After my challenge with M's third grade class this year to speak 100% Spanish I decided to expand on it this year. All 3-5 classes and the winner gets a pinata party at the end of the year. I've set up Class Dojo with a monster for each class. One thing I love about Class Dojo is that it has a timer. We set the timer when class starts and we pause it when I have to change the sign to English. It goes back on when I switch back to Spanish.
You can also decide certain tasks to reward and how many points. I've given 100% Spanish 5 points and 90% 3 points. There are also a few other things I can reward for 1 point each - maybe working really hard or helping each other out. I'm not sure if I'll do that or not but I kept it as an option.
Since I set up the contest as a class, with a monster for each teacher, students can easily see where their class stands and what they need to do to get ahead. We haven't started yet - I'm thinking after this rotation with flamenco (because I do need a few extra minutes in English to explain jaleos to them.) The few classes I've mentioned it to seem pretty excited (about the pinata mostly but we'll also address how awesome this is for their Spanish learning when I formally introduce it.)
Hola!
ReplyDeleteI am very curious to hear how this goes! I downloaded Class Dojo but haven't used it yet... with as many kiddos as you and I have, managing individual point systems seems daunting, to say the least lol! I like the idea of whole classes working towards a goal. I can see this with keeping track of game scores- sometimes I have classes compete against one another to see who gets the most points. Will have to delve further into the app :) Thanks for the post!
So far the contest is working well. I did change it so that we start the timer when I speak English rather than when I speak Spanish. They want the number to stay on 0:00 and they get very anxious when I start speaking English - it's pretty hilarious. Only 2 classes in the last 2 weeks have not made 90% - and they were still very close. I'll do update posts as we go along with the contest. Let me know how you end up using Class Dojo - I'm always looking for ideas!
DeleteI have downloaded it also and would love to use it for motivating students to speak in Spanish; but do you just have it up all day on the SMARTboard? I don't want another "thing" to manage (and I also use the WBT scoreboard) but it really is a problem in my all Spanish classroom.
ReplyDeleteI keep it open in my browser and pull it up on the SMART board at the end of class to give points. I keep my WBT scoreboard on my whiteboard just because I'm constantly changing what's on the smartboard - bellringer, learning targets, youtube video, and now Class Dojo). Having one more thing to manage is one reason I changed it to just one month instead of ongoing.
ReplyDeleteFor other ways to motivate your students to use more Spanish I would look at my posts on Si Se Puede bubbles and also my ticket system. These are ongoing and don't take much energy to manage. The bubbles actually are great data tracking that the kids do themselves.
http://senoraspeedy.blogspot.com/2015/11/focus-on-conversation
http://senoraspeedy.blogspot.com/2015/10/si-se-puede.html.html
Thanks for reading the blog!
Thanks so much for the response! I love the bubble idea. I clicked on the link and then clicked on Get a free bubble template here! but it lead me to this page and I couldn't find the actual document: http://senoraspeedy.blogspot.com/2015/08/proficiency-level-pyramid.html
DeleteMaybe I'm missing something?
Nope the link was messed up. I've updated it on the post but here it is too.
Deletehttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XnigPLIP-HPLrQxl_xVo5o824Dqo2U_AMZcnNqatGOU/edit?usp=sharing
This is such a cool idea!! Do you start the English timer for a 1 or 2 word translation given to individual students? Or do you not give translations & work it out in other ways instead? Thanks, best, Ellen
ReplyDeleteSo most of the time I try to mime or draw a picture of something so students can understand but there are times when that just doesn't work (like today with the word legend.) In those cases I write it on the board in Spanish & English so technically I'm not speaking English. Hyper technicality? Yes, but it keeps class moving and keeps things comprehensible. And it only comes up every once in awhile so I don't sweat it. Thanks for reading the blog!
Delete