The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind! I was finally able to get my surgery scheduled for August 14th. Surgery was a success and I am talking again! YAY! In time for the first day of school! YAY! I will be filing away all of your (and my) ideas for when I need to take some vocal rest. Thank you so much for the support. This community of teachers is more than I could have ever dreamed of. Check out the videos below for more of my story/journey (and to hear my brand new voice!), and if you're brave... keep scrolling to check out the before and after of my vocal cords! It's not too creepy or scary... no blood. I promise.
Before surgery, large polyp on right side, small on left side
3 years ago, I began using a daily lesson framework in all of my classes to provide comprehensible input. It changed my life. As many of you know, I had polyps surgically removed from my vocal cords 2 years ago. I will have to use a microphone to teach with for the rest of my career. As someone who never participated in theater or choir, I had never learned to use my voice correctly. So when I began teaching with CI and almost felt as though I was putting on a show every class for my students, it killed my voice. This daily lesson framework helped solve that issue for me as well. Here are 4 benefits to using this daily lesson framework: 1. Creates Routine We know that brains crave novelty, but they also thrive with routine. This framework allows teachers and students to have the same routine every day while still allowing for freedom and flexibility within that routine. 2. Gradual Release of Responsibility The daily framework has a focus of "I do, we do, you do" with t...
>>This activity is not input focused.<< The purpose of this activity is to help kids process the language they've been acquiring in class and create their own sentences and thoughts without having to come up with the words themselves. It helps build confidence before the first writing assessment. I am always looking for new ways to scaffold student writing. This word card sentence activity was inspired by my talented and smart friend, Nissa Quill. Check out some pictures of the students working at the end of this post! I also recorded this podcast episode to really explain the purpose of this activity and share more about how we discussed it in class. Main Idea: Students are given cards with familiar words in the target language and work in groups to create as many sentences as possible with those words. They are given some blank cards to write their own words on as well. We did this activity after spending about 4-5 days on calendar talk in class. H...
If you are a fan of class-created characters (OWIs) then you will LOVE this project! I've created a 4 day lesson plan with handouts for students to create their own characters. I will admit that this is not completely input focused, BUT I would argue that giving students chances to show their learning, do some art, and let their imaginations run wild are worthwhile, too! (Especially if you are crawling trying to make it to a school break like me.) This could be done in person or virtually as long as your students have the ability to insert pictures of their characters in the slideshow! Here's the general idea of the lesson plans. Make sure you check out the full lesson plans with handout links here ! *These plans are flexible enough that you could continue things like free choice reading or calendar talk each day. I have found that working with students (especially when they are writing in L2) takes longer than I always expect and I want us to get it done in class, so there may...
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