Reflection - Former students

So this is my third year in school (year 10 teaching) and I have definitely come a long way since I started teaching Spanish.  I used to use textbooks that were slightly older than me. Then I tried a year with a newer textbook.  Then I tried a year or two without a textbook.  Then, I found storytelling and haven't looked back!

But in my third year, I have had a lot of students now and many of them have had exposure to my teaching and another Spanish teacher as well.  I taught Spanish 1-2 the past two years and I'm only teaching Spanish 1 this year.

I know that what I do in my classes can be slightly unorthodox for other teachers, even teachers in my department. And they teach their classes differently from me (I'm not saying people have to teach like me).  But there are times I tell my wife that I feel like I am crazy.  Here's what I believe:

1. I believe that TPRS is a really awesome way to deliver instruction
2. I believe that TPRS is great for my classroom management
3. I believe that TPR is a great tool to get the kids up and moving in class
4. I believe that incorporating music whenever possible (in a comprehensible way) is huge for my students
5. I believe that talking about my students in Spanish through stories, PQA, etc sets the tone for my classes that they will be about my students
6. I believe that going slow and looking for my students' eyes to check for their understanding is crucial to their learning
7. I believe that shaking my students' hands as they walk in and saying "buenos días", "hola" or whatever else, and slowly adding more conversational vocab as they walk in establishes the tone that you're entering the Spanish zone!
8. I believe that other activities under the umbrella of Comprehensible Input (CI) are also wonderful additions to the classroom.
9. I believe that I should do my best to speak 90% of class in Spanish in a repetitive, comprehensible and interesting way to ensure my students will acquire the language 
10. I believe that explicit grammar instruction has a smaller place in my classroom than it used to so I can teach them through using the language correctly
11. I believe that what I do is making a difference in their lives

These aren't all popular opinions in a foreign language classroom.  I've been called a maverick by an administrator at one point.  I've gotten myself into trouble with my fellow department members because I strongly believe the aforementioned items are crucial to my class for students' success (regardless of level).

But I digress.  Recently, I have had a lot of former students visit me and tell me how much my class meant to them and how much they miss it.  It's meant a lot because I give so much of myself in the school year to ensure class is a positive place where we can laugh and learn in a low stress way.  And it further affirms that all of the hard work I (and the students) put into class is worthwhile.

Día 36 - Positivity and appreciation

As I continue to read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, I am dumbfounded by how practical the things that Dale Carnegie talks about in his book.  It's also pretty cool that I can read it on the Kindle program on my Ipod touch.  Can I just say that ipod touches are an amazingly useful tool!

The chapter I just read talks about showing people that you appreciate them.  In the previous chapter he talks about criticism and how Abraham Lincoln did not criticize people anymore after a certain point in his life and by the time he died people thought very well of him.  I guess I wonder about criticism.  As a child people would tell us that they were giving us "constructive criticism."  Is there such a thing?  Does criticism really build us up whatsoever?

Either way, criticism as far as I can tell has not been a very effective method as a teacher.  We're so often getting bogged down in the negativity and do not address the positivity.  We fail to acknowledge students for accomplishing what we expect them to do.  I think of the police.  They don't pull me over and give me a sticker when I am not speeding.  They only pull me over when I do speed.  Nevertheless, as a teacher, our constant reliance on only giving attention to those who do not do what we want are giving them negative attention.  For the students who want attention (either negative or positive), they can still feed off of us.

In the book, Carnegie mentions that everyone has a desire to be important.  As I was thinking about Ben Slavic's writing about ways to invent new identities for students in his classroom, this was a wonderful application of the concept.  If we can give students an identity in our classroom that they will want to step into in which they are the best at something in Spanish, French or whatever language and we constantly can use that in class, they will want to be in our class.

I've been trying to think of ways to encourage my students more.  Especially for those who are already doing exactly what  I expect of them.  I must be careful to distinguish between flattering and honest appreciation.  Flattery is false and people can usually see right through it.  But if I can offer encouraging words to someone for doing something well (no matter how small it is), I can offer more positiveness to this negative world, one comment at a time.

There was a quote that he has near the end of the chapter that I have written on my wall in my classroom to remind me each day to change my old negative ways:

I shall pass this way but once, any good therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now.  Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again