Language Sensei

A Language Teacher's Journey

“I see the Path…But Am Lost At The Starting Line!” (So Here’s How I’m Going to Get Going!)

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One of the best things for my teaching that I did last year was attend the #tellcollab held in Seattle. It was inspiring, chock full of resources & a huge ‘rethink’ for me. Day 1 told me I was moving in the right direction….Day 2 gave me lots to consider..and brought a huge revelation about using proficiency levels. Then I returned to work and promptly took 5 months off on a pre-planned self-funded leave.

As I start to think about my return I consider the changes that I want to make. And I am – as I tweeted earlier this month – almost paralyzed by what I COULD (and probably SHOULD) be doing…. It’s overwhelming to be honest. I have received so much input that, ironically, I don’t know where to begin. This is on top of changes to my provincial curriculum that are required next year as well. What to do? How to proceed? Well I decided to start small…slowly…and for maximum impact/minimum stress… So to change & survive I will:

DAILY LEARNING INTENTIONS for EVERY COURSE:  It’s amazing to me that students in my Yr3 & 4 often enter class and ask ‘What are we doing today?’ (TL of course). They like to know what class will focus on. In the past I’ve laid it out based upon ‘activities’ (eg. reading, convo circles…) but I realized that I was only listing actions and not WHY we are doing them! I really liked the daily learning intentions idea from #tellcollab. Not only will students know the ‘why’ of what we are doing but..I will have to face up to lessons that really serve no purpose.

PROFICIENCY TARGETS/FOCUS ON PATH – YEAR 1 & 2 ONLY: I’ll be implementing the proficiency path with my Yr 1 & 2 only. These are my newest students – the ones at or near the start of the path. They will be the ones to have the full ‘explanation’ (baptism?) into proficiency (and thank you to Meredith for her sharing of how she introduces it). My Yr1&2’s, as they proceed in learning, will ‘see’ themselves moving from Novice…to Intermediate lower levels to….a real positive path of progression.  I’m not ‘abandoning’ my senior grades but I am making the choice to ‘finish out’ with them without a firm focus on proficiency. It’s a choice based upon reading & learning I’ve done around levels says that ‘intermediate’ is loooong stage. To maintain enthusiasm & a focus on goals will be harder if my students ‘start’ somewhere in the Intermediate range. I don’t know that they will appreciate even subtle moves within one main descriptor. And, I do a lot to be ‘proficient teacher’ already with them – they will know where they sit in meeting expectations. And for the sake of my sanity that’s enough.

ONE UNIT/ONE COURSE AT A TIME … – I’m not redoing everything…at once. That would kill me. And I believe it would prove more chaotic for my students. So, just as I am spiraling up the proficiency focus and like we ‘spiral’ up our vocabulary I will add new CI/new stuff I want to try in a calm way. It will allow me to get a real handle on working more closely with everything new. It will allow me to take time to reflect on what is happening and seek guidance for what isn’t/what I don’t get – hello #langchat peeps?!  My Yr 1 course is in Sem 2 this coming year, I hope to get more than 1 unit done in their course.

CONTINUE TO READ/ASK/TRY/LEARN/GET NEW IDEAS ….#langchat…and “Path to Proficiency“‘s bloggers….and….hopefully a return to another #tellcollab.

And finally when I get down, when “it” doesn’t work, when I think that I am losing my way…I will read & read Maris Hawkins’ post about being kind to myself about what I am doing…and how far down the path I already am!

C

 

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