Early Finishers Table

As is usually the case, I saw something on Twitter that I thought would be a great addition to my classroom!

I had an extra table in the back of my room that didn't get a lot of use, so I put out a bunch of German games and activities that we don't necessarily get to use in class. Any time a student finishes all of their work and there's still time in class, they can head over to play one of the games or do one of the activities.

I dug through my cabinets to find as much as I could to tempt students, including...

Uno! Complete with vocab help so they can play auf Deutsch.

 

Card games we sometimes use in class including: Pit, Apples to Apples (food vocab), Was memest du?, Trumpfspiel: German cities. The orange cards are a vocabulary game I got a while ago from Teacher's Discovery (on clearance, so no link).

Some authentic German games I have: German Scrabble, Black Stories, Werewolf. 

 

There was unfortunately some graffiti on my walls by this table which I couldn't remove, so I put up some construction paper where students can write on instead. 

German books that students can look or read through. 

I also found and printed out some German-themed coloring pages. 

Students also have access to Duolingo and Gimkit assignments if they would rather do a computer based game instead.

Do you have any activities in place for students who finish their work early? 

- Frau Leonard

Carousel Review

One of the Spanish teachers in my building told me about this activity and it seemed like the perfect way to start out the year in German 1! I structured it as a review of the material we'd covered last year in 7th grade Flex.

Process… 

1. Choose the topics that you want students to brainstorm. Our beginning of the year review included the topics: Germany (geography, history, culture, etc), Greetings/Farewells, Alphabet/Pronunciation, Numbers, Calendar, Cognates/False Friends/Loan Words, Survival Vocab/Polite Expressions, Holidays
2. Write each topic at the top of a piece of paper.
3. Split students into groups of 3-5.
4. Make sure each group has a writing utensil. I use different color markers for each group so it's easy to identify who contributed what.
5. Give one topic to each group. I put my papers around the room on the wall and sent each group to a different topic. They rotated around to all the stations, like a carousel.
6. When you say "Go!" each group has 2 minutes to write as many things as they can about that topic. This could be vocab words/phrases, cultural info, facts/trivia, whatever they remember.
7. After 2 minutes time is up, they rotate to the next topic.
8. Groups can make additions OR corrections to what previous groups said.
9. Repeat until all groups have gotten to all topics.
10. Review their answers at the end as a class, making corrections and additions as necessary.

This is a good way to see what the class as a whole remembers or what they might need to work on. I was not terribly surprised to see they remembered numbers really well or that they need to review spelling, but I was shocked they remembered so little of the holiday topics we'd talked about! 

I also asked students a few follow up questions as an exit ticket...

1. What topic(s) do you remember the best from last year?

2. What topic(s) do you remember the least?

3. Was the review in class helpful? Why/why not?

Overall students said they liked the activity because it helped show them they do actually remember more than they think. A few students weren't happy about their groups when they rotated and some pointed out there were errors (like saying Poland spoke German but Switzerland didn't), which is definitely why the review at the end as a class is essential to clarify those big errors.

- Frau Leonard

First Day Activities: UNO spielen

I don't remember where I got this idea or where I heard the suggestion from, but I remember the idea very distinctly: Don't let the kids walk out of Day One without a chance to use the language.

Not a terribly difficult task for your upper level, returning students. For day one of level one? It's a little trickier to give them something that's practical and engaging.

The suggestion/idea I came across years ago was UNO. Most students are familiar with the game, the rules are pretty straight forward, and the language required is pretty basic. Numbers 0-9, four colors, and a few other phrases, and then students are playing and actively using the language.

This year for my Deutsch I students, I made vocabulary sheets to help them with these words (including pronunciation notes) and divided them into groups to play. They were super excited... and were absolutely aghast when I mentioned the punishment for any student I caught using English. I gave all of the student groups one of the black boxes of cards, but kept a red one for myself - they have different backings but the same shape; the punishment for speaking English was I would give them an additional card.

The different colors helped me keep track of the sets, so I could easily put my red set back together at the end of class. It also made a manageable punishment that would only really matter if it added up.

I also like this activity because I always find the pacing of the first week can be hard - you can't account for all the interruptions with assemblies, you don't know the pace of this specific class during this time slot, etc - and after they learn the routine of playing the game in German, it's an easy way to fill the last few minutes of class.

What first day activities do you do that help get your students speaking the language ASAP?

EDIT: For anyone interested, you can get my copy of the vocab list here!

- Frau Leonard

Wizer Me vs Google Classroom

Towards the end of the year, I started using Wizer Me to make digital worksheets for students. I work in a district that is 1:1 and had been previously been using Google Classroom and Google Docs to assign similar types of assignments. I think next year I will use a mix of both, as they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Here's what I've found out so far :)

Wizer Me vs Google Docs

Wizer Me: Pros Gives instant feedback to students for most question types Has a variety of question types (matching, sorting, tables, multiple choice, etc) Allows me to add videos into the worksheet Easy to see how well students did - I can see a list of names and their scores on the worksheet, then go into individual worksheets and see a specific student's work if necessary. There are questions that allow for more variation than just right/wrong - they have short answer questions and drawing questions! The drawing questions especially can be fun :) (Keep in mind, for these questions, students do not receive points until you manually go in and score it.) You can leave feedback on each individual activity. Looks great! They are visually very appealing. There's a Wizer Me community, so you can easily share your worksheets with other teachers AND find ones that others are using!

Google Classroom: Pros I can easily see who did/did not turn in the assignment I get notifications via email when students turn in assignments late Students can view their work, missing work, and deadlines easily and in one place You can view student work even if they don't turn it in I'm already using Google Classroom and the students are as well for all of their other classes - it's familiar, it's expected. Adding outside things (like Wizer Me) makes it harder for both me and students to keep track of.

Wizer Me: Cons Although it looks pretty, it's not always easy to find the worksheets I want. Lots of scrolling, lots of clicking. From my limited experience, the student side is even worse, with just a list of all their assigned worksheets with no real way to organize them. Connecting to your Google Classroom requires a paid account (along with other features). Some of the question items are difficult to figure out how to incorporate. Tables, for example - I tried to find examples of this in their online tutorials but never could figure out how it was supposed to be used. Since then, I've tried it out and played around with it and found a way to make it work for me. To see an example, click here - the first exercise uses a table. I have to manually go in and check for student responses... no big deal if students complete their work on time, but checking for late submissions can be tedious. If you don't have a paid account, your worksheets are automatically made public to everyone once you assign them to teachers. Keep track of your copyrights!

Google Classroom: Cons I have to load each student's assignment individually to see how they did. It's either that or assume they did the work because they turned it in. No automatic feedback - to give students answer keys, I leave notes in the comments... But I find students don't go back to actually look at the comments. Very limiting in the types of questions/activities. It has to be something students can type answers to, and often requires me formatting it in a way that makes it a.) easy for students to type their answers (i.e. lots of tables where on a traditional worksheet I could put a __________) and b.) obvious when students have put in an answer (so again, using tables or already setting the font to be bold, italics, a different color, etc.) If I notice a typo/mistake in a file but have already posted the file to the class, too late - even if I fix the file, students will automatically have the old version unless I take the file down and attach it again.  If you assign a PDF, prepare for the struggle of "It won't let me edit it" and "How do I attach a Kami file" etc.

Please do not look at this table and assume because the Wizer Me side is longer that I automatically like/dislike it more! As I said, both have their uses - it's just that since Wizer Me is newer to me and might be less familiar to readers, I have longer explanations. 

If you're on Wizer Me or are thinking about it, feel free to take a look through my worksheets. Not everything I've made is there (they will be... but it's hard to post things to your profile if haven't assigned it to students yet), but it can give you an idea of how I'm using it and what worksheets look like when they're completed.

If you use Wizer Me, how have you incorporated it into your classroom? What do your students think of it. If you haven't, do you think it's something you would consider doing?

- Frau Leonard

The Amazing Race!

Today my German 1 students played The Amazing Race. It's a fun review activity to wrap up the year, review for finals, and take advantage of warm weather. It's an activity I purchased a few years ago on Teachers Pay Teachers (Spanish version), so while I can't share the version I use, I'm going to talk about it and encourage you to check it out!

Basically it follows the premise of the reality show - students are competing in teams to accomplish various challenges. Accomplishing a task earns them the next task and so on until they're the first group through the "race." Each challenge reviews a specific vocabulary, culture, or grammar topic we've done this year.

Materials I need:
- Challenges printed out and ready to go (this year I color coded them for my own sanity)
- Sidewalk chalk & sidewalk space to write
- Outdoor space large enough for the whole class to spread out but small enough you can easily keep track of everyone
- Envelopes to organize each group's materials (not necessary and something I tried out this year - I included a pen and a pencil plus their first challenge, this way students didn't need to bring anything outside with them; I also asked students to put their completed challenges in the envelope so there wasn't any loose paper flying around
- Clipboard and pen

Students reviewed: verbs, the alphabet, geography, school/classroom vocab, numbers, and plural forms. Some of their challenges involved running, drawing, jumping jacks, and push ups.

All in all, I think it was a fun day :) Students got to run around outside while getting in some review, and it allowed me to see areas where the class struggled (the alphabet, geography, and plural forms were HUGE problem areas for the class as a whole, whereas they breezed through the verbs and school vocab). I found a few areas where I could make some tweaks to hopefully get a few more successful teams next year!

- Frau Leonard

Ostern in Deutschland

This year as I continue to adjust to my new role as a middle school language teacher, I've been taking a cue from my department members and use holidays and crafts to engage student interest. The latest installment: Ostern!

I started with a bulletin board at the beginning of the month. I included some Easter egg decorations ad well as some facts about German traditions. And of course, all the decorations are "hanging" in an Osterbaum :)

As we got closer to the holiday, I had activities for both my 8th and 7th grade classes. I only did one day worth of activities for the 7th graders on our last day before break. For 8th graders, we did two days.

Eight graders learned about Easter traditions in more detail (using the bulletin board, a Kahoot, and a Deutsche Welle article), and then decorated some Ostereier.

Students then hung up their eggs around the classroom. I did initially give them relatively free reign, but that just lead to lone eggs, which doesn't really convey the whole Osterbaum idea. I ended up moving them to two main locations and in the future I would give students one specific area. My original plan was to have a tree made out of construction paper hanging on the wall outside my room, but I'd recently hung up some student work and didn't have the room. Next year!

All classes did an Easter egg hunt on the last day before our break. I broke students into groups, each with a color assigned. I bought about $4 worth of plastic eggs from Target to use - I think I ended up with six different colors, eight eggs each. Groups took turns looking for their color eggs around the room, collecting them at their desks.

Each egg had a slip (or a couple slips) of paper inside. For 7th grade, they had spring related vocabulary words - they had to match the vocabulary with pictures; for 8th grade, they had sentence fragments that they had to put together. When a group had found all their eggs and used all their words correctly, they brought up their finished work to trade in for candy.

I color coded student papers so each group a.) knew who was in the group and b.) knew what their color was. I didn't want any issues with students not

When students were done, they helped fill the eggs for the next class. They also got to hide them for the next class, a task which they very much enjoyed! Their only guidelines: the eggs had to be in plain sight, somewhere people could see them without having to touch anything, just by walking around the room (i.e. not under things or inside cabinets). I had my last class of the day hide them for the first class a day ahead of time so no group was left out.

I also like to have a Selfie Station for holidays. I have a holiday-related decoration up on my door window. Students stand inside the room and look outside, then someone outside the room takes their picture - this time students would look like the Osterhase in their pictures.

Note: I will have my materials available via Teachers Pay Teachers within a few days! I know that will be too late for this year, so I wanted to post early enough that anyone with classes later this week could try to incorporate some of these activities. I should also have more pictures up soon! (I also tend to post more pictures on our class Instagram account!)

What holiday celebrations do you bring into the classroom? Do you do anything for Ostern?

- Frau Leonard

Ampel Check-In

This is actually an extension of an earlier post I did on the same topic - using this Ampel / Stop Light system to have students check in mid-unit to self-assess their understanding.

I started using a more general check-in, no specific tasks listed. Just a quick self-reflection on how they're doing with the material and a short sentence completion to identify specific things they have issues with or think are easy. It's general enough that I can reuse the same slide for multiple topics.

I used large flashcards and gave one to each student with their name already on it. On their card, they identified where they were with the topic (Modal Verbs in this case) and wrote their sentence. I had three colored envelops on the board, and they put their flashcard in whichever color applied to them.

I then went through the cards and answered the questions students had in the Red section, helped clear up things/give tips for students in the Yellow section, and did a quick read through of the Green section to make sure they seemed to be on the right track. I then gave the cards back to students the next day (shuffling them first so no one would be able to tell what color they'd initially used).

I also used a highlighter to mark where they'd put their card, just for future reference. The plan is to use this system for the rest of the year as a check-in, using the same cards until they get filled up. It opens up communication with students and lets me keep track of students mid-way through a unit. It's also a good point of conversation for students who initially said they did understand but don't perform well on assessments - did they really not understand? what are their study methods? do they have anxiety during quizzes?

So far so good, though admittedly I've only used it once so far :)

- Frau Leonard

Things Every Teacher Needs in Their Desk

This isn't about teaching strategies or anything like that - this is way more practical. It's the type of thing you usually learn after years of experience, but it's something everyone needs to consider whenever they get a new classroom: what do you need to keep in your desk?

Obviously there are school supplies like pens, pencils, post-its, and all that. That's a completely different thing from what I'm talking about right now. I mean things that you personally might need during the school year for surprise or emergency situations.

So in no particular order, here are things I try to keep in my desk:

• Deodorant
• Brush/Comb
• Mirror
• Change of Clothes (I have spilled coffee on myself twice this year...)
• Cell Phone Charger
• Box of Bandaids (I have also cut my hand open twice from paper clips this year...)
• Non-perishable snack items (instant soup, chips, cliff bars, candy, etc)
• Water Bottles
• Gum/Breath mints
• Blanket/Sweater
• Advil (or equivalent)
• Cough Drops
• Chapstick
• Hair Ties
• Pads/Tampons
• Thumb Drive (kind of work related, but sometimes you need a way to transfer files/print things/whatever)

Are there any items you keep on hand just in case?

- Frau Leonard

Maerchen und die Gebrueder Grimm

This year I'm working with seventh graders in a German Exploration class. The purpose of the class is to introduce students to German language and culture over 12 weeks, but in a way that's fun as much as it is informative. Throughout the year, I've tried to bring in culture through holidays and holiday-related crafts, but with my last group of seventh graders, I decided to bring in some history and literature as well!

We did a whole two week unit on fairy tales, looking at the Brothers Grimm and some of their more well known stories. Students learned about the brothers, the main fairy tale tropes, and then read some stories as a class to analyze. After they got a handle on what "traditional" fairy tales looked like without the Disney sugarcoating they're used to, students broke into groups to pick a German fairy tale to read, analyze, and then share with the class.

Students had fun and were generally scandalized/enraptured by the original versions of the stories. Some kids were already familiar with them, but for the most part there was something new for them in whatever story they happened to pick. I really had to emphasize with them to read the story I gave them though and not rely on their Disney knowledge (unfortunately some groups did not heed this advice...).

They also produced some great art! Check out these character charts they made for the good guys/bad guys in their stories:

Oh wow I have an Instagram!

I made a huge castle in the hallway outside our room - great way to show off student work and draw some attention ;)

In addition to the fairy tale charts, students made comics that summarized their fairy tales so they could share them with other groups.

If you'd like to purchase the full unit to use with your students, please check it out on TpT!

- Frau Leonard

Go Guardian Scenes

I am at a school that is fortunate to be 1:1 with district issued Chromebooks. As part of this new technology driven initiative in the schools, we've adopted GoGuardian as a part of our classroom management system. The other day another teacher complimented me on my GoGuardian scenes, so I thought I'd just briefly go over the scenes I have set up! I've listed them here in the order I use them, from most frequent to least frequent.

General Classroom
I use this day to day as my default scene. It allows students to get to the websites they might need for class but blocks them from ones that they a.) shouldn't be using at all, ever and/or b.) ones that aren't necessary for most of what we do in class.
Keep in mind, if your kiddos are like mine, they are used to typing in the website they want - for Quizlet, they're used to typing in "quizlet" in the URL tab. You will have to explain to students what a URL is and what the URL is for a lot of these common websites.
Settings: Block Mode
Enabled Websites: Kahoot, Kami, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Classroom, Gmail, Quizlet, Duolingo, Flipgrid, Vocaroo, Make Beliefs Comix, Leo.org, Beolingus, Conjuguemos, Nearpod, Skyward (our grading platform), Wikipedia (English and German), Google Calendar, Poll Everywhere, Padlet, Quia

Doing Research
Used when (surprise surprise!) students are doing some sort of research that requires them to have much fewer restrictions than usual.
Settings: Allow Mode
Blocked Sites: Google Translate, Cookie Counter (we had a huge issue with Cookie Counter at the beginning of the school year...)

Post Quiz
After quizzes, if students finish early I let them go on their computers to play Duolingo. This gives them something related to the target language to work on, doesn't put them in a position to get too far ahead on material, and keeps them from getting bored. It also hopefully builds that routine of using Duolingo, which I hope they'll continue to do over the summer just as a way to keep some language input.
Settings: Block Mode
Enabled Websites: Duolingo
Auto Open Tab: Duolingo

Taking Notes
Used for taking notes and I want to eliminate distractions such as Quizlet. Especially with vocabulary lists, if I post the Quizlet set with the notes (as I usually do), I find students are often distracted by the list and want to copy things from Quizlet instead of listening to me and doing the pronunciation practice we typically do together.
Settings: Block Mode
Enabled Websites: Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Classroom

Open Note Quiz
Not something I do often, but in the event I want students to do an open note quiz, this is the scene I use.
Settings: Block Mode
Enabled Sites: Google Docs, Google Drive, Quizlet, Duolingo, Google Classroom

Quizzes
If I'm doing a Quiz online through Google Forms, this is the scene I use. I played around with this type of quiz at the beginning of the school year and found that at least right now, this isn't for me and have switched back to paper quizzes. I have one for 7th Grade and one for 8th Grade, just in case they're testing on the same day.
If I were doing a Flipgrid test, I would just switch out everywhere that says Google Forms with Flipgrid.
Settings: Block Mode
Enabled Websites: Google Docs, Google Forms, Duolingo
Auto-Open Tabs: Google Forms (the specific URL for the actual Quiz)
Max Tabs: 1

Do you use GoGuardian in class? What websites would you need your students to have access to (I know for me I'm constantly adding more as we get to an assignment that requires something new - PollEverywhere only got added a few weeks ago so we could do March Madness and Padlet similarly so we could do a brainstorming activity for the German school system)? Do you use Duolingo at all with your students, and if so, how?

- Frau Leonard

Hast du Schwein?

So let me start by saying I have a collection of stuffed pigs. The start of this collection are a little murky (I know I got one when student teaching for a game I made called Pig Latin, but where the subsequent pigs came from I have no idea!), but for years now these piggies have been decorating my classrooms. There's always a moment when my new students will look around suspiciously and ask if I like pigs (or worryingly comment that they're "surrounded").

Recently, I decided to put my pig collection to use.

I added a sign so that my students could ask to have a pig with them during class and refer to them as "emotional support pigs."

I was worried there'd be issues with students playing around with the pigs, but there hasn't actually been that much of that. It takes one warning that they permanently lose pig privileges and they stop goofing off. Mostly students keep them on their laps or desk while they work. For a few of my more squarely kiddos, it's actually seemed to help them focus.

- Frau Leonard

First Day Activities

The middle school where I work has three 12 week sessions of 7th grade classes that cycle through the three languages we offer here (French, German, Spanish). Today I just got my last batch of 7th graders for the year, and last week I came up with a new activity that I think is a good one for Day One with students who are unfamiliar with you, the language, and/or your room.

I frequently have had problems with students just not being aware of the resources around them - words that are on posters, where to find markers/scissors/etc, and where the homework is listed. Even after weeks together, some students still weren't aware of everything they had available to them, so I came up with a "Room Investigation" activity.

I looked at my room - the posters, the bulletin boards, the layout, etc - and came up with questions for three categories: German vocab, German culture, and class procedures. Using just the materials visible in the room, they had to answer questions such as "How do you say blue in German?" (I have color posters on one part of the wall) or "What is Oktoberfest?" (there are several Oktoberfest posters) or "Where are the German dictionaries?" (there are a bunch on a bookshelf).

You can see the full worksheet here (and if you'd like a copy, click on "File" and scroll down to "Make a Copy").

This gets students moving around the room (breaking up an otherwise procedure/policy heavy first day) and gets them some fun and also practical words while getting them a better idea of what's around them. Hopefully this will help clear up confusion as well!

- Frau Leonard

March Madness - Verrueckter Maerz

It's March Madness time, and I'm bringing the idea into the German classroom with German music videos! I picked 16 music videos and put them in a bracket. Each day, two videos will go head to head and students will vote on which they think is better. By the end of the month, we'll have our winning video!

On the first day, I gave students the brackets and without any information besides the name of the songs, I asked them to fill out their bracket. Here are the videos we'll be looking at:

1. Marteria — Endboss : https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=225&v=AWcFHEdhYys
2. Wir sind Helden — Wenn es passiert : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpfvzVa4uyM
3. Alexander Marcus — Hawaii Toast Song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHAR1S_eKA
4. Die Fantastischen Vier — Geboren : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XGqXhMqitg
5. Schnappi — Schnappi das kleine Krokodil : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3FG4EOgyU
6. Xavier Naidoo — Bei meiner Seele : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhILcidWp1Q
7. Deine Freunde — Hausaufgaben : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w01harg0E7M
8. Silbermond — Das Beste : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyYAQHDMqfA
9. Die Prinzen — Millionaer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQs0sB8Q0s
10. Nena — 99 Luftballons : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La4Dcd1aUcE
11. die Atzen & Nena - Strobo Pop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-siseBfaE
12. Deichkind — So’ne Musik : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdIP3hyxi3k
13. Peter Fox — Alles neu : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtLCfEcPL4
14. Die Drogen — Du bist die Sonne : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_vqjqIAyjM
15. Wise Guys — Schönen guten Morgen : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32M8qRGrUE8
16. Cro — Einmal um die Welt : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2pySXCmwpc   

It took some time to decide on these videos. Obviously I had to view them all to make sure they were school appropriate (a couple that I liked didn't make the final list since I am working with 8th graders on this). I looked for videos that were interesting, songs that were good, and/or songs that had a cultural impact. We'll see how this particular list goes and I might edit for next year.

Here's a look at the bulletin board bracket I'll be using to keep track of the rounds:

The plan is that the first time a video comes up in the bracket, we'll watch it in class. This does mean the first 8 days will be more time consuming since this will take up our opening of class. After they're familiar with the videos, I'll probably just show a brief clip to remind them what the video is. Students will vote on their favorite using PollEverywhere. For the first round, students will receive 1 point for correct guesses. For the second round, 2 points, third round 3 points, etc. I'll have a small prize for the winner(s).

This is an idea I got from one of the Spanish teacher sin my building and one that I've seen used by English teachers for books. Looking forward to seeing how it goes overall and what video wins out!

Quiz Re-Test Form

Over the years I've gone back and forth over whether or not to offer re-tests for students who do poorly. Is my goal to make sure the students learn the material within a time frame, or that they learn it at all? Since I realize I cannot go as slowly or in depth within our class time that some students may need, I've decided to make some accommodations to allow these learners the opportunity to show what they know.

At times, I've offered make-up sections for the whole class if there was something as a whole they did not seem to understand. Sometimes I have them do quiz corrections to earn back some points. This year, however, I've started offering quiz re-takes.

The first step is for students to fill out a form to request a re-take (check out my TpT store for a free copy!). This form...
- covers basic info about the quiz (when it was, the topic, student original score, etc)
- asks students to explain why they did not do well the first time
- holds them accountable for doing more work to improve their understanding of the material and document what they did (study using quizlet, complete missing assignments, meet with teacher or tutor, etc.)
- asks students to specify a time when they plan on making it up.
- gets students to sign the bottom to acknowledge and verify the information on the form.
(I sometimes add a parents signature spot for repeat offenders or for particularly low scoring exams.)

At the beginning of the school year, I made it clear that quiz re-takes were an option, but I generally had few students taking me up on the offer. Now for my 7th and 8th graders, I fill out the top part of the form for them, attach it to their quiz, and make it more of an opt out situation instead of making them pursue it - they have the form with them, so it's more on their mind. I've had more students come in since making this switch.

When they do their re-take, it isn't the exact same quiz they took before. It is a secondary version that I write afterward, once I've seen the problem areas the class has had. It covers the same material but generally in a more simplified form. It helps me better pinpoint the specific areas that the student might be struggling in. For example, if the original quiz had a section for defining vocab, the make-up quiz would have the same vocab but as a matching section. This way I can see if they at least have that recognition level for the vocabulary, if it's spelling issues, or if they don't have it at all.

If students scored less than 70% on the quiz, they can try a make-up quiz. I don't let them necessarily make up the whole quiz - just the sections they did poorly on. I will award points back to them (no more than half of what they lost, and they can't earn higher than a 70% since this opportunity isn't offered to students who scored that high originally) if they can show they have at least some basic understanding of the material or have improved their knowledge base.

When students come in for their re-test, I give them the make-up quiz as well as their original quiz. They're able to see their mistakes and hopefully not repeat them as they do their second attempt.

Overall I think it's a good process for me - students get to show their understanding but it isn't an easy, automatic process. There's work on their part involved, it's not a guaranteed improvement, so it shows them that they should put the effort in first time around.

What are your thoughts? Do you offer make-up quizzes for your kiddos? How often and how do you do it?

- Frau Leonard

Word Order Bookmarks

As a lot of ideas start, I saw something on Pinterest. The original idea related to Long Division, but the idea of using bookmarks to help students keep track of steps seemed applicable to more than just math equations. Since my students have been struggling with word order lately, I saw a great application for it with my eighth graders.

I created these bookmarks to help students keep track of a basic German sentence and to help break down what "miscellaneous" sentence elements are (something that's come up more and more as we start talking about time expressions, direct objects, adjectives, and inverted word order).

I made these bookmarks using card stock, pipe cleaners, and beads. All in all it probably cost $15 for all the supplies, but I could easily make hundreds more than the class set I made and gave out. As students write their sentence, they slide the bead down the pipe cleaner to keep track of where they are in the sentence. The bead will show them what they need to add next, whether it’s a subject, direct object, specific verb type, etc. and eliminate the question of "Where does this go? What comes next?"

Although I made a class set and gave them out, I think in the future I would create perhaps 10-15 for a class and only hand them out for in class usage. This way students have it as a reference but I don't have to keep re-making them. I also plan on color coding them so that each type of word order (basic sentence vs question vs inverted word order, etc) are on a different color card stock.

I created a bunch of bookmarks featuring different types of word order that I can pull out as we get to different topics. If you're interested, they're available on my TPT store!

I also would recommend students use the back of the bookmarks for other details. For my students doing the basic present tense, the back is a great spot for writing a verb conjugation chart. For students using the modal verbs bookmarks, writing a list of the modal verbs and perhaps conjugating those as well would be a good extra reference. Other ideas: listing the subordinating conjunctions and their meanings, giving examples of TMP elements, and giving examples of weak and strong verbs.

- Frau Leonard