Celebrating Success

June 6, 2012June 19, 2012 Erin.Grewar Celebrating Success, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Year End Activities

Summer’s Here! Oh yeah, it’s only the beginning of June (Part 2)

Pen Pals – Corresponding with Other Teachers and Students

Pen pals (via actual paper!! or computer) is a great way to link up with other students and teachers. This is something that is wonderful to do throughout the course of the entire school year but it’s also a fun thing to end off with as well. You have a couple options – actual correspondence with francophone students or even writing back and forth to your colleague’s classes at a different school. I’ve found that the yearbook page is a perfect lead in to this activity since students basically have already created their profile in French and can choose to alter it as they wish.

If you’re starting this activity in June, chances are, you’ll only have the time for one exchange but it is still worth it since students will naturally anticipate getting a reply to their letter. Something to consider is also meeting up with the other class and having some kind of event (café/speed meeting, etc) where they can meet and have a personal discussion in French. This exchange can be continued next year when students can continue to build a relationship through correspondence and even future meetings. Not only is this a great opportunity for the students, it also naturally provides a chance for teachers to collaborate with colleagues (much more rare for Core French teachers) on projects and even field trips.

Out of the Mouths of …..Former Students – Serious Words of Advice

Not to give the impression that the entire month of June is a time-filler but between class parties, field excursions, awards assemblies, tournaments, end of the year trips, graduation, etc, there are many days where you need a short/bridge activity. I stumbled across this particular idea entirely by accident when I bumped into four former students in the hallway. With an assembly that unexpectedly ended 40 minutes early and with no energy to entertain the hordes with another French game, I more or less coerced them to come into my class and give a short, impromptu talk about life in high school, and of course, their experience with secondary French.

Tiring of the oft repeated and unheeded “You’re going to need this in Grade 9…,” I figured it would provide my class with real-life renditions of high school experiences and dispel some commonly-held beliefs (or jaded accounts by ill-intentioned older siblings). What resulted was a spontaneous, dynamic discussion that covered a range of topics – challenges, differences with elementary school, preparedness, things they would have done differently, etc.

If you really wanted to play up the French part, it would be a good idea to invite those students who pursued French through high school and to discuss international travel opportunities and future studies/career choices. Somehow, it made a real difference having this frank, open discussion with former peers. They were engaged and because of their familiarity, took their advice seriously. In fact, it was so successful, they willingly agreed to stay and talk to my next class as well. From that year onwards, I always made a point to invite former students back for the same type of discussion. Not only was it beneficial to my grade 8s, it was also an empowering experience for my guest speakers as well.

June 4, 2012June 19, 2012 Erin.Grewar Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Planning, Resources, Year End Activities

Summer’s Here! Oh yeah, it’s only the beginning of June (Part 1)

At this time of year, there seems to be a most distinct correlation between hot sunny weather and a drastically decreased output on the part of students (and if we’re being really honest, teachers as well). It’s been my experience that anything that doesn’t involve soccer baseball is met with a combination of disbelief, outrage and downright disgust. The secret is to engage your students in projects that are just too much fun to pass up. One such activity upon which I rely for such occasions is the “Annuaire” or class yearbook. With enough hype and enthusiasm on your part, they will buy into it as well. I usually give them a rough copy template with the following headings:

Nom
Sobriquet
Classe
Moment mémorable
Bête noire
Ambition personnelle

As with all assignments, it’s important to give students an exemplar for reference, brainstorm useful structures/expressions together and have all information visually accessible in the form of anchor charts. Again, you could also help them out by giving them sentence starters as well. Something that will no doubt grab their attention is if you fill out the sheet as you would have in grade 8 and of course, provide a picture of yourself at that age. In the past, this is what I have used as an exemplar so it serves a dual purpose. I think you’ll find this project will get them focused and productive and also provides a great opportunity for review if you’re discreet about it (le passé compose, le futur proche, les constructions avec deux verbs, etc).

Once complete, you can have the yearbook of each of the separate classes on display (and even use the yearbooks from previous years) – they are naturally curious about the work of their peers and love to reminisce about former students.

*For this to be really successful, it helps if you provide them with the materials they need such as bright, coloured paper, watercolours, markers and pencil crayons. What I also found is that it was much easier if I took their pictures and had them developed so that each student had a picture to accompany their page.

May 31, 2012June 19, 2012 Alison.Board Assessment, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Planning, Report Cards, Use of Technology, Year End Activities

Celebrating Our Year

We often think that the last two months of school will be all about reflection and reviewing, yet with so many other demands outside of the classroom – our last weeks can feel rushed and frantic. Teachers are often asked to think about planning for the following year, before they can fully complete the one they are in.

To stay present and celebrate with your current classroom community, here are a few suggestions:

1. Consolidate learning – Spend two or three weeks in June reflecting on the students’ learning and giving them time and opportunity to make connections between topics or skills. As a class, you can can discuss the highlights of the year and chart them, or have students work in small group on their shared topics of interest. This may evolve to look like a yearbook that they make with words and images or a story they create in comic form on the computer.

2. Celebrate learning – Provide students with an opportunity to invite other classes, learning buddies, or parents/friends to the classroom before their projects are sent home. Students can make invitations, create portfolios of work, or set up the room for an open house. The celebration may look like a gallery walk, a dramatice presentation, a sharing of portfolios, or a relaxed poetry cafe.

3. Outdoor Classes – In the last week of school when you are sending home work and generally cleaning up your classroom, take students outside for activities that you would normally do inside. This could look like a read-a-loud, visual art activities (such as sketching), visits to local parks or public libraries.

We are completing our assessments and writing reports now, but with a little planning for the next few weeks with reflective exercises and opportunities to make connections, the students will be more engaged and value their last weeks at school as meaningful and rewarding.

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Celebrating Success, Learning in a Real Life Context

Students as Teachers: the Power of Modelling

Our school organized the annual “Jump Rope for Heart” play day to raise funds and awareness of the importance of heart health. Since our Grade 5/6 classes are quite responsible, it was decided that the Grade 6s run the events, the Grade 5s act as team leaders and teachers simply supervise to make sure things ran smoothly. What I witnessed that afternoon was nothing short of pure pride and astonishment at watching “mini” teachers at their best!

Team leaders would arrive at the stations and immediately count to make sure they had every child (JK-Gr4) accounted for. They would then make sure that the children were sitting and paying attention to the station supervisors. I was thoroughly impressed as I listened to the way they spoke with the younger children. “You’ll get to have fun right after we find out how to play this game. Remember that listening carefully makes it easier to understand what you need to do. We’ll be asking you to repeat the instructions so make sure you listen.” Wow. I took out a camera to film and photograph these meaningful moments. The team leaders then proceeded to explain and model each step. They divided the children into those who felt comfortable with the activity and those that needed extra help. As each group worked on their skipping skills, a leader continued to support them and modify steps so each child was successful! “It seems like this may be challenging for you and that’s ok because you’re just starting to learn this. You’re doing really well. I’ll modify it for you to make it easier, then we can try going faster.” Did she just say “modify?” One of my favourite moments was watching them celebrate each students’ success. High-fives were shared, cheers were abundant, and positive encouragement such as, “You did it! You’re amazing! I knew you could do it!” was given to everyone. I simply sat back with a huge smile across my face as other teachers noticed the same thing.

Afterward, I showed them the video and let them know how amazed I was at what I saw that afternoon. My students were proud, of course, but they reminded me that in our classroom that’s how we talk and act (most of the time). “We’re doing what you do Mrs. O!”

The truth is that our actions are much more powerful than our words and if we want to teach children how to behave, learn, think critically, etc. the best way to do so is to model it in our daily classroom experiences. I cannot stress enough the power of good modelling, self-reflection, and the celebration of success as we try to teach our students to become independent, motivated, self-confident individuals.