Ep. 06 SLAyyy Mid-Semester Check-In

In this episode of 'SLA: Second Language Acquisition for Everyone', the hosts discuss the challenges and successes they've experienced in teaching over the current school year. Amidst the pressures of 'Devolson' and the search for suitable teaching materials, the discussion pivots from a planned talk on cognitive load theory to a candid check-in. The hosts share personal anecdotes about adjusting teaching strategies, student engagement, classroom dynamics, grading policies, and dual coding methods. They address the balance between imposing language structure and encouraging the natural flow of learning, while also reflecting on student motivation and participation. Emphasizing flexibility, the episode explores various pedagogical approaches, showcasing how teachers adapt to the ever-evolving classroom environment. The episode wraps with successes, including enrichment through extensive reading resources and program growth, inspired by student-centered learning and inclusivity.

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
01:00 Checking In: School Year So Far
01:58 Classroom Dynamics and Teaching Strategies
04:34 Student Engagement and Participation
09:07 Challenges and Adjustments
12:23 Effective Teaching Techniques
27:59 Cognitive Load Theory and Language Learning
38:23 Success Stories and Program Growth
40:51 Conference Announcements and Closing Remarks

References:

Carrie Toth Discussion Rubric

Ben Tinsley - 10 Minute Drill

Email us at SLAyyyForEveryone@gmail.com

Transcript

Bill: 0:37

Welcome to another episode of SLA second language acquisition for everyone. Today we're bringing you a little bit of a different show because. work and life has gotten the best of at least me. I don't know about Ben and Brian, but we have entered Devolson, the dark evil vortex of late September, October, and November. I don't know about everyone else, but I am feeling it. And I just was not able to find a suitable article for what I wanted to talk about this week. So we were going to talk about cognitive load theory and what that means for language learners, but the article that I hastily found was not the best thing I've ever read. So we decided that we would just take the time to. Just check in, see how the school year is going so far. Share our struggles, our successes, and what we want to continue working on and learning this year. So to start off I was gonna share some things that I thought were going to go well, but maybe did not work as well as I would hope that they did.

Ben: 2:05

Yes.

Bill: 2:05

It's, we're not as structured today hopefully we can also share a little bit more of our personalities as well so that you know that we're not just weirdos. Language teaching robots, but yeah. So this is we're wrapping up our first grading period. It actually ended just today as we're recording it as Friday. You'll be listening on Monday, hopefully. It's been an interesting one. I will say mostly I'm having a very fun time. I've got. Really good group of students this year but I think I've Gaslit myself into believing that every year the students are the same and who'da thunk they are not So what was working with my students last year isn't quite working with my students this year, but also What didn't work with my students last year? Is sometimes working with my students this year. It's the joy of teaching every day, every year is something different

Bryan: 3:19

and though you've got a different student, like you don't keep the same students each year,

Bill: 3:23

So the way that our school works I've got Spanish one and Spanish four. our school starts Spanish in pre K. students start taking Spanish once or twice a week when they're three years old If they are a lifer, they've been at our school, the, their entire school career, when they entered the upper school, when they're ninth and ninth grade they typically go into. Spanish 3. I've got Spanish 1 and 4. Spanish 1 in my time, this is my fourth year at my school. has mostly been new to the school students. They're freshmen that have not had any. Language class before. So that's usually a pretty small class. And then I have Spanish four, which is mostly sophomores since they started Spanish three as freshmen. So I've got them as Spanish for sophomores.

Bryan: 4:22

Wow, that's wild.

Bill: 4:24

This is what's like really fun. I have something that I'm really enjoying this year is that I've got a handful of students that I had my very first year at the school, so I had them in Spanish one, and now I'm having them in Spanish four. And it actually might only be two. There were three at the start of the school year. But that class of Spanish one, four years ago I would think, Over half of the students go to a different school now.

Ben: 4:53

Getting away from

Bill: 4:54

that's been really special for me this year is to come full circle with a couple students. And just seeing them from being little baby freshmen to little baby seniors has been really fun. So some of the things that I thought were going to work really well this year. Maybe didn't I thought that telling the students every single day, let me know when you're confused would train them to let me know when they're confused.

Ben: 5:25

Yet

Bill: 5:26

I don't know about you all, but I feel like I don't want to ever say that we have low expectations, but the expectations that we have are pretty basic. Pay attention as best as you can and be respectful of the people we're around and the communities that we learn about. And let me know when I have said something that I haven't made clear.

Ben: 5:56

I always tell my students, I'm not trying to trick you. I'm not trying to one up you Aha! I know German and you don't! But I think that, I'm not to say anything in the work of other colleagues, but I think that they, that has not, that behavior of asking for help and, Slowing down the class in quotation marks is not like richly rewarded, I think, in many educational contexts because there's this pressure and speed and all that sort of thing.

Bill: 6:20

I haven't been like consistent in thanking students for. Giving the positive reinforcement for doing what I want them to do. I want them to ask me for clarification when something's unclear. And although I do say that at the beginning of every single class, I'm working on being better at acknowledging when students. Are asking me for clarification because I'm trying to tell them like, Oh yeah asking questions helps everyone. Even if someone thinks they know what I said, maybe they were just like slightly off. And it could be even like a slight difference between like in, in Spanish and in English. We have different words for like sees and looks at, right? So if a student thinks that Mira, which I use as looks at or watches, if they confuse that with they, he or she sees. It could change like the meaning of something. So if a student, if another student is like, Oh, Was that looks at Oh, close. Yeah, like they're very similar meanings, but it's Oh, I'd forget what I said, they see whatever. And that helps everyone because maybe someone else who thought or was pretty secure in, Their idea of what the word meant. They might have been slightly off, so it just helps everyone. So I'm trying to work on the procedure of if someone asks for clarification we all do like we, we all appreciate you. Which I do try it for like other things as well, which is also always fun. If someone sneezes and in Spanish you say, Salud. So if someone sneezes, I say, Uno, Dos, Tres, Salud. And then I'll just, Uno, Dos, Tres and then we all say Salud. So I've been working on that with students, trying to get them to also say, we appreciate you to people who ask for clarification. Cause also that's a pretty brave thing to do as a teenager. Say Hey, not only am I potentially about to look like I'm sucking up to the teacher to show that I want to learn, but I'm also in front of all my peers saying, I don't know what is happening, which is like a really. Hard thing as a kid, I think to say in front of everyone that you don't know what's going on.

Bryan: 8:43

you have Bill, I've got a question for you. Do you have student jobs? You're, what you said about the sneeze thing, because I have a student whose job it is to like, say the trois deux un, and then everyone says bless you in French. And so I'm wondering could it be helpful if you assigned a student to like, every time someone asks for clarification, it's their job to remind them to say that, so that there's some measure of ownership that they have over it.

Bill: 9:07

I have tried to do helper of the day as an alternative to jobs because I am bad at that organization. So I have done helper of the day from time to time. So I just make them do all of the things, but it's so maybe, I don't know, maybe I do make like a list that I hand to the helper of the day saying, Hey, these are the things you're responsible for. But yeah, I think that would be helpful. So I'll definitely be thinking about that. What about you all? Before we get to our next segment, what do you think, what were you going to do this year that maybe you tried and it didn't work like you thought it was going to?

Ben: 12:07

I would think my biggest struggle presently. Has been with speed with pacing is that I feel this pressure to go and make things happen and move on to the next thing and learn more. And I think that speed can be harmful sometimes in terms of learning outcomes and student comfort and their perceptions of how they are doing themselves. And so I'm trying to, I'm thinking of like my upper level course, we've been talking about. Various holidays and celebrations across cultures and I think I've just been hitting them with the this culture does this, and this culture does this, and this culture does this, and it's been a lot, and then we had to absorb some German history because it was just German Day of Unity, and so you have to talk about the division of Germany into East West, and so you go into a lot of historical stuff, and so I think I've been trying to make sure that they're comprehending along the way so it's not just a total disaster of me blabbing in German about something, but I think in terms of the content, the content might be feel like a lot or, even if they're getting the content, they might be like, but I couldn't say that in German or I couldn't express that meaningfully. And so I'm trying to give myself permission to decelerate a little bit. And it's funny when you were saying that just now about jobs is that I find I'm at my best when we. When something happens in the classroom and I go, it would be very helpful if this were to happen when x condition arises in the classroom. So when the sneeze, when the first sneeze happens, and I say it goes on tight, but then I can try to prompt. myself and prompt the class to accept that job. And I think that would help in a lot of different taking the time and knowing that every period I can just relax into it and go and get as far as we can and do whatever that will be okay in the end because I want. Students to have time to process the things that we're learning about learning is changing their brains literally. So we need to allow time for that to happen. Multiple exposures and different ways to manipulate new information. instead of jumping from thing to thing, I'm going to try to go slower. Moment to moment, I'm going to try to breathe more. I think because I teach three classes of students that I've already taught before, I can jump right into quote unquote content with them like right away, because we're just talking German and it's like last year part two. Where I think I'm recognizing that with my freshmen, first year German learners who are not used to me, they are very energetic. I think when I get nervous about losing their focus I just accelerate to try to keep up with them But that I think makes the class feel more frantic. So you can't learn as much and it makes me feel more frantic. I want to have the time to slow down and assign jobs. I want to have the time to chew on content over multiple periods and different exposures and seen in different lenses. So I think that's been my struggle. It's just been like every year I tell myself that a foundational skill, the teaching, especially novices is heavily modulating your pace of delivery and not just yapping at the speed of light, which I am capable of. I think that comes also with just a philosophical, personal Zen that I am still developing. So that's where I'm at. Brian what's going on with you?

Bryan: 15:09

I was wondering what are your, what's your class period in terms of minutes? What is it? Do you have block periods, or like regular ish, whatever?

Ben: 15:20

So we have seven classes, and three days out of the week we meet with all seven classes. Two days we have block days, so we'll have the even periods on one day, odd periods on one day. typically it's about 50 minutes with my kids for three days, and then one day out of the week I'll see the same class for 90 minutes at a time.

Bryan: 15:38

Okay, because I'm thinking about it and like so we have block except for one day when we have 45 minute classes and like I Hate the short days because I feel like I have to go at the speed of light Because there's not that much time and I noticed myself speaking a lot faster and so it's reminding me of things that have happened in my own class and when we have the block days like We go slow. I think like personally like I think the best way The approach of like really any kind of teaching is to limit the scope, but go really deep. slow and deep is the best way to go for me. having longer classes makes it easier for me to do that. I know, we do not have control over our schedules, but could you think about ways to limit the scope of what it is that you want to teach them so that you feel that you can go a bit Slower,

Ben: 16:25

I think that's very wise because I know a lot about different techniques and stuff, and so I get excited, I'm like, Oh, we need to do TPR for movement, but then we also need to make sure to discuss, and also the exit quiz. And so I've got a backwards plan, okay, I've got ten minutes to talk about x, y, z topic, and it won't feel very satisfying if we only talk about it for ten minutes, so I accidentally talk about it longer. So I have to shorten the right and discuss, or get rid of it completely, or not even do the exit quiz, and yeah. I think that's very wise, be confident in my own class structure and in what I actually want to accomplish, but also have. Realistic expectations of what you can get done with the transitions that are inherent in a 50 minute period, right? Like the kids are coming from elsewhere. I'm at the furthest end of my school, literally like Narnia. so my kids are often coming from far away. And so they're getting adjusted to that. They're worried about being late. Then they get into class and I'm immediately like, ah, German, so I think being realistic about how long it takes to get them, you into the groove, how long we can stay in the groove meaningfully and then, have a smooth exit plan. I think that's wise. Yeah. I'm going to think about streamlining and trying to do less because I am a maximalist in all things. So do less.

Bryan: 17:32

I've been thinking about It's it seems like everything that I'm trying is working. So

Ben: 17:36

Okay. Brian, please elaborate how you're built different.

Bryan: 17:44

One thing that I've been trying, maybe I've talked about this before with my lower level kids, is to set a timer in terms of wanting them to use the target language. Obviously, as novices, there's only so much they can really say. really, it is to get them to not speak English. despite doing that, they are producing more. it's in a level that's surprising to me. I'm like, alright, so let's see if we can do two minutes without English, and then level one students who've had two months of French are producing full sentences, and reacting, they've got errors, and they don't exactly have the vocabulary for everything, but they're still like, Try and get their meeting across. I'm like, wow, this is great. And I don't necessarily, I've been like giving them a class point for getting through the two minutes or whatever, and so I don't want to make it too much into extreme extrinsic only motivation territory, and I might take that aspect away at some point, but yeah, I've been impressed with their willingness to communicate in the target language, which is something that we always want.

Ben: 18:38

you just do it two minutes at a time

Bryan: 18:39

Once the level one, yeah, I do two minutes and then I'm like, oh, do you want to see if we can do another two minutes?

Ben: 18:45

there we

Bryan: 18:45

if you say so.

Ben: 18:47

I'm taking that attention span. Did you forget how I asked you about the two minutes, two minutes ago? Here's two more minutes. Oh, nice. I love that. Yeah. it's right. So those challenges too, I am that, I have incorporated something that I learned from Ben Tinsley's blog He calls like the 10 minute routine or the two minute drill or something like that. That kind of summation of all the things that he does in that 10 minutes, which is like, The first thing is they're journaling about gratitude, which has been super lovely it's been really funny because I don't know, kids are funny, so some days it'll be like, I'm grateful for pants, because now it's pants weather, and I like wearing pants, and they keep me warm, and I'm like, great, perfect and then other days it's I'm grateful for my best friend who has seen me through thick and thin, and trials and tribulations of being, 16 and all the sorts of things and, blah, blah, blah. And that's her stuff. And so you get like all sorts of stuff and you get a lot of insight into life. And that's been really lovely. And then doing a social emotional check in, he uses the blob tree, which I also love just cause the blobs were so precious and every day you can be somewhere else. And then once he gives students time to Talk with a partner about that. Or maybe he does some teacher called on share out, Oh, what's your gratitude today? Or like, where are you on the blob tree? Why? And has a conversation with the student or shares about, he shares about himself to then you go, okay, so we've done that. That's like the getting warm. Then he does what he calls the two minute drill, which is set a timer for two minutes, pick a random student. And then note. Just have everyone ask them questions. And it could be about their gratitude. It could be how about they're doing that day, their preferences, their kind of anything. And I've really, I've adopted that and I've been really enjoying it because one, I get to hear their gratitudes, which has been really lovely to the blob tree. My brain always goes because German, but the blob tree. Is just a nice way to open that emotional conversation. I asked my students how much they liked it. If they enjoyed it, just having a chance to barrage their classmates with questions. And we throw around my stuffed narwhal, a little stuffy or whatever as a way of asking questions like the talking piece. And they've just really enjoyed it because they learn things about each other. They get a chance to pose questions. But I'm also on that. I've been trying using ClassDojo, which I've been hesitant to use because I am also like, skeptical of extrinsic motivators a lot of the time, but I adopted something again that I learned from Ben, which is just Tell the kids you're going to give them one point for a word or phrase, two points for a sentence, three points for more extended discourse where they explain the reasoning or give more details, that sort of thing. And then also tell them that it's not really a part of their grade. It's just a challenge for themselves, and maybe we'll have something nice once the class amasses X points or something. my kids just, like you said, the challenge of like just two minutes. They're like, yeah, I can do that. Similarly in mine They will push themselves to say a sentence instead of a phrase now or say multiple sentences instead of a single sentence Just because they feel like they're getting points and it's like bling and so it's a little bit of trickery and a little bit Extrinsic, but it has actually increased the quality of the answers and the discourse And I've enjoyed that so I you know, I'm gonna keep

Bill: 21:49

that kind of gives me an idea too. Yeah. So I, when I do class discussions, I use Carrie Toth's Discussion Thursday rubric, which can be found on her website somewhere2share. com and Essentially, it's just like a list of tasks that students need to complete during the discussion. So make a statement like each time you make a statement, you get two points. Every time you ask a question, an original question, you get two points. If you use a rejoinder, you get two points. And for a class discussion, I usually say if it's a whole class discussion, I usually tell students that they need to get 10 points. And that's me setting aside an entire class period to do but I've thought about giving them. Like a bigger goal for the week and just having them keep track of how much they participate during the week. And I think like that idea of it's not worth a grade, it's just a goal for you is maybe exactly what I need for some of my like high flyers that think class is too easy, but I like it's comment writing season for me. So I have to write a paragraph or so about every student. And say this is what you're doing well, and this is a goal for you. So I think that could I'm trying to think about what to say to the High Flyers. And what I'm gonna be saying to all of them is I want you to participate more. And like to have opportunities for interaction so that I can see, like, how are you responding to things? How can I like alter my feedback? Going back to talking about like the comprehensible output theory. Like I want you to produce language so that I know how to adapt my language for you. So if you can produce it Like weekly goal for them and using the similar rubric just for the week would be beneficial. So thanks for that idea.

Bryan: 23:55

so you're saying you'd have them keep track of it

Bill: 23:58

Yeah. I would have them keep track of it. I know I'm going to know if they're like lying about it.

Bryan: 24:06

I have personally completely given up on tracking participation. First of all, I'm just too scatterbrained to do it. And second of all, it becomes on Wednesday at 9. 21, I raised my hand. Where's my point? And so I can't, I just can't personally deal with that anymore. The only thing I am doing though, is for my level four. for and above, like they have to speak in the target language. And so every time they speak English without asking for permission first, unless it's like a very quick, like, how do you say this word? Like I write Italian mark for them. And so if they get a certain number of them, it starts to affect their grade. And that, I know it feels like punitive. And it took me years, but it is the only thing that is working. And they do it has seriously changed their willingness to Say things that I know they know how to say in French in the upper levels in French.

Bill: 24:54

I be real for a second?

Ben: 24:59

No

Bill: 25:00

I think, like a preface, we all know our students the best, right? So what might be punitive and not work in one school with one set of students might be Exactly what another group of students in another school needs and obviously, like hopefully we know where the line is But I think like my students are also very grade motivated and that's just it's the culture we live in. It's the culture that students at my school come from. And so that's been like the balancing act is like, how can I like get them to do the things that I want them to do, because I believe it's best for their learning while also motivating them in the way that they need to be motivated.

Bryan: 26:08

Yeah. definitely You're right, it is context dependent, and just because so and so wrote XYZ in a book for their class and their context doesn't mean that you have to do it exactly the same way, or doing something different is wrong or illegal you're right, you know your students

Bill: 26:26

I'll push back on that.

Bryan: 26:27

And yeah honestly,

Bill: 26:28

you know what you're talking about.

Bryan: 26:31

yeah, okay, so I'm gonna write a book that says in every single school in the world you have to actually write tally

Ben: 26:38

Smith 2025.

Bill: 26:40

And I

Bryan: 26:40

but anyway

Bill: 26:41

I hope everyone could tell that was sarcasm.

Bryan: 26:44

yeah and honestly I do give them a lot of chances. It's not like they speak English once and they're grade tanked they honestly have to do it 12 times for it to actually affect their grade, but still just the act of writing the tally mark for some reason, they're like, oh yeah. Suddenly I remember that I'm expected to do certain things in this class.

Ben: 27:00

It's one of those things I think that feels like a hard hurdle at the beginning because you're always watching and that feels gross and I don't necessarily want that to be the vibe but I think it's one of those things that once it establishes itself as a culture thing you're doing less of that weird Watchfulness anyways, because the kids are just like, Oh yeah, it feels good. And like in German class, we talk German which I think I've been thinking about what we've been talking about, like how unnatural I'm sure that feels sometimes to just say entire sentence in German, because maybe they're used to, I do a lot of coral responses. They're used to saying a word or two at a time. And I'm not like. Sitting there being like, say more say, I'm like trying to get them ready to but I think that, yeah, there are students who are ready for a push and I know even within my upper level class, which is third and fourth year kids, there are kids you can push further, and there are other kids that you provide a little bit more scaffolding for, so you say the answer, you give them like an either or to try to help them with that, or you ask a question and then give examples of answers, there are kids, who have been getting the comprehensible input, who have been getting the interaction and are ready for that next little push. And it's going to help them, I think, maybe access their systems a little bit more fluently. I've been rereading Common Ground by Henshawn Hawkins as part of a district book study. And that's been nice to remind myself that The input is what builds the system. the understanding and the sense of what German is, but it's the output from them in the interaction is what gets them able to access that system more fluidly, I think. And so I think you need lots and lots of input to access that system and make sure it's nice and built. And I think the focus on input is not misplaced, Again, some kids are ready for the push. And so it's, at first, yeah, it feels weird. And then with time, it just establishes itself. I think my third years and fourth years right now are getting to that place where the upcoming second to third year class is feeling the vibe from the fourth year class, who has been just trying so hard to do everything in German. hopefully, the vibe will establish itself and it will all even out in the end.

Bryan: 28:55

yeah, and also for me, it's not necessarily about tracking participation because I felt like that would, harm students who are just naturally more introverted. And to me it's just about using the language. So if they only say one thing in the class period, but it's in French, like I'm still happy with that. And it doesn't affect their grade and it helps everyone stay focused on whatever it is we are focusing on, which is input. I think that it's just so distracting to use English, especially when you're trying to do more like complex advanced things with the upper level kids. So yeah.

Ben: 29:27

I've been trying to balance My desire to push them towards more complex language and have a better read on what each individual student is ready for. And In that upper level class I was just referring to there are 36 kids and trying to get, in my 50 minute period, get 36 kids to produce a complex extended discourse it's just a tough order, my level 2 classes are smaller, but then my level 1 classes, have 30 or 33 students and it is hard to, referee all of that, so The teacher's listening to this and being like, how could I get more kids to participate with more fluent language? Like you also might run into the logistical hurdle of timing and trying to find more efficient ways to get kids to produce language. So that might be like partner retells, or I played the question and answer game. And that's a good one to do more or less spontaneous interpersonal or, there's just like a lot of ways to do it more in small group controlled settings Because, yeah, managing that many kids and trying to get all their responses and validate them and elaborate on them and, make sure everyone's along for the ride. It's tough. It's logistically tough.

Bill: 30:27

All right. Ben, how do you feel about unlocking some gates or gatekeeping? Maybe you have some secrets that you want to keep from all of us.

Ben: 30:39

I, I Brian once said that he enjoys, being cloaked in mystery and maybe that's, maybe I'll pull that angle. No, I I think one thing I was learning about is cognitive load theory and then my colleagues sent me an article so whack that we didn't even read it so we did read it. It was just pretty whack. For the listener who's curious, it took an approach to language teaching that the three of us do not. Support in any way. It was just very like when forming the, this tense, do the, this is follow this flow chart. And I was like, eh, maybe

Bill: 31:08

And

Ben: 31:09

that got,

Bill: 31:09

the title was very captivating.

Ben: 31:12

But it's, it put me down this rabbit hole of just learning more about cognitive load. And I was like, Oh, maybe that is something that I can like, think about for a little while is just like your brain. It's not an infinite resource. It has limits in terms of the amount of things that can hold in working memory. So what you're currently thinking about and listening to and so finding ways to lessen the cognitive load so you can actually process what you're learning better, be more likely to make a long term memory, be more likely to be able to use it fluently in the future. It's use dyslexia friendly fonts when you're writing stuff. You can search those. I use LexEnd at the recommendation of Meredith White. When you write stuff on the board, use clear handwriting so they're not expending mental energy

Bill: 31:54

Apologies to my students for my rants, no handwriting. Do we need to do?

Ben: 32:01

Mr. Langley writes on the board, but only with clipped out newspaper clipping. I think just reducing the amount of distractions. So what they're looking at is going to either cloud their mind or, be a more focused space. And so for myself, sitting in the seats in my classroom and seeing what they see. But then using graphic organizers and chunking material out. So that way it's not overwhelming. One word adage that comes from the comprehension based communicative language teaching world is the shelter vocabulary, not grammar, which is that it's a vocabulary. The like mental load of vocabulary is what kind of blows your brain up. Cause it's new sounds and meaning put together and you have to make those connections. And so really limiting new vocabulary as much as you can and then using it repetitively so that it. Can find its way to get processed and put into students system.

Bill: 32:52

Can I chime in on

Ben: 32:53

that is

Bill: 32:53

Yeah. Which like, if that's why I was looking for an article this week was exactly because I was like wanting to explore the idea of shelter vocabulary, not grammar which is a quote that I think is a tribute to just Susan Gross. And I wanted to find out if there was any research around. so I spent a lot of time trying a bunch of different keywords to find something and I settled on trying to find something with Cognitive Load because going back to our episode on extensive reading it talks about, like, why it's important to Read easy texts with known words. easy enough that your brain can focus on sorting out all the grammar rather than using all of its resources on sorting out the vocabulary. So that's where I. Was like wanting to go this week anyway. And I think going back to gaslighting, I thought it was going to be enough to tell students, Hey I know that you're understanding everything that I'm saying, and that's great. And I know that you're feeling bored in class, and that's not great, It's okay that the language that we use in class is easy because we have to use a bunch of different grammar to talk about The topics that we're discussing. And the vocabulary needs to be easy so that you can talk about it in a more complex way.

Ben: 34:36

Yeah, that's smart and maybe you have experiences where when your students get to the upper level, they have lots of language and they've done lots of stuff with the language. I think because of the US American conception of what language fluency is, they think that The switch is just gonna flip and then they'll be able to do super complex things all of a sudden, but it's still the scaffolding up towards that. And so we can pick more complex things. They still require the scaffolding to simplify some things or, help them cognitively arrange the information that's coming in. I think one last thing about cognitive load, just because again, like we read the article and we're like, maybe this is not the article for us, but I went on this rabbit hole of cognitive load theory as relates to education and it matched up with something. I read a book over the summer called How do we learn by Hector Ruiz Martin,

Bill: 35:20

Oh,

Ben: 35:20

that was talking about,

Bill: 35:21

my TBR list.

Ben: 35:25

Okay I'm trying to think of the plot of this science book. Yeah, it talks about dual encoding, which is making a memory stronger by linking it into kind of two different representations. And so I think when people, maybe saying a word while pointing at it is two different things, Auditory and reading is different, but something I learned from that book is that when, and something I've actually learned about reading before is that when you're reading, you're actually activating the phonological loop because you are reading aloud in your own head. So that same part of your brain is actually being activated. So yes, obviously we should model pronunciation and usage be writing words in the target language, perhaps with an L one translation in pointing at them and pausing. That's just a good skill for comprehensibility. But I think if we can also, link it to an image. So draw a little picture. If you are capable of such things, I am not. Or if you can have imagery ready as helpful, but then also things like TPR, TPR is a visual representation of something. And I think that could be a great way to dual code. They have the auditory written reading part of their brain covered and then the visual part covered by seeing a gesture. That's what I've been trying to, in addition to sheltering vocab and like trying to think about my room from like a brain business perspective is also just like, how can I do this in multiple different ways and multiple different ways is not just.

Bryan: 36:53

typing, you can use emojis.

Ben: 36:56

Brian's on an emoji kick and is aspirational. Brian, tell us how you're using those emojis.

Bryan: 37:02

I've been, getting really good at, how do I express want in emoji? There's no want emoji, but you can create the idea of it, and I think that it's engaging to them want to try and figure out what word I'm referencing, but then also associating the images that they're seeing, the emojis with the word, I've been pleasantly surprised by how effectively, they've been able to recall vocabulary that way.

Ben: 37:25

What context do you use that in?

Bryan: 37:26

like for warmups,

Ben: 37:27

writing? Okay. Yeah, that's, a way to get them reading to start and then. Recalling vocab. Yeah, totally.

Bill: 37:34

Brian, do you have any any interests that you're wanting to un gate keep for the rest of the year before we move on to how we've girlbossed this school year so far?

Bryan: 37:47

Not particularly.

Ben: 37:49

I know.

Bill: 37:50

You know it all!

Bryan: 37:51

Yeah,

Ben: 37:52

As evidenced by the beginning of this podcast, what's going badly this year? Nothing. Built different. So, work.

Bill: 37:59

All right then Brian, do you want to lead us off into what has been going well with Girlboss

Ben: 38:04

Everything is going well for him.

Bill: 38:06

Done.

Ben: 38:06

Go for it.

Bryan: 38:07

I mentioned a few things already, like just thinking about the successes I've experienced with my level one class and then just like the motivators, different kinds of motivators that I've come up with to help the upper level kids as well. Because I use standards based grading my students don't get points for doing assignments, which is a big culture shift for a lot of students. But the ones that are used to me they get it. And I've changed some things around where, again, unfortunately, there's a bit of more punitive aspect to you're not gonna Get a point for doing it But if you have x number of missing assignments, then that is gonna affect your grade And so now i'm seeing like a lot more students who might have in the past thought if there's no point attached that I don't have to do it that attitude is lessened a lot and i've been shifting the responsibility onto the students in terms of communication if you have x number assignments, you need to write a letter to your parent and tell them Why is missing or when you plan to do it or just keep the channels of communication open and making them to be the ones to do it rather than me. And so I've been. Getting into contact a lot more with parents around that kind of thing I think Knowing that they have to do that is also motivating them to not get into a situation where they have to do it And it's not working perfectly with everyone. I think there are some students who just struggle in general with school and work completion, no matter what it is that they're doing. And you could try almost every trick in the book and they will struggle with it. it's just a matter of learning personally, like what that particular student needs rather than just trying to blanket apply whatever strategies. I guess like girl bossing in terms of I'm seeing a large amount of improvement, but not perfect.

Ben: 39:49

I love that. That you've inspired me. I was thinking about when I wanted to do this, but there's an English teacher in Texas named Sine Bond, who I follow on Twitter, and she has an assignment where she has students writing Send an email to their home adults, essentially outlining what their grade is and why and I have been toying with doing that for a long time because I want to increase that communication with home loop and just do that at intervals. And I think that you talking about having your kids communicate more with their families about, What their assignment is, what their assignment universe is like and stuff like that. I'm like, yeah, I think I got to do that this week because I will be coming back. I'm currently at Casper college in Casper, Wyoming at, with the Wyoming association for language teaching. And they're, they are very slight here. I love them. They're so funny and nice. But Because I'm gone, that means I've given kids for the first time, this is my first absence this year. This is the first time that they are having to complete things more independently, without my watchful eyes. And so I'm, I'm gonna have some conversations when I get back of Hey, there's some things missing because I'm not sure what you did while I was gone. And that just happens. That happens every year. But I think increasing the communication about it is a good way to go. So thank you. And that gave me the inspiration I needed. In terms of my wins for this year, my girl bossing, I had two things that came to mind. My first girl boss win is probably my classroom library. German reading materials, I think are slightly harder to come by than Spanish or French when it comes to like comprehension based materials. And through a combination of a donor choose project funded by my family and friends, and then just telling parents at back to school night Hey, I would never expect anything of you, but if you want to donate, here's an Amazon wishlist like a bunch of books I found that would be good for your kids to read. My library has increased like so much even just this year And that feels really rewarding to have options to offer kids when they're reading extensively. I also put out a little library card checkout system and I've been having kids taking books home and coming back and being like, I finished that book! And I'm like, what? This is amazing! Just by being like, it's a thing! And then they just do it, and I'm like, I love that! Second girl boss for this year. First one, Classroom Library Slay. The second one, I would say, is I'm just feeling very positive. About my enrollments. We are at the whims of little, little middle schoolers when they're choosing the high school things, and I can't count on anything in a given year. But I was looking at my numbers from when I started at my current school to now. And the program has grown 70 percent in terms of student enrollments. It's really rewarding and exciting. I'm working on a blog post about program growth right now on my personal teacher blog because I've been thinking a lot about it. The Too Long Didn't Read version is knowing your student population to know what they want. Mine wanted college credit of some variety, so I found a way to make that work. Having extracurricular opportunities. I have a very robust and fun German club in a national German honor society. That helps a lot. A focus on proficiency based learning. There's research that kids feel more positively about their courses when they're proficiency based than when they're more traditional. So grammar and vocab based. And I think the last thing is just like making. Students feel like they belong. I've made great efforts to make my curriculum more inclusive of marginalized voices and different identities and making sure that I'm looking at the kids in my room and reading their IEPs and honoring who they are and learning about their cultures and their families, and I think that has really paid off over time in terms of enrollments and it also just makes my job a lot easier.

Bill: 43:25

It sure does sound like you slayed the start of the school year.

Ben: 43:31

Oh, wait, but wait, Bill. But wait, Bill, aren't people going to conferences? Isn't conference season beginning? One would I like to go to? You didn't ask. I would probably go to Comprehensible Midwest. You heard right. C. I. Midwest. Did you know that I have a discount code for you, Bill?

Bill: 43:52

a discount code. Tell me more.

Ben: 43:57

I would love to. Thank you so much. If you want to go to comprehensive old Midwest to our friends at Comprehensible Midwest, exactly like I think I've said before, I'm not doing very many conferences this year. I was lucky to be invited to Wyoming and they're so lovely here, but I'm not doing other conferences and I'm jealous because I would go to comprehensible Midwest in a heartbeat. If you would like to go you yourself it's coming up.

Bill: 44:17

And it

Ben: 44:18

Oh, it's next week.

Bill: 44:18

Friday

Ben: 44:19

Get your butt into gear. go boss your way to the

Bill: 44:21

if I was able to go and I needed a discount code, what would that discount code be

Ben: 44:26

The discount code for 15% off your registration is CI fifteens. That's C-I-S-L-A-Y-Y-Y-S 15 one y for each of the three of us. Again, use that to get 15 percent off. But as Martha said in the podcast that we did with her a couple podcasts ago we knew there are other discounts for multiple people going from one department. There are lots of different ways to get a discount and to go slay that workshop.

Bill: 44:55

Bye