running dictation

     Last year, I tried running dictation with my classes. For those unfamiliar, running dictation involves one person finding sentences in Spanish, one person writing down what the first person dictates them, and then the students organize the story correctly. The first time, I tried without having the students leave the room because I didn't want them to disturb other classes. It did not go well. Rather than going back and forth, the students simply yelled from the other side of the room. Having them all together defeated much of the point of the exercise.
     This time, I decided to try with just my Spanish 1. I had other plans for my other three classes because I didn't expect it to go well. I also had more plans for my Spanish 1 today, because I thought that running dictation would only take them fifteen to twenty minutes like it had last year. I was wrong. I was very wrong. I let my students into the hall and had the different sentences taped to the lockers. I used thirteen sentences this time in an attempt to get a full twenty minutes out of the exercise. It took them the entire class period. They did complain (because of course they did) but they were all engaged, working together, and off their cell phones! There were some off topic discussions, but they were in the midst of working, not instead of working, so that's not a problem for me. It went so well with Spanish 1 that I tried it with two of my Spanish 2 classes and it went much the same with them. Total engagement. This also gave me a chance I don't normally have to check in with my students who need a bit more personal attention during the back and forth. I'd totally recommend it if you have the space. I warned the closest class that my students were in the hallway and there was some talk as they went back and forth, but no complaints from the nearby teacher.
     I also recently tested out the Unfair Game with my Spanish 2s. Once again, way more fabulous than I expected! My students complained the entire time, but when I asked if that meant they didn't want to play again, they looked at me like I was crazy and asked me when we can play again. It's always nice to have something that's teenager approved. In this case, I got this version of it from TPT and I'll certainly be buying more of them.

Catching Up

     I have fallen behind on posting here, along with everything else. I got strep, went to the doctor to start antibiotics, and then literally the following day tripped and fractured my ankle. Three weeks later, I'm now in a boot and supposed to take it easy- meaning stay off of the foot. I always thought I was lazy (and I am) but I did not realize how much time I spend on my feet in a day until I was ordered to keep off of them!
     Persona Especial has hit a bit of a snag. A big part of what I was doing was going to the kids directly and giving them personal attention, which seemed to help them answer honestly instead of pulling them up in front of the class. Now, I can't do that, so I'm trying to find an alternate way to deal with that as well as other classroom management issues. I've been a lurker this entire time. There's probably a less creepy name for it, but that's mine. I circulate the room, I check in with the people who need help but won't come up to me for it, I stick phones in paper bags and make sure no one has their neighbor's paper, I poke sleeping students to see if they need a nurse or redirection, etc. It's a big part of how I keep the class together, and I can't do that right now. I won't be able to for approximately another three weeks. I'm behind on my lessons, behind on my planning, behind on my housework... Behind on pretty much everything.
     I won a free trial of a course from Fluency Matters during ACTFL and one of my classes got to try that. I'll keep an eye on it for the future to see if things improve, but my students weren't fans and neither was I. The content was interesting enough and high frequency, but navigating the site itself was a pain. Multiple students (and me!) had our accounts locked out as an abusive IP for no reason I can figure out. I'd be down for a print copy of A Conversar.
     Not everything has been bad, though. This week is Wooly Week and today we rewatched the Victor trilogy together. I won't give away any details, but Feo was both unexpected and pretty awesome. I paid for a month of Adios Textbook and it's way better than I thought it would be. I have to play around a bit to adapt the timing for my students and our lack of technology occasionally creates issues, but it's well worth $15 a month in my opinion.