Advice for Multilevel Classes

I was recently corresponding with a new German teacher in South Carolina (schöne Grüße, Frau Becker!), and she asked for advice about planning for a class with both German 2 and 3 students in it.  Multilevel classes are pretty common in upper level world languages, so I thought I'd put my reflections here in case they can help anyone else.

The combination of two levels is tough for teachers. Administrators don't seem to understand how much more work it is for the teacher and how the students are shortchanged. They just look at numbers. As I was told, just be grateful we're letting you do this level at all.  At my school it was a 3/4 split. (And one year I did a 4/5 split, though we only had German 5 that one year!)

When facing a multilevel class, first of all, be kind to yourself. This isn't easy and you won't be able to give the students the same learning experience as if they were separate classes. You are one person and can only do what you can do. 

The upper level students (I'll call them German 4 here for clarity since that was my experience) should be seniors and, at least theoretically, more mature, so focus on the German 3 students, and give the German 4 students more independent work. 

You may be able to have your German 4 students play the role of conversation partner or assistant teacher. Give them a note card with a speaking question that they ask of the German 3 students one on one or in small groups. 

This isn't what you'd do if you had separate sections, but it is using the language and does benefit them. If parents complain, explain that it isn't under your control and ask them to take their concerns to administration. Overall, focus your energy on German 3, where you likely have more students, and do what you can about German 4, but don't expect yourself to be two people.

A Whole New World

 

We returned to in-person hybrid instruction this week after 4 weeks of all online learning to start the school year.

It was my first time teaching students in the school building since March 12, 2020.  It's definitely very different.

(sanitizing shoe mats)

After all of the planning, discussion, changing of plans, and worry, I have to say that the first week went pretty smoothly.

About 1/3 of our students have remained completely online, and the remaining students are split into two groups that alternate attendance days.  So, instead of 1600 students in the building every day, there are more like 600 on any given day.

This certainly made maintaining physical distance easier.  My classes have between 6 and 12 students in them, which allows everyone to be well spread out.  

We have block scheduling, so that plus the hybrid schedule meant that it took all 4 days of the week before I met all of my in person students.  It was like 4 first days of school!  Needless to say, everyone was exhausted by Friday.

But students have generally been cooperative about mask wearing and physical distancing in the classroom.  

It's difficult, though, to figure out how best to help a student from 6 feet away and how to continue to work with my online students when I have students in the classroom.  I'm using a flipped classroom model, which is not how I chose to teach BCE (before COVID era), but it seems to me the best option in the CE (COVID era).  Many things just aren't ideal right now.

The first few days just felt weird, but by Friday I did feel like I was starting to get a little more comfortable.  It's just a very different school world now, and I think it will be for some time to come.

Contact-free Bathroom Signout

 

People who have been reading my blog for a while know that mid-class requests to use the bathroom are the bane of my teaching existence.  

I thought I had solved that issue once and for all with my bathroom flowchart.  COVID-19 now laughs in the face of my naivety.

In preparation for a return to in person classes after Labor Day, I spent yesterday afternoon pondering a way to keep track of student bathroom use for contact tracing while not using a pass or a paper signout sheet.  

The solution: a Google Doc Contact Free bathroom signout.  

From the Course Resources page on Canvas, students click on the Restroom Signout button,

which takes them to a Google Doc which they can all write on.

Students will sign themselves in and out and will be able to check if they need to wait because a classmate is in the restroom without my involvement.  Hallelujah! 

Because 2020.

Need one for your German class?  Contact-free German Bathroom Signout Form

Reflections on Remote Learning

It's been 5 weeks of Remote Learning, and we have 2 more to go.  

Often on the last day of class, I ask students to reflect back on the year and provide feedback after they've completed their semester exam.  I plan to do that this year, too, though we aren't giving exams.  In addition to the questions I usually ask, I'm going to ask students what they found most difficult about remote learning, and what things they wish they could keep when we return to some form of in person school.

Thinking about this got me reflecting about some of the positives of this new learning environment.  

My school district has adopted a Monday-Thursday schedule and has encouraged teachers to focus on asynchronous learning because students' home situations vary, and they might not all be able to attend a live video lesson on Tuesday morning at 9:25.  Teachers have "office hours" from 9-11 AM and 1-2 PM when they are available online to answer questions via email, Canvas message, or Google Meet.  

I've found this schedule to be calmer than my in person school routine (and I only work half time!), perhaps because I'm introverted.  Here are some of the positives for me:

• I don't have to get up at 5:30 anymore.  I can sleep until 6:30 or 7 and even go for a run before school.
• I can use the bathroom when I need to.  
• Teaching multiple sections of the same prep is much less tiring - I'm recording a lesson only once, rather than teaching it two or three times.
• Patrolling for cell phone use, which was a huge (and tiring!) part of daily classroom management, is no longer part of my job.
• A 2 hour lunch break lets me eat at a relaxed pace and even go for a walk after lunch.

I miss working with students in person, but I think this schedule is better for my overall health - if you leave out the stress of a global pandemic, of course!

I read an article yesterday about How to Reopen Schools Amid Coronavirus. Among the things mentioned were smaller class sizes.  Classes with only 12 to 15 students would be amazing!  

Schoolchildren have lunch at the Korshoejskolen Public school in Randers, Denmark. Denmark began reopening schools on April 15.
Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2020/04/23/gettyimages-1210034619_slide-adff93055917aebc5ed6b88550f6327099963c34-s800-c85.jpg

It would be great if we used this crisis as an opportunity to think about what works and what doesn't in our public schools and to make some changes.  It could be done - we just have to decide how important educating our children really is to us.

Off and Running

(Me and my amazing colleague from Bloomington HS South.  

My younger son will be in her class this year!) 

Phew!  The first 2 weeks of school are in the books.  Here are the highlights:

• Name Tents were a definite thumbs up.  They have allowed me to change student groups daily until I find an arrangement I'm happy with.  Plus, it's easier to adapt to the nearly daily (sometimes hourly!) changes of student schedules.  I do need to adjust the folding lines a little bit so that they fold flat more easily.  And I want to change the back of the German 2 tents to include haben and sein and "Wie waren deine Ferien?" rather than "Wie geht's?"  Next year...

• German 1 has learned the alphabet, definite, and indefinite articles.  I did definite and indefinite articles in one day rather than two, and it seemed to be fine:

  
 

• My homeroom loves oatmeal.  It started when they kept asking to go to the vending machines for snacks.  We talked about how hard it is to make it until the last lunch period at 12:55 when you eat breakfast at 6:00.  I mentioned that I kept instant oatmeal in the department office and offered them some.  I had one person take me up on the offer the first day, and several on Friday.  The only requirement is that they wash their own dishes, which they have happily done.  Peaches and cream is most popular.  I think bonding over oatmeal works better for me than the more traditional ice breakers.

• The $100 I spent last year buying my own document camera, Ziggi, was money well spent.  No more running around the first week, begging anyone who will listen to connect my desktop computer to AirServer.  It would be great if schools provided resources we need to do our best teaching, but since mine doesn't, I'm glad I could get it myself.

• German 2 is a delight!  They are off to a great start, reviewing nouns, plurals, and present tense verbs while learning vocabulary about celebrations and festivals.  We've started the conversational past and watched Tiba's Geburtstag.

• I started off on day one with the bathroom flowchart.  That one item may single-handedly save my sanity this year (ok, that and A LOT of yoga and running).

I hope your year has gotten off to a good start, too!  Remember:

My Week in Three Words: Bathroom Pass Flowchart

Clearly, it's February.  Because this was the most important thing I taught this week.  Yes, it's come to this.  Sigh.

I am a patient teacher and calm person in general.  One of my first year students commented recently that she's never seen me yell or get mad.  I try to yell only in emergencies, and I don't get angry often.  But there are times when even my patience is exhausted.

Like Thursday morning.  Trips to the bathroom during class time had been increasing in frequency and duration for a while when yet another student asked to go to the bathroom.  3 minutes in to first period.  And his homework wasn't done.  And he asked in English.  In 2nd year German.  I had reached my limit.

So, we had an extended talk then and there about appropriate (during work time at the end of class, when you are finished with an activity) and inappropriate times (when I am helping to someone else, when I am in the middle of a lesson, when a classmate is in the middle of presenting, the list goes on) to ask to use the bathroom.  We talked about the inappropriateness of cell phone use in the bathroom (ick!) and that the walk to the bathroom is not meant for cell phone use.  I didn't yell, but students knew I was angry.  

In many respects, I can't believe I had to have this talk in a 2nd year German class that is almost half seniors.  But apparently this was needed. 

Later, when I had calmed down, I remembered that in addition to teaching German, I am teaching teenagers.  We want them to be ready for college and life, so if they haven't yet figured out how to consider the needs of their classmates and teachers in addition to their own need to use the bathroom (or desire to check their Snapchat on the way), I guess it's my job to teach that too.  

In case your students need instruction on this too, here's my bathroom flowchart.  Happy February!

Wetterberichte in German 2

My German 2 classes presented weather reports for cities in German-speaking countries this week.  It was the first time I've done this assignment, and it went really well!

First, students showed us where their city is on a map:

Then, they told us about the weather forecast for the next four days.  In my example, I modeled speaking freely without writing out everything I would say:

Many of my students were able to do that as well:

Others felt more comfortable with more of their presentation written out:

I gave them a fair amount of freedom on that.  If they had things written out, it needed to be done correctly.  If they spoke freely, I was more lenient on grammar mistakes.  

I designed a recording page for students to complete as they listened to their peers' presentations.  I've found that having some kind of activity like this really encourages students to listen more closely to each other.  

Now is the November of our Discontent

I don't know what it is about late October and early November, but it seems to be the time of year when we all hit The Wall.

This foldable that I did Monday with German 1 pretty much sums it up for me:

 


Sigh.  It's a great foldable that I designed last year.  But somehow when I copied it this year, I didn't check to make sure the inside would be right side up before I made 70 copies.  Oh well, I guess it was an opportunity to model flexibility and a growth mindset for my students.

November is when the days are getting shorter and the concepts are getting harder.  Students who haven't mastered the material from the beginning of the year are really struggling now with new concepts that ask them to use those previously learned skills.  

Students who have decided to drop the class at the semester have pretty much given up: a student on Wednesday asked me if she could have a pass to go to the library instead of staying in class because "I really don't like this class."  I reminded myself not to take things teenagers say personally and told her no.

I get frustrated by the disconnect between the leadership making decisions and the teachers in the classrooms dealing with the day-to-day challenges.  Often it feels like I am at the bottom of a deep well, buried in grading, lesson plans, and forms to fill out, shouting up about what I need to the people who can provide it but who are too far away to hear what I'm saying.   

I believe that public schools are neither the cure for nor the cause of all the problems in our country.  They are more like a mirror, reflecting our communities back to us.  In places where communities are healthy, the public schools are doing well.  In communities that are struggling, the public schools are too.

Right now there's a high level of discontent in our country, so I guess it's not a surprise that I feel that at my school too.  Our leaders aren't able to find ways to disagree and discuss without disrespect and vitriol.  Is it any surprise then that teenagers are finding that hard too?

In short, it's November.

So, what do I do about it?

At least twice a week, I think about becoming an engineer.

But the rest of the time, I remember that I do view teaching as a part of my vocation, my calling.

So

To the best of my ability, I keep planning and delivering interesting and engaging lessons, like these foldables for German 1 about question words, so that students will focus on the excitement of learning a new language rather than the issues that divide us (or how to leave my classroom).

and guided notes for months and seasons:

I drink a lot of tea.  My instinct is also to eat a lot of chocolate, but my goal this year is to keep eating healthy food - lots of fruits, veggies, and Greek yogurt.  So far I'm doing pretty well at this.

I remind myself that most students enjoy my class.  Some even tweet to me from college.

I try to pray the Liturgy of the Hours on my lunch break (when I'm not watching a required video about teen suicide prevention).  

I exercise every day and practice yoga on Saturdays, even when I'm tired or sore or just want to drink tea and eat chocolate.

I keep calling out, respectfully and through the proper chain of command, from the bottom of the well, even when the response (if I get one) is that what I'm asking for isn't possible or isn't really what I need.

In short, I keep on keeping on...

Meet them Where They Are

I have three sections of German 1 this year.  Last year I only taught German 2 and German 3, and it's nice to have students who are just starting German again.  It's fun watching them figure out how logical German is - that ein Bleistift - a "lead-writing-utensil" is a pencil.  The flip side is that I hear "die" pronounced like die in English (long i), rather than like dee (long e) as it is in German, over and over and over again.

All 3 of my sections of German 1 are full - with 30 to 32 students in each.  They're all a mixture of 9th, 10th, and 11th graders.  And all 3 have more boys than girls - a ratio of about 2 to 1.  Which makes me wonder - where are all the girls?  French?  Spanish?  I'm not sure...

But that's where the similarities end.  The first two sections are pretty challenging.  There are a wide variety of students - some are socially and academically where I'd hope for high school students to be.  But both sections also have a significant number of students who don't yet have the skills they need to be successful.  

This is a first year language class, so I'm not talking about a lack of German knowledge.  I'm not even talking about weak English language skills.  This is more a lack of school success skills.  Students who sit for 20 minutes and don't take notes with the rest of the class because they don't have a pencil, even though extra writing utensils are available in the room.  Students who are absent and don't make an effort to get caught up, even though I give them a paper with everything they missed:

Students who call out "I don't get it!" loudly as soon as they can't do something, rather than reading the directions, trying a bit more, looking at their notes, or asking a tablemate.  You get the picture.

It reminds me a lot of my first year of teaching when I had a very squirrely section of 9th grade algebra, and my wonderful mentor teacher advised me that it's sometimes just as much about teaching social skills as it is about teaching math skills.  Meeting them where they are and helping them get to where they need to be.

So, after those two classes, I start wondering what it is that I'm doing wrong, what I should do differently, etc.  

Then I teach my period 5 class.  And everything goes perfectly.  They listen to instructions.  And follow them.  They participate, try, and help one another.  They have all mastered logging in to their online textbook by now (the 6th week of school).  And they are mastering the material, as you can see by the number of students in just this section who got an A on the last quiz:

There are still some weak students, but there are enough strong students that they set the tone.  The weaker students (sometimes) follow their example.  

It's fascinating to me just how different these classes are, even though on paper they are indistinguishable.  

So, now I'm thinking about how to help the two weaker classes learn both German and academic success skills.  I pondered this a lot on my run last weekend.

One thing I've noticed: I normally have my students seated in table groups of 4 so that they can work together and practice speaking with each other:

When I'm giving an assessment, I move the desks into rows.  I noticed that on those days period 3 and period 4 did much better.  They were more focused and listened better to my teaching and my instructions.  So, I decided to keep the desks in rows for those two classes for a while.  

For period 3 it has already made a huge difference.  Period 4 is still a work in progress.  It's not ideal - the groups are much better for sharing materials and speaking activities.  But I think it's what they need, for now.  As we progress and students are more clear on my expectations, we'll try groups again.  For now, though, I'm meeting them where they are, and working to help them grow to where they need to be.  Stay tuned...

Is this the Normandy Invasion or just a Retakes Tutorial?

I had my first quiz and test make-up and retake tutorial on Friday.  

Oh. my. goodness. 

32 students.

2 different levels of German.

7 different assessments, 2 of which with listening components.

Beforehand I wasn't sure if I was getting ready for a tutorial or the Normandy Invasion.  I think it required at least as much planning and coordination.

Due to some technical difficulties above my pay grade, tutorials started later this school year than usual.  Combine that with how many of my students struggled on the first quiz, and I had so many students needing to make-up or retake assessments that my tutorial reached capacity and I had to bump some students to next week.  

But thanks to my retake form and all of my meticulous planning, everyone got the right assessment.  Now I just need to grade them...

Starting class, Starting the Year

I'm a big fan of starting class with a bell ringer/do now (I call it Macht jetzt) activity.  It gives students something relevant to do as soon as the bell rings to get them on task, thinking about German, and ready to learn, even if I am taking attendance or talking to an individual student.  It sets a good tone that my classroom is a place where we are working and learning and thinking for the whole eighty-five minutes of class (hopefully!).  

I even like to start out the first class of the year this way.  Again, I think it sets a good tone of what class is going to be like for the year and gives students something to do as I am helping students who are lost or have a schedule problem or all the other stuff that comes up on the first day of school.  

For German 1, I give students a crossword puzzle of German words that are very similar to English words that they should be able to figure out.  

I make my crossword puzzles at the free Discovery Education Puzzlemaker site.  

One of my big goals in German 3 is to get students describing German words with other German words they know (circumlocution), rather than translating to English.  So, their crossword puzzle has clues in German for German words they already know.

Click on the pictures of the puzzles for a copy.

New Handy Haus

I've blogged previously about why I don't permit cell phone use in class and how I enforce this policy.

When I have to take away a student's cell phone, it goes in to my Handy Haus for the rest of the class period.  My original Handy Haus was just a basket with a label on it.

This worked just fine, but this summer I decided I wanted to upgrade.  I found a cardboard house with a removable roof for just $3 and knew I had found my new Handy Haus.  It was plain brown, but my kids offered to paint it yesterday, and I happily took them up on the offer. 

Here they are, planning the color scheme:

In progress:

The finished product:

Tischdienst

Tischdienst is one of the little things that makes my classroom run a lot more smoothly and which I will definitely continue next year.

On most days I have my students' desks arranged in table groups of 4.  (I do move the desks into rows for tests and quizzes.  If the desks are in rows on a day when there isn't a quiz or test, students start to panic when they enter the room, thinking there is a pop quiz or that they forgot about a test.) Each group of 4 desks is called a table (Tisch), and I have 9 Tische in my classroom.  

I found out pretty quickly last year that it can be chaotic and time-consuming to have 30+ students all trying to pick up materials like iPads or scissors and glue at the same time.  So, I started asking one person from each table group to get materials for that table.  That worked better, but I found some groups were always making the 9th graders get the supplies or were doing "nose goes" (last person to touch his/her nose has to do it) and one student was always the last one.  I wanted to spread out the work a little more evenly, so I came up with the idea of Tischdienst - table duty.

Each day I write on the board which spot (Platz) has Tischdienst for that day.  Then, whenever the table needs something, that person is responsible for getting up and getting it.  I assign my students to iPads based on where they are seated, too, so that also makes things simpler and more efficient.  For example, Tisch 1 has iPads #1-4, Tisch 2 has #5-8, and so on.  Then, if some of the iPads aren't put away correctly at the end of class, I know who was responsible for them. Usually Platz 1 has Tischdienst on Mondays, Platz 2 on Tuesdays, Platz 3 on Wednesdays, Platz 4 on Thursdays, and Friday is a wild card, though since we're on an A/B block schedule, I usually make it Platz 4 again.

As I learned from the amazing elementary school teachers I worked with a few years ago, the time spent teaching the students how the Tischdienst system works is well worth it because the classroom runs smoothly the rest of the year.  

[The owl graphic on the Tischdienst sign comes from MyCuteGraphics.com.]