FLAM presentation - Mythbusters: TPRS Edition

Here is the basic presentation outline that Bess Hayles and I presented on.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_jfUujjoeDHR2JpRW1vWi0zejQ

I also included notes of things that we talked about in our defense of some of the claims. I hope it's helpful. In general it was pretty crowded and well received.

Nevertheless I can't help but think that maybe people wanted to see more about HOW to teach with TPRS and not just listen to us defining it for people about what it is and isn't.

So next year, my wheels are already spinning about maybe trying to give more workshop-type sessions on building skills like circling/PQA or TPR, etc. I think that would be invaluable for teachers! So fingers crossed.

FLAM / KSWLA Presentation

So I gave my presentation first thing on Friday morning after the kick off ceremony and I was told that there was a mix-up and I was going to be presenting in the big banquet room.

I tried to explain that I had previously only drawn crowds of 15-20 people.

Nevertheless, I was told to just have everyone scoot over to where I would be presenting.

So in the banquet room, we all ate breakfast and there was a middle stage area, and two projection screens and I figured that once it was my turn to begin, I would just choose a projector to use and everyone could move over.

As it was time for me to start, I noticed that quite a few people didn't seem to be leaving from their tables.

I figured they were still deciding where they were going.

FLAM / KSWLA presentation: Stay on Target!

So I asked awhile back about people's thoughts on what I should present at FLAM this year. And here is my title, blurb.

Stay on Target! Ten Target Teaching Techniques & Tips

Presenter: Jeremy Jordan, Lee's Summit High School, Lee's Summit, MO

Jeremy Jordan of Lee’s Summit High School explains various techniques that he uses in his classroom to push TL usage to 90% or higher, while still helping class be a fun, positive yet rigorous place to be. Examples will be straight from Spanish class, but will be relevant to any classroom.

Audience: All Language: Presented in English Theme: Best Practices

And I came up with quite a loaded presentation.

If you want to see it, here it is!  I tried to include a lot of activities I use or have used in the past to help push my students to using more TL in the classroom.

Of course, there are so many other things I have found success with, but these are some of the most powerful that I have used that have resonated with my students.

And here are my presentation notes in a convenient PDF for you!

FLAM Presentation - Stay on Target!

Presentation ideas

Hey everyone! 

So I was wondering if you could hear a presentation by me about things that go on in my classes, what would you like to know more about?

Last year at the Foreign Language Association of Missouri (FLAM) conference, I presented on Classroom Management with PAT and also how I have used TPRS novels to plan my classes. (See post with presentation notes)

If you were going to the conference this next October, what would you like to hear me speak about?

Some ideas I had were:

• Ideas for staying in the target language
• Establishing meaning with movement
• Learning about your students in the TL

Any other ideas that would be better?  I know I still have a LOT to learn, but I like to present just in case the little bit I know might be able to help others out there.

Let me know what you think!

FLAM presentations

I finally presented at FLAM over some things I do in my classes!  It was a really neat conference. I got to hear the wonderfully talented Carrie Toth speak at a workshop as well as at the luncheon.

So inspiring and wonderful to hear about her experiences with her students in class!

It also reminds me that what I am doing by pushing away from a textbook IS meaningful and I am not crazy!

My presentations were over the following:

That's a Novel Idea: Using novels to shape curriculum

How I do I manage: Using PAT to shape classroom management

If you missed them, click on the presentation titles for links to my keynotes (in pdf form).

Let me know if you have any questions or comments! Thanks to everyone who attended my presentations. The PAT one was especially fun with the group of teachers. They were great sports considering what I had them doing during the presentation.

And thanks to all who took a moment to say "hello", talk to me about their classes, share with me about using my videos, listening to me rant, listening to my presentations, asking questions, presented and challenged me to continue to strive to be a better teacher.

FLAM Conference St Louis 2012

So a few weekends back, I was given the opportunity to co-present two sessions at Foreign Language Association of Missouri (FLAM) with Youtube's Spanish and Portuguese guru, Professor Jason.  It all started on twitter since I had seen him at last year's conference and thought, "Wow.  That's the guy from Youtube!"  I know it's silly since Youtube is one of those things that anyone can get on provided they have a camera and some video-editing software.  I hit him up later on Twitter and we decided to give some sessions about our videos to foreign language teachers in Missouri at the FLAM conference in St Louis.

He covered the first part mostly about the usefulness of videos such as ours in learning and education in the future.  We are seeing a major shift in how the global classroom is.  People can learn many things on the internet that they couldn't before.

In the second session, we presented on our actual process of video-making.  I took the chunk of time up explaining my process because as the years have gone by, I have continued to hone it and it has gotten much more complicated.  If you would like to see more or less what I presented, here are some videos I made for those who had to leave the session early or wanted to see afterwards, click here.

FLAM was ok this year.  I really was hoping for more TPRS-friendly presentations.  I was talking to the guy that I've been conspiring with this year (post about that later) and I thought we should try to present next year at FLAM a few sessions on TPRS.  I would like to do three sessions.

1. Session 1: an immersion into TPRS (a class conducted in TPRS)
2. Session 2: a TPRS workshop (where we can learn about some skills and practice a few)
3. Session 3: How we integrate TPRS into our classrooms (with examples, possibly videos of students, etc)

I think it would help.  There seemed to be a lot of interest in TPRS, but many didn't really feel comfortable enough to use it for lack of seeing it in action.  Let's hope I can present on it next year!