Get ‘em Talking!
I teach fourth grade in a public elementary school that is about 85% Spanish speaking at home. Because of this, my focus for the students has been to get them talking. That sounds counter-intuitive -- who wants a bunch of talking kids? -- but they need the practice. I have not encouraged an excessive amount of conversation; I instead have increased their public speaking opportunities.
We all have methods in place to manage our student's behaviors throughout the day. I have added a few to my usual list, all encouraging more public speaking. Feel free to steal as you see fit.
I have always had some sort of vessel containing the names of my students. When I have a question that begs a student answer, a name is drawn, and that child attempts to answer. All the teachers at my school do this. My vessel this year is a plastic witch's cauldron that once served as a Halloween candy collector. The names are on plastic practice golf balls. I ask another student to reach into the cauldron and choose one at random.
I recently had an idea, a brilliantly simple idea. We all have an “Ana,” a student who never speaks, and when her name is chosen, gives the briefest possible answer. One recent day, in front of the class, I called for Ana's attention. With great dramatic effect, I wrote her name on a new golf ball, and placed it into the cauldron. Then, I did it again. And again. And again. Ana now has her name in the cauldron five times. Ana's random opportunities for speaking quintupled!
I repeated this with several other reluctant speakers. Now, instead of twenty-seven golf balls, the cauldron has forty-nine. Those kids all saw me add their name several times to the cauldron, and they know that they might be chosen more often than others.
At the end of that day, after Ana's name had been chosen four times, I asked her how she felt about having to speak to her classmates. She said, smiling, "I liked it.”
I have a pocket chart in the front of the room that reads “Today's Objectives." It contains a subject name and a short summary of what we will be talking about that day. Under “Science,” I have a sentence strip that reads, “Volcanoes and Earthquakes.” A student is chosen, using the cauldron, on Monday, and they read the Objectives chart to the class each morning. The daily schedule is written on the white board, indicating today's date and times of special events that don't appear on the Objective's Chart. A student is selected from the cauldron, and they stand up and read that to the class.
I give as many speaking jobs to the students as possible. I don't even answer my classroom phone: A student does, after learning how to do so in a professional manner.
There is a small portable PA system in one corner. Near it is posted the cafeteria menu. A student is chosen to read the menu each morning, and this lucky child gets to read it into a live microphone. I didn't speak into a live microphone in front of a group until I was forty years old! My students do it with great regularity.
Another activity that I developed this year is simply announced as "retell!” I tell a brief story about something that I think the kids might be interested in, something like how I ran into one of them the previous evening is the local supermarket's produce section. Just something short and not too complicated. When I finish, they "think, pair, share” (another opportunity to talk). A name is drawn, and that person retells my story. Simple, short and very engaging.
There you go: some easy and effective ideas that have made my classroom even livelier than it usually is. And best of all, they're fun.
Posted in DemEd in Real LifeTeaching on Dec 23, 2009 - 03:55 PM
The newspapers today have articles stating that research shows that teaching is the happiest career one can choose. My students this year certainly place me in that category. This year has been very enjoyable, indeed. I have a group of students who have a few social leaders, as all groups do, and this year, those social leaders are also academic leaders. This has allowed me to focus less on discipline, and more on creatively approaching their learning needs. They seem to truly enjoy learning, and that has given me the freedom to really have a good time teaching them.I teach fourth grade in a public elementary school that is about 85% Spanish speaking at home. Because of this, my focus for the students has been to get them talking. That sounds counter-intuitive -- who wants a bunch of talking kids? -- but they need the practice. I have not encouraged an excessive amount of conversation; I instead have increased their public speaking opportunities.
We all have methods in place to manage our student's behaviors throughout the day. I have added a few to my usual list, all encouraging more public speaking. Feel free to steal as you see fit.
I have always had some sort of vessel containing the names of my students. When I have a question that begs a student answer, a name is drawn, and that child attempts to answer. All the teachers at my school do this. My vessel this year is a plastic witch's cauldron that once served as a Halloween candy collector. The names are on plastic practice golf balls. I ask another student to reach into the cauldron and choose one at random.
I recently had an idea, a brilliantly simple idea. We all have an “Ana,” a student who never speaks, and when her name is chosen, gives the briefest possible answer. One recent day, in front of the class, I called for Ana's attention. With great dramatic effect, I wrote her name on a new golf ball, and placed it into the cauldron. Then, I did it again. And again. And again. Ana now has her name in the cauldron five times. Ana's random opportunities for speaking quintupled!
I repeated this with several other reluctant speakers. Now, instead of twenty-seven golf balls, the cauldron has forty-nine. Those kids all saw me add their name several times to the cauldron, and they know that they might be chosen more often than others.
At the end of that day, after Ana's name had been chosen four times, I asked her how she felt about having to speak to her classmates. She said, smiling, "I liked it.”
I have a pocket chart in the front of the room that reads “Today's Objectives." It contains a subject name and a short summary of what we will be talking about that day. Under “Science,” I have a sentence strip that reads, “Volcanoes and Earthquakes.” A student is chosen, using the cauldron, on Monday, and they read the Objectives chart to the class each morning. The daily schedule is written on the white board, indicating today's date and times of special events that don't appear on the Objective's Chart. A student is selected from the cauldron, and they stand up and read that to the class.
I give as many speaking jobs to the students as possible. I don't even answer my classroom phone: A student does, after learning how to do so in a professional manner.
There is a small portable PA system in one corner. Near it is posted the cafeteria menu. A student is chosen to read the menu each morning, and this lucky child gets to read it into a live microphone. I didn't speak into a live microphone in front of a group until I was forty years old! My students do it with great regularity.
Another activity that I developed this year is simply announced as "retell!” I tell a brief story about something that I think the kids might be interested in, something like how I ran into one of them the previous evening is the local supermarket's produce section. Just something short and not too complicated. When I finish, they "think, pair, share” (another opportunity to talk). A name is drawn, and that person retells my story. Simple, short and very engaging.
There you go: some easy and effective ideas that have made my classroom even livelier than it usually is. And best of all, they're fun.
Tags for this entry:
curriculum,
real-life learning,
classroom strategies,
speaking,
english language learners
comments
Melanie
I am glad you incorporate so much “real life” in to your classroom. I think storytelling is so important, and such a nice way to teach so many things… esp stories that your kids can relate to (vs just Jack and Jill stories out of the reading book.)
I follow the blog of an artist who teaches mostly Spanish speaking kids in a CA elementary, and she does wonderful art journaling with them, which I think is also powerful and lets them make stories in a universal language… her blog is here (sorted by posts relevant to her work with the kids… most of her other posts are art-related.)
http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/monkey-whispering/
on Dec 26, 2009 - 09:33 PM