Back To School Night

As I've said earlier, I've only really had experience teaching in Howard County, Maryland.  I grew up here and now work here, so it's the only school system I'm really familiar with.  One thing we do here every year is Back to School Night.  Parents are invited to their child's school to meet the faculty and staff and to get to know their child's teachers for the school year.  They follow their son or daughter's class schedule, spending about 7 minutes in each class to find out about the teacher and the course.

This year, our Back to School Night will be next Tuesday.  I've only had the students for about a week and I think we're all still getting into the swing of things, but it's probably a good time to have it.  One year we had it about two or three days into the school year, which was stressful since I had only learned about a third of my new students' names.  Another year we had it during the third week of September, when we were already well underway in the school year so it had lost a lot of its value.

So what do you talk to parents about on Back to School Night?  Here are the key points I try to hit with each class:

• Who are you?  (Just general information about yourself, your educational background and your teaching experience.)
• How can parents contact you?  (Don't forget to mention if you prefer phone vs email.)
• What is this class like?  (Just an overview of the class - the goals, the book, if there are any state or county assessments, if you do immersion, etc.)
• If you offer Honors and Regular level classes, what's the difference between them?  (Especially important to address if both classes are mixed together.)
• What's your grading policy?  (Just a general overview - do you do weighted grade or is it points?  How often are quizzes?  Homework?  Is classwork for completion or accuracy?  How do you handle participation?)
• Do you have a class website?  Quizlet?  What other online resources are available?
• Is there a German Club?  National Honor Society?
• When are you available for students to come in if they need extra help?

I know that seems like a lot of things, but you want to make sure you address any possible questions parents might have BEFORE they have them.  Try to leave room at the end to let parents ask questions in case there's something you didn't address.   To help stay on track, I have a Power Point that I use each year (just have to re-arrange the order of classes and maybe update some parts).  If you'd like to take a look at it, click here.

There's a teacher in my department who says parents like to walk away with something physical at the end, so he prepares a sheet with this information for parents.  Personally, I don't do that - I do the opposite.  I hand each parent a blank index card as they come in.  On their card, I ask them to write their name, their son/daughter's name, their contact information, and one thing about their son/daughter that I don't know.  I like doing this better than a sign-in sheet - it still gives me a reference of who came and their relevant contact info, but it also tells me something more about their son/daughter.

Another piece of advice I was given my first year of teaching was to "leave my gradebook at home."  Don't get stuck talking to specific parents about specific students' grades.  It's not conferences!  It's Back to School Night!  Let parents know a better time for them to contact you if they want to discuss how their son or daughter is doing.

One last suggestion - even though it's early in the school year, try to have student work up!  Anything they've done so far this year, like the Wer bist du? homework assignment I mentioned in Ice Breakers for Day One.  Parents love seeing their child's work on display!

If your school has Back to School Night, what do you talk to parents about?

- Frau Leonard

Prepping for the School Year

I know what you're thinking - it's still summer, I don't want to start thinking about the new school year!  These are just a few things that I like to make sure I have ready to go for the first day of school.

1.) Syllabus
I have the same generic syllabus for all of my classes.  Obviously some changes are necessary depending on the level (AP German gets a whole spiel about the AP exam, some levels get a section on county exams or Honors vs Regular sections, etc.), but having generally the same syllabus is helpful when you teach multiple levels of the same language.  I spend a lot of time going over the syllabus with German 1 students, but then German 2 and up just need a quick refresher.

Here's a look at my German 2 Syllabus for next year.

Important things to include in your syllabus:

• Materials needed (which may include dictionaries, workbooks, and how to divide their binder)
• Information on your grading policy
  I give a general look at my grading policy and then give more specific information about how participation, homework, classwork and assessments will be conducted throughout the year.
• Attendance and absent work: What do students need to know if they're absent?  How much time do they have to make up work?  Where can they find make-up work?  When can they make-up missed quizzes?
• Contact information: How can students and parents get in touch with you?  When are you available for extra help?  Do you have a class website?

2.) Policies and Procedures Power Point
In addition to the Syllabus, I like to go over more day-to-day procedures with my new Level 1 students.  This covers more basic information like what to do as you enter the room, how to behave during classwork activities, where to find the drill, how to hand out papers, if you can go to your locker during class, etc.  None of this would be appropriate in the Syllabus, but all of it's still important for laying a solid foundation for the year.


Take a look at my Policies and Procedures Power Point.


3.) Student info sheet
Through our school's digital database, I can find out their parent contact info, but I like to have a reference sheet for all students' school-related activities.  And it's great not just having access to a student's schedule in case you need to find them during the day, but it's really helpful if you need to talk to their counselor or coach to get some more support.

Take a look at my generic Student Information Sheet (available for free at Teacherspayteachers.com).


4.) Immersion Promise
I think by now we're all familiar with the concept of immersion and the benefits thereof.  I try to run an immersion classroom as much as possible, even in Level 1.  Kids in general seem to understand immersion too - they know it'll help them in the long run.  But... kids need to be told that immersion is a two-way street.  It's not just the teacher who needs to be speaking the target language, but they do too.  That's why I use an Immersion Promise.  I tell the kids that I promise to try and use German as much as I can in class, but that they need to promise to try and do the same.  We all sign it day one - everyone knows what they're in for and everyone agrees to try and do their best with it.

Take a look at my Immersion Promise.


5.) Student Flashcards
I have all of my students fill out a 3 x 5 flashcard each year.  They give me background information about them as a person, which is especially great for new students.  They tell me their previous experience and their goals for the year, which gives me an idea of their expectations and can help focus the class to make sure I cover their needs.

But what's also great is now I have a card for each of them - when we do activities where I want to randomly call on students or randomly generate groups, I can use the class' flashcards to do it.

All you need to do is get one or two sets of those flashcard packs that have several colors.  Pick one color per class (for example, every year German 4 gets the blue flashcards and German 1 gets the yellow).  This way you can keep the classes separate.  Just get a little container to hold them all and keep them at the front of the room.

Here's what I get the kids to fill out:

6.) Ice-Breakers
The first day of school tends to be on the dull side for kids.  They get a bunch of sheets on policies and procedures and do's and don't's for the year.  They fill out the same info sheets a half dozen times, get slightly different versions of each teacher's classroom set-up.  I'm not particularly thrilled with doing it five times in a row, and I'm sure they're not particularly thrilled to hear it five (or six or seven...) times in a row.  You HAVE to do something that's fun to both start and end class, to make them happy they stepped into your classroom.

My favorite drill for German 1 is to just put up the question "Why study German?"  Students brainstorm different reasons to study German, we discuss it as a class and add to the list as we go.  I find this a great way to get students motivated and interested early on.

My favorite drill for German 2 and up is ABC's auf Deutsch.  I write the alphabet on the board, divide students into groups and have them try to come up with a German word that starts with each letter of the alphabet.  It's easy to turn this into a competition - groups get points for having a word that starts with a given letter and two points if no one else in the class thought of the word.  It's a great activity to get students back into thinking in German without stressing them out.

 I'll talk more about Ice-Breakers for Day One in my next post.

Hope this was a helpful look at how to prep for next school year!  Feel free to take, use, and modify anything I've put up.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

- Frau Leonard