Cultural Maker Spaces: Medien in Deutschland

This year our department got the opportunity to revise our 7th Grade Flex curriculum. Instead of doing three 12 week rotations, we transitioned to four 9 week rotations. That means every students gets all three languages. (French, German, Spanish)... BUT we still had 9 weeks leftover at the end of the year to fill.

We decided to create three projects per language on the theme of Cultural Maker Spaces, one of them focusing on Media so that we could use our school's green screen and video/audio gear. While that didn't exactly pan out, we were still able to implement the project via distance learning and have students create some awesome projects while expanding their German vocab and cultural awareness.

Part One: Media Investigation
We started the project with a general look at media in German-speaking countries. I collected different examples of media - weather forecasts, news reports, gameshows, cooking shows, interviews, etc - for students to investigate. Here's the Padlet of the resources I collected for students!

They completed a Media Investigation Sheet to show what types of media they chose to look at, any major differences/similarities between German and American media, and they selected the topic they planned on pursuing for the rest of the project.

Part Two: Choice Board & Planning
Students now considered different media-related topics and decided which one they officially wanted to do for their project. They received a choice board with a variety of examples and decided on one that worked best for them.

Based on student confusion and questions that came up during our distance learning, I've added an additional part of this phase that I'll include next year. They'll at this point decide on their group members (3-5), their topic, AND what they think their final product might look like. I created this simple planning guide to help them make some of these decisions now so they could focus on that while moving forward.

(If you like this template, please check it out at SlidesMania and take a look at their other templates - they're really awesome and a great way to visually improve any activity!)

Part Three: Vocab Planning
We invested a lot of time in this next phase of the project. They know their topic and what they plan to create, and now they have to build their vocabulary to get them there. I had them brainstorm 15 new German words related to their topic that they thought would be useful. I also recommended they break those 15 words down into 5 nouns, 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives to make sure they'd have the right building blocks to create complete sentences and the type of descriptive details they'd need.

I also tried out a Jamboard to have students work together and help other classes brainstorm vocabulary for the same project topic. Unfortunately we had some issues with the actual Jamboard (we couldn't get the access working for students to add comments), so I had to the same idea but with Google Slides.

Here's a blank copy of the Slide Show. Each topic had its own slide and I tried to post some some images, links, and/or vocabulary phrases to help get them started. Students could post comments with additional resources and vocabulary they found to help support their classmates.

Part Four: Sentence Building
In previous units, we had worked on vocabulary but not a whole lot on the sentence building aspect. They had new words but what were they going to do with them? How were they going to tie it all together?

We did a NearPod lesson where we talked about creating basic sentences - the word order we'd use, the parts of speech we'd need (in direct relation to our vocab planner!), the verb endings, etc - and then practiced with familiar vocabulary. I did NOT do this (though I wish I had!) this time, but I also put in an activity where students write their 15 words on slips of paper and arrange those papers into sentences. This gives them a good visual on how to put things together, to double check that they're using all their words, and blank slips of paper give them the flexibility to add new words they discover they need!

Part Five: Project Time!
Students now had the tools they needed to create projects on their own or in groups. Because we were doing this via distance learning, I had check-ins every other day where students updated me on their progress and asked questions as needed. You can see some examples of student work on this Padlet!

When students submitted their final project, they also had to rate themselves in this rubric. They rated themselves in the Self-Evaluation portion and then I viewed their products and graded them in the Teacher Evaluation. Our scores combined to give them their final grade.

If we were in school doing this as a group project, there would have been a teamwork component to their grade or a separate rubric where they rated their team members. Since 95% of my students did NOT work with a partner, I didn't develop that rubric/rating sheet.

Step Six: Reflection
Their last piece was a Reflection where they considered what they learned and how they did with the project, as well as offering suggestions to me on how to improve it for future classes.

I wish I incorporated more reflection after projects and assessments in general, so it was a top priority to include it for this one! We've spent about four weeks working through the various steps, and it seems a fitting transition to consider their work on this unit before moving onto our next and final one this week.

Please note: I did not create the rubric or reflections from scratch. Our department head found them earlier this school year and I've since modified them for this project. If you know where they were posted please let me know so I can link back to the original!

How do you incorporate projects and student choice into your units? How often do you use choice boards for projects?

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! ❤️ Hope everyone's having a good end to this chaotic school year!

- Frau Leonard

Emergency Sub Plans

Every year our school system asks us to provide two days worth of sub plans for all of our classes in the event of an emergency just in case.  Admittedly, this has always been a pain in the butt for me.  Every year of teaching I have had at least five classes (German 1-4 and some combination of French and/or Latin).  This means not only finding activities for five classes, but also copying and storing said activities.  For someone who takes about two days off a year and (knock on wood) hasn't needed emergency days, it's been really aggravating.

I have tried to save them from year to year, but sometimes you have classes that are longer one year than the next or the curriculum changes and the activities are no longer suited to that level or you decided to actually incorporate that activity as part of your planned instruction.  Blah.

What I decided to do this year to alleviate the problem for good is to create a choice board.  I've actually wanted to do this for the past few years and have even suggested it to my department (my hope was that we could come up with a department one that fit every language - if we worked together we could get one done in no time!).  Things never really manifested until I finally just sat down and did it this August!

Here's a look at the finished product:

If you're interested in a copy, it's available for free on my TPT account.  Just click here!  It's completely editable in case you don't teach German or want to edit the activities.

Students have to complete two activities from the choice board, which offers 12 different vocabulary and/or grammar related activities that can be applied to any unit and - better yet! - to any level.  With a few changes, I can even use it for other languages OR require students in longer class periods to do more activities.

While most of the activities can be done by students without any other materials, there are some that DO require additional resources.
- Grammar Exercises: I refer to a specific textbook in this exercise.  If you don't have this book or teach another language, you may need to change this!
- Scrabble: This is a game board that I sometimes use with my students if we have some extra time at the end of class.  If you're interested in a free copy, it's available on my TPT account.  Just click here!
- Game Board:  This can be used with any blank game board.  There’s one available for free on my TPT account. Just click here!
- Game Board: Honey Comb: This is a vocabulary review game.  I have the template available on my TPT account.  It is NOT a free resource that I offer.  If you're interested in the product, click here.

This is great because all I have to do is make a bunch of copies of the choice board, which will be good for ALL classes this year or next year, and copies of some of the related worksheets.  Admittedly, it's a work in progress.  I may use it at some point this year if I need to take off just to see how it goes.  I might need to change, remove or add activities.

Does your school require emergency sub plans?  What types of activities do you typically have students do while you're out?

- Frau Leonard