Engaging: shared reading and student accountability and teacher mindset

One question (and variation) that I see a lot from teachers has to do with "how do I keep kids engaged?"  It often goes with "how do you handle reading long blocks of texts?"

I was thinking about this because it seems to come up very often for teachers, and because it isn't something that I have spent much time thinking about, to be honest.

I decided to sit down with a video of myself reading a long block of text with one of my most challenging classes (which has improved a lot) and actually write out what I did.  I was asking myself:  What did I expect from kids?  What did I say to them?  What did I do?  What did they do (or not do)?    

You can scroll down to a minute-by-minute guide and reflection of the video, but first, read this:



My "engagement strategies" are only about 10% of what I do to keep kids engaged. 
Teaching my expectations, and practicing them is maybe 25%. 
My belief (mindset) about student engagement in my class is at LEAST 65%. 

Mindset for engagement in the classroom:  

• I control the culture of my classroom (as Jon Cowart puts it so well in his book).
•  Most kids *will* respond to whatever I do and ask if they are motivated to do so.
• Students are motivated, not by grades, but by previous successes, a desire to engage with the community, with the discussions, and with the content (language + topic).  

You can't see me doing "mindset" in a video.  (Can you? I would love to know.)  

What you can see is a classroom that is founded on those beliefs, and kids responding.  

Here are some the strategies that you are going to see:  

• Gestures for  many words (learned from Alina Filipescu) 
• Sound effects.
• Class job for that one kid who really needs something that day..in this case, holding up a crocodile every time I say the word in Spanish.
• Comprehension questions to confirm understanding.
• Personalized questions about students and content and connections between the two.
• Personalized question referring to a prior class reading.
• Brain breaks.
• Acceptance of L1 (English)answers to keep the communication flowing. 
• Denial of L1 (English) and support in circumlocution, as appropriate. 
• Student signals- they signal me to indicate when I am not clear, and to say it again.
• Student runs out of class sick.  

This is a whole class reading of a projected text, never before seen, of Lágrimas de Cocodrilo, from The Comprehensible Classroom **.

Scroll down to the minute-by-minute breakdown to see what exactly it is that I (and the students) are doing.

Click here if you have trouble playing the video.




Minute by Minute guide to what is happening:

???	llora (cries) - I say the word, students do gesture
00:01:36	está triste- (is feelings sad) gesture
00:01:50	Comp question /review: What were the consequences in the previous reading?
00:02:04	Personalized question: is this a problem for you? (Personal connection- consequence is about American football, this kid plays that sport and is amazingly proud of it.)
00:02:17	Personalized question to another kid- who does not do sports. Then...digging for more info about what would be a big consequence in his life. (Acknowledging who he is.)
00:02:51	Lágrimas (tears)- student uses an instrument to make a noise every time I say the word.
00:02:58	Cocodrilo- one student holds up a mini-crocodile toy and the rest make crocodile mouths with their arms.
00:03:34	Gestures and noise:  Lágrimas, cocodrilos, lágrimas, cocodrilos
00:03:37	Pause for kids to do gesture: tiene hambre (has hunger)
00:03:40	Gesture: lo come (he eats it)
00:03:48	cocodrilo, come (gestures)
00:03:54	Cocodrilo again
00:04:00	llora (cries)- gesture
00:04:04	comprehension check choral response, L2, (does the crocodile laugh or cry?)
00:04:14	Whole group, turn to your partner- comprehension check in L1
00:04:28	Listen for response, confirms correct answer "is eating"
00:04:48	lágrimas, cocodrilo
00:05:14	Call back to earlier conversation about manipulators
00:05:43	1) Student uses rewind / go back signal, so I go back and give more support:  a) Gesture and check that the first word- they want- is understood. b) cognate gesture to indicate that the word sounds the same and means the same in English, kids shout it out.
00:05:47	lágrimas
00:06:06	Student interrupts in L2 on topic
00:06:11	Affirm interruption and open it up to the class for discussion.
00:06:24	I ask interruptor for more information
00:06:35	Student uses L1 word (hide) and I push him to circumlocute, so he restates it with words he has- crocodiles under tree. Then I restate.
00:06:41	cocodrilo
00:07:00	Student signals that I used a word that they don't know- árbol - tree, so I quickly translate.
00:07:36	I draw what the student is describing (and extend the language)
00:08:47	Personalized question: who is a carnivore in class?
00:08:53	Personalized question: who is not?
00:09:01	Gesture: son (they are)
00:09:04	Comprehension check: what does "son" mean?
00:09:20	lágrimas
00:09:23	cocodrilo
00:09:34	Brain break (ant vs. crocodile, a tiktok meme)
00:10:28	Kid looks like he is going to pass out. So..I go after him.
00:10:42	cocodrilo
00:11:13	L1 comp check
00:11:40	Student interrupts with a question in L1, and I respond in L2