In any event, last week was my first full week at school, following a four-day convalescence at home due to a muscle spasm in my neck and upper back, with referred pain in my right shoulder.  I have completed two weeks of physical therapy, and, as a result, I am feeling immensely improved.  Praise God for talented doctors, physical therapists, a loving family, and a warm, safe home.

Anyway, last Tuesday was St. Valentine’s Day, the highlight of the week.  However, I did not do my usual St. Valentine’s Day activities.  I placed my annual order for Necco Hispanic Sweethearts a tad bit late.  Therefore, they didn’t arrive until 16 February.  So, I did different St. Valentine’s Day activities, which, in hindsight, neither I nor the students enjoyed as much.  To add to the pain, I paid almost ten dollars for the activities in question via Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT).   In and of themselves, there was nothing wrong with the activities; they required more critical thinking than the students are accustomed with holiday activities.  Which, in this day and age, working the critical thinking skills doesn’t hurt anyone, and especially students.  Still, the activities with the Necco Hispanic sweethearts foster their own brand of critical thinking.

Along with the aforementioned activities, I served up pan dulce to my eighth grade Spanish Onesies.  I ordered it just prior to the Christmas vacation, while we were working on the foods unit.  Pan dulce is difficult to explain to native-speaking U.S. born students. So, the best thing to do was to actually expose them to it.  After some Internet searching, I located an online store called, mexgrocer.com.  I also presented the origins of plan dulce, courtesy of this website.

As usual, contemplating projects which will engage kiddos, and supply the appropriate degree of rigor in order to promote mastery and proficiency.  In fact. I have such an idea percolating as I type. 

I don’t think that Mr. Picardo espouses a die-hard tech-only point-of-view.  We tweet from time to time. I am also an occasional reader and poster to his blog. We don’t agree on everything, and nor should we. But, I respect him and his work, and, I think he feels similarly about me.

Additionally, I think your argument does have some merit. Like most things, there are some tech tools which can promote modern foreign language learning, and some that are, in my opinion, pure garbage. I’m also not a project girl, or what a former colleague dubbed, “a showboat teacher.” If that’s one’s inspiration, then live and let live.

Seven years ago, I inherited a group of students from a so-called, “showboat teacher.”  Those students had had a good time, and liked their teacher, but, in my first minutes of teaching the students in question, I observed that  their spoken Spanish was terrible, their vocabulary knowledge, recall and application was poor, and their grammatical base was weak. This, however, happened via paper, pencils and books. So, depending on how one uses the tools available to him or to her, tech or no tech, ineffectual teaching and learning can and do take place.

I think that most teachers strive for mastery of content and proficiency of skills. At least, I do. Students need to be able to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do. Tech tools, when carefully considered, taught, and implemented with the end-goal in mind, can provide a rewarding learning and teaching experience.  That said, I have met very few students who by the time they’ve graduated from high school can order a meal or ask for directions in a modern foreign language, and I am talking about students who have aspired to Advanced Placement Spanish Language (I reside in the United States; I know not what the equivalent of AP is in the UK, if there is an equivalent).

Moreover, I think the capacity to speak, aurally comprehend, read and write another language is largely dependent on the student’s desire and motivation, not to mention their cognitive capacity. Good teaching, however, does play an important role. But, at the end of the proverbial day, learning disabilities aside, students decide to learn or not to learn.  If there are quality tech tools, however, which can promote and assess mastery and proficiency, then I say that teachers should use them. But, tech should not be a substitute for teaching, no more than the television should be a substitute for parenting. No amount of tech tool usage is going to make a mediocre teacher, or student, for that matter, a better one.

Image via Wikipedia

or…a teachable (anti-racist) moment for teachers.

I’ve recently become a fan of a teacher blog, whose target audience is language teachers.  I enjoy most of their posts and ideas.  But, the one promoting a Mexican Lotería app isn’t one of my favorites.  The reason?  Some of the game board images are stereotypical, even downright racist.

My point? Some think along those lines, those like me, and others, well…do not think along those lines.

My second point: If a teacher is going to use the traditional Mexican Lotería game, laden with its stereotypical and even downright racist images, then a teacher should be well-equipped to use it as an opportunity to teach students that stereotypes and racism exist in every culture, even in Mexico.  After all, Mexico produced this as well.

If I were teaching Spanish 4 or 5, I might use the app.  And, I am well-equipped.

Now, before anyone gets all agitated, and accuses me of having called the bloggers of the blog in question racist: STOP.  Given my orientation, such things are more obvious to me.  Perhaps by my having pointed out the issues with said Mexican Lotería game, there will be greater awareness for the bloggers in question.

That is all.  You may proceed.

This time last week, I was in the early stages of what was diagnosed two days later by my primary care physician as a muscle spasm. Its greatest impact was to the neck, preventing from moving my head in any direction. I also had referred pain in the right shoulder. What followed was four days’ sick leave from school, and two visits to outpatient physical therapy. Yes; the pain was that bad.

While I have a distance to travel on the road to recovery, I am feeling significantly better. I have learned more about muscle spasms than I had ever hoped to learn. Additionally, I am blessed to have a wonderful family and wonderful friends – both virtual and in-person – who checked in on me on a daily basis. I am also blessed to have a talented and personable physical therapist who has made my first phyisical therapy experience a pleasant one thus far.

Consequently, I have not much to report from the trenches of the classroom. That said, I had gotten my students far enough along in their respective new chapters for them to take the first in a series of short mini-vocabulary quizzes, complete writing exercises where they used the vocabulary in context, and, enjoy a lesson on the history of chocolate. I returned to school on Friday, which was, to my utter surprise, remarkably stress-free, and far better than I had anticipated. I am always reluctant to face the piles of paperwork that an absence generates, which was easier to organize than I had feared. I was even able to mark two sets of vocabulary quizzes, and note which student had (not) completed which assignment (s).

I also learned several things during my time away, which bear noting in list form:

1. Students and colleagues manage fine without you. Also known as, “Out of sight, out of mind.” As much as we would like to think that our presence or, in this case, lack thereof, has a significant impact, think again. A rather sobering realization, but, one that made me even more grateful for having taken those four days off to rest and recuperate, and even more blessed for my family and friends.

2. Have sub plans at the ready. This wasn’t always the case for me. But, it isn’t fun having to think of what the students are going to do when one is in the throws of an illness. We teachers are out for planned and unplanned events. The unplanned events call for sub plans that one can attach to an email to a supervisor, if one isn’t too incapacitated. Better, yet, have hard copies of sub plan activities in a folder in a desk drawer that can be photocopied. I was feeling blessed to be able to go to my laptop, quickly locate an activity, and send it on its way.

3. Use the illness or injury to make significant lifestyle changes. My bout with a neck spasm was the result of an injury, and/or stress. Not sure which. But, given the stressors that teaching inflicts, as well as the way most of us run around all day, I could have sustained an injury that I had forgotten about. I am also a rough sleeper, which could have had an impact. So, I have purchased a laptop backpack on wheels, will invest in a Tempurpedic pillow, and, I am going to make a more significant investment in daily self-care.

I felt well enough today to do some lesson planning for the upcoming week. Tuesday is St. Valentine‘s Day. So, fun activities are indicated for Monday and Tuesday.

Be well, and, remember: Take Care of You.

So, first up – online textbook.

Not a new form of technology, online textbooks have been around for some time. My place of employ, however, has been slow to embrace them, and my department in particular.  However, I discovered that utilizing the online version of the textbook, projected via the LCD projector, is facilitating better teaching and therefore better learning for my students.

The first example is the presentation of new vocabulary.  Showing the pages of the textbook which contain the lesson vocabulary and their corresponding visual images inspires greater engagement from the students, not to mention that seeing the textbook projected in such  a manner is “pretty cool” in their opinion.

The second example is the case of the textbook left at school.  In this particular situation, the student in question forgot his textbook at school, but needed it in order to prepare for a chapter test.  I downloaded the chapter he needed, and sent it to him in an email as a PDF attachment.

My department is currently in the process of reviewing a new Spanish textbook series.  I am strongly advocating for the purchase of a series which offers online textbook access. In 2012, purchasing a foreign language textbook series without such access is just plain silly.

Second up – online polling via Poll Everywhere.

Again, not a new form of technology, but, it is slowly gaining some traction in foreign language classrooms.  I admit that I don’t use Poll Everywhere nearly as much as I would like.  That said, I should use it more.  Students like to text, are good at it.  Moreover, students  like the novelty of using their cell phones in the classroom, especially when using them at school during the day is pretty much frowned upon at my place of employ.  I also thought it was a way to give the standard survey-type textbook activity a 21st century upgrade.  The thing, however, the students lose in the process is not actually speaking with each other to ask the questions.  That said, we do enough activities in class where students engage in face-to-face, 1:1 interaction.  So, doing a survey via Poll Everywhere made the most sense.

Third up – Not Re-inventing the Proverbial Wheel

While the textbook is not my curriculum, I am learning to use the textbook, workbook, and corresponding ancillaries, i.e. transparencies and lesson videos, to a greater degree.  I find that I very often re-invent the wheel, and then find myself resorting to worksheets, which very quickly becomes mundane and boring.  In my re-discovery, I am realizing that many of the textbook activities really are not that bad.  To the contrary, many of the textbook activities facilitate creativity, critical thinking and collaboration amongst the students, not to mention improved speaking, writing, reading skills, and the use of proper sentence structure.

The lesson transparencies also facilitate creativity and critical thinking in speaking, is somewhat novel (using the overhead projector, which I gather not many teachers use any longer), and, I can actually touch the images on the screen that are being projected to make a point or to ask a question.  The lesson videos are great with the sound turned off, to get the students to think creatively and critically.  I then play the video with the sound on to confirm their assumptions, and to sharpen their auditory skills.

Fourth up – the pre-assessment vocabulary checklist, and more frequent vocabulary quizzes

I am trying some new tricks adopted from a colleague.  The first is the pre-assessment vocabulary checklist.  Students check off the words from the new chapter that they are sure they know.  At the end of the chapter, they will re-visit their checklist, with the goal of being able to check off all of the words.  the second is more regular and frequent vocabulary quizzes.  I divide the words into ten-to-fifteen word chunks, and then assign those to the students to learn for the next class.  At the beginning of the next class, the students take a quiz on all ten or fifteen words.  As I said, it’s something new I am trying.  I am hoping that by giving the students more regular and frequent vocabulary quizzes will force them to learn the words, as opposed to waiting for two weeks to go by before giving a such a quiz.  So, over the course of a chapter, the students may have four or six vocabulary quizzes, depending on the number of words a given chapter may contain.  The vocabulary in the textbook I am currently using is divided into two parts.  So, I give the students the vocabulary lists for both sections and as the words are introduced.    When the students have been quizzed on all of the words on one list, we move to the second list.  I guess it’s something like the weekly spelling/vocabulary quiz many of us remember from elementary school, which I actually credit for my strong ability to spell today as an adult, and for my knowledge of words in general.

That’s all for this week!

I invited the teacher to visit with my seventh grade Spanish Onesies.  But, instead of the usual, one-way dialogue between presenter and students, or, even the use of the standard, “students create questions in Spanish” and presenter answers them, I made the experience more interactive for both my students and the presenter.

1.  Students spent some time in the Tech Lab conducting research on Venezuela.  Thirteen students were divided into groups of two or three, and assigned a topic.  The topics included: history, currency and economics, government and politics, geography, food, and tourist attractions.  Two additional students devised questions for the presenter.

2.  On Presentation Day, the students delivered their findings, to the delight of the visiting teacher.  She then spoke with the students, in Spanish, using lots of comprehensible input.  She gave them something of a history lesson about Venezuela.  Several of my students translated nearly every word, with their confidence increasing with the confirmation of every correct response.

3.  The questioners used Google Translator to translate their questions from English to Spanish, which was fun for them and for me.  But, mind you: It did not occur to me to instruct them to use Google Translator.  Actually, one of the students assigned to ask questions took the initiative to do so.  It was great to see the students to see not only such active engagement, but also the direct use of technology – on their own initiative.

Why the above lesson worked:

1.  As I mentioned from the outset, the lesson did not constitute the traditional one-way dynamic.

2.  High level of engagement

3.  Us of technology in a meaningful way, i.e. to facilitate communication in the target language.

A great way to end a unit.

My eighth grade Onesies greatly disappointed me recently, and, the situation is one that I really should not have taken so personally.

The Situation:  Approximately 50% of the class (there are 13 enrolled in said class) did not fully complete the assignment due, or completed none of it at all. The culprits: Two major assignments for two other courses due on the same day.  But, the larger issue, at least to me, is ineffectual time management, organization, planning, initiative and follow-through.  This particular group of students as a collective seems to be weak all of the aforementioned areas.

The Problem, #1:  I allowed The Situation to impact me to such an extent, I took it personally.  I really should not have, because, at the end of the proverbial day, it its the academic progress and results of the students in question that is going to suffer.  Until they get tired of low scores, perhaps at that time they’ll raise an eyebrow and make the necessary changes.

The Problem, #2: Where are parents in all of this? Learning support specialists cannot do it all, no more than the subject area teachers can.  Mel Levine once said, and I paraphrase here, getting the schoolwork completed is the job of the parent, and not the job of the teacher.  Naturally, I am in whole-hearted agreement with this statement, but frankly, too many parents are not doing their jobs.

I discussed the situation with my Dear Brother, who said that the reason I took the situation so personally is because I care.  But, at the same time, he agreed that the students in question need to get their ish together.

Anyway, short of after-school homework detention club (which doesn’t currently exist at my place of employ, but ought to), and communicating with parents when the work is completed (I send so many homework-related emails that it isn’t funny), the situation is really beyond my control.

So, short of what is within my power to control. I AM DONE. And, it is only January.  ::SIGH::

I rather like “drab” colors”: gray, black, and, brown.  Although brown is a warm color.  My color palette stands in stark contrast to that of my Dear Mother’s, who favors spring pastels.  But, it’s not all drab for me.  I do add vibrant reds, blues, greens, dark pinks and pure whites from time to time – just to keep those, like the sixth grader aforementioned, on their proverbial toes.

I guess, in a way, my color selection helps me to go through my work life incognitio, or, as I am fond of saying, incognegro.  I like to be seen, and then, I don’t.  I like to fade into the background – in as much as a Black person in a predominately-White work environment is able – and be the proverbial fly on the wall.  And, it works – most of the time.

I liken the wearing of dark colors with the occasional splash of vibrancy to my ever-fluctuating musings about the Dr. King holiday, which is followed in short order by one of my all-time favorite month-long celebrations – Black History Month, and the reasons to continue to educate my White colleagues.  On the one hand, I enjoy surfing the ‘Net, digging up information, and sharing with others what I’ve found; after all, I am an information junkie. My goal is to help my colleagues, and especially my White colleagues, to learn more about the Black Experience in the United States, about which many of them know little. On the other hand, I have sometimes resigned myself to the thought that if my White colleagues are interested in learning more about the Black Experience in the United States, they can locate the information as well as I can.  I guess I clearly have a more personal imperative, being a Black person living the Black Experience in the United States.  The latter point-of-view has been my mindset of late as we embark on the Kind National Holiday tomorrow, and, Black History Month 2012 next month.

So, I guess I’m struggling as to what do do, and have been since before Thanksgiving, given that February is approximately two weeks away.  Do I become the Kate Spade case once again, or the gray sweater?  Perhaps someone out there in BlogLand can give me a compelling reason for being the former for a third consecutive year for a group of colleagues who may not appreciate my efforts to help them gain knowledge that they neither solicited nor even want. I’m contemplating the creating of a wiki or a Google Site, to which I will provide a link, and invite those colleagues who are so inclined to contribute their own information.  So, perhaps the compromise is to build it, and then see which of my White colleagues will come.  Now, that is a fresh perspective.

Image via Wikipedia

but, my colleague, Elona, inspired me. I am also appropriating Elona’s list of resolutions, which she appropriated from “Anonymous.” Here they are:

A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;

A work to do which has real value,

without which the world would be the poorer;

An understanding heart;

A sense of humor;

Time for quiet, silent meditation;

The patience to wait for the coming of these things,

With the wisdom to recognize them when they come.

My focus for 2012 is on self, family and friends – not necessarily in that order.  As I tweeted to another colleague, at the end of the day, family and friends are all one really has. Besides, work/school has zapped enough out of me. Therefore, it’s time to re-balance my life.  I work much harder than my students, and 2012 will be the year when that changes. Ok; so, I couldn’t resist at least one work-related resolution.

To the above resolutions, I am also adding: working out regularly, re-invigorating a hobby or two, and, perhaps engaging in a Photo 360 Project.

UPDATE, 31/12/11:  A colleague tweeted this, which gives even more power and substance to my resolutions.

It’s been a tough several weeks.  In addition to worrying about my Dear Dad’s latest test results,  and my Dear Mom’s painful toe – the former is fine, the latter is much improved, save a swollen foot upon rising where the toe pain occurred (I think the toe pain was an attack of gout; I hope she will get the foot examined next week), I have been dealing with painful arthritis in my right knee, and a stressful teaching situation at school with a student.  That said, I am doing my best to approach the situation in question with optimism and an open mind. But, I don’t know what is in this student’s head, and, ultimately, his feelings towards me are about him. But, I will stop there.  I am really striving to get some emotional distance from the situation at this point.

All told, the arrival of Christmas vacation arrived just in time.  Save the aforementioned student, I am progressing well with my other charges, and we’re having a good time. I’m striving to make middle school Spanish more engaging for them, and have located this truly wonderful website to help me.  The students have responded very positively thus far to the activities I have used.  I also received nice Christmas gifts from many students, which left me feeling very appreciated and grateful.

Renewal began for me by taking a long nap when I arrived home on Tuesday afternoon.  The next day, Wednesday, I did some grocery shopping, and, worked out on the treadmill, which wasn’t nearly as painful as I had feared.  The doc wants me to lay off high inclines – which is where I get my calorie burn – but, just getting on the treadmill and activating the endorphins makes me and my knee feel better.  Yesterday (Thursday) the renewal continued with cleaning my stove.  I said to my Dear Mom that I don’t understand how an oven that at best gets used once a week could have gotten so dirty.  In any event, a clean oven makes me feel good.  I then progressed to dusting, vacuuming, and mopping.  So, my apartment is now ready for Christmas.  It was a struggle; I felt tired, due to interrupted sleep on account of the arthritic knee, but, it was a good feeling to have gotten it all accomplished.

With respect to the knee, the only place where I seem to get good rest is the living room sofa.  I am able to position my legs straight and out in front of me.  In the bed, lying in such a manner isn’t comfortable for me, but lying on my side – either side – is rather uncomfortable as well.  I am contemplating the purchase of a wedge pillow.  I am taking an over-the-counter pain reliever, which alleviates the swelling, inflammation and soreness, and doing strength and flexibility exercises, which are helping.

I like my orthopedic surgeon.  He gives it to me straight, but, he’s also dedicated to relieving my pain as much as possible . He’s made several recommendations, including outer heel wedges, and losing weight.  He didn’t know me a year ago; I weighed much more.  Nevertheless, Doc wants me to lose even more. ::SIGH::

Writing this blog post has been a form of renewal.  Especially since I haven’t written a post for nearly two weeks.  Additionally, my knee is getting a well-deserved rest from having to walk from pillar to post on my campus, and up and down stairs all day long.

I am looking forward to cooking and baking, reading and blogging, spending time with my family, and, watching “The Wire” on DVD.  I might even get a full-body massage.