CCFLT+Spring+Conf.+2010

====== =**Presentation Outline**= 25 Ways to Energize your Classroom – Amy Terán Rituals, Routines, and Classroom Environment 1. Sign-In Board 2. Classroom Arrangement 3. Jobs 4. Classroom Library, Free Voluntary Reading w/partner, and Story Time 5. Pause & Point to Word Wall = Use Gestures!! 6. Establish Identities (Ben Slavic) Reading Strategies 7. Thought Bubbles, Dialogue Bubbles 8. Who Said that? / Running Dictation (Jason Fritze) 9. Reader’s Theatre (Coach Melodrama) Technology 10. Prezi.com 11. animoto.com 12. wikispaces Gimmicks 13. Stuffed Animals / Puppet Show 14. Single Responders 15. Sexy Dance 16. Drum roll, please 17. It’s a secret! 18. Props & Noisemakers 19. Where is it? Activities 20. Brain break 21. Roundtable Discussion 22. Shower curtain map Assessment 23. 10-finger Comprehension Check 24. Kinesthetic T/F 25. Exit Ticket Explosion

Rituals, Routines, and Classroom Environment 1. Sign-In Board a. Ask ‘how are you?’ and give 4 options in the target language for students to choose from. b. Each day when they arrive, they read the options and sign-in one cuadrant – whiteboard works well! c. Helpful hint: Use cognates until words are taught in class 2. Classroom Arrangement a. Divide into 3 countries that speak target language (Jalen Waltman) 3. Jobs a. President, vice-president, permanent one-word responders (see below), license to express yourself (give students a ‘license’ to say a specific question when appropriate during class) 4. Classroom Library, Free Voluntary Reading w/partner, and Story Time a. Build a classroom library, try Free voluntary Reading with partners, or Kindergarten-style storytime in which all students sit in front (pillows or blankets make this a fun and comfy activity!) 5. Pause & Point to Word Wall = Use Gestures!! a. Each time an out of bounds word comes up, write it down, translate it and try to create a corresponding gesture. Continue using gestures as needed! 6. Establish Identities (Ben Slavic) a. In getting to know your students, create appropriate nicknames for them for your class. You may choose to add a ‘naming ceremony’. Reading Strategies 7. Thought Bubbles, Dialogue Bubbles a. Just like you see in the cartoons, create thought or dialogue bubbles kids can hold up in class. Use common expressions or specific target vocab. Similar to the license to express yourself, students can hold up the thought or dialogue bubble when appropriate during class 8. Who Said that? / Running Dictation (Jason Fritze) a. Following a story or novel, create sentences that specific characters would say and a list of the characters. Read each line and ask the kids, ‘who said that?’. Place the one-liner next to the characters name as they are identified. b. Pull sentences from a text, write them down on poster paper and hang them in the hallway outside your classroom. In pairs, one student will stay in the room and be the scribe, the other person will run outside, read one of the posters, run back inside and dictate to the partner. Switch. 9. Reader’s Theatre (Coach Melodrama) a. Make a novel come alive by adding actors and props! Students follow along text with their finger and pause to enjoy the student actors. Technology 10. Prezi.com a. Create zooming presentations, great for making graphic organizers more high-tech! 11. animoto.com a. create video using pictures and target language words 12. wikispaces a. Students and colleagues alike can keep track of and share all the wonderful things you are doing on your own wiki! Gimmicks 13. Stuffed Animals / Puppet Show a. Pick up some small stuffed animals at garage sales or ask kids to bring in old ones they don’t want anymore. When practicing or reviewing vocabulary, use the stuffed animals to gesture. b. Have students create a puppet show-it will lower the affective filter. See Jason Fritze’s website for the Reading Rainbow Project which includes an assignment and rubric based on a book the students have read-a puppet show is an excellent option for this project! 14. Single Responders a. Every time you say a particular word in the target language, a student responds in a way that makes the meaning clear. Ben Slavic does this with the question words. Whenever he says ‘who’ in the target language, a student pops up and says ‘means who’ in English. This is also great with animals. In my class, we inevitably have a cow in the story. We had auditions for moo-ing, and now each time I say ‘cow’ in the target language, the student moo’s. 15. Sexy Dance a. Find a fun, hip song in the target language-it makes it easier when the song tells you how to dance it. Pre-teach the vocabulary, practice it with stuffed animals, then do it to the music as a whole class! 16. Drum roll, please a. Anytime you are getting ready to say something juicy in the story, ask the kids for a drum roll…but don’t forget the cross-armed symbol crash! (Cross-brain activity keeps the kids fresh and ready to learn! 17. It’s a secret! a. Add melodrama to your stories by telling student you have a secret in the target language (teach it first!). They respond by stomping their right foot and putting their hands to their left ear, as if trying to hear the secret. Another great cross-brained activity! 18. Props & Noisemakers a. Picking up a few props at garage sales or the dollar store can breath life into your stories. Some ideas to get you started: a flower, a boa, a hamburger, a tiara, a toy car, a baseball cap. Improvising props with classroom objects can be hysterical, too! b. Pick up some inexpensive noisemakers at party supply stores. (Clappers, whistles, etc…) Helpful in adding some excitement and can help get attention of the kids when necessary. 19. Where is it? a. Once a location is established in a story ask the kids where it is in the target language. They respond by pointing anywhere as long as they are pointing across their body (cross-brain!). Activities 20. Brain break a. Students stand in a circle with their hands held out. Each student needs to put their right pointer finger into their neighbors left palm. They must also hold their left palm up so that their other neighbor can place their index finger there. Play target language music, when the music stops each student tries to grab the index finger of their neighbor without having their neighbor on the opposite side grab their index finger. (Fabulously fun cross brained activity!) 21. Roundtable Discussion a. This activity is fantastic, particularly for upper level classes. Each student gets 3 pieces of paper (I laminate them) with their name on it. Desks are set up in a circle or semi-circle. Students present on a topic, for example, current events, and following their presentation is a student lead discussion. Each time a student makes a question or comment, they hand in one of the slips of paper with their name on it. If they make 3 comments, they turn in all 3 slips. By keeping separate the slips of paper that were turned in and the ones that weren’t used, you can calculate participation in the discussion at your convenience. 22. Shower curtain map a. Create shower curtain maps by making an over-head transparency of your desired map. Then hang the shower curtain map on the wall and project the map as large as you can on the shower curtain. Trace the map onto the shower curtain. Later you can add details like names, geographical features, etc… Make several so that all your students can gather around a map placed on the floor. Then, give your students TPR commands like, ‘Play the guitar in Argentina’ or ‘climb the Andes mountains’. Fantastic way to get some culture and geographic awareness when starting a Blaine Ray novel like Pobre Ana. Assessment 23. 10-finger Comprehension Check a. After establishing meaning of new structures with students using gestures, have them hold up their fingers to show you how much they know. 10 fingers = 100%, 5 fingers = 50%. Your goal is to have everyone at 80% or above. Your barometer kids are the lowest. Teach and re-teach to those students until they get it. 24. Kinesthetic T/F a. A quick informal assessment can be done by asking the students True/False questions. If the answer is true, they all raise their hands in the air and wiggle their fingers (jazz hands). If the answer is false, they stomp their feet on the ground. 25. Exit Ticket Explosion a. On a small slip a paper, each student writes down a new structure, a sentence or a question about a story in English or the target language. They crumble the paper up and throw it at another student in the room either haphazardly (hitting them in the head) or by making eyes with them and then tossing it to them. That student opens it up and translates or responds.