Category: Action Plan

I believe they will challenge themselves, and they do!

January 9, 2020 / Andrew Petrolito

HMW:

How might we engage Native French Speakers, and FSL speakers alike, in a manner that challenges both, while attending to and respecting each’s level and need in the Advanced Placement classroom?

This has been my challenge for the last little while and I have looked to approach this with a sort of Project-based learning style, while not completely abandoning the traditional classroom. I never really fully jump into one style of teaching or engagement as I do believe that every method, including the traditional learning classroom, has its advantages!

I chose to implement the idea that each student will challenge themselves inherently. I am aware that this requires supervision, but I always believe in the people around me, including the students until they give me a reason otherwise. Within my novel study unit. Students were given a series of tasks or mini-projects to complete. Each task requires students to use the teacher as a check in order to ensure that each student is challenging themselves. These projects decentralize learning and force the student to push themselves to engage in the lesson. Gone is the boredom of comparing themselves to others. Students now work knowing their peers are working on the same project in a different context. This eliminates students from comparing themselves to others.

Thus far, engagement in lessons has increased tremendously, and students are so focused on their own work that they don’t seem to really worry about others and their progress. The unit concludes this month with an in-class essay. We will see how it goes…

The Tale of 2 Students!

November 21, 2019 / Andrew Petrolito

My blog post today is about my #COHORT21 action plan. My focus in the past 2 years has been linked to my past plans regarding a focus on learning skills rather than marks. While I don’t believe in having a new plan each year, this current plan was created out of the issue that I have begun running into, in the Advanced Placement (AP) French program.

As a teacher or language, in Grade 12, I tend to run into 2 students, the Second Language Learner who is eager to learn the language yet not fully comfortable with it, and the Native Speaker, who tends to drop in and Is looking to master the language or at the very least, obtain an easy credit. Both students are entitled to take the course, but as we can all recognize, these 2 situations are going to wreak havoc on classroom culture and more importantly, the comfort of taking risks will be extinguished. These 2 students will either coexist wonderfully or clash, killing the joy of learning.

How to accommodate both students, you could, if you are very lucky, create 2 different sections, but let’s be honest, that doesn’t always work. How can we accommodate both of these students in one room?
My “How might we” question is:

How might we engage Native French Speakers, and FSL speakers alike, in a manner that challenges both, while attending to and respecting each’s level and need in the Advanced Placement classroom?

I have begun. I have some ideas, and frankly, some experiments to come , some potential help from @cgaffney and @egelleny, who may have some advice for me I have been told, which will hopefully create an environment where all are engaged!

Understanding why the process is important, creating a meaningful product.

April 10, 2019 / Andrew Petrolito

I have been very focused and deliberate with my assignments this year. I have focused on quality rather than quantity. Hoping to allow students to strike a better work-life balance, Classwork has had a focus on efficiency. My students seem to be making the connection and understanding why the process is where all the learning is.

This last little while has justified my process and encounters with two separate students have thankfully reinforced my stance on process over product.

Teaching Grade 12 Advanced Placement French has been a blessing and a curse. Students both wish to learn more, but feel they should be getting a higher grade because they are an “AP” student, as though it makes them a little better than the rest. I have been toiling with students all year and my goal in the course has been to get them to become proficient by learning in the language, not just about the language.

The course dictates academic writing and I have always instituted that students write an essay and this year I have given much more time for students to create a meaningful conversation regarding style and writing. Asking students to come for help in class has allowed me to really sit and comment on a student’s writing, and more importantly, give one on one feedback. Two students provided me with insight into my progress. Anne (not her real name), who is a weaker French student, came with new material and progress each day. Asking multiple questions regarding style and grammar which helped make her mark better than it would have been. She was hoping for a mark in the high 90’s (which is a little far fetched) but was quite happy with her mark in the end. On the final handout, I indicated to students that I would not write on their final drafts but merely assign their mark. If they wished for feedback, we would go over the paper together to help understand their result.

The reason for this, is that students are forced to use google docs and the comment system. The digital conversation that ensues is in sort, a conversation, observation and product. All items that are to be evaluated. The conversation involves mentioning how they reacted to the comments and how their changes indicated learning. Anne was happy with her responses to critique. She did not need her final paper to have a mess on it. The conversation was the mark. She felt that she had shown growth and understood that her original paper would have given her a low 80 and that thanks to her work and growth, she was able to learn about her mistakes and change them. The end result, learning.

Julia, on the other hand, decided to go solo. She had nothing to show in all classes. I made a point of prompting and conversing with each student in the class twice a period to give them an opportunity to ask questions and seek feedback. She wanted none of it. She then submitted her essay late. When her paper was returned she was taken aback. I was generous in giving her an 80. She, on the other hand, challenged immediately for at least a 90.

I then asked her if she would like her paper to be properly corrected and returned to her. After this was done she stood in disbelief in my office. Julia had never had a paper carved up like this and felt I was being too strict (I indicated that she had even spelled the protagonist’s name 3 different ways in the paper). It wasn’t pretty. The conversation that ensued was interesting. She felt that it was unfair and seemed to feel that she didn’t know she would get a bad mark…

Her lesson:

No one in the real world submits work without having someone review it first if it is important.

Creation requires feedback. Working alone means only looking with one pair of tired and biased eyes.

Work should not be treated like the lottery; I’ll buy a ticket and hope for the best! The best creations go through various iterations before they ever see the light of day! Needless to say, focusing on skills creates thinkers, focusing on marks creates anxiety.

My question is:

How might we create a classroom where evaluation is evolving in order to accurately gauge a student’s ongoing learning?

My Journey is found here!

Constantly evolving

November 24, 2018 / Andrew Petrolito

As a language teacher, getting students to participate is always a challenge. Many of us grew up learning a language in the same way. Stop me if this sounds familiar: “Here is a verb tense, conjugate these verbs. Fill in the chart…” This sums up many student’s experiences with a new language. The end result is what I hear all the time: “I hate French, I’m not very good at it”.

Oddly enough, the reality is that you never really were engaged. You were learning about the language, not in the language. This is the reality. Many of these students have never really spoken French. How do they know if they are any good at it?

It is much like picking up a tennis racket. Learning about a service, but not really serving. Then giving up after several attempts. You then learn about the basics of the game, play 2 points, and you are done. You leave tennis class saying I’m not good at tennis.

Where was all the practice? We have focused so much on the theory of language that we have forgotten about speaking a language.

Many programs have begun to permeate language teachings such as AIM and TPRS, which is where evolution in language teaching is going. TPRS and AIM focus both on communication rather than conjugation, which would have helped many of us learn a second language more effectively. Students are encouraged to speak rather than write. Writing is an instrument but is spawned from speaking rather than the opposite in TPRS. Teaching Proficiency through reading and story-telling gets kids engaged. It gets kids moving, sharing and participating but most importantly, it gets students learning!

The evolution removes the desks and the barriers, which brings on a whole new way of thinking! More to come

See TPRS in action here from the person who presented to us here at TCS. More to come as this gets moulded into the classroom.

Andrew

@jbairos