Becoming, always becoming, a MORE Equitable Educator: Reflections on my learning

Image of a woman with a handbag on a purple background.
 Text reads: MIT Teaching Systems lab Becoming a more equitable educator.

ABOUT THE COURSE AND MY ROLE

In my role as a community teaching assistant for the MIT Teaching Systems Lab course Becoming a More Equitable Educator, I have learned a lot, interacted with a great variety of educators, and written more than I could have ever imagined.

However, my learning, both from being a student in this course and from participating as a teaching assistant, has been wide ranging and also very action oriented. This is the place for me to talk about what I've done with some of that learning.

USING COMMUNITY ASSETS

image of a two people chatting on a computer and table. 
Text reads: Using community assets. Who are the experts in my community? 
What assets do I have?

During the course, educators are asked to develop a map of community assets. I did not realize that this asset map would serve as a foundation for a great deal of the work that I would do for this past year. I found allies and tapped into an amazing community of educators who had a lot to share about their own work in becoming more equitable.

I felt empowered- because of a new job and a strong sense of wanting to do something- to bring some educators together and create some trainings and resources to address equity in my teaching community. 

Here are some of those trainings and discussions:

Connecting with Students of Color with John Bracey

Understanding and Using Inclusive Language with Abelardo Almazán-Vázquez

Staying true to yourself (with Elicia Cárdenas)

This is equity related, just not directly. It is about making principled choices in teaching, albeit in a very specific context of comprehension based communicative language teaching. The more I explore this topic, the more I am sure that this is about equity.

A conversation on equity and engagement: what does it look like in 2020
with Bob Patrick, Meredith White, John Bracey, Dahiana Castro, and Elicia Cárdenas

Becoming an anti-racist educator: where to begin? by Elicia Cárdenas

EXAMINING OUR STATUS QUO

image: stack of books. Text reads: examining our status quo. 
What are commonly accepted practices that no longer fit with my goals of becoming more equitable? 

There are a lot of commonly accepted practices in world language classes, especially around assessment, that I felt like I needed to really dig into and ask if they were practices that were in line with my goals of becoming more equitable. It turns out that I had a lot to say about engagement, grading accuracy, participation, and more. I *still* have more to say, so when I write more, I will add it.

Title: Grammar teacher Goal: Language Acquisition

Addresses equity in our choice of pedagogy 

Things to Avoid: Grading Accuracy, Participation, and Engagement/Effort

The A Word: (Accountability)   Part 1 and Part 2: Reframing Accountability in a comprehension based classroom

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SELF CARE IN EQUITY WORK

image of a woman with a large heart. Text reads: Understanding the role of self care. 
How does taking care of myself help me be more equitable? 

This idea has been slowly coalescing and is still in its infancy. It started with a truly transformative experience at the People of Color Conference in a session about the trauma of equity work. I realized that I was carrying around a great deal of trauma from my experiences in working as part of an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion team. Like- A LOT. While that workshop was specifically focused on healing from trauma, it made me start to wonder:

How can taking care of myself and putting myself first help me be a more equitable educator? Here's what I came up with:

I can be my best self, more often.

If I am well rested and not stressed, I am less likely to react, and more likely to either notice a situation that is going off the rails before it happens or respond in a way that is kind and patient. Hangry me just snaps, gets annoyed, and kicks kids out or shamed them (we have all done it, and I am not proud of it). 

When I show up with my best self, I am much more likely to have an equity mindset. I am more likely to look at any student in any given moment with an asset based and context centered mindset.  

I can focus on what is important, more often. 

If I am taking care of myself and not spending every extra minute doing things that I hate (e.g. grading for the sake of grading, marking errors, etc.), I might also be taking more time to plan better lessons, to create time in my lessons to check in with students, creating or finding better resources, or (gasp) even connecting with other teachers to support my practice. 

This has played out for me in some really significant ways: by being more intentional about how I spend my contract hours, by setting clear boundaries with myself and with others (and still keeping my job!), and being intentional about how I spend my time at school, I found that I had a lot more energy to plan better lessons and find amazing resources, with which to plan better lessons. Prioritizing a manageable work-week was a game changer. Also, it made me sleep better, spend more time doing the things I love, which led to less stress and me being my best self.

I have more energy and resiliency.

I have more energy and resiliency to have hard conversations, to take risks as an educator, and to practice being aware (instead of avoidant).  

I started to explore this idea in a handful of earlier blog posts (What Matters Most and Simplify) but the difference between what I wrote then and what I am thinking now is that self care is not just a nice thing to do, it is vital to be able to engage in the day-to-day work of becoming a more equitable educator. 

Image: people dancing with joy. Text reads: I can be my best self, more often. I
 can focus on what is important, more often. I have more energy and resiliency.

CONCLUSION

What a funny thing to write! There is no end. It's not like I have magically reached "equitable". It is a life-long process. I am constantly learning and un-learning. I am exploring the intersection of anti-blackness, fatphobia, and the role of white supremacy in eating disorders and the thin ideal. I am examining my own intersectional identities as a white skinned chicana, as my family digs out evidence of our very near indigenous roots, and looking at my role as a descendent of colonizers and of those who were colonized.  I am grappling with social media activism (and its harm) and growing my own capacity to be a leader. These are not easy things. 

So, no conclusion, sorry! 

(The course from MIT Teaching Systems Lab ends on August 26, 2021.)

Becoming an Anti-Racist Educator: Where to Begin

I two-timed the blog world, sorry!  Click on the link to see my post about Becoming an Anti-Racist Educator over on the Comprehensible Classroom's blog.

Story asking! Video! Friday Afternoon!

So, you remember that Plan B class? They have made big improvements. HUGE, in fact. Not perfect. Far, far from it.  But...they have come a long way. 

So much that I asked a story in class today!!!  Since storyasking is one of my very favorite things to do in class, I was pretty joyful. Since it was the end of the day on a Friday, I was pretty exhausted.  

In fact, I asked the same story with two different sections of my Spanish 1B class of 8th graders.  

Level Up your Learning

 Use this form (and read the article while you are at it) to observe.  (This was a collaboration between Martina Bex and I.)  

Real talk

Please forgive any and all language mistakes- I am human.  And for a minute, I started to ask the story in past tense, then remembered mid-word what class I was in front of. 

Notes: The first THREE minutes are in English! Gasp! I was setting expectations.  That, to me, is a very good use of L1.   Also, for the first couple minutes or so of the actual story, the camera is on its own personal journey of discovery in my classroom.  It decided not to focus on me at all.  Skip to about minute 5 if you feel like you must, but the sound is pretty good in those first couple of minutes.  

You will see me mouth the words "pollo frito" a few times.  I am doing this because we established (ages ago) that when we say it, one kid leads us in his favorite dance. Thus, I use the magic of the fried chicken dance very carefully.  

At about 13:20, a kid starts to have a side conversation and I have to send them out of the room.  (They are going to work on a written assignment.) 

I also did this story with another class, but for now, here is one video. My apologies for not taking the time to add subtitles.  It's Friday night.

Click here if it won't start playing. 





This lesson is the Story asking part, day 2, of SOMOS 1, Unit 10.  Used with permission.  




Resources about story asking:  
Story asking: Summer SOMOS Fun Club Video
Story asking: bit.ly/storyaskingsupports  
Blog post and more info:  https://comprehensibleclassroom.com/2019/07/24/tprs-storyasking-made-simple/

#StoriesConnect Tips
#1-Set expectations
#2 Managing Choral Responses
#3- Teaching how to make suggestions

What is TPRS™?  

Standards Based Grading and My Classroom Practice

Grades. Assessment.  The pile of papers staring at me, just waiting for me to put little marks on them, then enter some more marks in the computer, so that kids and parents can ignore, celebrate, or argue  about (with each other or with me, depending on family culture).

Doesn't it just feel overwhelming sometimes?  And I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it!!! (Click here for information about what goes in my gradebook, here for how I grade reading and listening quizzes, and here for how I grade writing.)

I recently attended a 2 day seminar on Standards Based Grading with Rick Wormeli. (It was awesome.)  I am not at all new to his work and ideas, and I have spent time with proficiency based grading (a la Marzano- two full seminars).  I am also enrolled in an edX course (offered by the MIT teaching and learning lab) about Competency Based Grading.  Since the term ends in a few weeks, I am looking at end of term grades, my grading practice, my assessments, and trying to make sense of my new learning.   So, this is more of a personal blog post, with less practicality and more reflection.

 In no particular order, here is my attempt to process what I came away with:

Schools conspire against learning. Yes, well, this is so patently obvious it almost doesn't need commentary.  If I could just teach, and be free of the arbitrary nature of so much of my job, I would be a better teacher and I think the kids would acquire more.

Never sacrifice sound pedagogy because someone above you isn't there yet.
Yes.  Yes. A MILLION TIMES yes.

Sorting or cultivating? Is one better than the other?
Isn't that language super judgmental?

Are we here to sort or cultivate students?  I think I am here to cultivate students. So what am I doing that is sorting? Is sorting a negative word? Thanks to my colleague today who pointed out that it doesn't have to be negative.  When I differentiate, isn't it sorting?

Is it sorting to put a judgement on a product (an assessment, a project)?  Wormeli argues yes.  He argues that judgement does not promote learning.  But that assumes that students have control over their own learning, which is true for learning that involves the explicit system (math, science, other subjects) but not true for the implicit system of language acquisition.

I believe that giving feedback isn't going to affect their acquisition, especially not at the levels I teach (mostly 1 and 2).  Giving feedback on what they can control- that is, behavior that supports language acquisition...well, now we are getting into compliance.  And that is messy.

On another note: if I am teaching to cultivate, what about tracking students?  (My school has two tracks of math and Spanish.)  This brings up a lot of personal stuff for me because my experience with school was terrible and consisted of virtually no differentiation until there were honors classes that I could go into.  (I dropped out of public school and went to college at age 16.)  Now that I teach honors classes, I strongly believe that I am serving the kids better by splitting them up by proficiency, and meeting them where they are at.  But this is a very unpopular view, and I can see why.  I am going to have to put that one aside for now.

Compliance or competency?  MESSY!  

Compliance vs. Competency: It is MESSY.
Some of my peers and trainers argue that we should never grade for compliance (engagement), because that has nothing to do with their competency. And what about neuro-diverse students?   Others say that we should not grade their competency because they have no control over it, but we should grade what they can control (behaviors that support language learning), which is basically compliance.

Assessment is where we live our values. This resource, from the indominable Tina Hargaden, comes at just the right time.  But it brings up some difficult questions for me.  Am I grading too hard? Am I accurately assessing their proficiency levels?  Am I falsely inflating or deflating grades?  How do I know what proficiency levels look like?

Because if I am being honest, according to Tina's rubrics, I grade WAAAY low.  But I am consistent within my department, and within myself.  This is important to acknowledge, and a thought that I come back to again and again.  Scott Benedict's trainings on assessing freewrites helped me solidify this.  For more information, check out his work at Teachforjune.com.


I am already using standards based grades, and I think that my grades finally (mostly) represent what students can do and understand.  Whew. What a relief.  I have worked SO hard on this. And this is the best year so far, in that my students' reported grades really do seem to reflect their proficiency, not their organization or compliance. Sure, I can improve, but I feel like I am on the right track.  Even if I am trying to squeeze into my school's 100 point averaging system.

If I believe that students have no control over the rate at which they acquire language, I should not be grading them. Period. Full stop.  
Ouch.  And yes.  But reporting what they can do is valuable, both for them and for me, and required in the school system.  And I do like to see what they can do, and so do they.

Corollary: If students can't control what they acquire, why am I spending so much time and effort on this assessment stuff?  I mean, weighing the pig more often does not make it fatter.  
Oh wait. Because this is actually part of my job. Hmm.  Refer to my first point.  However, it does give me some peace thinking that my goal to load up the input, create a community where students feel valued, recognized, and successful, and where I love to go every day (because I have the time for self-care and self-reflection), is actually where my time should be spent.  And the majority of my assessments *should* be input-focused.  (Thanks to Lance Piantaginni for helping me see the value in input-based assessments.  After all: more input is always a good thing.)

I am so grateful to not be tied to a fixed schedule of summative assessments that are worth a certain percent and are unrecoverable.  However, I *am* still tied to getting enough grades in the grade book.  And "citizenship" as a grading category. (Can you hear the scorn dripping from my voice? This is one school requirement that really chafes at me.)

The assumption that students can control their language acquisition is incorrect, and the assumption that giving them descriptive feedback will help is just plain wrong.  Sorry, Rick.  
It might not be wrong for subjects like math etc. that rely on explicit learning, but the nature of second language acquisition is different.  Thanks, Bill VanPatten, for helping me get real clear about this.  So I am not going to spend a ton of time giving them feedback.  The payoff isn't that great for the time spent, especially when I could spend my time taking care of myself so I can better connect with kids, or finding interesting, compelling things to talk about with them, or trying to build my skills to speak so that they understand me.  Because those actions actually will help them acquire more.

Which leads me to some classroom practices that I am re-examining: 

Student Learning Objectives: 

Oh man, we love our objectives, don't we?  Many teachers have to have different ones daily, and track each student through each one and blah blah blah.  I am (once again) very grateful to work at a school where they are not required.  I developed them anyway, and every time I go back to teach a unit again, I look at them to decide if they still have meaning.  I think it is important that the kids know what the end goal is, even if it is very broad.  In fact, I hand them out to the kids to glue in their interactive-ish notebooks, and even post them as part of our starters.

In the first few weeks of the year, I ask students to self-reflect on their learning daily, usually based on the starter we did, and discuss what objective it was checking and what they can do to acquire.


But I stopped doing this around around October. I stopped because I would rather speak Spanish and ask how they are doing and just converse, not meta-process something over which they have no control.  Plus, twice a week, my starter is FVR/SSR, with no paperwork for the kids.

Another reason I stopped going over objectives was because the answer to "how will you move up the proficiency ladder" is ALWAYS more input.  I can remind kids of where to find that input (in class, on my class web page, during office hours, etc.) and that they can access it without anyone else, but the answer never changes.  And I felt like a broken record.  (There might be value in that though.)  It can be useful to have the discussion about the value of "practice", quizlet, and "write sentences". (That is, if it is input, it's great.  "Practicing sentences" or flashcards on quizlet , probably not.)


What I changed: After returning from the Wormeli workshop, I intentionally decided to refer to the objectives again in each class, and give the opportunity for self-reflection of progress.  My high-anxiety, high achievers really liked it.  Most of the others seemed to be confused and/or tuned out. And it took SO MUCH TIME!!

My verdict?  I think that I will continue creating and sharing objectives, and when the mood strikes, ask the kids to look at their progress and the objectives (through the starter), but it is not going to be a daily thing.  Maybe weekly?

Target structures, rubrics, and feedback:
I often ask students to write quick freewrites (10 minutes) at the end of the unit and incorporate the target structures from that unit. For first year students in 7th grade and Spanish 1B (8th grade) I decided that students being able to use the structures as practiced (3rd person) was proficient, as that was mostly what they were reading in the units, and seemed reasonable.  The application of using different endings to the words to talk about self and others seemed like an advanced goal, for writing. So that was my rubric.  I also graded more holistically on a modified ACTFL rubric (basically this from Martina.)   

Now, I have been using this target structures rubric for four years, and never loved it.  What if they use two correctly and forget the third?  Wormeli would perhaps say that I should disaggregate the grade for each in the gradebook to give a better reflection of their learning.  Well, that is great if you are working on different skills in a different subject,  but since I know that language is acquired in messy chunks, and the stages of development are fixed and also messy, and that kind of feedback won't help with acquisition, disaggregating seems like a poor use of (my) limited time.

 Wormeli says that descriptive feedback is helpful. I am doubtful about this assertion regarding language acquisition, but I do see the value in showing students where they did or didn't meet the expectation.

What I changed: I decided to ask the kids.  I took 10 minutes of class and just told them what I was thinking, and asked if the target structures rubric was helpful for them.  They said that they wanted to know which words they were using at what level.  I suggested that I just give them feedback- a checklist and grade them holistically on the ACTFL rubric.

This is the new rubric- this DOES NOT go in the grade book!

It was so smooth for me to grade in this last round of writing, and they commented how useful it was to see what they were doing right.  So that's a keeper!!!

Proficiency levels

Posters on my classroom wall

The last thing that I decided to change up this week was to spend a little bit more time in L1 talking about proficiency levels.

I spend almost a whole day at the beginning of the year having students work on an activity that introduces them to proficiency levels. (See examples below.)  I will write about what I do more specifically- I even have a video- but for now, suffice it to say that I explicitly teach about the ACTFL levels at the beginning of the year, and discuss with kids and families what their goals are (for June).

I also use rubrics with proficiency levels on them already, and I do talk to the students about what they mean.  But am I doing it enough?  This is what I wanted to find out.

Proficiency Project in the hall
I do this at the beginning of the year
(Novice High)

Novice Low

Intermediate  Mid

I decided that after giving a writing quiz, I would take the kids out to the hallway where I have their proficiency level projects hanging.  I asked them to re-read their quizzes and mark on the rubric where they thought they were, proficiency-wise, based on the rubric and the examples we did at the beginning of the year.

Like this adorable cat that doesn't quite fit into his box, kids taught in comprehension based communicative
classrooms don't fit nicely into ACTFL levels.

Now, there is a MAJOR problem with this.  If you have been focused on providing compelling, comprehended input in your classes, you can probably guess what it is.  ACTFL proficiency levels, originally developed for a non-educational context, don't play nicely with kids who get tons of input and start writing paragraphs almost immediately.  They tend to skip novice low completely and speed through novice mid, at least in my experience and understanding.   Depending on the teacher, they might start writing paragraphs in a variety of time frames.
Yes, it is usually messy, but as Tina Hargaden reminds us, novice and intermediate writers need a sympathetic reader.  (And remember, there is no such thing as an error, only an indicator of the developmental stage the learner is in. Again, thanks to BVP for reminding me of this.) So is their writing indicative of micro-fluency, and thus they are really not intermediate low or mid?  Tina has a strong case for the opposite- that teachers constantly rate their students too low.  I am still really struggling with this, and have been for years.

That being said, is this a worthy struggle for me as a teacher?  Does it *really* matter if my kids are novice high or intermediate mid? It is probably not going to change what I do.  I am still going to give them a huge diet of comprehensible, comprehended input, including fiction, non-fiction, academic language, adapted authentic resources, music, etc.

I mean, common language is great but totally meaningless if other teachers have different interpretations of these same words.

How to ask a story: Live (facebook live) event: Friday, Aug. 3, 3:30 MST

Hi, this is just a quick announcement to say that if you are part of the SOMOS Facebook group, you can watch a live presentation about how to ask a story using a script from the SOMOS curriculum.


If you are not part of the SOMOS group but want to join, please search for SOMOS in the search function for Facebook and answer the questions so we know you are a real teacher.

This live recording will be available for you to read after the event.

I hope to interact with you there!

Guatemala: La Escuela de la Montaña

Disclaimer: this post is not about TPRS.  It may come up as it usually does, but if you are reading because you want to know about TPRS, this may not be the most relevant.

This post is about a small language school in rural Guatemala, what life is like there, my experiences there as a student and student coordinator, and why this place is so important in my life.

La Escuela de la Montaña is a small language school that is a project of a larger school, PLQE (Proyecto Lingüístico Quetzalteco), in Quetzaltenango (Xela), located in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.  The school is located about two hours away from Xela, and about 10 kilometers from a small town called Columba.

There are so many things to say about this place that it is difficult to know where to start.

School and Community
The language school is an integral part of the community.  Both communities are groups of former coffee finca (plantation) workers who organized (and suffered) after violations of human and worker's rights.  With support from PLQE and the Catholic church, both communities were able to leave the finca and start over again on their own land.

La Escuela provides work for many women in the two main communities (Fátima and Nuevo San José), where there are few opportunities for anyone in the family to earn a living.  The majority of the men in the area are day laborers, and have to travel 2-3 hours a day (and pay for transport) in the hope of getting a day's wages.  The work for the women is primarily cleaning the school in rotation and cooking for students.  (More about that later.)

The school has created a well-used community library staffed by a teacher for all ages to read and learn.  Most households do not have books, so this is an invaluable resource for the kids and adults.

There is also an arts program that is free for anyone during the school year, adults included, that provides some music and visual art teachers on Saturdays.

http://escuelamontana.org/our-projects/becas/103.html

Scholarships
In addition, there is a very strong scholarship program that serves all the surrounding communities.  In Guatemala, public education is free until the end of 6th grade.  After that, families need to pay tuition, supplies, uniforms, and transportation costs.  There are four more years of education available for those who can pay.  The nearest schools that provide these levels (called Básico and Diversificado) are 1-2 hours away by pickup truck, bus, or microbus.  As such, an education is beyond the reach of many people in the campos.

 La Escuela administrates a scholarship program that  is truly amazing.  Scholarship recipients participate in community service, classes on budgeting, health and adolescence, politics, government, and more.  They have to keep their grades up and attend school regularly, and participate actively in their communities.

I had the great fortune to attend one of the classes on health and puberty and was blown away by the number of kids who were receiving these funds.  It is truly a program that can change the world.

Life for students attending La Escuela
Here is a review I wrote for goverseas.com

Cement block house in Fátima

Let me get a bit of terminology out of the way before I explain a little bit about living in these communities.  Think of a city block.  That is about the size of Fátima.  Nuevo San José is about three blocks in total.  There are a couple of little stores (tiendas), a church, a local primary school, a health house (now mostly defunct due to lack of funding), and a bakery.  Down the road is a larger community with a few more services.  Most houses have some form of electricity, but some don't.  Many have dirt floors and most women still cook off of wood burning stoves.  Many men in the community have traveled north to the USA and send money home, so some homes have more resources than others.  Sinks (pilas) are outside.  Many showers are cold, hooked up to the sinks, and are outside.

It is important to me that readers do not think "How awful" or something like that.  It is easy to be shocked by the poverty and developing country living conditions.  (Also, if you think that only happens in developing countries, I suggest heading to inner-city Baltimore or the Navajo Reservation.) This is just the reality.

Students at La Escuela do not live with families.  They live in relative comfort in a former coffee finca house, in dorm rooms, with relatively hot showers, potable water, indoor plumbing, a kitchen, and usually, electricity.  Also, fresh organic french-press coffee.

Maíz

For meals, you walk down to Nuevo San José or Fátima. The cobbled road is usually slick with rain, moss, and cow dung (a local herd gets walked up and down the road daily).  Students eat three meals a day with a different family each week.  Meals are usually simple- beans, pasta, eggs, some vegetables (which are only sold from a cart on Thursdays, or in Columba), and mountains of home made corn tortillas.  Many families grow their own corn and beans, and late July/August is when they start harvesting.

Reading to kids

Students are encouraged to bring books from the school's library to read to the kids in the family, or art kits that can be checked out.

Classes and Activities

A ranchito

Students take classes either in the mornings or in the afternoons, for four hours a day.  Classes are taught one-on-one by an incredibly talented group of professional language teachers. You meet with your teacher in a little ranchito (a little covered area with a table and whiteboard) outside.  The teachers are passionate, committed, and very good at their work.

Each week, there are a handful of speakers who come to the school to educate students about the political realities of Guatemala.  In the two weeks I was there this time, I got to translate the story of one community's fight for unpaid back wages, that included threats, starvation, and more.  Another community leader came to tell the story of how his community decided, after a lot of injustice and no support from the legal system, to occupy a finca, and how they are working now to transform it into an organic coffee and banana cooperative with community programs to empower women and youth.  In the past, I have translated the story of a torture survivor (during the internal armed conflict), an ex-guerrilla fighter, and others.

There are also community members from Nuevo San José and Fátima that come to discuss their own lives and specialties.  This year, I worked to translate the story of the local midwife, a current-events discussion that focused on corruption in the health system, and a lecture from a local herbal expert who received medical training to help his community use plants and local resources to maintain their health.

In addition, there are soccer games in nearby Columba, hikes to see (or not, depending on the weather) the local active volcano, weekly cooking classes, and more.

Coordinadora
I was invited to work as the fill in coordinator during the time I was there as the full-time coordinator had to return to the States for a couple of weeks.  My role was to translate, support the students as needed, and bridge the gap between the incredible school staff and faculty and the students, some of whom did not speak any Spanish (yet).

It was a lot of work but very fulfilling and kept me busy.  I also attended class each day with the intention of figuring out how to do a TPRS training in Spanish.  (There! I knew I would work TPRS in somehow!)

3 Hypotheses (with spelling errors) about language acquisition

 I was incredibly gratified to learn that the teachers at the school were starving for training, and we had an amazing time working together to help me explain clearly what TPRS is all about for them.  I got to do a demo class with the Spanish students, then a brief demo and explanation with the teachers.  I plan on returning to do a more complete training next summer.

This school is a very special place.  People who end up there tend to be people who are interested in social justice, worker's rights, and human rights.  They tend to be ok with not having internet for a few weeks, and they are usually motivated, compassionate, and interesting.  So that is great too- I get to hang out with interesting people.

Anny, a teacher, and her student, an organizer for worker's rights in Los Angeles,
 doing a brain break with me during class time

Living in Guatemala is not easy.  Transportation is uncomfortable and unreliable.  (Think of a school bus that seats 6-8 adults across, or the back of a pick up truck that is standing room only.)  You can't drink the water and you have to be careful about food.  During the rainy season, nothing dries, and the bugs are out to get you.  And yet, I will continue to back again and again, because it is important, and because I love it there.  

One night, I brought paper and colored pencils to dinner and colored with the kids.
This guy and I clearly have a lot in common!  This is why I come here.

Please get in touch if you would like more information about the school.  I would be happy to answer specific questions or support you if you are interested in going.

On Being a Student in a Less Commonly Taught Language...part two

OK, I never wrote part one.  Here is the abbreviated version: 

My first experience learning a less commonly taught language with different characteristics was with Betsy Padovan, learning Japanese, at NTPRS 16. 

She did a great job of using the transliterated Japanese (romaji), all the comprehensible input techniques (going slow, slower, and slower; pausing and pointing, and more), keeping it interesting, and helped me recognize a few key kanji to boot! She did it using gestures, lots of direct translation, lots of group comprehension checks, and lots of retell.  She also wove some pretty brilliant pieces of culture into her lessons seamlessly.  It probably helped that my talking buddy was the brilliant Justin Slocum Bailey, who has enough enthusiasm and joie de vivre to overwhelm any potential fear of failure on my part.  

All in all, I feel like I got a taste of what it was like to be a student in a TPRS classroom, taught by a master teacher.  

Fast forward a year.  I am at Comprehensible Cascadia in Portland, OR.  (My old hometown!)  I am taking an Arabic class with a teacher new to some specific Comprehensible Input techniques (One Word Images and creating stories from OWIs, aka "non-targeted input").  He is simultaneously teaching a series of three hour classes while trying to incorporate this new learning, and being coached in the meantime.  Wow.  

This very talented and brave teacher is taking such a risk.  What follows is JUST my reflection on being a student, where I needed support, and what worked for me.  This is not in any way a reflection on his technique- aren't we all learning together?  Also, through the process of coaching, the teacher made changes to make himself more comprehensible.  How amazing is that?  

As I sit in the back (not my optimal place for learning!) I am learning more about what it is like to be a student, and what that discomfort of being lost feels like.  

So, this what it feels like to be lost, to be found, and how important the important things really are.

• Gestures are crucial.  This became more clear to me in the Cherokee class, where the teacher used them more consistently and I felt so much more comfortable immediately, as we established a gesture for each major word.  (In this case, it was scorpion, has, wants.) 
• Pause and Point: When the words for yes/no are nothing like cognates, it really helps me if the teacher goes slow and pauses and points for them too...with the English.  I did not realize how hard these two words were!  Update: the teacher started using gestures (thumbs up and thumbs down) for yes/no verification.  It helps a LOT.  
• Frequent comprehension checks  ("what did I just say?") in English support me when I check out from overload, or go to the bathroom, or get distracted by the really cool sounds of the words, or...I wanted more of these.  I wanted more repetitions.  I wanted to go slower.  (We have about 7 words on the board...and I still want to go slower.) 
• Clearly establishing meaning: One moment of checking out (at the exact moment we decided that our character was a bus) and the word bus not being written under the Arabic text meant that I spent the first few minutes thinking that the Arabic word pronounced baasss was a cognate for some kind of fish.  Writing "bus" under the Arabic would have really kept me from feeling like an idiot when I finally saw the picture!  (Again, the importance of not assuming that your students know what a word means...or remember!) 

  

  This is what a truly responsive, reflective teacher looks like.  

• Using two colors really helps me focus.  Having the Arabic text in one color and the English in the other helped me choose where to look.  If I knew the word, I could ignore the English, but if I was struggling, that English was crucial to keeping me checked in.   Update: The teacher just erased the transliteration of the Arabic, and moved to just English and Arabic- the sense of relief in the room was palpable.  The transliteration was too much noise for me. 
• Personalization keeps interest high. One thing that I am struggling with in this lesson is that we established that the bus (our image) is sad.  For me, it would be very natural to start talking about the students.  "Jenny is sad.  No, Jenny is not sad."  This adding parallel character/personalizing would increase the interest for me as we are only 7 words in, but I am not confident about them.  Update: I guess I wasn't the only one who thought this, as the coach suggested it too.   As soon as the teacher started personalizing,  I was able to identify two more words without really working at it, and felt confident about more.  

My favorite verb: To summer

In my house, summer is a verb.

To summer means...

• Sitting on the front porch at sunset drinking chilled white wine (or jalapeño margaritas in our school-branded margarita glasses!) 
• Running up through the water at City Creek in the heat of the day (not so much this summer- I have a torn MCL so am instead on the couch...sad)



This isn't even my cat. 

• Sleeping in and cuddling with the kitties.
• Making elaborate salads and no-cook meals for leisurely dinners

• Reading several books at once, including school summer reads, non-fiction, and whatever else is interesting to me in the moment
• Having the time to read all kinds of articles on the interwebs that I am interested in but don't have the time to read during the rest of the year
• Attending multiple conferences
• Rewriting a scope and sequence for K-5
• Writing an English-Spanish TPRS glossary and basic training materials 
• Working on my Spanish
• Thinking about how to better my curriculum
• And more school stuff
• Also, going back to GUATEMALA! 

Many teachers write blogs about how to get the most out of your summer- with the assumption that too many teachers spend their summer working on things for the school year.  Well, I do a lot of work to look ahead for the next year, and I try to keep it well balanced for the sake of rest and margaritas and rejuvenation.  That being said, I am doing three language conferences and going to Guatemala (just for two weeks) and will be back just in time to set up my classroom.  And I feel great about that!

For me, summer needs to be full of movement and excitement.  Part of that is because Salt Lake is hot and kind of miserable in the summer, unless you drive to the mountains.  Part of it is that my husband was working from home and both of us in our small house for eight weeks was probably a recipe for disaster. But mostly, it is that I recharge by meeting new people and learning new things.  And traveling.  The one year I spent mostly in the area was the year I felt least ready to go back to school.  (And, come to think of it, I did three workshops that summer too- they were just local!)

This year, I get to attend Comprehensible Cascadia in my adopted hometown of Portland, OR.  I am so excited to be attending a conference with an entire Equity and Inclusion track!  Also, Cherokee!  I am eager to learn about the much talked about Invisibles, One Word Images, and Story Listening.  And I am eager to go home for a few days and see my friends.

Next, it will be off to a Fluency Fast class with my father.  This is in lieu of going back to Costa Rica, both cheaper and less grammar focused for both of us.  We will be in Denver, where we have lots of family and the conference takes place at my dad's old high school.  I am excited to be a student in an advanced class and see what that looks like, and I am thrilled for my father to get to experience a TPRS class.

Shortly after, I will return to NTPRS, this time in Texas, with my newly hired colleague.  Last year blew my mind- I learned so much in so few days and became a much better teacher as a result.  This year, I am going to be on the coaching track, which is both nerve-wracking and exciting.

Finally, after all that thinking about language teaching, I get to go back to my beloved little community/school in Guatemala and be a student for a couple of weeks, with the rain storms and earthquakes and revolutionaries that I adore. I really missed not going last year (I try to go every other year.) so my husband surprised me with some finances to help with the plane ticket.  Here is a link to a review I wrote about the school, if anyone is interested.  I am passionate about this place.

So, I think that I am summering quite well.

Being a Student and the Importance of Pause and Point

Note: This is a series of posts about my takeaways from the NTPRS2016 conference.  It was life changing and teacher-affirming.

Conferences can be overwhelming.  TPRS can be overwhelming.  How do you even begin?  New people, new ideas, hotel rooms, whirlwind schedule, and more.

A few years ago, I presented at a National Safe Routes to School Conference on teaching bike safety to kids.  I had never been to a conference before and a wise colleague of mine suggested that I try to get one great aha moment out of the conference and just enjoy myself the rest of the time.  Good advice.

At NTPRS2016 I got a lot more than one great aha moment, but I also decided to focus on one discreet TPRS skill for myself.  I attended three coaching sessions as a teacher and several others as a student or observer, and tried to really pay attention to how the skill was used.

The skill: Go Slow.  (Corollary to Pause and Point).
Why: So many others have written about why we should go slow...how can I add to their brilliance?
Suffice it to say that taking Japanese with the incredibly talented Betsy Paskvan after a full day of conferencing was challenging.  And I am a fast processor!  Her speed (or lack thereof) really supported me and made me feel confident.  I also noticed that when she sped up and I couldn't understand something I got really anxious.  It was a great lesson for me about why going slow makes a huge difference.

In coaching, I found myself starting slow and then getting really excited (because let's face it, I LOVE teaching with TPRS and want to do it all, right now) and going too fast.  Slowing down, focusing on one structure, and using the time to walk over and POINT to the written word all helped my "students" feel encouraged.  Let me say that again:  for me, using the time to walk over to the board/poster/sign and POINT to the written word was a game changer for me.

Let's see if I can put it into practice now!

Diego is my mental image for GO SLOW.  He only has one speed: dignified, slow, and with penchant for belly rubs.

NTPRS! NTPRS! NTPRS!

So, as the title implies, I just got back from NTPRS 2016.  I feel like a different person.  NTPRS is one of the national TPRS conferences put on by the great folks at TPRS Books.  I have had the great privilege to attend a two day workshop previously, but five whole days of "experienced track" TPRS teaching was an incredible gift.  I took Japanese, Romanian, and Latin classes and every day experienced the feeling of being a novice student and completely clueless.  I met some amazing, dedicated teachers who are trying to repair the world, just like me, through language teaching (and oh so much more).  I made some great friends and found a whole new community to inspire me.

I have so many blog posts rolling around in my head and feel inspired to actually write them.  But first and foremost, I want to say thank you to everyone who came up to me and said that my deskless classroom helped inspire them.

I LOVE YOU.

I leaned so much this week that I can't even begin to process it.  Since I tend to process by writing, I plan on using my next few posts to process some of my aha moments and huge takeaways from the different workshops that I attended.

Suffice it to say that I was reminded just how important my work is, and that I am not alone.

Also, here's me with all the books I bought spread out on the floor of my office....I am most pleased.