Some of us are at that stage of the year when parents are asking us, "What can I do to help my child over the summer?" Some have already crossed that bridge & are just chilling a bit to regain our sense of calm & control. I happen to be in the former group, and while I do have parents asking for camps, tutors and play groups for the summer, I want to focus just now on what I want to do to help ME. I get to this point every year, and every year there are some reccurring themes of "to do's". However, I nearly always have some new challenge each year, which moves me to reflect on how well (or not) I handled the situation, and what I could do differently should this situation occur again in my career (as is very likely).
Once in a while I actually pursue the study urges BEFORE the need occurs, as happened a couple of summers ago. I enrolled in the University of Minnesota's "Struggling Learners in the Immersion Classroom" class. It was definitely a theme that we had discussed in our school, but had never seen much research nor writing on how to approach the unique needs of struggling learners in our immersion classrooms. I did have a vague idea that I would be needing the advice in this class, as I knew of a student who would be coming to my class 2 years afterward. I just completed the year with this student. One of the issues that was discussed in the class was, When or How do you know if Immersion education is not right for your child? I cannot go into the specifics of my particular student, as we are still in that decision making process, but I am so thankful to have had the preparation for having this discussion. (By the way, I highly recommend Carla Summer Institute at the University of Minnesota for your continuing Immersion education!)
My colleague, Megan, has been working on her Masters' with a heavy emphasis on technology in the Immersion classroom---another great theme! What would you like your immersion students to be able to do or find on the internet in the target language? Or how about interventions? Although this is mandated now for all schools, some are incorporating "Response to Interventions" more rapidly and universally than others. Another colleague, Amanda, is making a move this year from our one-way immersion program to a two-way or dual immersion program. I have recommended a very helpful book for her to read over the summer, Dual Language Instruction, by Nancy Cloud, Fred Genessee, and Else Hamayan. Some of us may just need to spend some time reading for our own growth & enrichment in our target language. After teaching 1st grade for so many years, I find that even reading a 3rd or 4th grade novel helps refresh my vocabulary! Some of my colleagues are traveling overseas this summer! (So jealous!!) What a terrific way to immerse ourselves and experience again what it is like to be the learner! Better yet, why not consider visiting a country to experience immersion in a third language!
Teachers and administrators, give us your ideas! Maybe we'd like to follow your lead! Share, share, SHARE! What's in your summer?
~Sheryl René
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
They say I'm a "digital immigrant"...
That's what my co-worker informed me recently. I won't even take you back as far as my first typing class in High School; I might have to explain too many of the terms from that era! (lol!) However, even just as far back as 1993, I remember going to my children's elementary school to work in the publishing center. Moms brought in their sewing machines, books of wall paper samples, slices of heavy-weight cardboard, and typewriters!!! The 2nd grade students brought their handwritten stories to us and we typed them up. Mistakes were corrected with correction tape or "whiteout". We then sewed the pages together, and glued them into a homemade "hard cover" book. We were all so proud of our young authors! They returned to their classrooms to read aloud their books to their fellow students, then brought the books home to share with their parents.
Fast forward to my first grade Spanish Immersion classroom. It's been my dream for several years now to find a way to get my students' writing published online. My passion for publishing was two-fold: I wanted to highlight my students' successes in writing, and I wanted to provide more Spanish books for my students to read. While our district has done a terrific job of purchasing Spanish books for our library and classroom libraries, it is still a slim reflection of what the traditional English programs and public libraries have available for their students. Neither have the local bookstores caught on yet to the market that is blossoming in West Michigan for Spanish children's books. And taking trips to Spanish speaking countries to buy Spanish books is a little cost prohibitive. So I set out to find an economical way to contribute to my students' personal libraries.
After several failed attempts at finding an economic medium for publishing, I was introduced to VoiceThread in a grad class. Being the "digital immigrant" that I am, I definitely needed help learning to use VoiceThread, and called on my computer savy friend to come to my aide, which he graciously did. The result is a quickly growing list of my 1st graders' Spanish stories. It has become not only an outlet to "shine", but a natural motivator to write more. The students have practice writing, revising, editing, and in addition refining their oral language skills in order to record the books. They may read these books at school, at home, at their friends' homes, on vacation, in the hospital, you name it!
I invite you to visit my website http://www.senoradalman.com/ and click on "Related Links", then VoiceThread and select some stories to listen to. Some stories are written collaboratively, others are individual student authors. I look forward to adding to this list year after year. If you teach upper elementary students or Middle or High School students, there are so many more complex options in VoiceThread that you can access to build more depth into the writing experience. Check it out! Let us all know when you have books for us to read, too. I would LOVE to see an explosion of new stories for our immersion students to read!
I can't wait to see where these "digital native" students will take us someday!
~Sheryl René
Fast forward to my first grade Spanish Immersion classroom. It's been my dream for several years now to find a way to get my students' writing published online. My passion for publishing was two-fold: I wanted to highlight my students' successes in writing, and I wanted to provide more Spanish books for my students to read. While our district has done a terrific job of purchasing Spanish books for our library and classroom libraries, it is still a slim reflection of what the traditional English programs and public libraries have available for their students. Neither have the local bookstores caught on yet to the market that is blossoming in West Michigan for Spanish children's books. And taking trips to Spanish speaking countries to buy Spanish books is a little cost prohibitive. So I set out to find an economical way to contribute to my students' personal libraries.
After several failed attempts at finding an economic medium for publishing, I was introduced to VoiceThread in a grad class. Being the "digital immigrant" that I am, I definitely needed help learning to use VoiceThread, and called on my computer savy friend to come to my aide, which he graciously did. The result is a quickly growing list of my 1st graders' Spanish stories. It has become not only an outlet to "shine", but a natural motivator to write more. The students have practice writing, revising, editing, and in addition refining their oral language skills in order to record the books. They may read these books at school, at home, at their friends' homes, on vacation, in the hospital, you name it!
I invite you to visit my website http://www.senoradalman.com/ and click on "Related Links", then VoiceThread and select some stories to listen to. Some stories are written collaboratively, others are individual student authors. I look forward to adding to this list year after year. If you teach upper elementary students or Middle or High School students, there are so many more complex options in VoiceThread that you can access to build more depth into the writing experience. Check it out! Let us all know when you have books for us to read, too. I would LOVE to see an explosion of new stories for our immersion students to read!
I can't wait to see where these "digital native" students will take us someday!
~Sheryl René
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