SLOs for the New School Year

I'm not sure how many teachers out there are dealing with SLO's (Student Learning Objectives) at the moment, but since it's something I've been working on lately I thought I'd share.

Our county asks us World Language Teachers to come up with two SLOs - one for Content (Presentational Writing/Speaking, Interpersonal Writing/Speaking, Listening, etc.) and one for Literacy (Explanatory, Argumentative or Summary Writing).  We pick one class to collect data for, gathering a baseline score at the beginning of the year and then at least two more times to measure student growth.  Obviously the goal is for students to improve or to at least maintain the level they scored on the baseline assessment.

Last year I focused on my AP students, but this year I'm working on my German 2 class.  They're a weaker class in part because last year they were on an A Day/B Day schedule (I only saw them once every other day).  I'm also worried because they are on that same rotating schedule this year.  By the end of this year, I will have spent less time with them than with any other German 2 class I've taught.  Part of my goal with these SLOs is to help them improve to where they need to be by doing periodic checks and by showing them this data.

Here's a look at my two SLOs for the year and the baseline assessment for each.

For the baselines, I didn't give students a grade for them.  You'll notice that the rubrics are holistic and not analytic - it's a way for me to give them feedback in specific, targeted areas without them feeling the pressure of a grade.  I might decide to use an analytic version for their later assessments, but that's something to think about later on.

Content: Presentational Speaking
I know these students are weak when it comes to speaking, so I really want to emphasis it this year.  We're slowly transitioning into them speaking more German in class (German 2 currently has an extensive grammar review unit built into the beginning of the school year), and the baseline assessment seemed like a good way to show my expectations for more speaking.

For the baseline assessment, I started by having five objects in a bag (pig, apple, socks, calculator and a ball).  We played Was ist in der Tasche? until students were able to guess all the items.  Once we had them all, I asked students to tell me why they thought I had each item - what could I possibly do with these things I was carrying around in a bag?  (Yes, they said I was going to eat the pig.)

After we'd done this introductory activity, I gave students their prompt:  I was going to give them a bag and they had to identify the items in it and explain why they had them.  I told them to tell me as much as they could about the items in their bag, which contained a cat, a water bottle, a highlighter, an agenda book, and a scarf.

Our department has a set of digital recorders that we share for speaking activities.  I had students go out in the hallway to record their responses one at a time while the rest of the class did some review activities.

If you'd like to see the Level 2 rubric the HCPSS World Language Department has provided us, please click here.  The rubric is great - it's easy for the kids to see what they need to do and the level they're trying to achieve.  And it's based off the ACTFL Can-Do Statements... when these kids get to German 3/4, they'll be familiar with the phrasing which will hopefully help them learn to better rate themselves.

Here are some other activities you can use to evaluate Presentational Speaking:

One thing that they've been emphasizing is not to make your prompt too specific.  Don't limit them by saying, "You must say six sentences.  You must use three different verbs.  You must use twenty different vocabulary words from the vocab list."  Give them some freedom - just tell them to give you as much as they can (maybe within a time limit).  Weaker students will place on the lower end of the spectrum, but this will give stronger students a chance to give you more and truly show you their capabilities.

Literacy: Summary Writing
While we do other types of writing, the idea of doing 3-4 argumentative writing assignments throughout the year seemed a bit much.  I decided to go with Summary Writing because it seemed the easiest to incorporate multiple times throughout the year.

For our baseline assessment, I showed students the video below.  The prompt was: Create a timeline of events that took place in the video (Yes!  I had them draw out a line, label the left side "Anfang" and the right side "Ende").  Be sure to include the beginning and end, as well as details in between.  Tell me as much as you can about what happens.


We first viewed the video once.  The second time through, I told students they could take notes if they needed to (I didn't want any distractions the first viewing, so I made them hold off on notes).  Then students had time to complete the prompt.

I think this was a great video for a German 2 class.  There will be words they don't necessarily know (leise, rufen, etc.) and tenses they haven't formally learned (Present Perfect Tense), but the visuals help and the speaking isn't too fast (and it's fun!).

And this is a great way to practice circumloqution.  I maybe don't know how to say "rufen," but I can describe what they're doing as "singen."  I might not pick up the word "leise" but I might be able to figure out that Bert wasn't "laut" enough.  I don't know how to say shark, but I can say "gross Fisch."
It's perfect for giving students the chance to show what they can do - I got everything from 1-2 word phrases from some students to students who were able to give lots of details in complete sentences with a variety of vocabulary.

Here are some other activities you can use to evaluate Summary Writing:

If you'd like to see the Level 2 rubric the HCPSS World Language Department has provided us, please click here.

I'm looking forward to seeing my students improve over the course of the year!  I'm already thinking about what to do for their next assessment ;)

- Frau Leonard

P.S. 
Credit where credit is due - the amazing rubrics I'm using for my SLOs were provided to us by our World Languages Coordinator in Howard County, Leslie Grahn, and World Languages Resource Teacher, Jen Cornell.  She is an amazing educator and does a lot to support us.

Daily Drills with Kahoot

From the first day in my class on, my students are trained to know that they have a drill at the start of class.  Whatever it is will be up on the board - worksheet, textbook exercise, speaking topic, whatever.  This year, I've started using Kahoot.

Kahoot is basically a site that allowed you to create online quizzes and surveys.  Students then log in to your activity using their phones and go through the activity.  The questions are all multiple choice, so even students who struggle will be able to come up with an answer.

I usually do 10-15 question quizzes related to something we've been practicing recently.  Here's a Regular Tense quiz for German verbs and here's identifying Latin Cases, just so you can get an idea of how you could use this resource.  Make sure you select "randomize answers" before you launch the quiz though!

I'm going to walk you through the process of using Kahoot with your students.  Screen shots come from the Regular Tense quiz linked above.

Step One: Students Sign In
Once you've launched the quiz, have this screen showing up front.  All the directions students need are there - how to sign in and their game pin.

Left side is what you'll see on your computer, to the right is what students see on their phone

What's great about Kahoot is that unlike Poll Everywhere, students don't need to text in their answers (I don't want them to have to worry about fees!).  And unlike ExitTicket, they don't need to sign up for an account (I hate making kids download a bunch of apps, sign up for a bunch of different accounts, and give them just another thing to remember).  Students just need a phone, tablet or computer with an internet connection - when they "log in" to your quiz, they put in a nickname.  No accounts required!

Kahoot displays how many kids have signed in and what their nicknames are

If students don't have their phone with them (or it's not charged or whatever), you can have them pair up with some one sitting next to them.  That way no one feels put on the spot if they don't have a smart phone or if their parents won't let them bring it to school.

Usually I come around to check homework as students work on their drill.  I can still do this with Kahoot - I give students time to sign in (which can take a couple minutes if students have to turn on phones, find a partner, etc).  They know that when I'm done the homework check, it's time to get started.


Step Two: Students Take The Quiz
Questions appear on the screen one at a time.  The question is displayed for a few seconds before the answers are shown.  Students then have 30 seconds to pick what they think the answer is (or more or less time... you can set it when you create your quiz).  Students get points for answering correctly... and for how quickly they answered.

Question appears first

Answer choices appear - students have 30 seconds to answer

Step Three: Let Them Compete!
After each question, Kahoot lets them see where they place in terms of the rest of the class.  They'll see if they're in 1st or 7th or 20th place, and they'll see how many students got the question right (or wrong).  Students won't have to worry about being called out for being wrong... Kahoot will only show the number of students who guessed each answer, but never who answered what.

You should see how competitive they get!  For the more advanced students in the class, it's a competition to get first.  For the students who struggle more, it's a competition to not be last or to get at least two or three right.

After each question, Kahoot also displays the top five students.  This can change dramatically from question to question, depending on their speed and if they get something wrong.  Students love seeing their name up there!  Since I use stickers as an incentive, I give stickers to the top three students at the end of the quiz.

We've done I think three of these in my Latin 1 class and they love it!  They ask all the time if they can do Kahoot.  It's not something I want to do all the time, but it seems like it could be a fun way of rewarding a hard working class.

This is a really easy way to get students energized about class while still practicing content.  They get instantaneous feedback, and let's face it - any chance to use their phone in class is something they're going to jump at.  I *highly* recommend this website.  I think after you've tried it once, you'll love it!

- Frau Leonard

Questions in an Envelope

Here's another activity/technique I got from the World Language Academy I attended this summer!  I already used it with my combined German 3/4 class and it worked out really well!  Check out Slide 152 from the Power Point Presentation.

If you're doing a communicative activity with partners or small groups, Questions in an Envelope is a way for you to help scaffold the activity for students who need a bit of extra help.  Basically, you give students a topic to discuss.  That's it... just a topic.  No questions to go through, just enough of a prompt to give them idea of what to talk about.

Now, obviously this is more of a challenge for some students than others.  That's where the envelopes come in.  As students are talking, if they get stuck (they go about 10 seconds without thinking of something new to say about the topic), they can open the envelope.  Inside are strips of paper.  Each strip of paper has a question related to the topic.  When they pull out a strip, students now have a new way of discussing the main topic.

If students get stuck again, they can pull out another strip and another.  After time is called, students count how many strips they pulled out.  They put everything back in the envelope, switch partners and discuss the same question again.  Their goal is to try to have fewer pauses in their conversation and pull fewer questions out of the envelope each round they go through.  And if students did pull out questions in their earlier envelopes, they'll probably still be in mind as they go through their second or third discussion.

Here's the example topic and envelope questions from the Power Point mentioned above:

The activity I created for my German 3/4 class was a get-to-know you interview.  This was a mixed class that had two groups that had never previously interacted as well as a few transfer students who were new to the school.  Since they'll be working together all year, I wanted them to meet and be forced to interact right from the beginning.  

I had students have a conversation with their partner.  Anything they wanted to talk about, they could.  The only rule was that they had to speak for a full 2 minutes.  I explained the envelopes and gave each group one.  After time was up, students moved on to another partner and repeated the process with someone new.

With each partner, however, I upped the amount of time they had to speak.  The first partner really was just a warm up, and as they got more comfortable (and possibly were exposed to more and more questions from the envelopes) I pushed them to speak more.

First Partner = 2 Minutes

Second Partner = 3 Minutes

Third Partner = 3 1/2 Minutes

Fourth Partner = 4 Minutes

To make sure they were actually paying attention to what their partners said, students had to keep notes.  After each round of interviews, they had to write down the most interesting thing they *learned* about their partner (this way if students ended up with someone they already knew, they'd have to try and find out something new).  

I may not have needed to do this last part, but I had three different envelopes.  Each envelope was a different color and had five different questions.  They circulated around the groups so that a variety of questions were available to the class.  If you're interested in the questions I used for this activity, click here.

I'm really excited to try this activity out with some of my lower levels.  It's scaffolded enough that even weaker students and students with less vocabulary/language background can still have 2 minute conversations with each other.  Working this in early in level one will hopefully build speaking confidence as they progress to upper levels.

- Frau Leonard

Product Review: Schultüte

PRODUCT REVIEW: Schultüten Kit (Teacher's Discovery)

Product Description: A fun, cultural project for your students the first day of German class! Students love the treats and have fun learning, too. You provide the goodies and treats.Cost: $26.95 for set of 12

To celebrate the start of a new school year, our first German Club meeting was putting together Schultüten.  I bought some goodies from Teacher's Discovery (bookmarks, stickers, pencils, etc.) as well as two of their Schultüten kits.  Each kit contained 12 Schultüten, as well as tissue paper, glue and tape.  The Schultüten had two sides - one that was already colored in (see above) and another that students could color in and decorate.  

It was an easy activity to prep for the first meeting when we don't have new officers yet.  

Practicality: 3.5/5
It's easier than making Schultüten from construction paper.  I wish they came pre-cut or at least had perforated edges.  We needed scissors and a decent amount of time to cut them out.  The little tabs that you used to keep the Schultüte together were hard to cut out and needed to be heavily taped to hold it together.  

Decoration was easy - most of the students decided to use the pre-colored, but a few took the time to personalize and color in the other side. 

Accuracy: 5/5
The phrases on the Schultüten were cute.  Loved that they included the tissue paper to give them a more authentic look :)  I do wish they were bigger though...

Fun: 4.5/5
Students had fun putting together and decorating their Schultüten.  It did take some time to cut out and put together.  There wasn't as much personalization as I would have wanted: students could pick colors and could decorate one side, but most of the students ended up decorating theirs with the stickers I gave out (something not included in the kit).

Overall: 13 / 15 (87%)
I would definitely recommend this product if you have a small number of students - it can get costly to buy them for larger groups.  I told my students that I would provide the school-related goodies but they would have to bring in candy to share.  I think this is the best way to displace some of the pressure on you to fill an entire Schultüte for each student.

- Frau Leonard

Can-Do-Statements Self-Rating for Students

Posted by @ginlindzey on Twitter

Over the summer, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could incorporate the ACTFL Can-Do Statements in my teaching.  Our county has been really good about creating and providing us with rubrics to use this year, but I was really wanting a way to get students involved with the process before throwing the rubrics at them.

For my German 3/4 combo class this year, I decided we'd start looking at them during the first week.  Yesterday as a homework assignment, I gave students access to this Power Point.  In it are the various "I can..." statements found directly in the ACTFL guide.  If you'd like a copy of the Power Point I used, it's available here.

For each mode of communication, I explained what it meant (for example, I described interpersonal communication as conversations with other people, whether it be face-to-face or via text messages).  Students were then asked to pick the statement that best fit their ability level.  I qualified it as what they could do spontaneously, without notes or preparation, and without knowing what the topic was ahead of time. Using the blank form, they copied and pasted the phrase that best described them:

This is the blank form students needed to fill out

This is an example of what students read through for each level

I made of point of not including the proficiency levels (novice, intermediate, etc.).  I didn't want students to get bogged down by that and have pre-conceived notions like "Oh, I think I'm advanced so I'll automatically just pick from the orange blocks."

I asked students to only print out and bring in the slide where they copied and pasted in their levels.  I also made some paper copies of the Power Point for students who didn't have access to a computer, the internet or a printer.  The other students were able to get it directly from the class website.

When students brought them in today, we then talked about what the different colors and proficiency levels meant.  Note: Since some students don't have color printers, you should first give them a chance to identify the colors for each of the phrases they chose!  I described each level for them based on the slide below (which was not in the Power Point given to students).

These descriptions are in part based on the tweet above as well as the World Language Academy I attended this summer

Students had to identify which of these levels best describes them based on their choices.  Maybe they had some blues but most of what they had was green, putting them at the Intermediate Level.  They then identified the level on their "Ich kann..." sheet (in the blank box).  Be sure to tell students that since this is a self-rating, they may have rated themselves a little bit higher or lower than they actually are!

We also talked about where we should be by the end of each level of German (based on our county's goals):

The final part of this was goal-setting.  I gave each student two post-its and asked them to write a goals for the year.  I specified that one of the goals had to be related to the proficiency levels ("I want to move all areas into Intermediate" or "I want to move my writing abilities into Advanced").  The other one could be anything ("I want to get at least a B on all my quizzes," "I want to score at least a 4 on the AP test," or "I want to be able to speak better").  I hope this last activity will get the kids motivated for the year :)

- Frau Leonard

Speaking Rubrics

During the summer, I was fortunate enough to attend a World Language Academy run by ACTFL.  There was a lot of great stuff that I can't wait to start implementing and trying out this year (you can go through the Power Point presentation - it's available on their Wikispace).  One of those things would be some of the speaking rubrics they include (slides 157 and 158).

TALK Rubric (Shrum & Glisan)

The first rubric is a TALK rubric.  It's a really short rubric that makes it easy for you to quickly give students some feedback on their TL usage in class.  The letters stand for...

T = Target Language: During the activity, is the student speaking in the TL? 
A = Accuracy: Is Target Language use correct (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar)?  (I love that TL use and accuracy are separated!!)

L = Listens: Does the student listen to what his/her partner says and respond appropriately?  Is he/she actually trying to have a conversation or just saying random things?

K = Kind: If his/her partner needs help, does he/she help?  This could be by prompting with questions, modeling sentences, or helping with vocabulary.

As students are doing a communicative activity, you walk around and monitor a few students and complete the TALK rubric for them.  You can use symbols to make it clear how students did.  A check mark means they did amazing, a + means they did well but could improve, and a - means they need work (or whatever other symbols you might want to use instead).

Depending on class size, it's doubtful you'd get to all of them in one lesson.  Honestly, I think trying to hit every student in each activity would be too stressful for you as the teacher any way.  Pick a few students and give them feedback, then during the next day/activity pick some other students.  

I don't even plan on using these as a grade.  It's really more of a means for me to get an idea of how students are doing and to give them immediate feedback.  You just give each student back their strip and that's it!  They can see how well they're doing in the areas we're focusing on and where they need to work on. 

It's a great rubric for beginning learners and earlier in the unit.  I hope this will train students to keep an eye on how much German they're actually using in class.  If you're interested in a typed version, click here.


Scored Discussion Rubric

The other rubric they provided as a "Scored Discussion" rubric.  It's a little more detailed than the TALK rubric and could be used for an actual grade in addition to being a means of feedback.  On the left hand side it describes the lower end of what students might be doing.  On the right hand side is the upper end.  Basically, it moves from basic skills to where we want students to be.  In the middle is room to give students a grade in each category on a 1-5 scale.

What's great about it is it's so succinct.  Students get descriptions of both ends of the spectrum, but you don't need to put specific examples in for each point value.  Students see what a 1 and a 5 look like, and they understand that a 3 is between those two extremes.  I hope that it will give students something to strive for and help them focus on the areas they struggle most in.  If you'd like a typed version, click here.

I'm hopeful that these rubrics will make it easier for me to give students feedback on a regular basis.  It'd be great if they could use these to improve their confidence in speaking.

- Frau Leonard

Idiom of the Week Board

I saw this really cute idea on Pinterest for an idiom of the week board.

In this past I've tried to do an idiom of the week/month/whenever I got around to it.  I think I tried too hard to make it a part of weekly instruction.  I tried to do quizzes and get the students to come up with examples...  Really, it was all great in theory but was harder in practice.  The problem was always that it was another thing I had to keep track of and make activities for.

What I like about this is it's something I can have up and don't have to draw attention to it.  If students are interested, it's something they can keep track of and use on their own.  If students do use the phrases during class, that's something I can praise.  If students don't use the phrase... well at least I can beef up on idioms on my own ;)

- Frau Leonard