Low Risk Classrooms

5. Learning Environment: The teacher fosters and manages a safe and inclusive learning environment that takes into account: physical, emotional and intellectual well-being.

A foreign language classroom can seem like a high risk environment, students feel put on the spot and pressured, have anxiety about how they answer and whether they are correct or not. When your understanding and capability of communicating is questioned and then assessed in a high risk environment, well you would rather not participate and squeak by with a passing grade instead of taking risk and being wrong. Communication is so key to human beings, when this is compromised with high risk, anxiety and grades, no wonder students prefer not to talk or participate period in a foreign language classroom. In my own experiences I have preferred to not participate for fear of getting the wrong answer and humiliating myself in front of my peers.

Therefore I have made a point in my classroom to lower this sense of risk and anxiety through different activities which take a team effort to complete. One such activity is when I do warm-ups at the beginning of the period. Students will take a daily quiz on their own and then shift into the warm-up, working on it alone and silently until everyone is down testing, then I give them a few more minutes to work on the warm-up with their neighbors, checking their answers and working through difficult areas. I try to have all my warm-ups take up about 7-8 minutes, no longer than that, we then come together as a class and work through the problems they may have had. I use name cards and randomly draw students who will the write their answers on the white board and then draw another student who will “scribe” with the help of the class to make corrections. Throughout this process I encourage students to make corrections through inquiry based strategies, making them the ones who are correcting and affirming the correct answers. This lowers the risk for students because even if they do get the wrong answer everyone else helps work t the correct one. This I believe has lowered the anxiety in answering and participating for my students but also has helped them in learning the language better through whole class participation.

Another area where risk and anxiety run rampant is in translation. I for one hated being called on and made to translate a sentence completely on my own. To lower the risk and anxiety for this I again use my name cards, randomly drawing people to translate and having the whole class as well myself help the student work towards a viable translation of a sentence/passage. I ask pointed questions and encourage them to seek assistance from their peers through “phoning a friend” or breaking down the translation into manageable pieces and then putting it back together. This activity has helped the whole class see where there can be confusion and how to work through these confusing areas.

In addition to doing this for translation I also like to put students into groups (no more than 4-5 people) to translate a passage together, this also reduces risk and anxiety for students because instead of facing the whole class they are translating with a team of sorts. Everyone has be on the same page in order to move on so everyone is working together to translate even if it is someone else’s “turn”.

These different strategies I believe have culminated into creating a low risk, low anxiety classroom where student’s feel safe about making mistakes and therefore really learning.

image:http://www.uncp.edu/academics/colleges-schools-departments/departments/english-theatre-and-foreign-languages/foreign

Assessments

6. Assessment: The teacher uses multiple data elements (both formative and summative) to plan, inform and adjust instruction and evaluate student learning.

In my internship this past year I give my students daily quizzes which are a formative grade and then unit tests which are summative. The daily quizzes are a great indicator for me on where my students are in regards to concepts and learning the language, this also encourages them to spend at least 20 minutes a night working on Latin. The quizzes range from morphology type to translation, even a mix of either with grammar based questions.

One unit, demonstratives in particular I gave a quiz that used sample sentences with demonstratives and had students translate the sentences.

Rubric:

1.     Basic: Student recognizes the demonstrative but does not pair it with a noun correctly and mistranslates 3 or more words.

2.     Progressing: Student correctly pairs nouns and demonstratives but mistranslate 1 or 2 words and does not correctly render the Latin grammar.

3.     Proficient: Student recognizes the noun-demonstrative pairs, renders the Latin grammar correctly except for 1 or 2 words.

4.     Distinguished: Student correctly translates the sentence, renders the Latin grammar correctly and recognizes the noun-demonstrative pairs.

Analysis of Assessment: In this assessment I was looking for two English translations, the first sentences being: 

1. Hi canes modo latrant
2. Hic lectus est sordidus.

And two Latin translations of the other two English sentences:

1. I will throw this ball to Sextus.
2. These boys are happy.

 

Subject of Sentence
Score	# Students	%
Four	17	63.0%
Three	7	25.9%
Two	3	11.1%
One	0	0.0%
total	27

 

The first two and the last sentence tended to be pretty easy for students and about 63% of the class correctly translated these three sentences, as shown in the graph and table above, all of whom earned 4’s (Rubric) on these three sentences, meaning they could identify the demonstrative-noun pairs, render the Latin grammar correctly and translate correctly. For example, all of these students had similar translations for the first sentence, “These dogs only bark” or “These dogs are only barking”. Both translations maintain the grammar, the noun-demonstrative pair and correct translation of the Latin.

 

Direct Object of Sentence
Score	# Students	%
Four	2	7.4%
Three	20	74.1%
Two	3	11.1%
One	2	7.4%
total	27

 

Yet 93% got a 3 or less (Rubric) on the first English to Latin sentence as expressed in the graph and table above. I was expecting these sort of numbers since that sentence in particular is difficult in part to being English and the students had to translate into Latin. The other spot of difficulty was in using the correct form of hic, haec, hoc. What these results show me is that students recognize and understand when a demonstrative is paired with a noun in the nominative case as well as its function in the sentence but have more difficulty translating and using the correct demonstrative when it is not in the nominative case and therefore the subject.

Those 93% also used the wrong gender and/or the wrong case. Students had seen and used the nominative/masculine case of the demonstrative in previous readings/lessons yet had not used the feminine demonstrative in the accusative case and would therefore try to pair “ball” or “pilam” which is a feminine word with a masculine demonstrative form in the nominative case. They would also correctly render “pilam” in the accusative case because it is the direct object in the sentence but would not make the demonstrative agree with the noun in case/number/and gender. This would result in a 3: “Student recognizes the noun-demonstrative pairs, renders the Latin grammar correctly except for 1 or 2 words”, instead of a 4 (Rubric) for this particular sentence. What this evidence shows me is that students recognize the nominative masculine forms of hic, haec, hoc but have not connected the fact that the demonstrative declines like an adjective and therefore needs to agree to the noun it is paired like a noun-adjective pair.

The remaining 37% from the original 63% ended up with 2s or 3s due to not translating correctly or not correctly rendering the Latin in grammar and vocabulary, such as using the wrong tense for the verbs, mixing up the singularity or plurality of words and/or missing the cases/functions in the sentences. One student who received mostly twos on her sentences did so because she did not render the grammar correctly, she translated the vocab but not the grammar or the demonstrative, like in the first sentence she put down “This dog was only barking”. Here the student did not correctly render the number of both the noun-demonstrative pair or the verb nor did she use the correct tense for the verb hence why she received a 2 (Rubric). A mistranslation such as this shows me how the students struggle with recognizing the singularity/plurality in the Latin and English and have to make the corresponding words agree.

The next steps for the whole class would be to using as many different forms as possible in sample sentences, both English to Latin and Latin to English so that everyone can have practice with seeing a demonstrative in a different case and function with a corresponding noun. To encourage the whole class to become more familiar with other forms of the demonstrative I will use more example sentences where the demonstrative is not used with the subject nor only in masculine forms. I use both Latin and English sentences to give them more practice with not only forming the grammatically correct demonstratives but also for each case/function in the sample sentences.

image:http://spanish-ab-initio.blogspot.com/p/language-ab-initio.html

My First True Experience in a Latin Classroom

I have posted a lot of things on this blog, most having to do with EDU classes I have taken and relating these assignments to my understanding of what an educator looks like. Yet I have not written much on actual experience I have had inside the classroom, this mostly due to how my program is set up and when I actually do step into the classroom. This past quarter has given me that opportunity. Talking about hypothetical and philosophical ideas is all well and good, but being able to incorporate some of these ideas inside of a classroom is whole different ball game so to speak. So here is a little self-reflection on my experience so far in a Latin classroom.

I am at a large public high school in Seattle, where I have a lot of diversity in regards to ethnicity, ELLs, learning ranges and specifically language experience. I work with a seasoned Latin teacher who is very helpful and takes the role of mentor teacher seriously. My first days in the classroom were nerve-racking and exciting. With the sort of program I am in, undergrad, I only am in the classroom once a week. So I took longer to learn my students names, and these were only a third of my mentor teachers students, he teaches levels 1-AP, and made it more difficult for me build individual relationships with the students. Yet I have come to recognize a number of students by different facets of their persons. I had not realized how different my first understanding of what the classroom is like to how it really is. And for those of you out there who are teachers pardon my naïveté for what a high classroom looks like, please comment with anecdotes and advice, it would be much appreciated. I mean I went to a traditional public high school as well as a private one, both very different environments, yet these experiences were form the students perspective, not an educators. I also had not realized how important parents are to my classroom and to the learning environment of my students. For you parents out there with current or past high school students I would love to hear anecdotes and wishes from you as well.

What I want to say in reflection to these last 10+ weeks is that I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about the classroom but I also have learned a lot through my recent training. Classroom management is key aspect in the classroom. This is something that gets covered in some programs, mine included, yet I had not realized how essential and relevant such a topic would be to the classroom. I figured, go over rules and regulations in the first couple weeks, set up some routines and we’re good. Ya…no. Classroom management is still a current aspect of the classroom that I and my mentor teacher are still engaging in with our students, well past those first couple weeks, and I am going take a guess and say it something that I will still be working on well into the school year. Those little routines that help a class run smoothly, how you pass paper around the class, when should you be coming in for quiz re-takes and tutoring, where extra handouts are kept, using the course log; all of these little things really set the tone for the class and the year. This is something I did not give due credit to. I feel my program does an excellent job in bringing this concept forward and opening dialogue about but I still feel ill-prepared for my first year of teaching. I will definitely be supplementing this with videos and senior teacher advice (please comment) on how to to start those first few days at the beginning of the year to help set the tone for the rest of the year.

Aside from the classroom management aspect I have also been further encouraged by my experience of how much I want to be a teacher and how this job further excites me. I look forward to my first year and I hope I have the same feeling in 10 years. I have read the statistics about the number of teachers who quit or retire well before making a life long career out of it. I don’t want to end up there. Looking at my experience so far I don’t feel it will be a problem, but I have barely scratched the surface. I have seen that light bulb moment, that moment that every teacher is holding out for, I have also seen the slow decline of enthusiasm and interest, the slow death of a students interest and grade. Yet I see both of these instances as learning opportunities and ways to be another perspective for these students to see from. These two very different students have forced me come up with new ways to present material, to diversify the content and how it is presented, as well as to get to know the student on a personal level. I definitely struggle with doing this and have not necessarily fixed anything completely by I have made that step and hope to finish through.

So this post is just a brief idea as to where I am at currently in my program and what I have experienced so far in the classroom. Thank you to my program professors and mentor teachers, to my past teachers and to you.

image:http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/review/classroom/class.htm

Ways to Incorporate Speaking, Reading Aloud, Singing, and Listening in a Latin Classroom

Latin to many people is a dead language, yet it is still taught and used today. There are multiple justifications for the language, but aside from its uses in the SAT’s and other languages, Latin is a really cool language to learn. Its an ancient language! It was spoken clear back in the BC era, how is that not awesome? Yet learning Latin today can be somewhat boring and narrow, not many people are going to strike up a conversation with you, Salve! (Hello!) Quid Agis? (How are you?). No, a Latin student would usually be reading Latin texts, memorizing vocabulary, learning grammar and translating. Many people would not look at Latin and say, hey let’s listen to some Latin music, or read a novel in Latin, but it is possible to do these things in the classroom, you just have to be creative. Communication is the key element in any language, it is the reasoning behind the development of any language, communication does not only include spoken, but also written. So here are some of my own ideas for incorporating a form of audio learning in the Latin classroom.

Speaking and listening activities that you could use are, play a game where you can only speak in Latin Sayings, there are many! This help students in remembering sayings and create an environment where they not only reading, but also speaking and listening to the sayings. Use as many formal statements as possible to create a Latin environment, the teacher or magister could use phrases like: Salvete Discipuli (Hello students), Sedete Discipuli (Sit down students, Surgite Discipuli (Stand up students), Valete Discipuli (Goodbye students). And the students in turn could use the phrases: Salve Magister, Vale Magister (Goodbye teacher). All of these phrases help students get into a Latin mind set and help create the Latin Classroom. Other speaking activities could include reading a play and acting it out in class, reading some poetry out loud, even memorizing the poem. One exercise I remember doing in Latin class was creating our own play and then acting it out, we made up the lines, the characters and the scenes. Everything was in Latin and it not only helped us in speaking, but also in the formation of sentences, especially with dialogue, and listening to what is being said on stage, Our final script had no English so we had to rely on cues and understanding where the story was.

All of these activities help in enforcing speaking, reading aloud and listening. Yet another aspect of Language and culture is music. Singing is a great way for students to remember charts and concepts, my Latin class made up a few jingles to remember a number of different things, for instance we took the declension cases and there English counterparts and sung it to London Bridge. Making jingles and having students sing them for memorization helps them remember better. I remember sitting in class during a test and hearing people humming the jingles. There are also the Latin choirs that sing many religious songs in Latin and would be beneficial for students to hear how Latin has progressed into Ecclesiastical pronunciation, one of my favorite choirs being Adoremus.

Other activities could be students writing short stories or a poem that is fashioned after a famous Roman poet and reading them to the class or a partner. Comprehension will come to them after listening to something multiple times or looking at the actual writing. Yet by combining listening and seeing together like this, students are going to grasp the idea that much more.

If possible, I would try to combine many of these different ideas to help my students grasp and understand different concepts, vocabulary, ideas and culture. The Latin classroom can look like any other language classroom, but maybe with more creative thinking thrown in.

image: http://www.glogster.com/andicarucci/roman-drama/g-6m071bjbaaormlkjt94mna0

Using Error Correction with Sequencing in a Latin Classroom

When building a foreign language lesson plan, Brandl has a simple chart to follow: Input: instructional period, giving students the tools to do the intended task Assimilation: Working on examples of the task and putting the new informational to practice. Includes language exercises verbally, reading and writing. Application: Students putting the information practice by themselves, possibly through homework or in class work in the communicative language.

This chart is an easy enough outline to follow for lesson planning. Although when I first read through this chart I was confused with the terms “input” and “assimilation” but after I read over what these words meant. When writing up a lesson plan on a particular Latin chapter in The Essential Latin Textbook I found the chart to be helpful in breaking up a class period for instruction and work time. Another concept I cam across with Brandl was the error correction methodology. For foreign language there are a lot different ways to go about correcting students in a verbal setting. There is positive and negative feedback, I am big supporter of positive feedback, encouraging, praising, confirming and repetition for the benefit of the rest of the class; such feedback is essential to inform students when they saying something right and that they are grasping the material. It encourages myself as a future teacher to make effort to listen an pay attention to my students not only when they make a mistake but also when they correctly speak the language.

The way in which I would implement this practice the most is during the assimilation point in Brandl’s chart. After giving my students the new information, based off of earlier material they have already learned, I would have them put it into practice. For example, if I instruct my students on verb and noun agreement I would give them a phrase and ask if my construction of the phrase was correct, if not, then why was it wrong and how I should have constructed the phrase.

Puella ambulant.

It should be: Puellae ambulant, or Puella ambulat; depending if I want the noun to be plural or the verb.

After my students tell me what is wrong I would have them write the wrong and the write phrase down. This sort of self correction encourages my students to take on the role of teaching and put the material into their own words. After this sort of exercise I would have my students form a series of phrases using the new and old vocabulary then partner up and correct each others sentences. This sort of exercise would also allow them work with both English and Latin.

Another exercise that I could work use correction in would be doing a “mad lib” type exercise, having my students create a story using past and new concepts. Written correction is something I would see in grading homework or tests, which is kind of hard to do in a language classroom, I want my students to hold onto the knowledge for the long term instead of cramming the night before for a test. I would probably do pop quizzes, without warning, so that my students are always mindful of the material. The homework would most likely be only to assess how well my students are grasping the material, it would probably be a way to tell what my students need to look at more. i would circle or mark the wrong answer and point them towards what they need to look at, and leave them to try and determine the problem and solution. On quizzes I would just give them the correct answer and have them write it out multiple times with the explanation as to why my correction is the solution.

My end goal in all this is to make sure my students are getting the information and placing into their long term memory. I want to see my students succeed in “knowing” the language, verbally, written, and in reading.

image: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Communicative-Language-Teaching-in-Action-Putting-Principles-to-Work/9780131579064.page

A Student’s and Future Educators Take on Wheelock

The Wheelock Latin textbook, the 7th Edition to be exact, is the textbook that I used in my beginning Latin classes in college. The book is a monster of grammar and Latin exercises. I have come to lovingly call it my Latin grammar bible. Odd, yes, a bit of an exaggeration, I don’t think so.

This text is an excellent source of Latin grammar, it explains each new term and form easily. If I missed a day in class and needed to know what was discussed, I just read through the chapter and actually understood the information. I have found in the past with other Latin textbooks such a feat was harder to employ, due to the fact that most Latin textbooks write their grammar explanations in less understood terms. Wheelock uses simple language and on point examples that I found the text easy to read through and grasp. The book is set up in a grammar based fashion, with all of the chapters centered around the featured grammar concept, the vocabulary would be somewhat random and the examples were usually only sentences that were not from an actual Latin text. I like how the grammar plays such an important role in the text and how centered the book is around it. I came to understand a lot of concepts because of how the book was set up.

Yet this is also the disadvantage for the textbook, Wheelock is so centered on the grammar, a students doesn’t get much on culture or communicative aspects of the Latin language. I find that I lost out on a lot of the cultural facets because this textbook didn’t really give any attention to it. Another part of the culture that was lost in the textbook was the use of literature or prose or even poetry to use for practice with the grammar and vocab. Instead of being exposed to Roman culture through literary means the textbook used random sentences to drive their grammar point through, even the vocab fell short. There were no vocabulary themes, which would have made memorizing vocab easier and more likely to be locked into long term memory.I have found in other language classes and their textbooks they tend to have vocabulary lists that are themed, based on a reading in the chapter that coincides with the featured grammar term. I feel these are the better suited textbooks for beginners in any language, spoken or not. Another part of the Wheelock text that was a bit of a disadvantage was the amount of grammar concepts covered in a chapter. The text is definitely more deductive than inductive, and in some instances this makes for more well rounded understanding, yet I cannot help but think that the text could benefit form being a little more inductive. Some of the chapters had so much information is was overwhelming and I harder time grasping all of the information. Yet when I broke up the chapters into smaller units I had an easier time understanding and fully comprehending the concepts.

If given a choice I think I would use Wheelock in a high school setting in addition to another textbook with a more literary and thematic schema. I would use Wheelock in my explanation of new grammar concepts and for additional reading on the subject, even using the exercise sentences for in class practice. From what I can see about the textbook is that the writers really knew their grammar, enough to write in an easily understood way. Wheelock is a good text to use in college, and it would make for a good textbook in high school, but it would definitely need to be supplemented with another textbook or a reader so that students could get a better idea of the Roman culture aside from the grammar of their language.

image: http://cicimg.com/wheelock.html