Fickle Fridays & Crazy Ball

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Fickle Fridays
In about 3 weeks, Fickle Friday is something I’ll begin with my 7th grade Exploratory Language classes. Why then? That’s when we begin Latin, the second of three languages this year.

On Fickle Friday a student rolls a die (6, 10, 20…100-sided?) to see which language we’ll be speaking that day. This has a purpose; I don’t want students to think that they should abandon Spanish just because we’re starting a new language. The same will be true for both Spanish and Latin once we get to French. Plus, it’s fun.

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OWATS: CI not Guaranteed

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Familiarize yourself with Bob Patrick’s One Word At a Time Stories (OWATS), here.

Sure, this activity can be used to deliver understandable messages when asking questions to each group and/or providing Pop-Up Grammar explanations. Realize, though, that the more groups you have, the less CI you can deliver; time is divided between groups students instead of all at once in a whole-class format. Aside from the main purpose of providing some limited CI, OWATS is also suitable when you need a break from delivering CI. I was in that kind of state of mind today, and didn’t ask groups many questions. Still, the students had a blast creating stories together.

I didn’t plan ahead of time for today’s OWATS, but quickly realized upon entering the building that after the long weekend (including a surreal night at Hôtel de Glace), I didn’t have the energy to sustain a full day in Spanish (n.b. we start Latin in February, then French in April for this 7th grade Exploratory Language course). Teachers new to CI, and Latin teachers new to speaking Latin will likely find themselves in a similar boat. OWATS is a good option. I always have phrases we’ve used typed up, cut out, and ready to go, and continue to add more to the pile as we go…

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How to Confuse Students: Tricky Questions

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Most tricky questions are the misguided product of a teacher thinking they’ve created a valid or rigorous assessment. Validity is when the assessment measures what it’s supposed to measure. This usually means that assessments show that students know what was taught. When it comes to teaching a language, teachers lacking Second Language Acquisition (SLA) training tend to select the wrong thing to be measured (e.g. grammar, cultural facts, etc.). These things usually include tricky details, which lead to tricky questions. Validity then becomes an issue when these teachers use such assessments as evidence that they successfully teach “communicatively” or “for fluency,” when they’re only assessing memory and knowledge about the language system and its speakers. Rigor then muddles things up.

Rigor is not well defined in most school systems, but people (i.e. parents, admin, evaluators, colleagues, etc.) seem confident when they BELIEVE it’s not there. As such, teachers are under pressure to create assessments that seem rigorous, but these assessments just end up being longer (i.e. obtrusive), complex, and downright sneaky. Here’s an example I lifted from a teacher’s assessment. It’s a weak example, but serves our need for the purpose of discussion:

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Bad Latin: Inaccurate? Too Simple?

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I’m intrigued whenever there’s mention of “bad Latin.” Honestly, I’ve never experienced it, even from my students! I was curious whether a similar phenomenon exists for a modern language, so I asked my wife if she’s ever referred to any Spanish she’s read as “bad.” Although she couldn’t recall a particular case, indeed there seemed to be two situations in which she might say this; if something is inaccurate, or too simple.

As for the latter, for something to be labeled “too simple” you must correctly identify the target audience’s level. People who refer to “bad Latin” are overestimating the audience level. This should come as no shock since realistic goals are not Classicists’ strong suit. Furthermore, we know that reading below one’s level can be enjoyable, and instills confidence. Our students need both of these.

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The Role of Output: VanPatten

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On Episode 8 of Tea with BvP (here, edited down to 13 minutes), Bill made the claim that if Input drives the car of acquisition, Output is in the backseat. He went on to say that you could make Swain happy by saying that Output is riding shotgun, but still not in control.

Bill also said the following:

“One role of Output is to help people get more Input…when you make some kind of Output people can judge…people actually speak to you at the level they perceive you to be at, which gives you better Input for yourself.”

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Error Traps: Why students CAN’T make errors in classes with Acquisition as the goal.

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In one of Bill VanPatten’s latest Tea with BvP episodes (which I’ve edited down to only his responses, see the CI Materials page for past edited episodes), he talked about how there are no errors when it comes to the expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning of our students, at least in terms of language acquisition. What we hear/read from students is a consistent representation of how they’ve construction the second language system in their mind. It is what it is, and there are very few factors besides time and comprehensible input. Thus, there are no errors.

This has HUGE implications for language teaching. Take the following comparison…

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Tiny Fluency Writes

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Q. What’s worse than thinking you can’t write a lot of Spanish?

A. Feeling bad about it because you’re given a ton of writing space.

Here’s new Fluency Write paper for Timed Writes, Free Writes, Speed Writes, etc., with Novice language learners in mind, particularly those in middle school. There’s still enough space for a fast processor to flip the page and write up to 110 words, but no so much that a slow processor leaves class with a crummy sense of low self-efficacy. Plus, you get 2 Fluency Write papers from every 8.5 x 11 double-sided sheet.

(Front)

fluency 1

(Back)fluency 2

Proficiency Grading FAQs, and New Rubric Option

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**Updated Expectations Rubric**

I’ve had many questions when it comes to implementing my complete grading system, or proficiency rubrics independently from DEA. As a result, you’ll find minor adjustments in their appearance, as well as a few changes that highlight the FAQs.

Proficiency Goal Rubrics
Independent Rubrics (when NOT used in complete grading system along with DEA)
Simplified Rubrics (for exploratory, middle school, or less-prescribed high school programs)

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Discipulus Illustris: Those Quizzes

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**Read about DISCIPVLVS ILLVSTRIS, and Sabrina’s variation for some context**

Should we assess what students remember about their classmates, or should we assess whether students understand Latin?

Although the former has social benefits, let’s face it…we use student details as our understandable messages in Latin. It’s great to know that Johnny’s birthday is in April, but it’s better to be able to read and understand all of the Latin used to express that detail. Inspired by a brilliant new tweak to Ben Slavic’s Quick Quizzes, I’ll be making the following changes:

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CI Online: Conclusion

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As I reflect a bit, my experience with Teaching CI Online was fine. The obvious physical barrier you would expect to be an issue didn’t actually impede much of anything. CI Online is absolutely possible. One major drawback was lack of reliable internet. On bad days, we just didn’t have class. Occasionally, I had to mute all microphones or disable cameras because of taxed bandwidth at a particular school. That was not cool for checking comprehension, teaching to the eyes, and making connections. If a school was prepared, there were no problems.

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