The Art of Engaging Beginners by Grant Boulanger

Here is another presenter that I had heard great things about, so I couldn't wait to see what Grant had to say.  First off, he was wearing a BAT shirt, which let me know that I like this guy!  His first few minutes were a bit feely, which didn't bother me, but I don't think it was for everyone.  Since my dad is a long-haired hippy guy, I was at home.

Here are my take-aways from this session:

Grant has only 5 rules that he has blown up poster size and placed around the room.  They are

1. No note-taking
2. Clear desk, lap, and mind
3. No repeating in English
4. Signal when you don't get it
5. Answer when you do

I have a hard time keeping my kids to this and I really really really need to work on this.  I let my kids not answer my questions.  And then, by the end of the year, I've lost some kids.  I NEED to be better at holding my kids to these standards....

Grant also said that we need to thank our students when they do what we want them to do and let them know that we like them by TELLING THEM!  I think a lot of times we're afraid to tell our kids that we like them because we don't want to play favorites...but I think we just need to do it more often so that every student hears us say it at least once a year (hopefully a lot more!).  

A great idea that I took from Grant was to read things with "English eyes" (meaning that we read it with the worst hick accent) and then read it with the "Spanish eyes" (using your best Spanish accent).  He also uses Rejoinders as phrases of the week that can be yelled out in class to add interest.  He also uses jobs (I will have a ton more information on this when I blog about Craig Sheehy's session.

He does a great job training his students to play in the classroom in the appropriate way.  He tells the kids that they may lie only if they are speaking in Spanish.  When they speak English, they have to tell the truth.  This gets them to brainstorm creative answers.

For Grant's final exam, he writes up descriptions of each student's stories.  It could have been a story about their pet, where they went over the summer, etc and has the students match the stories to the student it is about.  Because the stories are so crazy and detailed, the students remember and can almost forget that the exam is in Spanish.

I didn't take a ton of notes in this session because a lot of Grant's purpose was to get us to love our students and validate them in the classroom.  I do a pretty decent job of this and can't wait to get back in the classroom to see if I can get even better!