Written by Action Plan Update
“How might we help boys identify what engages them in French classes so that they are intrinsically motivated for second-language learning?”
Ok, so at the end of the 3rd F2F in January, I had decided that my Action Plan was really going to focus more on helping to shift the cultural attitudes towards my subject area. I decided that this is an ongoing problem that would take a lot more than this year to shift and that it would require many small actions to lead to big change. And I still have lofty goals around this; however, after the past few weeks of feeling like I’m on the defense (following first term report cards hitting the shelves), I think I have a more defined focus for my Action Plan for the remainder of the school year.
The number one complaint I get from parents is that they do not see enough of their son’s French work at home and then are surprised by the results on assessments. Now, I struggle with this problem because I firmly believe that the majority, if not the totality, of their work should be done in class where they have resources to complete tasks and are not relying on translation tools, tutors or other francophone family members. I like boys to keep their folders in their classrooms so things don’t get lost, and so that I can look through them periodically to assess their work whenever I need to. But I do understand the need for parents to be kept in the loop of their child’s progress.
So if I take my “how might we” question into consideration through the lens of communication, feedback and understanding, I can think about which actions I need to take in order to not only ensure transparency of the learning happening, but also to help the boys be able to better articulate (to myself and their parents) what they can and cannot do in French.
I have a lot I want to tackle prior to the next F2F:
1) refine/redefine my action plan and plan out my steps towards completion of my goals
2) talk to my students about self-assessment and ask their input for ways to include more opportunities to self-assess
3) make posters to put up in each classroom that have the can-do statements or the learning goals of the remainder of the year
4) record more evidence of student work (audio recordings during oral assessments, photos of written work, videos of presentations) — this should be easier as I start the pilot project for my school to use Seesaw starting next week
5) co-create rubrics for daily lessons and activities so that the boys can easily self-assess their work each day
6) give boys free-talk time, where they can choose a theme or topic to discuss in French, and help them build their vocabulary to be able to do so
7) ensure all assessments are going home to parents to be signed and returned
8) have students complete questions at home, with the support of online and paper resources (ie: copies of the texts and vocabulary lists required)
9) follow-up with students to ensure homework is being completed and parents are seeing results
10) when planning out my next units, include frequent opportunities for self-reflection and assessment of/as learning
It feels good to be bringing my attention back to Cohort21 — I have missed the energy and excitement it brings me!
Welcome back, Mackenzie! 🙂
As a former FSL teacher, I can certainly relate to the need to have students complete most work at school and during class time. It can certainly lead to its share of challenges, though!
I imagine that your pilot project with Seesaw will be a great way to make communication with parents at home more effective. Would love to hear how it goes.
Jen
Hi Mackenzie,
Thanks for sharing this post about your work. It was very interesting to read about how a concern from parents caused you to pivot and spring ahead with your action plan. It sounds as if this allowed you to focus your plan more sharply. I really appreciated the list of steps you have set out for your students. As someone who struggled with French and ended up with a first job on the Gaspé coast, I really like the idea of giving the boys free talk time the chance to talk about their interests. It should should inspire them and help them to grow more confident. I am interested to know how the sending work home and getting it back signed goes – I really like this idea but have found that the chase can be a little wearying as you often get the signed documents back from the crew who are sitting pretty well with their work and often don’t see it from the ones who need more support at home and school… Let me know what’s working for you!
Great post! There are so many tools – SeeSaw and SesameHQ to name but two – that can support this. However, I think that it would really help for you to dig deeper into empathizing with your end users. Ask your parents directly, through a Ecommunication, a survey, or a quick question at Parent-Teacher interviews. Then ask your students – see what they say as well.
Have you thought of assigning a conversation with their parents as an assignment? This might be a great way to engage all in the language, as well as demonstrating what students are capable of. Using Siri to translate can support the parents in understanding if they are not strong in French.
I can’t wait to hear about this, and I hope that @ddoucet can weigh in on this as well. He has lots of experience in this area.
garth.