Teaching La Vida Loca
Teaching La Vida Loca
Episode 104: I was observed- Here's what she said!
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Here are the links mentioned in this episode:
Splat (I used to call it squirt! ha!)
Research- Effective Classroom Management at the beginning of the School Year
Classroom Jobs Podcast - My FAVE Jobs
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Welcome back to Teaching La Vida Loca, the podcast you come to for short and sweet and sometimes spicy episodes full of enthusiasm, magic, and tips and tricks for your classroom. I'm Annabelle, your Maestra Loca, and I'm here to bring you inspiration, unapologetic authenticity, and ideas to spark more joy in your teaching journey. I'm turning up the excitement and elated to have you right here with me.
I'm not just your host, I'm your cheerleader, and I'm thrilled you're tuning in. So, let's do this. Let's tackle Teaching La Vida Loca together.
Hello and welcome to episode 104 of Teaching La Vida Loca. I'm so glad you're here. I am here after a week of no podcasting just because I was really sick last week. Actually, the tail end of the week prior and then through the early parts of last week and I decided to just take it off and let my voice rest and I'm glad I did. And I'm back here to share with you about an observation I had on Wednesday last week.
So, I was finally feeling like I was recovering. I was recovered enough to go back to school on Tuesday. I was grateful for the long weekend. There's no way I could have gone back on Monday if we were required to be there. Luckily, we had Labor Day, but I went back on Tuesday and did very low energy things for me, put the work more on the student shoulders, and then on Wednesday was back to teaching and really giving it my all. And I had a surprise walkthrough. Now when I say surprise she did ask.
She said, you know, can I start doing walkthroughs? I said, yeah, I don't care when people come into my room. I literally don't because I know I'm going to be doing my best no matter what. And my best some days looks like me sitting on a chair while I supervise kids doing an input activity. And sometimes my best means me facilitating a huge story up at the front of the classroom and facilitating students giving me input for the story etc. So, my best will be given every day and whether you come and it looks like the first version I gave or the second I know that it's my best.
So, I don't really care about announced walk-ins, and she actually came and her plan was to stay for 10 minutes. She told me, she just showed me like I'm going to be here for 10 minutes. And I said, yeah that's fine. She ended up staying for 20 minutes actually was 25 for the rest of my sixth and seventh grade class. If they are new to my school, they are in the sixth-grade class because they can't be grouped with kids who have had a year of solid language instruction. So, they're grouped with my sixth graders and then she stayed for my eighth-grade class which is my class I am having a lot of challenges with however we're getting there. We are getting there. Surely, we are. It's very a slow process but we are getting there. And she stayed there for a good 20 minutes of that class.
So, it was 45 minutes instead of 10 minutes. But I figured she'd leave if she wants to and I just kept rocking and rolling with the kids. And she wrote me an incredible feedback email and copied my principal but gave me phenomenal verbal feedback as well when I passed her at the end of the day and she just said that was just masterful.
It felt like everything you're doing it's already a well-oiled machine and we're only in the fourth week of school. And I said gosh I'm so glad that it feels that way because for me I feel like we've still got a couple weeks to go. However, I have worked tirelessly on systems and routines the last three and a half weeks to ensure that kids have no doubt in their mind what they have to do in my space.
And I want to reference my Familia Loca PLC workshop that I did this month because I shared in there every single system and routine that I have been hammering home at the beginning of the school year and exactly how I'm practicing it with students when it goes wrong and exactly how I'm giving feedback to students for when it goes wrong or when it goes right. Like all of those things because the reality is yes 100%, we want to aim to build community starting from the beginning of the year and part of that is really building concrete systems and routines in place so that students have no doubt in their mind what they need to do when.
And this is research backed too; that's the beautiful part of it is this is all researched. I shared a lot of this research with Familia Loca specifically around trauma informed teaching when it comes to schema theory and automaticity and then I also shared about the idea behind cognitive load and working memory when it comes to systems. But the research I want to share with you today because you should join Familia Loca if you want to hear all of the things in my brain.
But the thing I really want to share with you today is this study that was done by Everdson and Anderson on looking at effective classroom management at the beginning of the school year, and they did a similar study also looking at effective beginning of the school year in junior high classes and what the research found more than anything is that highly effective teachers treated procedures and routines as curriculum. They treated the procedures and routines and systems in their classroom as the curriculum during the first three weeks of school. They explicitly demonstrated these. They practiced them; they gave feedback on them; they retested them; they went through all of this as if it was the most critical and important thing and they didn't worry about jumping straight into contact because they knew they would be gaining additional minutes of content and the ability to teach that if their systems and routines were down so pat and they were so automatic that kids didn't have to think about it because then all that working memory is dedicated only to content and not wondering how and where this has passed and wondering if I should raise my hand to go get a tissue and sharpen my pencil.
What was it that this teacher wants for me to do when I want to ask to go to the bathroom. Where was it that I or how am I dismissed from this classroom. All of those things take up working memory, and it should be something that the kids don't have any hesitation in their mind. They know exactly what your expectation is in your room and so what I told my supervisors is that you know I'm really grateful for all this feedback and I'm grateful to hear that to you it looks like a well machine already because for me I feel like we're still getting there. We're still rehearsing and practicing the expectations. The day before she had come we practiced our entry routine three times because my class just was not getting it right but when she came in and she saw that eighth grade class she saw them enter on zero start their to-do now and six different children get straight to their class job and she was like this is amazing and I'm thinking wow that was such a huge improvement from yesterday and that's great we're on the right track we are getting there and it's still a work in progress and that's okay.
So, if you are at the beginning of the year and you have some systems and routines in progress but they're kind of clunky, stop, figure those out now, take the time, it's okay. Content will come. Take the time to rehearse, give feedback on all of your systems and routines because students appreciate it just as much as you do and then when October- November comes, you can focus on the real behaviors that are coming. You don't have to worry about them doing the basic routines and systems and procedures that are foundational for your class and the success in your classroom.
Okay it's time today, I'm going to tell you about splat. It's been a long time since I've talked about splat. If you know this one already then you can skip forward a good minute or two. Splat was one of the five things that she talked about in her notes from my walkthrough so I thought why not share splat on the podcast so that you could try it. I will link to a, it's either a blog or a video I can't remember what I have but I definitely have something where you can see it in action and learn about it in more detail but this is one of those big circle brain breaks and I took it from a theater brain break that I used to play growing up in theater called bang and I don't use the word bang and we don't make our hands look like guns for obvious reasons. Instead, we use our hands like web shooters, and we say splat and the kids literally make it look like they are spider person and they splat with their web shooter. One person stands in the middle that's usually me and if you say splat and point to somebody in the circle they have to duck down quickly and then the two neighbors, their neighbors on either side of them, turn in and try and say splat to get the other person out before the other person does. So, my middle schoolers love this brain break because it's an elimination brain break. There are quick outs and there are other ways to get out other than being splatted. The other ways to get out are if you don't duck fast enough you're out because obviously the people on either side of you are going to be splatting you and I have just splatted you and you did not duck fast and if let's say that I splat Lucy and Taj and Journey on either side of Lucy turn to splat each other but also on the other side of Taj was Dejanay and if Dejanay also turned to splat then Dejanay would be out because she was not a direct neighbor. So, it's a really fun elimination brain break. You can check the show notes for a video slash blog slash whatever the heck I remember to put there um for more details, but kids really do love it and what my supervisor said specifically was I absolutely loved the brain break splat. I stopped taking notes because I wanted to play so bad it's great that you let eighth graders pick the brain break that they want. It gives them agency and that was interesting because in that class when they stood up to do a brain break I was at capacity and I was irritated with how something was going so as a gift to myself I took a deep breath and I looked at my brain break ninja which is one of my jobs and I said what brain break do you want and I asked in Spanish and he said splat so I said great let's do splat. So, in her mind it was this me giving them agency which in a way it was and what she didn't see was I needed a mental break, and I needed to not think about what we were about to do so it was as beneficial for me as it was for my kids. Here you go. I hope you enjoy it.
Okay now we're back so just as I read my supervisor's note which was note number five on the brain break splat I'm gonna go through her other notes and just tell you a little background about them but I'm gonna still keep this episode short and sweet because that's all you ever want from me right? Short and sweet.
Okay takeaway number one, she said specifically you have very clear student jobs including the class ambassador who came to greet me in person after quick check in with you. I also noticed there's a timer person; there's a person who is giving you permission of whether or not to speak in English. It seems you have a water drinker reminder; there's somebody setting up daily incoming work; there's different people picking up student work; a person reminding others to turn in their pencils to the pencil parking; these jobs are all well established with clear job descriptions and it keeps the class going allowing students to move if their job warrants it and it also keeps everyone on their toes. So, I am really proud that my jobs are set up completely at this point in the year I usually I would say introduce them a little bit later in the year, but I did it early this year and it's working out really well. It's also really working out because I am doing nothing else other than teaching and making connections with my students because I already have all these jobs in place if you've been following me for a long time or you already have my jobs course that I did with John Seifert then you might have heard a new job in there and that is my water specialist and my specialist at the Agua is somebody who has the opportunity three times in the class period to yell Agua and that is my cue to stop and drink water no matter what I am doing no matter if I'm in the middle of a sentence or the middle of doing something I have to stop and drink water. They're only allowed to do it three times, but it is really helping me stay hydrated which was something that I noticed week one that I was struggling so much with especially in comparison to my summer months, so I love this new job. I actually have four new jobs and if you have my job course and you're thinking I want to know, don't worry I'm recording them this week and uploading them to the same course that you already have access to and I will email you when they are there. If you were somebody who's like what jobs course, tell me more. John Seifert and I recorded an entire course that is five hours of content all about using classroom jobs in your classroom. He and I are very different. He teaches high school and he goes about jobs in a very specific way and he changes them about every four to six weeks with his high schoolers. He's been using them for many years. I have only ever used jobs with elementary and middle, and I do them also in a very different way from John, but I also use every single student in my classroom who has a job. So, if you are somebody who really wants to learn about that then you can check the show notes. I'll give you a blog about how I implement class jobs. I'll give you a podcast on my five top favorite jobs, and then I'll also link our course which is the you know the hot spot it is the place to learn about all things how to implement jobs, how to roll them out, how to decide what jobs you want to start with, if you want to start small how to phase jobs out, how to invent new jobs, how to manage them, how to have kids apply or not. All of the things are found in that course so if you're interested in that I'll also link that.
Yay okay moving on to number two. Number two from her notes says you maintain high expectations by asking for 100 percent participation in parentheses. She said I am missing four students etc. and you used English appropriately including to narrate positive expected behaviors, so I think this is really important because in my novice level classes, I'm already at 95 percent target language. Could I do this in my first three to five years of teaching? No, maybe, on my really fantastic days in my fourth and fifth year. My goal in my first few years of teaching was keeping my sanity, figuring out what it meant to stay sheltered with my language and speaking really slowly over time. My new goal has shifted to 95 to 98 percent target language usage and being really intentional with when and how I'm using English and I love that she was able to point that out already in the fourth week of school that even in my novice class I am really intentional with my English like language usage and I am explicitly pointing out to students when I don't have their hundred percent participation. What that means is if I asked them a question like a yes or no question or an either-or question or fill in the blank question my expectation is that a hundred percent of them are answering me or a hundred percent of them answering me correctly possibly not, but every single person needs to respond and I do this with a chart. I know, Familia, look I know it's a lot. We talk a lot about it but I have a chart in my classroom that I simply just touch on the 80 or the 60 and I use it so much at the start of the year because I really need to train them on how my class runs and looks so different from every other class that they're in during the day because I am not going to give them 10 minutes of teach time and then rotate around as they fill out a worksheet. I am speaking for a lot of the class and I'm guiding them through interpersonal conversations and my expectations is that they are using the language, interpreting the language, and showing me whether I'm comprehensible or not throughout the class period. So, I have very high expectations when it comes to their engagement with me and their focus and I'm only able to do that because I am teaching this expectation right and I'm throwing in brain breaks so that they can maintain that high focus and engagement.
Okay the next one was she said I loved all caps, the gestures, and the ongoing repetition. Students are acquiring so much Spanish in a context that's actually relevant to them and much of it is embedded in a very compelling story example. LeBron does not want to move the house because it does not have a tv; she's referencing a one-word image story that we're doing. I decided to start very early on with one-word images with all my classes as class mascots, more on that to come. I've already shared all the exciting details with Familia loca. It might be my new favorite thing that I've ever done with classes and I'm starting at this year and it's incredible once this idea has come to fruition and I am complete with it. I would share about it more on the podcast if you missed it and if you are Familia, I encourage you to go back and watch our workshop of the month from September. It is a really good one. New members and old members were like this should be at conferences all over this is such a good workshop um, so I encourage you to go back and watch it in your portal. But I think what's really important about this is that even though I'm doing this story about the one word image, I'm constantly referencing my own students and linking it back to them so when I say LeBron doesn't want this new house because he really wants a house with a big tv to play his video games, I'm saying okay who in here likes video games just kidding I won't have asked that because I would have asked that the other day when we established that this character likes video games but I'm following up with another question linked to video games like how many hours do you play video games going back to one of the kids who referenced that. They like them. Again that's showing that I listened and that I cared enough to remember and that kid might say I only play on the weekends and they might do that in English and I'm like oh how interesting so I convert that back into Spanish and I go to my word wall to find my days of the week and I say he’s only very slowly plays on Saturday and Sunday and then I might ask him which day do you play more Saturday or Sunday that child might say Saturday and I say ooh do you prefer to play alone or with somebody he tells me alone. Then I stand the whole class up for movement. This is not a brain break, this is a movement break, and I say, “Go to this side of the room if you like to play video games alone similar to that student's name go to that side of the room if you prefer to play with people and come over here if you do not like to play video games ready go. Ah interesting, there are five people who prefer to play alone and class, how many people in this classroom do not like to play video games? Interesting. Okay sit back down.”
I never stand for too long because one, I want to keep their attention so it's very easy for side conversations to happen once they're with their friends in those different pods. I like to be in control of how and when side conversations happen and then moving on I go back to that story but I'm constantly finding ways to keep the language comprehensible and done in a context that they can understand but also one that's relevant to them because they need to find relevance in order to become motivated enough to stay engaged in the class right? Liam Printer talks a lot about that.
Okay the fourth one that I will share with you is the last one because I already shared number five in the brain break but the fourth one says you allow retakes for homework by clarifying that students can get more points by referring to the rubric on google classroom which builds trust and maintains high expectations. Students can redo their work to match your expectations. Especially at the beginning of the year it's really important that we are consistently patient with students not meeting our expectations when it comes to classwork if it is something that is different from other classes so because my class is so different for me, knowing that my students could go back and earn more points if they just look at the rubric or relook at the description of what they're supposed to do then they're gonna earn more points and I actually win because they end up going back and reading more in Spanish. I rarely assign homework. There were kids specifically that she was talking about who had missed a day and this was their work to make up that class and so yes, they had to do homework to read about what was covered in class and then draw it because that was something that everybody else had done during that class period that day they missed. I am a parent who has a child at a school that has high demands for homework. We're talking four to five hours a night and I hate every moment of it and so does she and so it's not something that I believe in and since I'm at a school that doesn't require me to do it. It is a rare thing that I assign but if I do assign it.
I like it to be input based more than anything but I love allowing kids to make up things because if it just means more exposure and more input why the heck not and my door is always open during their independent work time or their study halls because I also want them to come and talk to me and get more input if I can sit with them and read it again or retell it so they can have more one-on-one focus with me than yay that's also a huge win.
Amazing. That's all. My observation went so well, yay for the beginning of the year feeling strong and it's okay if you don't feel that you have it all together yet because I certainly didn't and I also felt that that was a really hard day for me because it was the first day that I was finally coming out of this sickness and my energy was very low. She actually mentioned this in her last note so these were the last two classes of the day and she said overall both classes presented themselves with very different levels of energy; high energy with sixth and seventh and such a large group and much lower energy in eighth you matched them where they were and here's me thinking oh I was just really low energy. It was really hard but to the outsider's eyes it looked like I matched them where they were. I think the key to this was I actually matched the brain breaks and movement activities to the energy levels of those classes and so it might have felt that my energy was matching them but really it was just the activities that I did or the spur of the moment brain break activities matched the energies and helped me to focus their energies and engagement in very specific ways. Some might call that manipulative. I would call that very talented teaching.
I hope you're well. I'm thinking about you often and happy back to school season! I know it's really new back to school for some of you and for many of you are in weeks five and six like me. Wherever you are in this cycle, I am so glad that you are listening. I'm so glad to support you through my podcast and I hope you continue listening and I'll be in touch next week. Take care and until next time, I'll be teaching la vida loca and I'm sure you will be too. Bye!