Reflections from the 2023-2024 School Year

I feel like I get a little bit better at teaching every year, and part of that has been through the process of reflection. I did a reflection at semester, so here are my end-of-year reflections!

Anchor Everything to a Text

I came to a realization this year that sometimes, my class conversations were just floating in the air as sound. We would talk about something for a little while, and move on. I trained with teachers who did non-targeted CI, so I’m used to “discovering” new language as its need comes up, and writing it on the board, or conveying it using all my other skills. But that language sometimes would get that one use, and then it was gone. In reading the blog of Lance Piantaggini, I really had an “oh!” moment when he wrote to “always anchor to a text.”

Students need to be exposed to all that same language that came up in the conversation in a written text. This way, they can see spellings, writing conventions, grammar in context, everything – and get double the input. The texts can come from Write and Discuss (which I always tell myself to do more of), Embedded Readings, class novels, whatever – but I need to be writing more text on the board and getting more texts into student hands. Because reading is what? Fundamental!

Work the Language Even More – Gestures, New Readings, Parallel Texts

This reflection kind of comes from the previous one, which is that I could tell that sometimes, students just needed more meaningful reps on new language. I can work it more by incorporating more gestures (which I used to do more of and students would list as something they loved!), creating parallel texts of readings we’re doing, and trying to generate more cultural readings using the language we’ve been using in class recently. I’m really inspired by how SOMOS does this throughout its curriculum, and hope to create similar readings for my German classes as I continue to tinker with my homemade curriculum.

Changing IPA-Like Tasks to Be More Input-Heavy/Contextualized

I’ve been trying to find a good balance between teacher-created materials and unadapted materials to build students’ reading skills. The couple “IPA-style” tasks I did this year had mixed results, with some students totally shutting down. I think they need lots and lots of guidance and modeling, especially at the Novice level, to perform the tasks without my support. This means using more “authres” as Picture Talks, the final levels of Embedded Readings, etc. instead of being like “I know you can do it, here’s a thing!” (Sometimes, this happened this year because I was unexpectedly way more absent than anticipated and just had to throw something in front of my kids.)

Homework…?

I gave homework for the first time in my career this year (audience gasps). Results were mixed. I only gave it to my third/fourth year College in the High School class because It’s College and We Love Rigor, etc etc. As expected, some kids struggled to complete it and needed to stay in during our remediation period to do so. It was never worth tons of points relative to our in-class assessments, but it could still affect a student’s grade.

I’m toying with the idea of assigning homework in a zero-point category, and telling students that completed homework will help you get points back on assessments. (While secretly not actually giving extra points, but the students just earning them because the homework would hopefully help them just do better on assessments anyways?) Not sure how I want to handle this yet. Kids appreciated being pushed to engage with German outside of class times, but I need to do more reflection with them about what they actually find motivating and helpful to do.

For what it’s worth, they LOVED this Real World Homework assignment. They learned a ton from it, and I got linked up to some cool stuff I may not have found on my own!

Energizing Brain Breaks vs. Centering Brain Breaks

I managed to do more Brain Breaks this year, which was nice! It’s important to keep an eye on students’ energy and focus, and use Brain Breaks to get them back in the game, as necessary. And like…hopefully do it as a preventative measure instead of as a bail-out.

There is a big difference, I’ve found, between Energizing Brain Breaks and Centering Brain Breaks. My first period needed Energizing Brain Breaks to break out of the soporific morning doldrums. These are things like giving a certain number of high fives to other classmates, Rock Paper Scissors variations, spelling German words with their bodies, Peluche – anything that required quicker movement.

My after-lunch classes required Centering Brain Breaks. These could include mindful breathing, body percussion, TPR with body parts, trying to count as high as possible without two people saying the same number at the same time, etc. They had a LOT of energy that needed reining in, or a recommitment to focus at the end of the day. I’m going to continue to experiment with how different groups at different times of day respond to various Brain Breaks to see what works best for the mood!

More Knowledge of the World!

I just read an interesting book called The Knowledge Deficit, which was about how a focus on reading strategies has left students without many of the resources they actually need to read successfully: broad knowledge of the world! I want German class to contribute to my students knowing tons more about how the world works, so I’m recommitting to teaching my students more about geography, history, art, music, important people, politics in other countries, etc. through the language so that they can be more successful in all their other classes. (And in life, as well!)

…Less Spreading Myself Paper-Thin

This year kicked me in the butt. I missed more days of school this year than any other year in my career (including the year I got married and had a week of jury duty!). Part of the problem is my tendency to Do Everything. I want to continue to say yes to exciting opportunities, but also…say no to more.

I have dropped a couple things from my plate after this school year, and my current plan is to not attend any state, regional, or national conferences this school year. (Something that will help is that due to budget constraints, my district has paused our PD fund for one year, so there will be no money to go anywhere, anyways.) This is going to be a huge change for me, but I’m hoping to use the time to reflect more, have a more balanced life outside of school, and get healthier. Again, this year was a lot.

ATTENTION.

I saw a great video by Elicia Cárdenas recently where she threw a stuffed animal to a student and said, “Look! Because you were paying attention to me and the things I was saying, you could catch the stuffed animal. The stuffed animal is the new language. Now, if you’re not paying attention, you’re not going to be able to catch the stuffed animal, or the new language.” (And then she had a student pretend to not pay attention, and the stuffed animal bounced off of them as she threw it, and the class [and I] giggled.)

You only learn what you pay attention to. I have gotten better with time at channeling my students’ focus towards new language, and want to keep focusing on that as a goal for the coming year. This will mean better follow-through on my cell phone policy (one warning, then it goes into the German Cowboy Hat for safekeeping), more Brain Breaks as described above, and more discussion of how people learn languages successfully. All this, plus a healthy dose of modeling, should hopefully get us up to lots of attention in German class. (I also tell my students, hey, we don’t have homework because I want your complete attention here, so let’s make the most of it!)

Also important is What We Put Our Attention On. This is going to be learning things about our classmates, about the German-speaking world, and about the world in general. I, as the teacher, am going to try to limit how much attention I put into grading (because I hate it and it doesn’t help my students acquire anything), and comparing myself to other teachers. No time for that! Only time to be with my awesome teenagers and bask together in the beauty of the German language.

And you? What are your reflections from this school year?