students to Cuba through discussions, photos, and videos, and pre-taught vocabulary that students will encounter in the novel El Escape Cubano, by Mira Canion, you are ready to dive (no pun intended) into the book. (See this post for information on preparing to read a novel and specific ideas for El Escape Cubano.)

Below are a few of the activities I used when reading the novel with my Spanish 2 students. Every teacher has his or her own style of reading a novel with their students - some build entire units around a novel that may take a month or two, and others spend considerably less time. There is not a wrong or right way. Go with what works best for you and your particular group of students.

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 1
I've already mentioned an activity to either introduce or review "se queda" in THIS POST, but the second time I read this book with my students I added another activity:

Explain to the students that one of them (choose one of your students) has a ticket to go to a Beyonce concert and invites another person to go with him, but the night of the concert the invited person does not go along; the invited person stays home. Why? Ask students to brainstorm why a person would not go to a concert and then list the possibilities on the board, each time repeating "(name) se queda en casa porque..." 

When I planned this brainstorm activity, I thought the students would think of 5 or 6, but the list grew to more than 14 ideas, all which they expressed in Spanish.  An alternate option is to let students sketch a reason the person stays at home if they don't know how to say it in Spanish.

El Escape Cubano - Chapters 1 & 2 
Give students a piece of paper and have them fold it into 4 squares and reopen it. In each square of the paper, write one of the following names: Miguel, Yordani, Fabio, and Gloria. The teacher reads chapters 1 and 2 to the students.  As you read, the students will write information they learn about the characters. (I use this novel at the beginning of Spanish 2. The students were taught with TPRS and CI in Spanish I and have read two novels in Spanish I. They have had many experiences with similar listening comprehension activities.) 
Students share their information with each other in small groups or with the entire group.

(note: I need to create a document for this listening activity before I read this novel with a new group of students.)

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 2
A listening review to provide input of the YO form in context:  
Choose 2 students that are comfortable reading in front of the class. Give each of them a copy of the paper to the right. (The document pictured has the answers highlighted.) Tell the class that the two students in the front are Miguel and that you are going to interview him. Students listen to the two answers and write the letter (a or b) of the correct answer. 

 

El Escape Cubano - Review of Ch1&2
To the right is a powerpoint slide that I use the following day if I want to refresh the students' memories about the main character, Miguel. The students tell me information about Miguel and I write it directly on the board as the slide is projected.

To emphasize what Cubans went through to find a motor for their crafts used to cross the 90 miles to the US, I show the below short clip to after reading chapter 2.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/movies/in-una-noche-teenagers-flee-cuba.html   

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 3
For those interested in additional repetitions of the YO form, the document to the right is a more traditional paper with questions addressed to Miguel.  Students answer as if they were Miguel, referring to the text as needed.

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 4 - TIME TO ACT!!! 
The setting and action in chapter 4 are perfect for Reader's Theater.  
props
- a boat shape (borrowed from my church's props)
- a blue sheet with two students holding each end and waving the material to imitate waves in the ocean

How do you bump Reader's Theater up a notch? Include sound effects and lighting!
- I turned off the main lights in the room and turned on a small lamp that I have in the back of the room. This scene takes place at night so I wanted to similate that. (For the photo I had to turn on the lights.)
- I used THIS LINK to play the sound of ocean waves in the background.

The students had fun acting and watching the acting for this chapter. When the text says a big wave pushes the mother back towards the shore, the two students stretch out the sheet out that was the wave and "pushed" the mother away from the raft. (just wait until you see the student prop for the chapter with the shark!)

A big MUST for Reader's Theater is to coach the actors.  Don't settle for mediocre acting! If it says the father yelled, then the actor needs to talk in a loud voice and don't continue until the actor delivers the line appropriately. When I need actors for Reader's Theater, I ask for volunteers. Sometimes the class "voluntold" their friends, but I always check to make sure the students is ok with being an actor. When you find someone that hams it up when acting, your job providing compelling, comprehensible input becomes easy in a snap. After acting, we applaud each of the actors as I say their name. They should be recognized for their contribution to your class!

Predictions - Ask students what are problems that Miguel and the others may encounter while they are on the raft. This is a good time to project a map of Cuba and the United States on the board (again) to remind students of the distance. As students gave suggestions, I wrote them on the board, providing an extra opportunity for students to read in Spanish.
My students said things link: no hay comida; la bolsa rompe; olas grandes; la guardia costera, and then I added a few words if necessary to make complete sentences. 

If you haven't told the students any statistics about the number of people that die each year attempting to reach the US in a raft, this would be a great time to introduce that material. I used some facts that Mira had sent me when I was piloting the book. When the teacher's guide becomes available, purchase it - it will save you hours of work!! 

El Escape Cubano - Chapter 5
Students worked with a partner for this assignment. I drew a T-chart on the board, with QUIERO and NO QUIERO, and told students to put themselves in Miguel's place and write his thoughts related to what he wants or doesn't want.
After they had a minimum of 4 thoughts on their T-charts, I asked students to share their answers and I wrote them on the board. 

Then I handed them the paper on the right and they chose one of the answers on the board, or one they had on their paper, and copied it into the bubbles on the paper.

You can expand the possible answers by not requiring students to use the words QUIERO/NO QUIERO.

I will upload the links to the documents mentioned in this post in the near future when my internet connection is being less contrary. Maybe the mid March snowstorm has something to do with the finicky connection. :/

More to come...
In the next few days I'll share some of my activities for the second half of the novel.

Acting and Freeze Frame

Earlier this month my students read a book that we piloted.  The book title is Fiesta Fatal written by Mira Canion, and will be published in the future.
My last post on Fiesta Fatal was on chapter 3, which can be found HERE.  Chapter 5 has a scene in which the mother, Julieta, and her daughter, Vanesa, hail a taxi cab in their efforts to escape.  My students and I read the chapter together.  After reading, the students put chairs in the formation to resemble a taxi cab.  Then they chose one of the following roles: taxi cab driver, Vanesa, or Julieta.  Before acting, I gave them three minutes to make paper props of a tiara and a cell phone.  Some made additional props like steering wheels. 

Acting ch5 of Fiesta Fatal

Then I reread sentences from the chapter (disguised repetition) and students portrayed the scene, then froze in action.  I took photos with my iPad to be used later. As I moved throughout the classroom, I described their actions, (more repetition in context). All the classes enjoyed the activity, including the normally quiet class.  Unfortunately, because I blurred their faces on the photos, you are unable to see how amazingly expressive they were. They "knocked this activity out of the park"!

After they finished acting the scenes, I hooked up my iPad to the smart board and students said sentences in Spanish to describe the photos.

The following day, I made a collage of the photos, and made copies for the students.  I also wrote sentences from the book and students matched the sentences to the photos on the collage. (one last chance for students to see and hear the vocabulary and grammar structures in a different format).

Notes:  
- I labeled the photo collages with letters H-P to give students more practice with letters that aren't at the beginning of the alphabet.  
- I used the App BlurFotoLite to blur the faces of the students. I can't say the app worked well. I was able to blur the faces but it froze both times I used it. Not an app I recommend.
- I first learned about Freeze Frame from attending a Carol Gaab session at ACTFL.

Freeze Frame to Re-enact the Story

Last week was rough physically.  I was out the first two days due to the flu and pushed too hard to return to the classroom again on Wednesday. Because I rushed to return, Wednesday I didn't have the energy needed to lead a new story with TPRS.  So for my second day back, I felt like I had three days to make-up and in Spanish 1, we blew it out of the water!

There were two things that I felt I had to do to try to get back on track: 1) move to the next episode in the "Cuentos de Ensalada" story, and 2) introduce 3 new structures/vocabulary words in a new through TPRS.

Episode 7 (photo from 2011)

First, I reviewed the last information we knew about "Teresa and Tomás" and then I taught episode 7 from "Cuentos de Ensalada" with the surprise crime scene in the park.  I distributed a copy of the episode and I read several paragraphs in Spanish and then students worked in small groups to translate it to English. When they read it in English, I eavesdropped on several groups and was pleased to hear ALL groups reading through it without any major problems.

Immediately following the reading, I had new structures on the board for them to copy in their notebooks and added the English meanings.  Some we had actually had before, but it was a good time to review.  The structures were:  
- tropieza = s/he trips
- se cae = s/he falls
- es torpe = s/he is clumsy
- derrama = s/he spills

The story was about one of the students in the class that works as a waitress/waiter but is clumsy.  A famous person enters the restaurant, orders soup, which the clumsy waittress/waiter delivers to the table but unfortunately trips, spills the soup on the famous person, and then falls down.  The famous person is quite angry, stands up and leaves the restaurant.  

I started the story without any actors, but quickly added student actors when I saw the student interest.  The class enjoyed hearing the story from beginning to end with the actors.  That alone would have keep their interest, but I had one more activity for them - FREEZE FRAME, an activity that I learned from Carol Gaab's session at ACTFL.

In the first Spanish 1 class of the day, there were 3 parts so I put students in groups of 3 and they decided which person they would portray.  Then the groups spread out through the room and as I told the story, I paused at times to say FREEZE FRAME, and they froze their actions.  They needed no encouragement whatsoever to get into their roles.  The 2nd Spanish 1 class only had two roles and after a few practices, they were just as creative and imaginative with their poses as the first Spanish 1 class.  The best part was their laughter and enjoyment of the activity.  Of course, the fact that they followed along as I retold the story without any problems made the activity "worthy".  

It was two out of the ballpark homeruns in one class period - twice.  Yesterday's frustration is a dull memory. 

 

"La Hija del Sastre" (a book by Carrie Toth & Carol Gaab)

My students are currently reading "La Hija del Sastre".  We read chapter 7, "Mentiras (Lies)" together and then, to add some variety, the students acted out the 2nd half of chapter 7.  We needed someone to play the parts of: Ignacio, Emilia, Diana, la abuela, a narrator, and we threw in Camila just for fun.  In an effort to keep sts involved that were not assigned to any roles, I asked them to call out "Mentira, mentira, mentira" each time someone in the chapter lied (since the title is called "Mentiras"). 

I had minimal props: paper plates, cups, & plasticware, for when the family eats dinner; 2 smaller plates for when it says the mother's eyes were as big as two plates, and a suit coat and trousers cutouts from construction paper, and a tape measure.  

It was fun watching the story played out, plus it helped to concrete into the students' minds what occurred in the chapter.