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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Estoy agradecido poder hablar español

I'm a gringo. A güero. Whiter than white bread. Pero hablo español. Why? I'm not sure. But I'm thankful.

Being bilingual is a true gift.

I didn't learn it from my mom...her Spanish was limited to "Mantequilla, por favor (Butter, please)" at the dinner table. My dad may have known the origin stories (fake) of all our favorite treats, but he sure didn't speak Spanish.

I have an aunt on my mom's side (Lourdes) who was born in San Blas, Nayarit, México. So every Christmas season, we'd have tamales and sing posadas and drink ponche with her side of the family. I certainly loved those times, but I'm not sure what Spanish, if any, I really learned there.



I started studying Spanish in high school. Freshman year at Santana, Sra. Verrati (strange twist of fate: late in her career, she transferred to the school where I ended up teaching Spanish, and we shared an office space!). I took to Spanish right away. Turns out I have an ear for it. I have an ear for everything...I can pick out a tune on the piano after hearing it, I can whistle really well (I got THAT from my dad), I do accents, I accidentally parrot people I'm speaking with if they have an accent...I even learned phrases in Japanese from an exchange student, and in Chinese from some Taiwanese businessmen I drove around in college. All that to say, learning a language turned out to be pretty easy for me.

My second year, I had Sra. Nissenbaum. Third year was Sra. Jack, as was AP Spanish my senior year. My two biggest memories are: 1) playing the role of Sebastian in our Spanish version of Little Mermaid. I sang a rousing rendition of "Bajo el Mar"...it brought the house down every time!  And 2) I had a bet with a classmate that we would incorporate the word albaricoque (apricot) into the oral portion of the AP test no matter what. Well, I'm pretty sure that's the reason I got a 4 instead of a 5 (like it matters...AP tests are a scam and bad for kids; I dare you to get me started on that rant sometime).

When I went away to college, I knew one thing above all else: I was destined to be a teacher. At Baker University, I applied for the departmental scholarships in Spanish and History (my other love, evidenced in Context being my #1 Strengthsfinder theme). I won the Spanish scholarship, and that decided my future for me!

I always got a kick telling people that I left San Diego (right on the border with Tijuana) to go study Spanish in the middle-of-nowhere Kansas. At first blush, that sounds crazy. But the fact is, I ended up in really small classes (an environment in which I thrive). And in my upper-division courses, there were only TWO students! Angie Williams and I both received a top-notch education from our Cuban-born author/poet/singer/professor, Pablo La Rosa. He was great...the type of professor who would call me on a snow day to cancel class. The type of professor who moonlighted as a beer vendor at the Royals games. He was a lot of fun. And he helped me understand how lyrical a Romance language needed to be!



So then I ended up teaching Spanish. At my rival high school back in my hometown! I was there for 17 years. I dabbled in other things: I taught AVID, I was the yearbook advisor for 7 years...but teaching FIRST YEAR Spanish became my specialty. For one thing, all my colleagues hated teaching freshmen. Me...I loved it!

My primary mission as a first-year Spanish teacher was to help the students fall in love with Spanish. We sang songs, we played games, we grilled carne asada on the back patio...I knew that if I could get them to enjoy Spanish, they'd work of their own accord.

Late in my teaching career, I became an English Learners' Coordinator and started working on my admin credential. In both of those roles, I expanded my horizons as a community liaison, helping to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking parents as they engaged with the school. Little did I know what I was preparing myself for!

Today, I work at Abraham Lincoln Middle School in Selma, California (in the Central Valley south of Fresno). I am a Program Manager, so I continue to work with English Learners, but also with Title I programs. I use Spanish EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. With kids. With parents. With staff. As I translate materials (I'll tweet out our latest bilingual newsletter tomorrow!). As I help fix bad translations of existing materials (yikes!). As I banter with a mom who came to the office to sell her handmade tamales. As I hear from our parents about their dreams for their kids. In ELAC meetings. In SSC meetings. At football games.



And in my personal life, too. Helping strangers in Target who can't get their needs across. Surprising an occasional Uber rider who was struggling with their English. Getting the waiter to hook me up with an extra filet of the jalapeño-cream-covered tilapia because we connect. Understanding the meanings of weird words because the Latin root is similar to the Spanish, adding a layer to my grip on a Bible verse. Getting to enjoy awesome music (Julieta Venegas, for instance). And so on...

I didn't expect all of this to flow out of me tonight. But I am full of gratitude for the gift of language. I know I didn't earn it. I didn't work for it...it just came to me. And I'm so glad. Doy gracias a Dios por haberme bendecido. Mi vida es más rica por poder entender dos idiomas.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Gather the right stuff!


I don't have time to process this idea right now. But I was in a department chair meeting today where the chairs (and, by proxy, their teams of teachers) were given the task of collecting, compiling, and sharing data about how students are doing (academically) at our school.

It's not the fun, all-smiles stuff that all my favorite educational leaders are posting about on Twitter, but it's really important, right? 

It was a really hard conversation, full of starts and stops. Confrontations (presented gently). Pushback. Fears names. Assurances made. Trust leaned upon. Missteps and course corrections. Really important work that we can't shy away from.

But I came away wondering how to package it better. How to make the case clearly. And I kept coming back to the pieces of data we're asking them to collect.

We were focused (with good reason) on how the data could INFORM. But how can we use the data to inspire? Do we need OTHER data? Do we need DIFFERENT data? Do we need MORE data? And (I think this is really it), do we need to SEE the data differently?

Is that a shift of perspective for administration? For teachers? For students? I think the answer is yes to all of these. But what does that look like? I don't know tonight. And I probably won't know alone. I will seek help from those around me. Because (as Mr. Coleman always likes to remind us) "together we're smarter than a supercomputer!"

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Google Forms (now with pictures!)

Every so often, Google pushes out an update to the GAFE suite of tools. And every time, there's a gem or two. This one was a no-brainer from day one, and it's something I'm glad they figured out.

Google Forms can now include images. In a section. In a question. In a possible answer. In an answer given.

Personally, I think Google Forms are one of the most under-appreciated Google Apps. And that's weird, because among ninja-level users...they're heavily utilized. But the average user simply doesn't understand the power in their hands.

I'll brainstorm a couple of ideas for each placement of an image. I'd love to see YOUR ideas in the comments...extra credit for a link to an example!

In a section

  • A history teacher includes an image of a primary source, then asks 2 or 3 questions based on that source.
  • An art teacher uses an image of a painting, then asks several questions about that piece of art. Update: this appeared on Twitter shortly after I posted this. #greatmindsthinkalike ?


In a question
The several questions to an image (in a section) works just fine sometimes, but there is some scrolling involved. Sometimes that's not optimal, so...

  • An ELD teacher places an image, then gives EL students sentence starters and asks them to complete the thought.
  • A science teacher includes images of different animals/plant/minerals, and asks students to name kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus or species (depending on what they're learning). Side note: I loved my high school biology class and the units on nomenclature. Weird stuff sticks, like brown kelp is Phaeophyta (my mnemonic device included the fact that Tammy Faye Bakker wore a lot of brown makeup).


In a possible answer

  • A school administrator wants to get staff shirts, and presents his colleagues with three options. He has each staff member vote based on the the images (A, B, or C). I copied my real ballot here for you as an example.
  • A first-grade teacher teaching about the different emotions makes the question an adjective, then the four answer options are faces from that iconic emotions poster.


In a given answer

  • (overheard on Voxer #connectedTLtribe) Students are asked to provide evidence of having read a book or chapter, and that evidence is a photo of their favorite quote or passage. (Then they explain why they chose it.)
  • A principal wants to compile a "getting to know you" spreadsheet of his teachers and classified staff, and asks them to submit a favorite photo of themself (for inclusion in the "staff of the week" portion of a newsletter).


I just made a lot of these up on the spot. I'm excited to challenge the teachers at my site to think of other ways to use this fantastic new feature of an already great tool. What are YOUR ideas?

Monday, August 22, 2016

Your Words Matter

I was convicted when I watched this video.


See, the educators in the video were just trying to run the school in a way that maximized learning for the students. They were well-meaning...they just forgot how important relationships are. How much word choice and tone communicate.

It's powerful, and it's motivating, so it's my first #MotivationMonday post of the 2016-2017 school year (yeah, I'm back!).