Quick Post: Are you going to the OMLTA Spring Conference?

Bonjour!  This week is the annual Ontario Modern Languages Teaching Association's (OMLTA) Spring Conference!  If you haven't been, consider coming for a day or two.  This year I'm on the planning committee; so in addition to my lovely logo I created for the theme, I will be at registration (say hi!) and presenting a session on Interculturalism in Core FSL (definitely say hi!).

The key note speaker is Dr. Katy Arnett who wrote my favorite DI resource Languages For All and the Key note speaker on Saturday is Dr. Jenny Kay Dupuis who wrote I am Not a Number a book winner in the Forest of Reading Book Awards. They should be interesting and informative addresses.

The OMLTA Conference is Friday March 23 and Saturday March 24 at the New Delta Hotel by Mariott (Formerly International Plaza in Toronto (by the airport.) You can register (still!) by going to the OMLTA website or clicking this link.

I hope I see you there.... And if I did see you there, that's why you are visiting my blog, thanks for following up!  If you would like to download or share my presentation slides, you can click here, and visit my "Conferences" page to see what other presentations I have given (and are available to download.)

Game Changer: Winbridge Personal Amplifier

This is the WinBridge Personal Amplifier System.

Its super small and light, but loud enough for my classroom.  Recently, I was really sick, and the medication I have to take leaves my throat raw, and dry, so I lose my voice a lot.  And I teach French.  Since, I can't do that without a voice, I have to use an amplifier so I can talk after first period.

It is great.  Its loud enough for my students to hear me with straining my voice.  Its portable, so it works while I'm walking in the hallways or library, or outside-- anywhere!  It is saving my voice.  And I think that one thing teachers take for granted is their voice.

We speak a lot.  More than many other subject teachers.  And that can wear on your vocal flaps and damage them.  Especially if you are raising your voice often.  I've retrained myself to speak normally with an amplifier.  And it has made such a difference.

With my students, they can hear me.  Even if there is a little chatter.  Some of my students are hard of hearing, and this has helped them too.  My classroom is calmer because I'm speaking more calmly-- not having to project my voice so much.

I paid $45.00 for my PA on Amazon.ca.  It comes with the microphone, a belt so you can wear your speaker, and USB cable for charging.  One full charge lasts me all day.  You can play music through the speaker from a USB drive too.  If you are worried about your voice, or if you have never thought about the wear and tear on your voice, consider getting some type of amp.  Your voice with thank you.

** This is not a sponsored post.  I'm just an Amp convert.  It has helped me immensely.  I hope it can help someone else.

All About Unit Planning

I got a couple requests on Facebook, to write a post about unit planning.  I am NOT an expert in unit planning.  I do my best.  What I am, is a hyper-organized, teacher who likes a solid plan before diving in and teaching my classes something, but I like to have enough flexibility to add and take away as I teach.  Here, I will share what I've learned (so far) about unit planning, and a unit plan that I have used a few times, and that has worked well for me in my core French classes.

What I've learned about unit planning (so far):

Start with the “skills” you want your students to learn in mind:  This is different than starting with the end product in mind, since maybe the learning that will be displayed may not be a physical product.   For example, you will see with my unit plan “Je me presente” I don’t have one final task or product, but several tasks focused around skills.  One example is being able to talk about what you like to do in your free time.  Another skill looks at voicing agreement, or disagreement.  These skills are transferable, and are included in the skills required for level A1 expectations for the DELF exam.  For me, measuring the students’ ability, is more important than measuring a student product.  For me, the end is usually a series of skills in line with the CEFR foci, which become our learning goal and success criteria.  I always plan to answer the question, “Why do we have to learn this?” If I can’t answer that, then I don’t have a solid goal in place for the students.  My end goals always have purpose and relevance to my students lives.

Assessments for days: Assessments are woven in throughout the unit: I think that assessment (especially in languages) has moved past the unit plan ending with something tangible to mark.  Assessment should be woven in throughout the unit, so by the end of the focus, the teacher should be able to chart the students’ improvement through the series of assessments.  In my plans, the curriculum expectations each activity covers is included in the plan for each section of the unit.  I also include how the students will demonstrate their knowledge. 

Create activities/ lessons that help students meet your objectives: I get my activities and lessons from anywhere!  Sometime theres a good reading in a resource I have, and I can use that.  Sometimes, I will make the resource up for the students to use.  Once, I used a Tim Hortons job application in French and we did a lesson about filling in forms in French! 

Figure out what resources you want/ need to use: Do you have a great reading resource?  Did you buy a really cool looking game?  Students bugging you to make slime in class?  Use what you have, trade with colleagues, gather what you can, and this can help you plan your lessons.

Plan your materials: What is the progression of the lessons?  They have to have the vocal before jumping into a procedural activity.  Think about every lesson building on the one before.

When possible, plan something interdisciplinary: For one unit, my colleague was doing a shoe collection and fund-raiser for Senegal.  I planned with him to add a shipping vocabulary and  letter component for the kids my students were already invested in helping.  And the letters were a hit!  The students in Senegal loved having someone in Canada to write to.  Totally authentic because the student needed to work in French to ship the shoes and explain the project to the corresponding charity in Africa. 

My example unit plan:

My plans have changed a lot through the years.  And they change every time I write a new one.  I don’t usually use a template: I use a 3 column table to plan my activities in my unit.  I used to be very detailed in writing down my unit plans.  I made sure that I had ALL the information I needed written out, and I NEVER deviated from the plan.  This was very difficult to maintain because teaching does not always let you follow your plan— especially in terms of timelines. So you will see in my two examples, how different my plans have become.  (Click the image to see the plan- Prêt à voyager, Grade 7 and 8 Core FSL)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1obQVx38QUY_yL7fX-jRQHUin7XWg9_DhRkE0cGqTnLU/edit?usp=sharing

Templates:

Template are a really good way to write a unit plan, and as a newer teacher, I used this template often to write my plans for Core French.  It was helpful to me for a number of reasons:

• If I used the template, I knew that I wouldn’t miss any of the important parts of planning.  
• The template helped organize and streamline my thinking when planning.  Kept planning from being overwhelming.
• Having a template that I had on my computer, made it easier to change part of the unit that may not of worked, or the timeline I had initially put.  Which made it easier for me to follow the plan.

Now that I feel more comfortable teaching, and more confident with the Core French curriculum, I just type out what I think is needed to get to the ending skills.  Now, most of the time, I plan out the big lesson activities (especially if they take a lot of preparation) and the little practice games/ strategies based on Oral communication are not included in the unit plan.  But, as I was learning to be more comfortable and confident in unit planning, I found a few ready made templates really helpful.

1. Lakehead universtiy template- I didn’t go to Lakehead, but this was a great comprehensive template with tons of information on it.  No guesswork in creating a good plan.
2. TLC Unit Planner UOIT This was great for me to get my thoughts down, and figure out the process to which I would get my students to the end result.  It can be hard to figure out what lessons you need to plan, and how to break down teaching each step.  And this helped me see the progression of my lessons into an overall cohesive unit.  
3. My own template: is a mixture of the templates that I had used in the past.  It has all the information I need, and its not too rigid.  I can add to it when I need to.

Secret sharing time!: I don’t always sit down and plan a whole unit at once.  Sometimes, I know where I want the students to end up, so I plan lessons based on where the students are.  I collect them, and they become a unit for me to use at a later time for my classes.  There is no rule saying that your units have to be completely planned before you teach them.  You can try things, and then add them to your plan.  Sometimes, you’ll have a winner of an activity, and you will add it to the unit.  And sometimes, you’ll try and make a weird game that was too confusing and not fun… And you won’t add it to the unit.  

Like much of teaching, unit planning is about creativity, adaptation and meeting your students where they are.  You can have the most amazingly written and meticulously planned unit, and it can flop.  Or, you can have fun with it, keep it loose, and come up with some pretty great activities and units.  

What does your unit planning process look like?  I would love to see what other teachers think in the comments below!

Instant Feedback for Students- Using Google Forms, Google Sheet and FormMule

Howdy mes amis!

I have been asked by a couple of teachers to share how I provide instant feedback to my students.  Its actually pretty easy with the right tools.  My school uses Google Apps for Education, but even if your school doesn't you can still use these Google applications to send results to your students instantly!

Because I find videos easier to follow when I'm learning something new, I recorded a short (under 5 mins!) screencast showing step-by-step how I install and set-up FormMule to send students results to them.

In this video I will be sending quiz results, but in the past I used it to send results of major projects and other assignments.  Its a handy tool to have in your kit.  I hope you find this video helpful!

Googd ideas from Twitter: iPad Rules Lock Screens

I love Twitter!  I find the best ideas by browsing my hashtags #fslchat and #langchat!  If you don't follow those groups, you are missing out!  I find great activity ideas, and classroom management ideas-- and more recently tech integration and management ideas.  This idea came from the blog:
Technology Erintegration.  I am so happy I found this blog!  So many great ideas.

In this article, she talks about 5 ways to use iPad backgrounds in the classroom.  The idea I loved (being a middle school teacher) is using the lock screen as a rule reminder.  The above picture is the lock screen I made for my FSL ipads.  Here's a close up of one of the screens:

I have the reminders for proper iPad ettiquette, a note on agreeing with the rules before the students unlock the screen, and in the top corner, a little banner that shows the iPad number of my set.

I struggled with whether or not to put the rules on the screen in French, but I opted for English because I want the students to understand the rules to which they are to agree before using the technology.  Also, students should read the TOA (terms of agreement) before anything they click on the internet, so its an opportunity to teach digital citizenship too. I think in the future, I will do a bilingual lock screen, but for now, I thought it would be more useful for my students in my Core classes to have the rules available in English. 

This idea was a hit at my school!  We are now in the process of creating lock screens for the Learning Commons sets of iPads.  Do you think this is a useful idea for your school's tech?

Using Pop Music in FSL Class

Image by Phil Fung from http://www.philfungstudio.com/store/catalog/pop-music/

I love Pop Music.  It's not the only type of music I love, but it is a pretty great way of learning a language, about a culture and about a generation.  I owe some of my French speaking skills, and my Spanish speaking skills to Pop Music.  Getting a song or lyric in my head is a great way of learning about pronunciation, and sentences, and um.. rhyming.

So, it can't be surprising that I use a healthy amount of Pop Music in my FSL teaching.  I'm specifying Pop Music here as popular music from around la Francophonie-- stuff that French people would listen to on the radio; or buy the CDs of.  I do believe there is a place for FSL music created for children learning FSL, but I really love the authentic learning about language and culture that happens when listening to and studying a piece of Pop Music from a different country.  So, for the most part, I use Pop Music and not FSL created music in class.

There are a few exceptions: I love Mike Ford's Canadiana Folky Pop Music that is targeted for FSL learners and full of Canadian history that he's researched.  But I still consider that Canadian Pop/ Folk music with a cultural focus.  Besides, he was in Moxy Fruvous, so he is practically a pop star.  (And if you haven't heard his albums Canada Needs You, Vols. 1 & 2, and Seaway you're missing out.) The other exception I make is the stuff I wrote for my students, because that was directly related to their own writing, and more of a product of learning than a tool for learning.

So in order to organize the songs that I have used, and will probably use again in my classes, I created a Google Sheet that lists the songs I've used with their links and notes.  It is available here:

As always, please preview any videos before using in your class.  One video on my list, Paradis ou Enfer would be inappropriate to watch in its entirety in class.  He swears at the end, and flashes the middle finger after 1:23 in the video.  Why did I include it?  I cropped the video to 1:20 using TubeChop to avoid the inappropriate sections, so our class could have a discussion on Sierra Leone.  It has some great visuals about the disparity between the rich and poor in that country. So it was worthwhile to use that video for me.  But, you know the rules and culture of your school.  

So, how would I use all these songs in class?  I use music in a few ways, and I thought I could share a few of those strategies with you!  

1. Where was it filmed?/ Où est-ce que l'artiste?

This is a critical thinking activity that I use in class with a music video.  It usually takes a full class to complete, as students will need to watch the video more than one time to answer the questions.  I have used the video A coup de reves by Ben l'Oncle Soul, and the first 1:20 of Paradis ou Enfer by Kaaris.  

1. First we read the questions we will have to answer.  they are usually: 1. Où est-ce que la location du clip?  Pourquoi est-ce que tu penses ça?  2. Quelle est la signification du titre ____?  
2. I have the students watch the video.  
3. Then we make a word bank of what we saw in the video.
4. I give students a few minutes to gather their thought about the questions.  Most will ask to watch the video again.
5. Re-watch the video. Students will point out les indices to help answer the questions.
6. Then we discuss the questions.  We consult maps or other resources to help us find the answer.

My students love figuring this stuff out.  Because the whole discussion happens in French, it is an authentic way of getting them to communicate with each other in French, and to build a curious community which is necessary for any inquiry-type activities.

2. Gimmie!/ Donnez-moi!

This strategy can be used with any song, and a video is not necessary.  Preparation includes making cards with key words from the song on them, cut out.  You need enough sets of cards for the number of groups you have.  For younger grades, focus on less words, and older grades use more words.

1. Hand out the cards to each group of students.
2. Students set the cards out face up between them on a desk or table.
3. Play the song.  While students listen, the try to grab the words they hear before the other members in their group do.
4. Player who got the most words wins.

This is a great activity for introducing new vocabulary, and new words of a song.  Sometime, I have the people act out the words they collected to consolidate comprehension.  Its a fun activity.

3. Rhymes/ Les rîmes

To activate students prior learning, especially around vocabulary, this is a great warm-up.  This can be created in a work sheet, or on a chart paper for students to copy or do orally.

1. Write out the lyrics on a page for each student, or on a chart paper, but omit the words at the end of phrases, or in other places.  The word that is omitted must rhyme with a word in the previous or next line.
2. Before students listen tot he song, have them predict what words will be in the lyrics, by reading the lyrics, and have students fill in the blanks with the words they think are missing.
3. Play the songs.  In a different color have the students write in the real words. 
4. Reflect: How many did they get right? Why did they choose the words they did?

4. Correct this/ Corrigez!

You will need the lyrics posted or copied out for all the students to refer to.  When you write them, replace several of the words in the lyrics with fakes.  This can be as obvious or sneaky as you would like it to be.

1. With the students, read the lyrics (with the errors your put in) together.  Tell the students that there are some errors in the lyrics.  Have them predict which words don't belong.
2. Listen to the song.  Have the students write down the correct words for discussion after the song is over.
3. Discuss which words were wrong.  Did the students know they were wrong? How?

5. How does it go?/ Comment va la chanson?

To prepare this activity, you will need to print out the lyrics of the song and cut each line into a strip, and mix them up.  You will need strips with lyrics for each group or student.

1. Give the students the strips, and have them read them in groups.  Before playing the song, have them predict how the song will go by placing the strips in certain order.  (I take a picture of the order for comparison later in the activity.)
2. Play the song.  Have the student rearrange the strips as the song plays.
3. Compare their prediction to their ordering after they heard the song.  How did it change? (Sometimes I ask the students to try and sing their version of the song.  It gets pretty funny.)

6. Find the picture for the lyrics/ Trouvez l'image des paroles

This activity takes a fair amount of prep.  You will either need to find pictures that go with a song, print out or save stills from a video or movie, or draw simple pictures that reflect lines in the song you are using.  I usually create a sketchnote for the lines, and use those.  You will also need a print out of the lyrics for the students completing the activity.

1. Review the lyrics with the students to ensure comprehension.
2. Have the students review the images available for matching.
3. Listen to the song, and have the student match the images to lines or verses of the song.
4. After they have matched them, reflect: why did they choose that image for that line?

I have a few more ideas, but I haven't tried them yet.  As I do, I will update this post.  What are some ways you use Pop Music in your FSL class?  

Reflection: World Congress of Modern Languages, 2015

What an event!  I think that should be the first line in any review/ reflection of this conference.  There were lots of people to meet; many organization and companies to talk with and items to look at; so many workshops it was difficult to choose where to go!  In all, I am very happy that I got to attend this conference this year.  I thought it would be good to share some of the things that I learned from the amazing workshops I attended.  

Roundtable Discussion- March 26

I went to the conference early to register, because I really wanted to hear the roundtable discussion about technology in the L2 classroom.  Since tech in FSL is kind of my bailiwick (yep, I just used that word) I knew that there would be some great information to glean from the address.  The presentations were moderated by Terry Lamb, and the speakers were Jacques Cool, Sylvia Duckworth and Jim Murphy.  

The last speaker, Jacques Cool (www.zecool.com-- wouldn't you love to be a teacher with this last name??! Mine's a fish.  Which the kids don't let me forget.  Or worse it has the word 'ass' in it.  ANYWAYS...) spoke about the responsibility of teachers to innovate in the classroom.   What I found most interesting, and something I've been working on in my teaching and learning are the redefinition or addition of  the "new competencies" that our students will need to compete and success in our technological world.   Students need to know have to explore, create, collaborate, debate, solve problem and so much more in order to use the technology effectively.  

I also like that he spoke to student motivations, and how technology helps teachers fulfill those motivations.  The 6 motivations he outlined were that students want to 1- do it themselves; 2- do it now; 3- with their friends; 4- for others; 5- for pleasure or 6- for an audience.  This was the concept that really resonated with me, as I see those motivations in the actions of my students daily.  So for me, the takeaway was how am I going to use the motivations to make my students succeed?  

Cool made many more great points in her presentation, and if you would like to read it for yourself, visit his blog at www.zecool.com (in French.)  He is also on Twitter, @zecool.

The second speaker was Sylvia Duckworth, who many French Teachers already know through her awesome teacher blog/ French teacher bible and resource E-tools for Language Teacher at www.mmeduckworth.blogspot.com.  She spoke about the importance of PLNs or Personal Learning Networks for Teachers.  Duckworth noted that technology make wider collaboration between teachers possible.  She outlined 6 main hurdles to teacher development 1-no time; 2- need access; 3- need training; 4-need tech support; 5-need confidence; 6- need conviction, to know this development is worthwhile.  I appreciated Sylvia's contribution that focused on how teachers need access to this technology too in order to improve their learning.  I think we often forget about how beneficial tech is to our own development since we are often focused on our student's learning.  She also included a bunch of sketchnotes-- which I appreciate because I love sketchnotes.  Generously, her presentation is available at www.bit.ly/sylviaroundtable  for download.  

First speaker was Jim Murphy of the Center for Distance Learning in Newfoundland.  The model for schooling in parts of NFLD are an amazing example of how technology has transformed learning for some students.  As many students live in remote parts of NFLD, the CDL provides courses and education, that would otherwise be impossible for students to access.  The CDL uses a synchronous learning model, meaning that there are teachers and students that interact in a class online.  This was the interesting aspect of the presentation for me.  I have done online courses myself, and had contact with my teachers only through messaging and feedback.  Students in the synchronous model get to know and form relationships with their teachers despite the distance.  

They were all very knowledgeable people, and I was a little stunned afterwards with all the new information to process.  It was a great talk.  A great kick off!

Workshops: March 27-28

A. Paula Capa- "Speaking Only in French: It Can be Done!"

The first workshop I attended was about working towards French as the only language of communication in the L2 classroom.  What I found most helpful was the approach that the speak outlined.  That is, that you start with what the students know for a small amount of time, and then build on that time as the year progresses.  I found it affirming that so many people have questions about using French as the sole language of class.  This presentation also affirmed for me that I was on the right track.  In my class I use the "Zone Francais" in which I have a time keeper track our time for speaking French-- and then we try to beat that time the next day.  

B.  Sylvia Duckworth- "Web 2.0 and Social Media Tools in the French Classroom"

Had to sign up for Sylvia's session on Social Media and Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom.  The problem with this session was that 45 minutes was just not enough.  Sylvia had so much information and so many great ideas that people left the room wanted to try something new that coming Monday. I know I did!  I especially liked how she shared multiple strategies for an application.  I new about Voice Thread-- but I had no idea about the potential for VT in the FSL classroom.  One other great thing about Sylvia is that she shares so many of her ideas on her blog www.mmeduckworth.blogspot.com.  So if you haven't already, check it out. She's also on Twitter @sylviaduckworth.

C. Bev Kukhta-Jackson- "Engaging your Core French Students"

One of my collegues in HWDSB, and a career-long champion of Core FSL, gave a fun presentation on how to engage core French students.  There were some really fun ideas like Movie Monday, and using music and other authentic media in French.  The crux of her message though-- and one that you could see she followed and felt herself-- was that the teacher needed to enjoy and love what they teach.  That is the most engaging thing you can do.  She showed a video that she made to futher her own PD, which just further exuded the love she has for her job.  She was also elected to the Board on the OMLTA- so a doubly successful day for her!

D. Bill and Hanna- "Go Digital! Supporting FSL with Digial Resources

Bill and Hanna lead the audience through the digital learning platform that is now available to all teachers in public funded schools.  The online education platform is an asynchronous learning platform, i think created by Desire2Learn.  Students are able to create and curate an online, multi-media portfolio for every subject.  Which is a pretty cool concept.  This presentation fell short of provide strategies to integrate some of these new technologies into the class.  More, Bill and Hanna were the bearer of the bad news-- National Film Board videos won't be available after the summer for school to use.  The liscencing was not renewed.  

E. Susanna Beatrice-Gojsic and Carole Knezevic- "Let Them Speak! Strategies that Maximize Student Talk Time in the FSL Classroom

Two more of my colleagues in the HWDSB presented this awesome, and helpful presentation, that was packed with strategies on making sure students get the most talk time in FSL class.  As always, Susanna and Carole provided fun, engaging and non threatening ways for students to participate in FSL class, and succeed.  The strategies they discussed allowed for maximum practice for students of their skills.  More, they explained how to implement some of their ideas.  Most generously, they provided a link to a wiki  https://letstalkinfsl.wikispaces.com Susanna is on Twitter @sgojsic

F. Katy Arnett- Designing Differentiation for FSL Students

Having read Arnett's book, Languages For All, I was looking forward to seeing what new understanding I would leave with.  Luckily, Arnett brought tons of ideas and examples of how to integrate almost any student into the FSL classroom.  Arnett brought a number of speaking and reading/ writing activities to share, and discussed how, and why they were differentiated.  I appreciated the discussions, for me it led to an even deeper understanding of how I could apply some of these techniques and activities I use in class.  I felt more confident in my differentiation abilities after listening to this presentation.  Dr. Arnett's Twitter: @KatyArnett.

G. Trevor Gulliver- "A Dozen Ways to Use Songs"

I use music in my class almost every day.  So learning about ways to use those songs more effectively was  something I really looked forward to.  Trevor provided literally 12 ways to used songs in class.  Some of them were too close to a word cloze activity for my taste, but there were some gems that stood out for me.  My favorite ideas were the word snatch activity: students lay out small card of word between them, and as the song plays students grab the word as they hear it.  It was fun!  The second idea I loved was the rearranging lyrics activity.  You cut up the lines of a song, and mix them up.  Student have to arrange the lyrics correctly as they hear the song.  I immediately thought of other ways to use those same cards-- use them as a prediction activity when student try to arrange them in order before they hear the song.  Or as a writing activity where student get to choose a line as a writing prompt for their own lyric.  The best ideas for me, launch my brain into new strategies, and this presentation did just that.

  

H. Stephanie Bass- "iPads and Cell Phones in the FSL Classroom"

Ha!  I had to attend my own session.  So instead of making a note of how great the info provided was (at least I think it was) I think I will reflect on my delivery, and things I learned about myself from presenting.

1. I am too short to stand behind most podiums.  The microphone was set up on a podium, and the top of the podium came to my neck. From the front of it, I probably looked like a talking head on top of the podium.  So I scrapped the podium, and consequently the mic and stood beside it.
2. I make a lot of jokes when I'm nervous.  I am pretty sarcastic generally, and when I'm nervous that is amplified.  And I was really nervous.  And from the laughter of the group, really funny.
3. I make strange analogies when I'm nervous.  I actually said, "The internet is the Wild West, and you as teachers are the Sheriffs."  Yep.
4. I have a loud teacher voice.  Apparently I can't turn it off.
5. I have some really supportive colleagues.  They came to listen, and were available if I needed help.  They're super.
6. People hate completing surveys.  They hate 'em. No matter how short.  Mine is like 2 questions.  Help me out, folks!
7. People appreciated that my presentation was available for download to follow at http://bit.ly/OMLTApres.  The seating was not great, so I thought to give out the presentation at the beginning for the unfortunate short people in the back.  I know their plight.  So I will make sure to do that in the future too.
8. It is fun to present.  It was fun to share what I knew with others.  
9. My Twitter: @MadameBassHWDSB

I. Jennifer Lisi- "Using QR Code to Motivate Students"

Jennifer had a small group-- which was great for me, because I was able to ask as many questions, and make comments.  I was looking forward to learning more about QR codes; I use them sometimes in class, but after this presentation I was sure I was going to use them more often.  Jennifer offered many ideas and resources to use QR codes to support student learning.  She also offered great information that I had never thought of, like, using QR codes can make internet searching for students a little safer, as you have control of which sites students use through the code.  The one idea that I am excited to try is the QR code scavenger hunt.  I'm in the middle of creating an En route vers la Francophonie hunt for my 7s and 8s.  She is also on Twitter @Lisi_JE.

Phew! A long summary of the World Congress of Modern Languages.  I also stayed for the closing remarks which featured a great Brazillian band.  An upbeat, fun end to a great conference. 

If you are interested in more information that people have collected throughout the conference, there is a Twitter Hashtag for the conference #WCML2015, where people were Tweeting soundbites and ideas they learned.  I tweeted the ideas I heard in several workshops, and so did many others.  People are still using this hashtag to provide follow up information and reflections. So check it out! 

What reflections or highlights do you have from the WCML?  Feel free to leave them in the comments!

À la carte: Anchor Chart Binder and Online Notebooks

This next school year, I will officially be on a cart, traveling from class to class to teach FSL. I say officially, because I was pretty much on a cart this year, even though I did have access to a FSL classroom.  Most of the time, I chose to teach the students in their homerooms.  

So, I am already used to being the "traveling show" when it come to teaching.  Over the past year, I was looking for ways to make my traveling easier for my students.  Any FSL teacher knows that there are many benefits of having a dedicated space for teaching French.  I want to be able to provide some one those benefits, even though I move from place to place.  

The biggest challenge for me was finding space to keep the anchor charts that I made visible for my students.  I have 2 ways that I do this: the first is heavily tech based, and the second is my Anchor Chart Binder.  

Anchor Chart Binder

 

On my cart, I have two front cubbies on the bottom, and in there I keep a binder that hold every anchor chart I make.  During class, I have the student designated as the class reporter for the week, take a picture of the anchor charts that we make/ use.  Then the pictures are uploaded to Google Drive, or emailed to me, and I print to to add to the binder.  

 

This is an example from one of my grade 4 classes.  We were learning our learning goals and success criteria, and so the class reporter took a picture of the chart.  The binder itself is organized into sections: verbes, vocabulaire, and unités (with the title of the unit able to be written in erasable marker on the tab.)  

The students were really good about getting and using the binder if they needed to review an anchor chart for some reason.  This binder was especially usuful for students that were away, and needed to catch up.  I could also photocopy certain charts for students to have access to with their notes or for activities in which I needed to differentiate for some students.

Notes on Google Drive

 

When we started to implement the use of iPads into our classes, I moved away from the binder to an online binder of sorts. I still had a class reporter, but now instead of printing, I uploaded the charts to a shared drive so students could access the charts and other notes from anywhere.  

Students can access the online notebook from my class blog, but I also created a shortened link so that students can memorize the link easily.  (create a shortened link through services such as bit.ly or Google URL shortener.) Once in the shared drive, they can browse and download the notes that they need on their device.  I hope to cut down on the amount of paper we use. (I have a secret quest to become paperless.  More on that another time though.)  More, I want the students to be able to access the information they need anytime and anyplace.  

Through my school board, students have their own Google Drive space where they can download the notes they want to keep to their own drive.  Ideally, students would download the notes as we use them to their own drive to pull up in class etc.  

Pluses for using Google Drive are that the app is really user friendly.  My grade 4s and 5s last year were experts at navigating the classes shared Drive and uploading their projects and pictures to it.  It was a great tool because we had to used shared computers and iPads.  Students did not need to store anything on the devices and they had access to the projects and notes for homework or to work on when they finished other work.   More than this though, using services like Google drive are great inter-subject learning.  And knowing how to use cloud storage services is a crucial skill for our students as they grow and education become further and further entrenched in the technology that is readily available to us.  It was really exciting to see the students use the technology in FSL.  They knew that it was important, and it was engaging.  They know that they need these skills, and more they want to learn these skills. 

Having set up my binder and Google Drive for my students this upcoming year, I am looking forward to being "à la carte."  I will get to keep my online resources up to date, and hopefully it will become an integral resource for my students.

How do you manage sharing information to your students without a dedicated class space? Have you thought about going paperless?  

Summer Learning- HWDSB Summer Institute Series

Our board has some great opportunities for Summer learning.  One of the PD sessions that I attended was a mini-course on using technology in the classroom.

This was a jam-packed, 2-day PD session where teachers from my board was able to explore topics relating to using technology and transforming technology in the classroom.  Of the number of sessions that were available I decided to attend the crash courses on using the ePortfolio app, Explain Everything app, using Inquiry-based learning in the classroom, using the Binder app and what to do with tech when the iPad goes down.  All the groups were very small, and allowed for a lot of one-on-one attention, which was great when you are frustrated and having a tech problem.  The second day sessions that I attended were mainly about my own development as a teacher; Collaboration, and the iPad as a teacher tool.  In these sessions we were given more time to practice using the tools, and trouble shooting, which I found helpful.

I could talk about all the sessions, but I have attached my notes for anyone interested, so I'm just going to focus on the sessions that made me think even further about my own teaching: the "when the wifi goes down" crash course and the second day sessions about collaboration and a singular iPad classroom.  

"When the Wifi goes Down"

The techie-teacher's nightmare.  This has happened to me a few time this year.  On my cart, I usually keep a back-up activity for when this happens.  What was great was that the instructor Jared Bennett (http://jarbenne.commons.hwdsb.on.ca)  provided us with lists of apps and resources, and little tricks to prepare for the common occurance of wifi-lessness.  (See my notes for that list.)

The challenge for me, however, is that my classroom is not one that has enough resources for students to have their own devices to use.  I can plug in my iPad using an adaptor to project the image, and that doesn't need wifi.  I would have liked to learn a little more about those physical things that I could use; are there any more?  

Overall, I wish that the session was longer!  But, Jared's really good about answering my questions via email (no matter how silly or inane) so I'm not worried about when I inevitably have more ideas and questions.

"Using the iPad to Collaborate"

Even though this session was about how to teach the students how to collaborate, I found this session useful because I can adapt it to use for planning with my colleagues.  Everyone is busy, and it is difficult to organize time to plan together, with the programs we used and learned about, that is something that could no longer be a challenge.  Most helpfully, we were given over an hour to apply what we were learning on a question.  I learn best through application, so I was greatful for the opportunity to work through the process with support.  

"The One iPad Classroom"

The afternoon session was a great introduction in using the iPad as a teacher tool.  To start the session, Jared noted that for schools with limited access, the teacher's should be the one's that are equiped with the tablets first.  I found that I agreed with this idea; Jared introduced a number of ways that the teacher could use the iPad to provacate and engage the students, instead of passing a few devices around.  

I appreciated that Jared took the time to display how a teacher can use the iPad as an organizational tool.  I felt that there was enough new information for me who is comfortable with using tech in the classroom, that I still took so much away from the ideas that he introduced.  I'm looking forward to trying some of the things he outlined throughout the summer.

What PD are you hoping to complete this summer?

If you would like to have a copy of my notes, click this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12JUVp9cfIbJmP7URgS853wuO3Z0kF8MtnZS1hDS8oOE/edit?usp=sharing

Hope you find them helpful!

On Managing Assessment

My assessment management tool in action

When I talk to other French teacher, the thing we seem to struggle most with is organizing our assessment.  I think most FSL teachers have a handle on what they want to assess, but organizing that for sometimes hundreds of students is daunting.  It was for me, anyways.

Still, one thing that I am always struggling with is capturing an accurate view of my students' progress.  More than that, as a newer teacher, I couldn't keep all the expectations in my head.  In French class, a lot of my planning of activities include the expectations-- but often, I am assessing spontaneous conversations, so it is important for me to have quick access to the expectations, and their relation to the Achievement chart (A-Chart). 

Many veteran teachers shared with me that they use a class list to record and track their students' progress.  I thought that was a great idea, but I did not have the confidence that I would remember exactly what I was assessing for, being new to the FSL curriculum.  I decided to try and create a tool that works for me for Assessment purposes.  I knew that I would have to create a cheat sheet to help me track the curriculum expectations that I would need to teach.  So, I came up with this:

  

Click the picture for a larger view

My assessment tool is 2-sided, I couldn't get away with one page.  On the one side is a table that includes my class list, a section to record what activity I am marking, a breakdown of the grades I use and a section for the assessment "codes." 

The back of my sheet is a "Cliff notes" version of the FSL curriculum for the grade I am teaching.  This is an example of the grade 5 FSL curriculum that came out recently.  Each of the expectations are bundled and organized according to where I felt they fit in the Achievement Chart (Page xx-xx).  I like the way the new curriculum is organized, it makes fitting each expectation into the chart easier as the expectations are already clustered thematically.  For example, I know that all "3.1" expectations have to do with French culture and contributions to the world.

The "code" I use on the front, are based on the heading of the A-Chart, with a number for the order on my chart.  The expectations and their strands that fall under that section in the A-Chart are below my "codes" bundled.  I know that if I am assessing an oral activity, that something "coded" "C1" or Communication 1 covers the expectation B 1.2 or B 1.3, because I note which strand the expectations belong to beside the expectation number.

Throughout the term, I can look at the tool, and note which expectations I am missing, and therefore what I have to teach.  The bottom of my second page helps me plan my activities.  I made sure to copy some of the teaching strategies and suggestions from the curriculum on my tool, to help me plan meaningful and expectations-based activities. 

I find that having the expectations handy while I teach is useful.  At-a-glance, I can see which expectations my students excel at and struggle with, and this informs my planning.  All in one place!  What do you use to manage your assessment data?

If you are interested in downloading a copy of my Assessment tool to try and create one of your own, click here.  If you are interested in me sharing an editable version of my tool, please let me know in the comments, and I will upload it once I get to my school computer!