The World Together, One Student at a Time

When I looked into the classroom, I witnessed our students of all different ages, different backgrounds and different walks of life laughing and playing and learning Spanish, all at the same time. That’s magical. - Holy Angels Principal, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Muir

This past summer I ran a program for Title I students at a local private school. Most were students from the school, but some were not. Most spoke English as their first language, but some did not. And most were under 5th grade, but some were not. So there it was. My program, myself, on the line - Engage, teach and play with these students for a half hour’s time, Monday through Thursday, for four weeks straight, one of which you will also train and prep your replacement teacher for the following two weeks. You are considered their “fun class” and “break” from the day. Now go!  Spanish as the “break.” What a concept! Well, the program is called, “Spanish through FUN.” And fortunately, it ended up being more than a break. As I heard time and time again, it was their “favorite part of their day.” 

Looking back, I’m somewhat surprised I wasn’t more structured with a “Plan B: If this Blows up in my Face” option, but then again, I’m not. I feel that this year has very much allowed me to test my program with various constraining factors and age ranges and the formula always seems to be the same: connecting with the kids + making kids smile = helping kids learn. The only tricky aspects to this situation was that I’ve worked with all of these ages and backgrounds, but not together and I’ve worked with Spanish natives on ESL, but not in the same class as my students who had never taken Spanish. So how did it go?

They soared. My Spanish natives became leaders for my debutants, even when some of those Spanish natives were in 1st grade, 3 ft. tall, and wearing pigtails. This is the magic of teaching students to work together, but to have fun doing it. The pressure comes off and the lessons resonate. On day one, I couldn’t have told you what would happen, but I could not have been more happy to see that by the end of the summer, this class relied on one another’s efforts to win games, play together, and use their Spanish. And just like Dr. Muir said, to see all of those faces looking toward you and laughing with you, and calling out new Spanish vocabulary together to reach new heights, “That’s magical.”

Welcome Back, Teachers!

The feeling of being back in the classroom is undeniable. I truly thought that teaching on screen was something that I had mastered and enjoyed. I saw the smiles; I felt the feels; I witnessed the dancing, and then I ate a sandwich in my own kitchen. And while I did feel moved when I witnessed my students recall vocabulary or win a game, I didn’t quite realize how numb I was becoming from the lack of in-person contact. Now that I finally get to stand in front of my students again, I know that there is nothing like connecting with them in-person.

Looking back, I believe I either forgot what it was like to feel the energy of my class, or I didn’t want to think about it since it wasn’t an option. And because of that, I couldn’t quite recall that feeling of receiving my students’ unabashed love and joy.  By our second session back, my students literally applauded my arrival and hugged me at the end, as if they were the proud parents and I the child. Their happiness continues to keep me charged and smiling all day long.

We are not teachers because we love the extra work or the pay. We are here because it makes us feel alive and fulfilled when we see our students thrive.  How many times can I put “feel” in a blog post?? This is reason number 1,400,076 of why I couldn't be more happy creating my own program versus being in the classroom full time. This sounds strange because I just wrote that I love the classroom, but I am happy to be a part time teacher and curriculum developer because as I create my curricula, I can focus on my students happiness rather conforming to district goals or red tape. 

And because I have that freedom and so many amazing teachers out there do not, I feel energized to keep working on my program in the hopes of assisting teachers out there that spend countless hours researching and lesson planning.  Teachers, I hear you and I see you and I am here for you and your classrooms wherever they may be. Let me be one of the first to wish you and your students all the happiness and… Welcome back!

How to Reconnect with your Students in the Classroom

You’re back in the classroom?! Fantastic! It’s time to shake off that rust and connect in person! Despite having worked with your students digitally, that doesn’t mean your teacher-student relationships will immediately carry over.  Before jumping into new material, give your students (and yourself!) time to communicate and reconnect as a class.

Why is this important? Your students aren’t going to learn from you unless they respect you as an educator and as a human being. And that’s goes for students of all ages. (To learn more about how happiness is one of the best learning tools, click here!).

Did I feel a disconnect after in-person began? Of course! At the start of in-person learning, I had students who were more withdrawn than they had been digitally just days before. I’m sure it was a combination of emotions related to the return to the classroom, but instead of ignoring their quiet shift or calling them out on it, I decided to take the pressure off for everyone by incorporating activities that would strengthen our teacher-student, student-student relationships and recreate our classroom culture.

How did I reinstitute our classroom bond? I put questions into a hat and had students answer those questions in front of the class or at their seats. I incorporated target foreign language when I felt the age group could handle it. But in the beginning, I was more concerned with helping my students feel safe and confident, before revisiting material. To reshape their comfort levels, I began with simple questions about their ideal pizza toppings and destination vacations. And as we became more comfortable, I asked about their families and what the students are enjoying and not enjoying about being back in person (some in private settings, some in group settings depending on the student and question). And not all of the answers were positive and beautiful, but they were thoughtful and honest. And as my students shared about themselves, we not only learned about one another, but I assessed how best to approach them and how to teach them. The more we shared as a class, the safer the learning environment became. And I feel comforted by that. So before getting back to the planning, remember that we learn best when we feel our best, so get reconnected!

Teach through the Senses!

We are headed back to the classroom! And we once again have the opportunity to engage our students in ways digital couldn’t.  Now that we get to shake the rust off, we might be asking ourselves the age-old question, “How do we keep students engaged?”

For me, I teach through the senses whenever possible.  I’ve found that the learning experience is far richer when my students feel like they are part of the lesson. I know that not every day can be a trip to the zoo, but transitioning your lessons to include more hands-on learning is the key to success. 

For instance, when teaching likes and dislikes in Mandarin, I place foods with strong smells (coffee, orange, vanilla, mint, etc.) into film canisters and have my students (ages 2 - 6) guess the smell and repeat in Mandarin whether they liked it or not (“Wǒ xǐhuān.” “I like it.”) or not (“Wǒ bù xǐhuān.” “I don’t like it.”). That lesson appears in September, and throughout the rest of the year, teachers and parents regularly tell me that their children still express their likes and dislikes in Mandarin.  My classes are 20 minutes long and I can only review so much. So I believe there is a specific reason that these expressions especially resonate with them. This lesson masterfully interweaves the senses, adventure and repetition. Let me show you.

The activity is 15 minutes long and it’s made up of  5-7 rounds. Each round offers students a new food vocabulary word and the opportunity to guess what that food is. Then, students express in Mandarin whether they like the scent or not. Right away, you can see how I engage the senses. Focusing on the sense of smell is not a common sense we use in the classroom, and to deprive them of their sense of sight, which they always have, is exciting in itself. The adventure is the journey through the rounds and seeing who can uncover what each scent is.  Their smiles of surprise and their squints of displeasure (no one ever likes vinegar, haha!) when it comes to the scents are rewarding as it is, but then you hear them confidently relaying what they like and dislike in Mandarin and it’s simply the best.  From a teaching standpoint, you can see the repetition of vocabulary.  Children, and people in general, need consistency when they learn. So although the scent changes with the round, the process through each round is the same. This grounds the students while the adventure of the unknown activates their curiosity and their senses. This makes the learning process seamless, even if it’s in Mandarin!

So next time you’re lesson planning, start to ask yourself what senses you will be implementing. Will you teach farm animals by listening to the sounds they make, or will you teach through touch and have students guess what objects (aka target vocabulary!) you’ve placed in paper bags. The choices are endless and it will leave you and your students senseless with joy!

Keeping the Magic in and Outside of the Classroom

We were all shocked that day we didn’t show up to the classroom. It felt incredibly personal and yet it was the same for most educators. For me, I drove to school on Friday the 13th (too ironic) to teach my weekly class, only to find the parking lot void of cars, students or anyone. That’s the start of a horror story. And in ways, it has been a nightmare for many of us teachers. While this shift in our lives has come a long way, it still isn’t over. Yet as the heroes of this story, we’ve learned how to recreate our curriculums and ourselves to fit our schools’ and our students’ needs. In order to keep our sanity and our classrooms running, we need to continue learning from one another in order to adapt and conquer. Even if “conquering” means completing the day. 

With the one year anniversary of digital learning approaching, I’ve reflected on this year’s hacs and I’ve compiled a short list of tools that I will continue to use, no matter my classroom’s location.

1. Engage the Senses

Digitally: Don’t underestimate the power of a green screen and lighting. It keeps the kids (and you!) feeling positive and professional.  Teaching from your kitchen is real life, but you can still spark creativity and imagination from wherever you are. Include colorful visuals and catchy audio clips, whenever possible, since you are heavily relying on their sense of sight and hearing to keep their attention. 

Transition for in-person: Keep your environment visuals bright in the classroom. Adding color is important, but more than that, consider time in the classroom as an opportunity to engage students by further appealing to their senses. Whereas digitally, you relied heavily on their sense of sight, now you have an opportunity to reintroduce learning using their other senses. Students love smelling, tasting, and feeling their way through a new topic (and so do I!).

2. Share Technology (correctly!)

Digitally: It seems like it took me ages to figure out the timing and the tech when it came to sharing music. After much trial and error, I know that if you share music from your computer (like with iTunes), you will stay in time with your music. Start your songs on full volume, sing and play instruments, without worry. Have your students muted though, or else the music becomes stilted.  When I mute them, I tell the kids I’m creating their “own personal dance party,” and they seem happy with that. 

When sharing music videos from a website, your timing will be off, so you don’t sing along. I usually do some light dancing, with no specific steps to the beat because it’s impossible to tell how delayed everyone’s computers are. Again, mute your students, as you play, and don’t forget to select the two check boxes when you share videos on Zoom. One says, “Share Sound'' and the other says, “Optimize for video clip.” Doing so will keep the sound clarity of the videos, and you won’t have to share the volume on high, since it’s taking the sound from the internet. It seems simple enough to grasp now, but it took me months to implement all of this correctly and without sweaty knuckles. 

Transition for in-person: Being back in the classroom doesn’t mean you have to put away all of the music tech. Dance parties, music videos, and music while playing and working are beautiful ways to keep children calm, happy and positive. Being digital has made me realize how important music is to us on a human level and how it connects us to one another. Take advantage of cherishing music in person.

3. Appreciate the effort

Whether we are working digitally or in person, it’s always a process to connect with our students. Yet it seems like nothing makes students smile quicker, like appreciating them where they are. Whether they answer questions correctly or not, finding a way to boost their confidence with something kind is always one of my main goals. Even finding reasons to use their names in examples or in positive statements is sure to make them feel important.  It sounds obvious, but it’s something we need to be more mindful of in the moment, when we may overlook it with everything else going on around us.

And lastly, appreciate yourself and where you are today. It’s easy to say and difficult to manage, but it’s truly important for us as educators to accept that we can’t be everywhere and do everything. There are things that we are going to have to let go of, even if it means lessons are not up to your usual standards.  Whether you are teaching from your home or in the classroom, teaching our students is where we want to be. Hybrid is going to test us, so we as a group need to remain as collected and confident as we can to keep our classrooms unified. Be sure to advocate for yourself and your students and keep in mind that even though it seems like we are bearing off into uncharted territory again, this experience as a whole has proven that there is nothing that we can’t adapt to and conquer. Even if “conquering” means completing the day.