Tuesday morning Advanced with Jason and Alina

We started the day talking about FVR libraries.  Alina puts her books out on the table from easiest to hardest and then puts a NOW sticker on the novel that she feels the students should be comfortable with.  Students are able to pick out any book they choose, but this gives them an idea of what the teacher's expectations are.  When a student has finished a novel, they put a sticky note with their names, number of stars, and a quick word (like facile or difficile).  Alina also doesn't put children't lit in her library...something I'm going to think about doing next year.  I found that my students would pick things and just look at them, not trying to understand, since the books were too hard for them.  I might let kids check those kids' books out, but I'm going to try and stick to the TPRS novels for levels 1 and 2.

Alina also keeps a log of which books kids are reading and when they finish them or check them out.  I'll have to think about this idea because it seems like a lot of paperwork...

This year, I may hold off on FVR with my level 1s and really focus on teaching my kids how to pick a just right book.  Alina used a powerpoint she found online that shows what it looks like if you understand 98% of the text, 95%, 90% and 85%.  Powerful.

Then, we went back to storytime and we continued learning Romanian.  Some things that I noticed this time is that when we got to the problem, Alina just asked "What was Lance's problem?"  She then asked us to turn to our partner and whisper the problem to our partner.  This gives process time and allows shyer students to contribute because the people around them hear the good ideas and volunteer them.  AND!  It takes the pressure off the teacher to think of all the good ideas.  She also listened to several different ideas and then chose the one she liked the best.  Or, let the kids vote on it.  I loved the way that this allowed every student to contribute and takes pressure off me.

Also, Jason and Alina used their "remote control" to rewind and replay fun moments...make it go in slow motion...and the kids are still gesturing and getting those brain breaks.

As the actors were acting it out, they are a visual representation and NOT participating students in the class.  I loved that Alina got extra students involved by using dialogue bubbles (here's me acting as Lance's dialogue as he says "I want...")

I saw again how important it is to coach our actors to do what we want them to do and that they can be replaced at any time.  Jason replaces his actors by saying "And then Johnny fell and he died" and then finds a new Johnny.

We finished our story by brainstorming possible endings for the story.  MORE REPS and it validates our students and their ideas.  Loved it!

And that was our morning!