Spanish Ice Breakers for Distance Learning

If there's one thing I dread about back to school, it's ice breakers. If you feel the same way, I have THE holy grail of resources for you.   

My school district is starting 100% virtual remote learning this fall and one of my first thoughts when I get the news was, "How on earth am I going to ever really get to know my students?" I decided I had to come up with an engaging, interactive take on ice breakers so I can build relationships with my students even when we aren't physically together. 

My first thought was to create a Google Slides presentation filled with high-interest questions, comprehensible input, cognates, and images to support understanding. Then it occurred to me that I could integrate Pear Deck, a student participation tool that engages with series of questions within the slide presentation. 

This Spanish ice-breakers activity is going to be my saving grace on day one this year and I'm really excited about it. Plus, if you teach other languages, you could just change the questions to your TL. 

This resource prompts students to respond by dragging to their preference, drawing, multiple choice, and even short answer. Here are some sample student responses and a preview of how the slides work. 

If you're not familiar with Pear Deck, watch this quick video to see how it works. You can choose to use the free options only (you'd miss out on the draggable and drawing options), but even the free version is awesome. It's going to be key for any hybrid, synchronous, or remote learning situation, but it has been used in-person for a long type by die-hard users. It's a tech subscription I highly recommend for COVID because it has you covered in any scenario. 

If you're looking for more amazing ice breaker ideas, Spanish Mama's viral post about ice breakers for world language classrooms is SO helpful. This year, I LOVED her distance learning variations for getting to know you activities.  She just has so many good ideas and I loved her suggestions for "get to know you" activities even if students are doing remote learning from home. 

Also, in addition to the 30+ ice breaker questions I've already included, I'll be adding more slides as they occur to me to provide you as many options as possible and so you have questions that will help you get to know your students this school year.  I really help this resource helps you to have a smoother start to the school year and have fun with your students!  

World Language Syllabus Perfect for Distance Learning or Hybrid

2020 has been a hot mess for teachers, am I right? This back-to-school season has had my mind spinning.  With my district starting with distance learning, one of the things I couldn't wrap my mind around was how to create a syllabus and all of the expectations to go along with a completely known style of teaching given our remote learning scenario.

When I finally started drafting out my new syllabus, I realized that I wanted to:

1. transition away from my infographic syllabus because I won't be distributing a piece of paper to families.
2. create a more interactive syllabus experience. I loved the idea of using a digital notebook syllabus with the clickable tabs to move from section to section. 
3. change my grading categories and my expectations to reflect a different style of teaching and learning. 

The result was my new distance learning syllabus, which could be easily converted for face-to-face for the remote learning expectations portions. This video shows most of it's features much better than I could describe them: 

The syllabus is available in two different themes: pink and blue. Each syllabus resource includes a choice of two different colors.

This syllabus, while editable, includes sections and ready-made content on:

• About Me
• Class Goals
• Class Overview
• Grading
• Communication
• Expectations

I worked hard to included proficiency-centered framing for any World Language curriculum and a standards-based grading scenario that describes the 3 modes of communication and 5Cs.

All you'll have to do is change your name, add your course info, and customize any details you want, but the whole framework and formatting is laid out for you. I even included instructions on how to share the syllabus in presentation mode so that students and parents can use the clickable interactive tabs to move from section to section. 

The graphic design, formatting, and usability to create this syllabus was seriously a labor of love and took me the better part of a weekend, but it will take you minutes to customize it for your use.

I hope it makes your back-to-school season just a little bit easier! If you're looking for another clutch, ready-to-go back-to-school activity, this ice-breaker will be perfect!

"Interpersonal" Mode Hacks for Distance Learning

I'm active on a large number of Spanish and World Language social media groups. One of the common, recurring themes I keep seeing is about how teachers will approach interpersonal mode in distance learning. There are always suggestions of how to approach it, but we all know it's not going to be the same as having those two-way exchanges in the classroom.

My students won't start school for another month and I'm already mourning the loss of speed-dating, class-wide interpersonal conversations, and watching my students crack up as they do their interpersonal speaking assessments as part of our IPAs. It's just so freaking sad! Don't worry though... I have a solution.

Yes, I know we can do breakout rooms in our Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc. and I definitely plan to do that for our twice a week synchronous lessons, but it isn't the same as actually being with people in person. P.S. if you haven't watch this amazing NECTFL video from the ACTFL 2020 Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Blouwolff, you MUST especially if you'll be doing hybrid or distance learning. She gives so many applicable instruction ideas for breakout rooms and more for synchronous instruction, that I'll be watching this video again in the weeks to come for more ideas.

What is interpersonal mode?

To be clear, usually I am extremely black and white about interpersonal communication. It has to be a two way exchange, it has to be spontaneous, and there has to be some sort of negotiation of meaning. If you're unfamiliar, see more about my ideas on interpersonal practice and assessment.

When it comes to asynchronous instruction, that whole spontaneous requirement kind of goes out the window; kids are going to prepare, which shifts what would usually be interpersonal activities into presentational mode because they're pre-planned, rehearsed, and memorized.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to step off of my high horse this fall. I usually hate skits because I know they are actually presentational, but I'm going to have to be more flexible. I mean, if 2020 has done nothing else, it's definitely forced us to adjust, right? It's also made me more anxious, overweight, short-tempered, and lots of other things, but I digress.

What does interpersonal mode look like in 2020?

As I was saying, I'm going to have to be more flexible, which *may* mean that I will have to allow skits or conversations with yourself to suddenly be considered interpersonal tasks.  Last Spring, when schools shut down, I dabbled with having my 6th graders record skits on Flipgrid and it brought me so much joy to watch them. Here are some of the options they chose for their "interpersonal mode activities:

• Some of my 6th graders recorded conversations with their family members, some of whom were older siblings I'd taught in years previous. 
• Some uploaded Facetime videos talking with their with classmates. 
• Others used stuffed animals or put different colored socks on their hands to make impromptu sock puppets. 

Their little conversations were adorable and creative and I got to see my students being silly and in their element, which was awesome considering I'd never met these students in person. I guess I forgot to mention that my school started a new quarter of kids in the middle of COVID lockdowns. Regardless, I let it slide that these conversations were prepared and rehearsed. They were speaking Spanish and that was enough for me.

What could interpersonal mode for Flipgrid?

When I saw Flipgrid's new features released in this video, I immediately knew that I just had to try out the "mirror screen" feature to simulate interpersonal mode. She does it at about 29:00 minutes, but I've made a quick demo of what it would look like here. No judgement please. I'm wearing no makeup, I haven't spoken Spanish to anyone in like 6 months, and I didn't even practice. I just went for it and didn't let myself rerecord. How's that for spontaneous?

So, what do you think of using the mirror screen option to simulate interpersonal mode. Can I work? I'd love to hear you opinions, thoughts, and suggestions in the comments below!

Mayan School Uniform Spanish Interpretive Practice

With the school year of distance learning looming, I'm working hard on digitizing all of my resources so that I can assign interactive activities to my students so I had to start with one of my absolute favorites: this Mayan School Uniforms Spanish interpretive practice.

Now, in addition to a PDF, you can assign this resource for remote learning to any LMS including (but not limited) to Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, Edgenuity, and more.

This Mayan School Uniforms interpretive practice is perfect for any unit on clothing (ropa), school (escuela or colegio), personal identity, or indigenous cultures. I LOVE finding amazing, rich, cultural authentic resources and then creating ACTFL-aligned interpretive activities to accompany them and build proficiency and cultural awareness. The video is stunning and super-comprehensible and the activites are perfect for novice-mid to intermediate Spanish learners.

Check out this video to learn more about it's features:

This resource contains:

• links to the authentic resource video
• four interpretive activities
• rubric, which can be used for teacher, self, or peer assessment
• a self-reflection for interpretive listening to help students focus on skills they need to improve

Even better? This resource is part of a growing bundle of interpretive activities all based on engaging interpretive activities. The bonus of growing bundles is that when you purchase today, you'll have access to all of the resources I continue add. Good deal, huh?

Looking for more fun resources that connect to these AP themes?

• This NY Times article about Mayan soccer teams wearing traditional outfits as uniforms
• This article about students wearing indigenous outfits as school uniforms

TPT Digital Activity Tool for Distance Learning

Last Spring, with COVID school closures, pretty much all of us probably felt a bit like first-year teachers again. The activities we are accustomed to using didn't work quite right and there weren't a ton of easy solutions to digitize print resources so students could interact with them.

The new TPT digital activity tool is going to BLOW YOUR MIND!  If you're a Google Classroom user and the TPT seller you've purchased a resource from is participating in this new initiative, you MUST watch this video. You won't believe how your favorite Teachers Pay Teachers resources are about to become even better, particularly if you will be doing remote learning or hybrid learning this fall.  Check it out:


Now, if you're not a Google Classroom user (like me), never fear. I've got you. I'm currently pretty much not sleeping at all and converting all of my TPT resources, one by one, into an interactive digital version that can be used with any LMS.  If you'd like a freebie to see what I mean, grab a copy of the freebie here.

If you ARE a Google Classroom user and you'd like to check out the new TPT digital tool, I highly recommend this highly engaging activity to start out the school year. It's musical, it's fun, and my kids LOVE it.

Questions? Comments? Please leave them in the comments, find me on social media @SraShawSpanish, or email me spanish.with.sra.shaw@gmail.com

Spanish Speaking Countries Back to School FREEBIE!

It's that time of year, friends. Even if you don't want to, especially this year, you're probably thinking about what your lessons are going to look like as you head back to school.  Great news! No matter what scenario is thrown at you, I've got a freebie for the first weeks of school that will have your students engaged whether they're physically in your classroom or doing remote learning from home.

In the first couple of weeks in Spanish 1, I always like to make sure that I cover the following intro unit concepts:

1. Cognates/ cognados: I find that exposing students to cognates early on helps students build much-needed confidence. It's an important language learning strategy as students begin working with authentic texts in the target language. 
2. Spanish-speaking countries/ países hispanohablantes: It's important for students to know where Spanish is spoken. It's not that I need them to memorize capitals and countries and where they are located, but they should get the gist of regions where Spanish is spoken and its prevalence.
3. How to work with authentic resources: It's valuable for students to experience quality, appropriate authentic texts from the get-go. I want my kiddos to know that they don't have to understand every word. Instead, I want them to focus on the main idea, cognates, and most importantly, to understand that language learning doesn't need to be perfect at all. It's a process. Plus, authentic resources provide students with important cultural awareness. 

Guess what? I've put all of these important Spanish 1 beginning concepts into one awesome freebie.  Just sign up below and receive this ready-to-go resource in your inbox.

Want this free resource?

Just enter your name & email to get FREE instant access this Spanish-speaking country infographic reading activity. 

Name:

Email address:

¡Gracias!

Your exclusive freebie is on its way to your inbox. 

The best part is that this free resource is ready to go! You can either assign the interactive digital resource (students can drag items and type right onto the sheet) or you can print the PDF if you're face to face. It's perfect for synchronous, asynchronous, remote learning, and any situation that COVID throws at us. I'm working hard to make you're fall easier by providing you resources that are adaptive for what's sure to be an interesting back to school season.

Looking for more interpretive resources featuring #authres? Get this growing bundle, which I'll be continuing to add to for years to come. It's an amazing deal!

Simplifying Spanish Distance Learning with GoFormative.com

I can't believe yesterday marks the eight week mark of the last day of in-person classes. On Thursday March 12, we got the news that Michigan schools would be closing and our district had one final day of classes that Friday. None of us realized that would be the last time we'd see our students that year or that COVID19 would likely change the face of education forever.

That Saturday in March, I was inspired. I'm tech savvy, I figured, this is going to be fine. I'll use the tools at my disposal to get me through a few weeks of closures. Better yet, I wanted share my distance learning technology ideas with teachers who were understandably freaking out about how to deliver instruction to their kids. I wrote this Secondary Spanish Space post about the four tools that I then felt would be best for distance learning: Google Classroom, SeeSaw, FlipGrid, and Edpuzzle.

Since that day, I've proclaimed to several of my WL amigos that I needed Google Classroom and SeeSaw to combine their forces and make a baby. They laughed, but I was serious. While these platforms worked perfectly for my needs in a brick and mortar classroom, they both left something to be desired for my now-remote learning middle schoolers.

Enter GoFormative.com. No, they're not paying me and don't even know I'm writing this post. I'm just that enthusiastic about it.  My amazing department head and current MIWLA president, Marci Harris, has been proclaiming the wonder of Formative for several years. I was actually an early adopter of it in probably 2015, but, at the time, it was clunky and glitchy. I wrote it off and didn't think about it until me amazing Spanish amiga, Laurel Landrum, convinced me to try it again. Marci is actually so happy to be right that she's taken to Twitter to brag ;)

Finally. It’s taken a pandemic but @SraShawSpanish just admitted that I’ve been right all along! @goformative is AMAZING! if you’re not using it - trust me and @a2laurel - it’s a game changer!

— Marci Harris (@MarciHarrisAA) May 12, 2020

A week into using it, I'm completely obsessed with Formative. I've decided that it is the best solution for distance learning probably for lots of content areas, but certainly for World Language. Formative encompasses so different styles of activities and assessment styles that are ideal for language acquisition competencies in a one-stop shop that can be posted to any LMS (Google Classroom, SeeSaw, Schoology, or just any website).

Here are five reasons why I think that for as long as we're doing distance or blended learning, you should consider simplifying things for yourself and your students and shift to GoFormative.com, which calls themselves just plain Formative.

1. Efficiency

Before Formative, I was making an instructions slideshow for each lesson that contained a bunch of links and posting it to Google Classroom. The slideshows were time-consuming to put together and kids shad trouble following them.  I would also post the corresponding learning activities to Google Classroom and lots of kids were having trouble navigating the slideshows and all of the different assignments in Google Classroom. Worse yet, the different assignments were cluttering the holy heck out of my GC (Google Classroom) grade book to the point that I was having trouble keeping up and deciphering activities. It was a mess.

Takeaway: With GoFormative, I can put all of the content from all of the different files/ links I was using before into one link. Just one. I post one link to Google Classroom and there is only one thing in my GC gradebook. BAM. Done. The end. It is beautiful and streamlines the whole process for me and my students.

2. Activities for All 3 Modes of Communication

If you follow me, you probably know that I'm IPA-obsessed. If you're not familiar, I'd encourage you to check out my 6 series post explaining the process or look at my thematic IPAs here. I love creating and assessing what students know using IPAs and using a variety of interpretive reading and listening activities. While this looks different with remote learning, I'm working on adapting this process and Formative is going to be key.

The variety of activities that Formative offers for interpretive reading/listening and presentational speaking/writing all within one activity is AMAZING.  Here's a video that shows what some of these options look like:



Takeaway: There are lots of tools that do these things separately, but if you watched the video above, I think you'll agree that the fact that one site can do all of these things is a WL distance-learning teacher's dream.  I love that you can use simple question formats like you could in a Google Form, but with the other types of more critical thinking type-questions, you can really gain a better understanding of what students understand and can do. I love the variety and my students have said they do too.  Adiós, Google Forms.

3. A Wide Variety of Learning Activities

I could write an entire blog post solely focused on the vast array of different types of questions and learning activities available on Formative.  Here's a menu of what is available, though there's more than what meets the eye once you start to explore and play around.

As a quick explanation, the red column is full of items that you can add as one-way content. Notice the white board option and the audio instructions. YAY! I really like to do audio instructions in addition to type ones to make things more clear and to connect better with my students. 

The blue columns are all of the types of questions you can add, and while some of them are basic (true or false, short answer, multiple choice) others are amazing, especially for World Language.  

Takeaway: YAY! A smorgasbord of activity options. Wait until you play around with it.  My favorites are "Categorize," which  I recently used to have kids sort a bunch tourist attractions into the 3 Spanish cities where they are located based on a reading. "Resequence" is amazing for CI activities, short stories, novels, etc. because they can reorder the events that occurred. "Show your work"  allows kids to draw, type, and add images and shapes onto a virtual whiteboard and for me, this part is reminiscent of my favorite aspects of SeeSaw.

4. Embed All of your Favorite Apps

I love using a bunch of different apps to keep things interesting and I don't bat an eye at using Quizizz, Quizlet, Edpuzzle, Gimkit, Kahoot, FlipGrid, SeeSaw, and a handful of others all within a couple of weeks. But get this! You can embed or link to all of these from within your Formative and the kids don't need to leave the webpage to do the activities!

Within a singular Formative, I embedded Quizlet "Learn" and "Match" activities and an EdPuzzle and both platforms tracked student progress seamlessly without students ever having to switch websites.  I can't tell you in words how ecstatic I was, but it pretty much looked like this:

via GIPHY

Takeway: I've already had students say that they were more likely to complete their assignments in Formative because it's all in one place.  I don't know about you, but anything that increases participation and completion at this point in the year is a win.

5. Feedback

GoFormative.com was really developed as a formative assessment tool, which is primarily focused on giving feedback and allowing teachers to see who needs intervention.  You'll find that even the feedback options in Formative are varied and efficient.  You can grade on a slide scale of however many points you assign, give audio feedback, respond with emojis, an image, and more.  

My favorite part is that I can look at, respond to, and assign points to bunch of responses all at once like you see below. Seeing several responses at once allows me to see which questions are frequently missed so I can reteach.  I also love that when I see a trending correct answer from a bunch of students, I can add that answer to auto-grade to save time so that Formative will mark that answer correct for all students. 

Takeaway: Formative makes grading as detailed or as quick as you want. You can view responses by question or by student and their auto-grading is surprisingly intuitive. The variety of ways you can respond to students is awesome and I appreciate seeing the red exclamation point that alerts me that students have copied or pasted information if you're concerned about plagiarism. 

Summary 

If I had to pick one tool to use in my distance learning classes it would definitely be Formative. I previously would have said SeeSaw, but I've found that for our current situation, Formative solves so many issues in one convenient spot. Plus, I'm not going to lie, but making Formatives is oddly satisfying. Feedback from students has been really positive, they're completing assignments, and several kids said they thought it was more fun. I figured, in this mess, if the kids and I are having fun and I'm removing barriers to learning, it's a victory. I should add that there's a 30 day free trial that I'm currently utilizing, but I will happily pay the subscription cost for the amount of time GoFormative.com is saving me when my trial is over. 

Questions? Thoughts? Please share in the comments section below.  

Back to School Blog Hop Freebie 2019

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I'm Sra. Shaw and I tend to specialize on using authentic resources for interpretive reading and listening activities and, of course, IPAs.

If you're not familiar with integrated performance assessments, I'd love for you to check out my six part blog series explaining my rational for using them, how to write these assessments, and how to give them with your students.

The free interpretive resource I'm excited to share with you today is from my GROWING interpretive activities bundle and focuses on city vocabulary and Barcelona.  Students will access two different authentic resources, an adorable video my students love and a highly comprehensible infographic as part of today's freebie, La Ciudades de España interpretive activity.

What I love most about interpretive listening and reading activities is that they take highly engaging videos, infographics, articles, etc. and scaffold what students already know while exposing them to new words that help them build a vocabulary.

My students tend to view interpretive activities a scavenger hunt of sorts as they seek out the words the need to find; they're challenging, yet motivating at the same time.  I've created a growing bundle of interpretive activities, which you can save a ton of money (and LOTS of time).  This is an amazing deal, especially now while they are 20% off, and you'll have access to all of the interpretive activities as I add them in the future.

Some of my favorite interpretive activities (which are all part of the bundle) are:

Greetings & Introductions Interpretive Practice

Teaching greetings and the introductory conversation has never been so fun and engaging! Your students will love seeing kids their age introduce themselves to celebrities.  Trust me! It's the prefect activity for the first month of school and leads up to this introductory unit IPA assessment. 

  

Mayan School Uniform Clothing Interpretive Practice

You'll love this social justice-themed interpretive activity that will do so much more than reinforce vocabulary about school and clothing and will teach your students the value of preserving Mayan Culture. The video students will access (either individually or as a whole class) is beautiful and gives students an eye-opening glimpse into what education looks like in other parts of the world.

Hispanic Heritage Month Interpretive Practice

This is a fabulous interpretive activity for September to teach your students about Hispanic Heritage Month, what it means to be Hispanic versus Latino, and teach some basic cultural and historical information.  The authentic infographic is colorful, to the point, and highly comprehensible for novice and intermediate students. 

I love interpretive activities because they set the stage for my students to comprehend authentic texts in the target language and prepares my students for their end-of-unit IPAs. My curriculum and my students' success all really revolve around interpretive activities!  

Now that you've checked out one of my favorite types of resources and downloaded the City Interpretive freebie, I'm excited to send you to the next station on our back to school blog hop! Head on over to The Spanish Brew; she's got a really cool conversational freebie for your first weeks back to school. Be sure to follow the blog hop chain to score 11 more awesome freebies!

If you end up using my freebie, I'd love to hear your thoughts and even share pictures or videos! You can connect with me here on Facebook and @SraShawSpanish on IG and Twitter.  I'd also love for you to follow me on my blog Spanish with Sra. Shaw, as I share ideas :)

Hope you're about to have your best school year yet! Con Amor, Jen AKA Spanish with Sra. Shaw

SeeSaw: The Best App for the Proficiency-Centered WL Classroom

I've been meaning to write this post for a solid 4-5 years, but have you every been so excited to talk about something that you couldn't formulate the words? That's how I feel about SeeSaw, my hands-down favorite technology tool for the World Language classroom.  SeeSaw is Check out this video all about SeeSaw:

Breakdown of What I Love about SeeSaw:

1. It effectively and efficiently shows students proficiency/performance in the Target Language. 

Students can add photos, slideshows, videos, and drawings and combine presentational speaking/writing to caption over their samples.  It's also a simple way to do interpersonal speaking assessments because students can record themselves speaking with a partner. 

Just to give you an idea of what types of tasks students can create in just minutes, here are some student samples:

I've had lots of students say how much fun they have creating their SeeSaw assignments.  Then again, I've had a few bemoan them and beg for worksheets instead, but I always remind them that they are not going to learn to Speak Spanish with a worksheet. Worksheets are tools, but these SeeSaw assignments take language performance to an entirely different level.

2. It's differentiated 

I give students choices so they can create products that interest them. Frequently they revolve around the same ACTFL Can Do Statement, but students have choices in how they choose to demonstrate their mastery.  For example, if I give students the Can Do Statement, "I can talk about what I do and do not like to eat," some kids create videos with presentational speaking showing which foods they like and others posted pictures with captions. Both are great examples of language ability and I think it's important that students choose options they are comfortable with and that are motivating. 

3. It's fun

I like to give students a lot of creative liberty.  I often give them an ACTFL Can-Do statement and then leave it to them to figure out how to demonstrate their mastery.  Most of them time, their ideas are way better than what I would have come up with! 

Lots of kids utilize the same apps they would in real life, which I think is really cool.  I frequently see samples from Instagram, SnapChat, text messages, etc., which makes the texts that much more authentic and completely hits ACTFL standard 5, "Learners use the language both within and beyond the classroom to interact and collaborate in their community and the globalized world." Sure, my students are connecting with their own classmates, but considering they are 8th graders, I'm insanely proud of their creativity. 

4. It's flexible and is available on all devices and platforms

SeeSaw is available on literally any device or platform.  It has apps for Apple iOs, Android, Kindle, Chromebooks or is usable on any device with Chrome or Safari. You can use it 1-to-1, have students share devices, use it on a cart, or students can access it on devices at home.

5. It's shows language development and self-creates a portfolio

At the end of each year, I have students take a class period to look through their SeeSaw postings from the entire year and reflect upon their proficiency growth. They are always blown away by how simplistic their language was in the fall and how much they can do by June. Lots of students make comments about how proud they are and and how silly they sounded in the beginning.  As a teacher, these moments make me glow. It's so cool to see my students as proud of themselves as I am.  

Another item worth mentioning is that you can create folders for students to submit work.  I like to create one folder per unit so we can all see what students were capable of doing in the first unit and how much they've grown by the last unit.  These folder portfolios can be downloaded at the end of the year or transferred over if you are part of a SeeSaw for Schools district.

6. SeeSaw is easy for teachers to use

SeeSaw is super easy to use.  I simply open SeeSaw, select the class I want to see and scroll through newly submitted work from the entire class.  Alternatively, I can also select a student's name from the roster and look at only their work. 

I can comment, enter feedback, and approve items within a matter of moments and with no clicking or searching around.  Instead of waiting for items to load, I can click play to watch videos and listen to speaking recordings and they load immediately. 

In terms of creating classes, there's several ways you can do it. There's a class code, you can send invites, or students can log in with their Google accounts; you get to select the way that's easiest for you. The first time we use Seesaw, I always have my students use their Google accounts to login. type the class code, and they create their first posts that same day.

7. SeeSaw is easy to use and intuitive 

I find that after I preview how to use SeeSaw for my students, they just get it. This generation inherently understands how to make the various types of posts with almost no teaching of the app itself.  

That being said, I like to use this lesson to get my students acclimated to SeeSaw's framework and I find that 1) my students are able to do all the different types of submissions and 2) I learn about my students and what makes them unique because they are posting "all about me" information. 

I've done SeeSaw trainings for teachers who are self-proclaimed "tech un-savvy" and they acclimate really well.  I should also mention that SeeSaw is an app primarily used by elementary schools; my kindergartener uses it pretty much on her own in the classroom, so middle and high schoolers will think Seesaw is easy peasy.

8. SeeSaw is free

SeeSaw is free! I used SeeSaw completely free with no complaints for years.  That being said, there is a SeeSaw Plus option, which allows for standards-based grading and a few other features, but you don't need to upgrade.  Use this link to create a SeeSaw account and they'll give you a free month of SeeSaw Plus to try out.

9. SeeSaw has an optional parent component

SeeSaw has a free, optional parent component that allows parents to easily access their students' work. Parents can download the SeeSaw Families app or use a browser logon and will instantly be connected with only their child's work. Each time their child makes a new submission, parents are notified, which I love because my students are more accountable and because SeeSaw helps me communicate with families and stakeholders.  If you're interested in more details, check out this video about the family communication aspect of SeeSaw.

10. SeeSaw is the most powerful WL tool around

No other WL tool can attempt to encompass all of the capacity that SeeSaw has.  Other tools can do pieces of what SeeSaw can do, but none of them can do all of the same things in one tool.  

For example, Flipgrid is indeed a fun way to do collaborative presentational or interpersonal speaking, but that's where it ends. Google Classroom is a great way for students to share documents and presentational writing, but it can't handle all of the speaking, images, and caption that SeeSaw can do.  

I'm a definite EdTech enthusiast, but I like to carefully select which tools I choose to use with my students.  Because I don't want to overwhelm my young students with too many different apps, I use only a handful of the most essential tools, but if I only had to choose one, I'd choose SeeSaw every time.  To read about my other favorites, click here.

Conclusion

I really hope you feel inspired to get out there and try SeeSaw with your students.  One more thing I forgot to share about SeeSaw is that it helped me to become more "Can Do" focused in terms of focusing on what my students could actually do with the language instead of what they know about grammar or vocabulary.  My students learned to focus on communication and the communicative structures they needed to complete a task and I found that they are much more comfortable trying to speak instead of constantly being afraid of making mistakes.

If you have questions, comments, ideas, etc. please comment below or email me at spanish.with.sra.shaw@gmail.com.  Also, I've been recently doing 1, 3, and 6 hour professional development sessions for teacher groups and I'd love to work with you and your colleagues! If you're interested, please reach out; I love working with teachers to implement technology and SeeSaw is the best way to start.

ClassroomScreen: A Free Management Tool for Spanish Class

ClassroomScreen.com is the classroom management tool I'm most excited to implement with my students this fall.  I attended an educational technology PD yesterday with the amazing Leslie Fisher and ClassroomScreen was my favorite takeaway. It would take me way too long to write about all it's features, so I'm going to show you instead. Check it out my video tutorial here (and please ignore my terrible hair day):


Let me summarize my favorite implementations of ClassroomScreen.com for the WL classroom:

1. The Volume/Sound Level Monitor

Not that this has ever happened to any of you, but I know I've had moments when I clearly explained that the volume level for students working was supposed to be a level 1 and within moments the class is screaming at a level 4.  It's maddening and kids seem completely oblivious to how stinking loud they are! 

Enter the ClassroomScreen volume monitor.  You set an acceptable volume marker and when gets go above that level, it turns red. Then you don't have to be the bad guy; ClassroomScreen tells the kids they were too loud. Boom. Done.

World Language classrooms aren't supposed to be silent; our students need to talk to learn the language, but that doesn't mean they have to be yelling. Agreed?

2. The Conversation Symbols

If you've read about my intense love for the CHAMPS classroom management system or use my CHAMPS expectations poster, you'll know why I LOVE the conversation symbols on ClassroomScreen.com.  You can select silence, whisper, ask a neighbor, or work together.  Sure, you'll need to talk to students about what volumes go with each of these behaviors, but it will be easy to redirect students by point to the symbol on the board as a reminder. 

3. A Recurring Timer

This doesn't seem like a big deal, but a recurring timer is HUGE news for my classroom. My students do speed-dating interpersonal speaking practice often (I need to write a blog post on this, but think a bunch of students talking in an organized fashion and rotating to the next person when the timer goes off).  With speed-dating the recurring timer will be ideal.  

I've always just used a maraca every minute or two to let students know they need to rotate, but it's annoying and I sometimes forget.  With the ClassroomScreen recurring timer, I'll be able to set the length of the timer, the number of times I want the timer to start over, and that's it. 

4. You'll Wow Administrators During Evaluations

This goes without saying. ClassroomScreen.com is classroom management dream come true. It makes your expectations clear. If you aren't already, you'll look like a management rockstar and that section on your evaluation will be amazing. We all know teachers don't do things just for good evaluations, but it can't hurt right?

5. You Can Set the Target Language

This is kind of self-explanatory, but I love that I can set the language for ClassroomScreen. There's even an option for Castilian and Latin American Spanish. What language teacher doesn't love that? Plus, the language has a cute little flag that stays on the screen. Adorable. 

I'd really love your feedback on how you'd implement ClassroomScreen with your students!  Please comment below and share how you'd use it because I know there are a ton more uses I haven't considered. 

The Perfect IPA to Kick Off Spanish Class

Want to know what unit I used to hate teaching the most? Greetings and introductions. It just seemed so boring and repetitive and I swore if I heard one more kid say, "Cómo te llamas" and pronounce the word like the animal, I was simply going to lose it and do this:

via GIPHY

I hated teaching the introductory conversation until the day I realized that it was probably the most important unit I was going to teach my students. They were likely going to need to use basics of the introductory conversation more times than anything else I ever teach them.  I changed my attitude about the unit unit and completely redid the first few weeks of Spanish I, culminating in an IPA assessment that my students actually enjoy taking? Enjoy taking a test? It's possible. Here's how...

Here's what I realized:

1. I had to find a way to get students excited about a seemingly boring topic.

First, I implemented "fake it til you make it." I'd never been the least bit excited about teaching the introductory conversation and so, not surprisingly, my students weren't either. It didn't help that they'd heard, "Hola, ¿Cómo estás? Mucho gusto" hundreds of times on Dora the Explorer or in elementary Spanish.  I convinced them that 1) just because they have heard it or been introduced to it didn't mean they knew how to have the conversation and 2) it would probably be one of the most valuable conversations they'll ever need to learn.

2. Students need to start off the year feeling successful.

My favorite thing about IPAs is that they are straightforward and assess what students can do, not what they know.  I find that my advanced students feel challenged, but that IPAs also scaffold for students who might typically struggle on assessments.  After taking this first IPA in my class, students feel proud of themselves for what they've accomplished.  Some kids will ask, "Is that it? That was the test?" Yup, that's it.  There's no tricks, it's not a game.  In my class you'll have to speak, write, and understand Spanish and you just proved you could.

3. Students needed to listen to people actually having the introductory conversation.

I think part of the issue was that students didn't see the value in learning greetings and introductions. It didn't seem like something people actually did in real life.  I found a bunch of authentic videos of people greeting and introducing themselves to one another in a really fun context and my kids LOVED watching them. They had the opportunity to hear how heritage speakers use the vocabulary I was teaching and it hooked them.  You'll find a bunch of practice interpretive listening activities that prep students for the experiences they'll have on the IPA here. 

4. Skits weren't going to cut it.

Skits are lovely and students enjoy doing them, but skits themselves aren't sufficient to prepare students for the demands of on-the-spot, spontaneous interpersonal speaking experiences with people they've never meet.  Instead, I've found students really love doing speed-dating speaking activities in which they rotate and talk with many classmates in a short period of time.  Read more here about speed-dating and other ways to prep students for interpersonal speaking. 

5. IPAs give students multiple ways to demonstrate mastery.

Some students love speaking Spanish, but the majority don't, especially not at first.  Some students excel at reading, while others are beautiful writers.  My most struggling students are usually not amazing readers or interpreters, but they often do quite well with interpersonal speaking because they are good communicators.  What I like about IPAs is that there is usually something for everyone.  Educators today are expected to provide multiple ways to demonstrate understanding and with IPAs, students have to opportunity to show what they know and can do in several modes of communication. 

If you've been thinking about using IPAs or you're looking for the perfect introductory unit assessment, this is it.  You're students will finish the IPA feeling confident, motivated, and like there is a real-world application for what they've just learn. Check out this IPA here. 

If you'll like to read more about IPAs, check out my blog series here, which explains them start to finish. 

Questions? Comments?