Just this week, I was fortunate to attend METC (Missouri's Educational Tech Conference). It is always so inspiring to learn from other professionals and to see what amazing things that other teachers are doing with their students. I have such a passion for Project Based Learning, and I was excited to attend a session presented by Josh Stumpenhorst, a middle school Social Studies teacher. Josh shattered some of my PBL habits, which made me think of some changes that I might make with my PBL project that I do with my level 2 students. Here are three of my take-aways:
1. Groups - I have typically created my groups based on varying ability, randomness or student choice. But, what if I created groups by similar abilities? Put all the kids who "get it" together, and put all the kids who struggle to get it together. With this grouping, the "get it" kids can take it an go, and in a big way. The "don't-get-it" kids are all together so that I can spend more time with them to help re-teach and motivate.
2. Choice - What if I gave them a "menu" of projects that they could choose from. This would require lots more work on my part, but different students have different strengths and in the end wouldn't I get more impressive projects if the kids got to create in a way that they like to create?
3. Publish - Make the world their audience. Have them publish to YouTube. Put their videos on my YouTube channel. "Likes" are like badges, and are a meaningful feedback for these guys. We need to quit making the Internet this "bad" place and get examples of good student work out there.
At this conference, I presented my own PBL. Here is a link to my project outline (almost entirely in French): French 2 Lycée PBL
Would you like to watch my presentation?
Live-Stream of my presentation: April Burton - Planning for PBL
Friday, February 14, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Speed Learning
This winter has been filled with snow days for us, in the mid-west. With the extra free time on my hands, I have been logging a lot of Pinterest time. Pinterest is a wonderland for educators; there are so many wonderful ideas and tools ready for use in the classroom. Currently, in Level 1, we are studying weather, seasons, etc. I kept coming across awesome ideas for practicing this in the classroom, but with so many missed days, I wasn't sure how I could find the time to implement them into the classroom. Then....LIGHT BULB!!! I decided I would do a "Stations Day". Stations work great in the elementary school, but I had never seen it in the high school. So, I decided to give it a go.
Since I already have my students divided into groups, I knew that I would need seven stations. I also wanted to use this opportunity to have students practice all skills: listening, reading, writing and reading. Also, due to lost time, we had run out of time to learn a grammar concept, so I needed to have a station where they could take notes and learn the concept. Here is what I landed on for stations:
Station #1: Students read a French article (which I had re-written to be level 1 appropriate) which described the weather climate in different regions in France. Their task was to glue weather icons to the appropriate region onto a map of France.
Station #2: They had to watch a weather video on meteofrance.com and write, in English, a sentence about the weather. Each person was to write one sentence then pass the paper to the next person. (It was cool, because most groups actually ended up writing in French)
Station #3: (This was their favorite) Using an Ipad app called AudioBoo, the students had to look at a local 5-day weather forecast that I had pulled up on another Ipad, and each person had to record a statement, in French, about the weather. We live in St. Louis, a 5-day forecast for us, in January, usually includes rain, snow, cold weather and nice weather, so there is a variety of vocabulary practice available. The groups spent a minute looking at the weather forecast, then each person said a statement, then passed the Ipad. No one could repeat another person's statement, and the goal was to say as many statements as possible.
Station #4: Students used local weather forecasts from local weather stations that they looked up on an Ipad or their phones, then filled out a survey about the weather. The survey had a thermometer in Celsius for them to complete, as well as conditions about the highs and lows for today and tomorrow.
Station #5: Students looked at a screen shot of a 5 day forecast on a phone for the city of Rouen. They had to write sentences about the weather for these days. Each person had to write a French sentence, then pass the paper to the next person. The goal was to get as many sentences written as possible without repeating anyone's sentence.
Station #6: In this unit, we are learning "avoir expressions". There are a list of 7 expressions that students need to know. For this station students had a textbook and each student received a copy of Cornell notes. They had to read the textbook, then take notes. They also were given an activity to practice the idea with images which they had to write sentences using the newly learned expressions. The goal was to get as many of these sentences completed, correctly.
Station #7: For this station, students were practicing the verb "aller" which they had learned in this chapter. They were given a handout with pictures of activities. They had to write sentences to tell what activity a person was "going" to do and add the place where they would do this activity.
Set up for the stations took some time and organization. I had the desks arranged into groups when the students came in. There was a table tent card at each "quad" with numbers in different colors. Since, the students had already been arranged in color groups, they were instructed, when they walked in, to sit with their colors. Also, on each "quad" I had a laminated sheet of instructions for that station, and any other supplies that they might need: glue, handouts for the activity, textbook and Ipads when necessary. I took the first few minutes of class to do a quick explanation of each station.
Then, I set the time for 6 minutes, instructed someone to read the instructions sheet to the group and they set off to work. I could walk around to check answers, answer their questions or re-focus less focused students. Because the timer was counting down on the SmartBoard, a sense of urgency kept everyone (for the most part) on-task. After six minutes, the time buzzed, a designated member brought me the paper that their group had completed for that station (if they had completed a paper) and they moved to the next number. I set the time again, instructed someone from each group to read the instructions and they set off to work on a new task.
The goal was for each group to get as much down as possible in each group. The group with the most completed answers at the end, will when a prize. Each group will be graded based on the class average of completed tasks overall. If the average completed sentences is 10, groups above 10 will get extra credit, below ten will lose points.
It took a lot of prep time to get seven stations together, but in the end, it was a great activity. The constant change and variation of activities kept student engaged and helped them to work together to practice and reinforce the curriculum. My mind is already racing as I am trying to think of other ways that I could use stations in the classroom.
Since I already have my students divided into groups, I knew that I would need seven stations. I also wanted to use this opportunity to have students practice all skills: listening, reading, writing and reading. Also, due to lost time, we had run out of time to learn a grammar concept, so I needed to have a station where they could take notes and learn the concept. Here is what I landed on for stations:
Station #1: Students read a French article (which I had re-written to be level 1 appropriate) which described the weather climate in different regions in France. Their task was to glue weather icons to the appropriate region onto a map of France.
Station #2: They had to watch a weather video on meteofrance.com and write, in English, a sentence about the weather. Each person was to write one sentence then pass the paper to the next person. (It was cool, because most groups actually ended up writing in French)
Station #3: (This was their favorite) Using an Ipad app called AudioBoo, the students had to look at a local 5-day weather forecast that I had pulled up on another Ipad, and each person had to record a statement, in French, about the weather. We live in St. Louis, a 5-day forecast for us, in January, usually includes rain, snow, cold weather and nice weather, so there is a variety of vocabulary practice available. The groups spent a minute looking at the weather forecast, then each person said a statement, then passed the Ipad. No one could repeat another person's statement, and the goal was to say as many statements as possible.
Station #4: Students used local weather forecasts from local weather stations that they looked up on an Ipad or their phones, then filled out a survey about the weather. The survey had a thermometer in Celsius for them to complete, as well as conditions about the highs and lows for today and tomorrow.
Station #5: Students looked at a screen shot of a 5 day forecast on a phone for the city of Rouen. They had to write sentences about the weather for these days. Each person had to write a French sentence, then pass the paper to the next person. The goal was to get as many sentences written as possible without repeating anyone's sentence.
Station #6: In this unit, we are learning "avoir expressions". There are a list of 7 expressions that students need to know. For this station students had a textbook and each student received a copy of Cornell notes. They had to read the textbook, then take notes. They also were given an activity to practice the idea with images which they had to write sentences using the newly learned expressions. The goal was to get as many of these sentences completed, correctly.
Station #7: For this station, students were practicing the verb "aller" which they had learned in this chapter. They were given a handout with pictures of activities. They had to write sentences to tell what activity a person was "going" to do and add the place where they would do this activity.
Set up for the stations took some time and organization. I had the desks arranged into groups when the students came in. There was a table tent card at each "quad" with numbers in different colors. Since, the students had already been arranged in color groups, they were instructed, when they walked in, to sit with their colors. Also, on each "quad" I had a laminated sheet of instructions for that station, and any other supplies that they might need: glue, handouts for the activity, textbook and Ipads when necessary. I took the first few minutes of class to do a quick explanation of each station.
Then, I set the time for 6 minutes, instructed someone to read the instructions sheet to the group and they set off to work. I could walk around to check answers, answer their questions or re-focus less focused students. Because the timer was counting down on the SmartBoard, a sense of urgency kept everyone (for the most part) on-task. After six minutes, the time buzzed, a designated member brought me the paper that their group had completed for that station (if they had completed a paper) and they moved to the next number. I set the time again, instructed someone from each group to read the instructions and they set off to work on a new task.
The goal was for each group to get as much down as possible in each group. The group with the most completed answers at the end, will when a prize. Each group will be graded based on the class average of completed tasks overall. If the average completed sentences is 10, groups above 10 will get extra credit, below ten will lose points.
It took a lot of prep time to get seven stations together, but in the end, it was a great activity. The constant change and variation of activities kept student engaged and helped them to work together to practice and reinforce the curriculum. My mind is already racing as I am trying to think of other ways that I could use stations in the classroom.
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