Iowa World Language Association

 

This is the first in a series of teaching tips.  Each giving an idea that can help us all become better teachers.

Spanish Papers/Rewrites and Assessing

At this time of year, it gets to be really busy and teachers seem to get bogged down with grading. If you have upper or lower level language classes this can be of use to you depending on what you are assigning. This type of assessment works well for student written stories, paragraphs, or rewrites if using TPRS. Having used TPRS in the past, I know this disagrees with the philosophy of just counting the words, which you can still do, but this may bring it one step farther for maintaining accountability in the students, which may be helpful in May. One of my college professors used this and I thought it was very beneficial.

A student will turn in their written work and the teacher will only circle the errors, but will not score the paper. When the student receives the work back, they are to choose 3-4 errors and on a separate sheet of paper (folded in half lengthwise), they are to record those errors they made on one side and write the correct answer on the other side of the fold.

With those errors recorded, they are not allowed to recommit those same errors. The next week or time that they have a written assignment/ story they will hand those recorded errors in with the new assignment. The
teacher will look at their error sheet, and they will only miss points if they have recommitted an error. Any new error will only be circled, not deducted from the paper. Then they will choose a few new errors to add to
their paper and so on. By the end of the month/semester the error sheet will have grown, and they are not allowed to make any of those mistakes recorded on the new assignments or they will be deducted in points.

After teaching on the high school level, I found that this helped the students grow and feel more competent writing. Also, I don't think they were as nervous about every sentence because they only had to focus on those
few errors at a time.

Hopefully you will find this to be a fast and easy grading tool

Organizing Materials

I have created a system to ensure I get back all of my materials at the end of an activity. Whether it is magazines, a gap activity, an information packet or envelopes filled with pictures, everything has either a number or color on it. When I use colors as my code, I make sure I have five for each color. I call the kids up by colors and if I don't get back all five pieces, I keep saying the color until I do. When I have items numbers, I call the kids up a couple of numbers at a time.

Not only does this system mean I get all of my materials back, it also makes transitions faster and gives the kids an opportunity to move around and get the blood flowing if we have been sitting for a little while. The kids are now used to the routine and I can collect my materials faster than ever.

What about Bell Ringers?

They are great because students switch to the language and topic we are studying when coming from other classes. The big issue is to find and prepare suitable material. I have been using samples of National Exams from previous years, one question per day, then at the end of the day I check the answers and the next day I give them back and correct as a group with comments and discussion when needed.

Performance Character

I am training my students in Performance Character. Most of my students at Ottumwa High School have had character education through various programs such as DARE or Character Counts.

As thorough as these programs are, they tend to fall short in teaching students to apply the elements of good character to classroom performance. Many of my students are of very sound moral character, but do not apply that character to completing the assignments, tasks or projects. I often hear, “ But, I studied so hard,” or “But, I did the best I could do.” I want to know exactly what that means.

During this quarter, I am requiring my students to keep a log in which they document what they are doing to meet various requirements in my class. The logs are reflective pieces that tell me what they have done to learn a concept, to reinforce vocabulary, to complete a project etc. They also document any time they spend on their own outside of class for studying. The reflective logs have been particularly effective for the struggling students.

I have asked several successful students to meet with struggling students to share the contents of their logs, hoping to get the struggling student to see what it takes to be successful. If a student is struggling, I ask for them to come in for a conference based on his or her performance and how it aligns with the content his or her log. Trust me, they soon learn it pays to honest!

On every test that I give, there is a section, in the style of a rubric that addresses their performance on the test and how it aligns with what they have documented in their log. It is very simple and is worth a point value that I choose:

  • High- Demonstrates improvement toward mastery of the content area through scheduled extra help sessions or performance on the assessed assignment.
  • Mid- Demonstrates improvement toward average master of the content area through scheduled extra help sessions of performance on the assessed assignment.
  • Not Yet- Has not yet demonstrated improvement toward average mastery of the content area through scheduled extra help sessions or performance on assessed assignment.

Last month, after a particularly dismal set of test scores, I scoured my lesson plans for that instructional period, so I could share what I did over the past 13 instructional days to prepare them for the final assessment: the equivalent of 3 class periods of instruction, 4 different practice sets done in class, 2 homework assignments, 2 informal assessments, 8 different communicative activities,one video. I included the time vested in preparing the activities, creating the tests, checking the assignments, recording scores, reading logs, and meeting with students for extra help sessions. I then addressed what I was going to be doing to remediate the situation through extra help sessions and special assignments.

The attitude of many of my struggling students is beginning to change. Instead of bemoaning a grade or test score, they are seeking ways of doing better. I am seeing better performance results, as well.

This is time consuming. I admit, there are days when I do not get a moment alone because somebody needs my help. At least, when my students come to me for a scheduled extra help session, they know why they are there. They can show me what they have done. Together, we assess what they have done and what they can still do to improve performance. Have you ever had a student come to you saying,” I am here to make up that test,” but he cannot tell you anything about that test? I am hearing and seeing less and less of that.

Meet the needs of your kinesthetic learners of all ages!

Distribute one or more pipe cleaners to each student. Name a vocabulary item (numbers, alphabet letters, geographic features, geometric forms, places in the classroom, etc.) and direct students to form the shape
of the named item with the pipe cleaner(s). Not only will all students be engaged in the activity, you will have instant feedback on their listening comprehension as they correctly form the named item. If students have moved beyond this level, you can use this activity to rehearse speaking—by allowing various students to name the item the others should form, or by setting up an information-gap activity, where partners each shape an item from a vocabulary set, then guess what the other has made. Remember to have your own set of pipe cleaners to model the activity for students. After all, why should they have all the fun?!!

Assess what you teach

If your goal is to produce fluent speakers, give them opportunities, in situations both contrived and real to use the language.  Spend the most time on producing speech in your classroom.  Then assess on an individual basis at least twice a semester.  I invite anyone to use our new discussion board to contribute ideas on how you do this with a classroom of 25-30 students.  Simply use the form to the left to subscribe or the link under it to browse the archives (you do not need to subscribe to view the archives). Watch for my ideas.