Exactly 1 week ago today, when I woke up early to write this post, I was thinking about those of you who knew you’d be facing the daunting task of teaching remotely. I was not in that group. I said “¡Qué tengan buen fin de semana!” to my Little Darlings, fully expecting to see them on Monday. Even at church Sunday morning, chatting with my teacher friends, no one anticipated the bombshell announcement from the governor that evening, closing all Nevada schools.

So after a relaxing whirlwind of week: brainstorming, planning, filming,  cleaning out the pantry and organizing the laundry room, and binge watching far too much Netflix and reading one million emails,  I’ve got a plan and I’m ready for “Our New Normal”, starting Monday!

District Expectations:

Our school is really pushing us to think “Big Picture”, be aware that many of our students will be responsible for childcare for their younger siblings and may have limited internet access. We are to give Standards Based Online Instruction, but we have the flexibility to decide how that will look in our (digital) classrooms.  Additionally, while we are permitted to give grades and post assignments  while we’re away, their overall grades cannot be negatively impacted. In other words, grades can’t be punitive for students who don’t/ can’t complete the assignments.

My Expectations:

I’m still committed to loading them up with Comprehensible Input. (Well….loading them up might not be accurate anymore. More like offering CI and hoping they’ll bite!)  I know reading is critical and that will be an important component of the next few weeks. I want them seeing my face and hearing my voice while we’re apart. I don’t want them to forget about me! I want ways for our class to connect, and laugh and build community remotely. And I want some structure and consistency; I don’t want to start from scratch each week. I want my three levels, Spanish 1, Spanish 4 and Heritage, to follow the same pattern, but swapping out the pieces to make each level unique.

The Plan:

• They will read: A million thanks to Fluency Matters and their amazingly generous offer to hook us up with free FM E-Courses! My Little Darlings will be able to read from home. Spanish 1 will be reading Brandon Brown quiere un perro and Spanish 4 and Heritage will be reading Bananas.  Everyone will be asked to read 1 chapter a week, and complete one activity or quiz of their choice. Easy for me because Fluency Matters did all the work, not too bad for them because they get to choose their activity to demonstrate comprehension.
  • Since my kiddos have no experience with Fluency Matter’s E-Courses, I made this video to walk them through setting up their account and navigating the site. Feel free to share it with your kiddos, if it will be helpful for yours!

• • I also asked my Spanish 4s and Heritage kiddos if they would like me to mail their Free Reading Book to them. (Originally I had planned on loading up my car with books and taking my Biblio-Subaru on a road trip through the county, but my FaceBook friends talked me out of it!) About half my students responded that they’d love to get books in the mail, so I spent last week finding their books, writing notes and sending care packages to my Little Darlings. For every student that requested a book, I sent them two: their current book and another one that I think they’ll enjoy:)

           

• They will listen: Each week, they will have a listening assignment with a Listening Quick Quiz. To make things neat and tidy, I’ll upload YouTube videos within the Quick Quiz, so they click one link, can watch videos and then demonstrate what they understand.
  • In Spanish 1- I’m using Loom, which is awesome and free now for teachers,  to “Talk my way through a power point”. This was my first experience with it, and it is so easy! Our first week, I’m chatting about El coronavirus, school closures, the Toilet Paper shortage and the desperate situation at my house because the naughty puppy loves to destroy TP.  He has eaten 4 rolls in 4 days. ¡Qué perrito malo!

• • Spanish 4 is deeply invested in Gran Hotel, and if we abandon Julio and Alicia now, students will certainly break quarantine to set my house on fire. So…for their listening, we will keep watching Gran Hotel.
    • Students who have access to Netflix at home will continue watching. I’m breaking it into 30 minute segments and I’m giving them the Episode number and time code to watch at home. (And I’m begging them not to watch ahead…at this point I’m hopeful we’ll get to finish the year, and season 1, together!) I’m also encouraging my Little Darlings to check out Netflix Party, a chrome extension that will allow them to watch Gran Hotel with their amigos…I’m not sure if they’ll be able to add it to their school-issued Chromebooks, but it sure sounds like fun!
    • For my kiddos without Netflix, they’ve got me, those lucky dogs.  I’ll be summarizing all the important juicy details using Loom, and posting the video for them to watch. Not as exciting as the telenovela, but it will be comprehensible! (And for kiddos who have Netflix, but need a bit more support to make it comprehensible, it will be a great supplement for them, too!)
    • 
  • In Heritage, we’ll be exploring different current events, using mostly YouTube Videos and Interpretive Listening Quick Quizzes. For our first week, I thought King Philip’s address to Spain was pretty comprehensible and interesting to compare his Spanish to their Spanish.

 

• We will chat and we will play: This one’s optional. I’ve got a weekly date scheduled for each class, using Google Meet. I posted the date, time and link on Google Classroom, and I’m hoping that kids will be bored enough to  pop in and say hi. I’m looking forward to seeing their faces and chit chatting with them, and playing a few games with them! I’ll let you know how it goes…I’m predicting that my Spanish 4s will be really into it and my Heritage kiddos will leave me hanging. Not sure about my 1s, we shall see!  Just like in class, I’ll start with some questions and we’ll see where our conversations go, then finish up with a few games.

 

• They will dance: Also optional 🙂 Baile viernes has become a beloved tradition, so I’ll keep it up by sending out a Dance Video each Friday.  I texted out this Baile Viernes promo yesterday morning, and one of my  moms told me she woke her son up with my video.  How fabulous is that?! Mom of the Year! Who wouldn’t want to be woken up by this:

• And there will be extras:  

For each level, I posted optional Spanish fun, ranging from GimKit to Netflix suggestions, music to listen to and games to play. There’s a little something for everyone…and it’s all optional.

Spanish 1 Optional Spanish Fun                              Spanish 4 Optional Spanish Fun

 

Our first day of online school is Monday. I have no idea how this will turn out, but I’m hopeful! I miss my Little Darlings already, but I’m excited to figure out new ways to engage and connect with them. And I’m not going to lie, the introvert in me loves the idea of taking a break from humans for a few weeks and I’m super excited about living in sweatpants. The pups are really enjoying our quality quarantine time together too.

         

I hope that you’re  home, safe and healthy! I hope that this is a season of rest and renewal and learning new things for us all.  I’m thankful that we’ve got a great, big teacher community figuring this out together. Isn’t it so comforting to know you’re not alone?! I’d love to hear what’s working in your (digital) classroom and how you’re feeling about this crazy curve ball!

#QuedateEnCasa