Digital Storytelling in the WL Classroom

“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”   ~ Indian Proverb

Storytelling has been a major component of my World Language classroom for many years. New vocabulary and grammatical structures are embedded into stories co-created by myself and the class. Students are the actors: a king, a talking tortilla, an octopus or possibly Shakira.  Stories are an effective vehicle for providing compelling, repetitive and personal comprehensible input.  Because language is acquired through comprehensible input, I have found storytelling effective for both helping students acquire high levels of Spanish as well as creating a close-knit community of risk-taking language learners. 

storyboard 1st.jpg

I have used the traditional paper/pencil/crayon storyboards for years. Quick and easy for assessing Listening Comprehension (Interpretive Mode) and practicing retells (Presentational Mood) but many kids (often the older ones) find drawing difficult.

Digital storytelling is incredibly more powerful in terms of building language proficiency. Digital tools today enable my students to capture our class stories, create their own and easily share them with a wider audience on my website or their blog. The ability to easily work with audio, text, images and now video is amazing!

Here are a few examples of students creating digital stories.

iMovie (above)

Zooburst

Storykit

Go Animate

Voicethread

Course Three inspired me to create a digital story(with iMovie) based on our most current class story. Kim was correct in stating the amount of time required to make an actual video. Embarrassingly, it took me about 10 hours to complete mine and it is no masterpiece. I created it primarily on the plane with no wifi and wanted to experiment with the different features. I'm grateful otherwise I’m sure I would have spent double the time looking for images of Juanes and music from Marc Anthony. I tried, instead, to focus on providing repetitive language and asking a few simple questions to prompt students while viewing.

My only caution, as a language teacher, in using Digital Storytelling is the potential amount of time spent (in class) creating digital stories.  Although most tools are quite easy, there still is a learning curve and I find my students move back to English when learning how to use the tool or program. I'm trying to teach language such as What do I do next? or How did you do that?  to mitigate them moving into English. Also, students and teachers can spend too much time looking for the perfect background, color or image.  I say too much time only because class time is limited and searching for the perfect color of blue will not increase a student's proficiency in the language. That being said, giving time lines to finish stories and encouraging out-of-class creation are two strategies that have worked for me.

Limiting the tools you teach students is alright, too. There are so many options to create digital stories. New tweets everyday, with long lists, appear in my stream.  It is not always about having lots of different tools to tell your story but having a few that work well for you and your class. That way, you are spending more time leveraging the power of the tool, rather than learning a new one. Sometimes I send kids home with a list of choices and they report back as to the best ones.  Ideally, I'd love it if my students came in to my class already having had practice with a fews tools, as they do with a pencil or pen.

Please share examples of digital storytelling in your language classes. I'd love to see them.

Can a digital story land you a job?

If I walked into your class, what would I see?

Have you ever been asked this during an interview?

When I'm asked, I try and paint a picture in the interviewer's mind so he or she can feel what it would be like to be a student in my classroom.  I've also asked similar type questions when I'm interviewing teachers with the hope of getting an authentic glimpse into their classroom. The last thing I want to see, honestly, is the portfolio sitting on the table.

I may have a better option.  Digital storytelling.

Why not immediately start the cued-up video or quickly send the link if you are on a Skype interview of your class story to answer the above question?

This course again moves my thinking up an iteration.  I thought I had a killer (smaller than most which I know was appreciated)  portfolio 20-years-ago and just three years ago when asked why I thought I was qualified for a certain position, I casually pulled out my iPad showing a quick Keynote (mostly images) as to why. It's almost 2015 and I need the next version to answer to the question.  A digital story is the answer.

"I realized the importance of having a story today is what really separates companies".

— Blake Mycoskie, CEO of Tom's Shoes

I believe this is true for educators as well.  Being able to effectively share your story with a potential employer will set you (and me) apart.

This Animoto video I put together for parents last year during the holidays is a start. Images, short video clips, student work, teacher-student interaction and parent testimonials will be the framework of my class story.

The trick will be keeping it super short. Two minutes is probably the key length. Maybe I'll make two versions: a 3-minute video and a 30-second trailer depending on the purpose and/or stage of the interview process.

I’ll be ready when the next opportunity comes for me to share my story. That is, of course, until the next version is launched.

Infographics: Hitting all modes of communication

by yolsclemente.

Infographics, like the one above, are a fantastic way to present information in a visually appealing fashion and provide (thanks to the images and organization) authentic material that is more accessible to our second or third language learners. In addition to our students consuming/interpreting meaning from these authentic sources (WL Standard 1.2), they provide us another tool for producing/presenting/creating in the target language (WL Standard 1.3).

Here are a few ideas for teachers and students where the use of an infographic could be of value. 

• The classic Who am I? Novice Level assignment
• Music, cultural or historical presentations
• Syllabus, exam or assignment make-over
• Why learn another language?--Advocacy campaign
• Book talks or novel reviews (themes, new vocab, characters, culture, etc.)
• Passion Project-students pick something of interest
• DP Themes: Health, Leisure, Technology,  Global Issues, and Cultural Diversity
• Visual of the class story

My students and I have had the best luck with both

.

I've heard great things about Visual.ly but have't been able to figure out (user error, I'm sure) how to personally create my own.

Infographics are not meant to be printed. Maybe that's not accurate but a reality in my school with no color printer and the drive to reduce paper consumption. And, they look just awesome on the screen. My student, Luisa, asked proudly if she could put hers on her blog so others could see it. That's a good sign.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with adding a QR Code that links to questions, audio, video, etc. This will provide the opportunity for interpersonal communication (WL Standard 1.1) with additional authentic listening.

Here is a site with lots of infographics for Spanish. Pinterest has some fabulous examples as well.

Lastly, encourage your students to use infographics and visual data in their other classes. Although it may appear that everyone is doing it (I'm talking to my COETAIL colleagues); they are not. 

Good luck.  I'd love to see some fun examples in your WL classrooms hitting all the modes of communication.

Colors of Chichicastenango as a writing prompt?

I used these ten images to inspire my students during an in-class writing assignment this morning.  Students wrote original stories using new vocabulary and cultural elements from Guatemala.

We have been reading the novel Esperanza and just finished viewing the classic El Norte movie. The novel is fantastic but has limited images and the Oscar-winning film, produced in 1985, certainly did not do justice in showing the amazing color, fabric and scenery of Guatemala.

Although we have interacted with images of Guatemala like the famous Chichicastenango market during this unit, I thought a visual writing prompt might inspire students to be more creative in writing their stories.

Most students found the images helpful in some way.

Here is their feedback (translated back to English).

The images on the screen...

Helped me think.

Helped me add details to my story.

Gave me inspiration.

Gave me a specific setting for my story.

Gave me some ideas as to  where to begin.

Reminded me of specific events in Guatemala.

Helped create an image in my head.

Maybe not at the Modification or Redefinition stage of the SAMR Model of technology integration but  the feedback above is compelling enough for me to keep adding  images in new and unique ways to help my student acquire Spanish,  feel more successful, stay engaged with content and become more passionate about different cultures.

How do you say UPGRADE in Spanish?

These were Ben's exact words when I had the class shift their eyes toward the screen as we began class yesterday. Embarrassingly  I had been using an old mini white board to write my class agenda/objective for the day.  My pens are half dried-up, the board is stained with permanent scratches and my handwriting is atrocious. As much as I try to pump my students up with awesome content (like a Pirate), I was killing them with my lame text-based introduction of the material.

No more.

This is the UPGRADE.

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

Course 3 has motivated me to look for new and intriguing uses of images and design in my lessons. Ben's reaction to a simple upgrade* in how I shared the agenda inspired me to have the next three days of lesson plans ready to go.  That's a miracle in itself.  I'm usually looking for a marker just before kids are coming into class to write-out the agenda. Besides a more effective design, the addition of culture (Guatemala in this case) and the personalization with actual pictures of my students, I'll have a digital record of each day to review at any point. I'm using Keynote (it's faster/easier for me) to create and share with my students but I can easily move these agendas to SlideShare or Haikudeck (like I did for this post) for online storage, sharing or viewing. What super simple ways are you adding the power of images to your classes?

*mejor versión, nivel superior o actualización 

Happiness with Images

Inspired by the The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and the 100 Happy Days challenge I just saw posted on Facebook, my students and I are going to use the power of images to document what makes us happy over the month of April. In Spanish, claro.

This assignment should be personal, relevant and fabulous practice for communicating about self while hitting WL Standard 1.3 in the process. We'll also learn about the importance of using creative commons images and giving attribution.

Design is tough for me but I have no doubt my students will create some amazing projects with a little guidance and a few Zen design principles. I'm looking forward to sharing their creations with their parents, their pen pals and you all. 

Digital Footprints for Everyone?

no one on duty

Times are changing.  Just this past month, my principal said he is no longer opposed to social media, our secretary joined Twitter, the counseling department asked for a mini course on digital safety and there are even talks of 1:1 in the future. Fantastic news, right? Yes and no. As a building, we are starting to open our minds to the amazing possibilities of technology. However, we have LOTS to do to teach our students, teachers and parents about Digital Citizenship.  Just having the tools does not mean we know how to properly and positively use them in and out of school. I feel like Jim Steyer, of Commonsense Media,  who says that schools are often "late to the party."  We are late, very late. Educational leaders have been urging us for years to teach our students about Digital Citizenship.  Here are just five reasons why we need to teach Digital Citizenship in schools.

As part of Course Two, I thought I'd start to create and compile some resources that could move us all forward.  Who knows?  We may be late to the party but maybe in the near future we'll be hosting Digital Citizenship weeks like Los Angeles Unified School District or Yokohama International School. Or better yet, creating learning environments where becoming a global/digital citizen will be so embedded in everything we do that there will be no use for special classes, PD, curriculum or blog posts.

Until then, this first lesson was designed to be delivered during our Access period to the entire school. The learning is designed for both students and teachers. The concept of building a positive digital footprint will be just as new/scary/challenging/foreign to our students as it will be to our teachers. I'm looking forward to accessing how both groups learn and grow together.

UBD Lesson Template

Huellas Digitales

Compfight by Reza Vaziri

Huellas Digitales-Digital Footprints

I'm struggling with the desire to help my students learn about building positive huellas digitales while at the same time facilitating a Spanish class and improving levels of proficiency. Much of the language associated with Digital Citizenship is difficult to access for the level of my students. However, communicating (in more than one language) in a global society is one of the major goals for students studying additional languages. So, the topics are truly a perfect match.

I just need to backwards design a few lessons that will make our conversations on Digital Citizenship and huellas digitales more meaningful while also improving their ability to communicate in Spanish.

The plan is to:

1. Generate a list of language associated with technology to start using in class.
2. Use this poster from Edmodo.
3. Have my class of Native Speakers remix/reuse this video (alone or with partners) using voice, text (In Spanish) and their creativity to produce videos in Spanish I can share with my students learning Spanish.

Common Sense Media: Digital Footprint Intro from Joaquin E. Jutt on Vimeo.

4. Lastly, when more confident with the lingo en Español, I plan to have these older students connect with elementary students in Madrid, sharing the importance of building their huellas digitales. 

Gadgets and Widgets are Hooks for WL Classes

I've been experimenting with how to make our student blogs more interactive, communicative and personal while at the same time increasing our proficiency levels in Spanish. I thought the use of gadgets and widgets might help. Widgets are little pieces of code that run small programs on your website.  As for blogs, they are often housed in the sidebars. Widgets can run on any website while gadgets (widgets by definition) are created just for their own sites.  For example, Google Gadgets are for their site like Blogger.

Given so many choices out there, many students first chose PacMan or Donkey Kong to add to their site.  Not downplaying the choice of a game and lack of español, I then encouraged maps of Buenos Aires, weather reports, calendarios, translator programs, horoscopes, Vokis, newspapers and sports reports-ALL IN SPANISH. It's amazing the variety of choices!  All students found something of interest. A favorite, keeping in mind we live in the mountains of Colorado, was the Open Snow widget with over twenty language choices including Spanish from Spain or Latin America.

Students interpreted (Standard 1.2 for the WL teachers out there) authentic language but most importantly, their blogs are becoming more of an expression of who they are rather than just place for them to post their assignments. The variety of widgets on each blog brought more interest to each other's blogs which increased communication between the students.  Language such as How did you do that? and What do I do now? was practiced quite a bit (Standard 1.1).

As I look forward to adding more interactive hooks to our blogs, I think a playlists of their favorite songs with the Spotify widget is our next move.  Next, a Soundcloud widget for oral language samples and our class stories and would be a fantastic way to share with parents and administration how well the students are learning.

Adding a widget is simple.  I just added two to the right on this blog. Many options are included in your blogging platform which makes it easy.

If you are looking for something more specific (target language widgets), find the widget, look for words GET EMBED CODE, choose the TEXT Widget or Gadget under Appearances in your blog and paste the EMBED CODE.  Voilà!

Kiva for WL Classrooms

I first used kiva.org as part of a 5th grade Exhibition years ago with just a small group of students. It then became my go to item for gifts such as birthdays and Mothers Day. It was more recently when I thought about using it to help students acquire Spanish, learn about other cultures, and solve an authentic problem.  My COETAIL Course Two reminded me of the power of connecting, leveraging the web, and then sharing the outcome.

So, this is the process by which my Spanish IV (DP I) class went about helping Edgar with his car, Brenda with her store and José with his farming equipment while acquiring Spanish in meaningful ways.

1. Each student chose a Spanish Speaking country to investigate.  Next they...
2. Researched two or three people to support.  Although in English, you can also VIEW ORIGINAL LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION which is just awesome.
3. Chose a person or group to support.
4. Created a two minute Elevator Speech as to why their person should be supported.
5. Delivered the speech with a few pictures of the country, the owner and the purpose of the loan.  They used the subjunctive mood such as "It's important that..."  "I want you to..."  and "I hope that you..." to make their case.
6. The class took notes (en español) as to whom they liked best knowing they would have to cast a vote the end of all the pitches.
7. Students voted at the end of class as to whom they would support.
8. We then divided the class up among the top four winners.
9. Each person in each group chipped in 2-4 dollars to add to the $25 loan amount.
10. Once money was collected, each group officially made a payment toward the project.
11. Each leader/winner also reported back to the class when the loan was paid back.

A Motor, a Wedding, and Crossing the Border

Evan made a motor. It was so cool even though it didn't work. Thomas saved money to send to his former surf instructor in Costa Rica to help pay for his upcoming wedding. Vivian taught us about different types of rice in Central America. Gerson took us through his journey from El Salvador to Colorado earlier this year.

Content for Spanish class this past month was not typical of most Spanish textbooks.

My students just finished up their 20% Time Projects. As reported in a previous post, this was my second round of projects.  Their results proved inspiring content and rich language for our class this past month.

Students chose passions and interests to investigate by which they were able to improve their Español, connect with others, and save the world.

• Supporting nutritional organizations in Central America
• Learning more about the Bible in Spanish and reading stories from it to younger children
• Teaching karate to Spanish Speaking students
• Playing video games in Spanish with kids around the world
• Learning about fashion and design in Madrid
• Skiing through Chile
• Learning about the Spanish Guitar learning to play a song in Spanish

Student feedback

Wanting to know what my students thought of the project and not wanting to break into English, I sent them in the hall with another student who recorded their feedback in English. Here are a few examples of what they thought of the project.

My Reflection

My students' oral proficiency in Spanish improved because I was able to provide relevant vocabulary I knew they were going to need prior to their presentations. They didn't email me back,  it surprised me that,  and I had wanted to do... but changed my mind were common language structures we practiced and practiced before kids presented.  There are even a few more structures I'll add to my list for next time like I could not find or I realized that... Students (me included) also learned specific vocabulary tied to their topic and their interest.  This year's group was more comfortable with sharing as we discussed and modeled delivery and design. The reading of slides was highly discouraged. I didn't allow notecards, although a few students did bring up cards which I allowed reading the anxiety on their face. The biggest challenge for them was connecting with others.  Most students picked someone they knew or friends of friends as their connection.  I was hoping for more global connections or more specific communications with people specific to their particular passion. I get it. The concept of reaching out to strangers is difficult and even more so in a second language.  Next time I'll spend more time on how and why to make global connections.  We'll practice. I'll also give more time for student-teacher 1:1 conferences so I can individually help students brainstorm connections with similar passions or interests.  This, however, is a challenge for me as class sizes seem to grow and grow but I think maybe offering online Google Hangout hours could be an option. Lastly, I'll put a time limit (with a friendly bell) on the sharing.  Maybe something similar to a Pecha Kucha  (or shorter) because with classes of 30, it takes a while.  Some of my students felt comfortable going on and on. They were so darn cute that I didn't have the heart to cut them off.

What successes have you had with similar type projects?

Sewing would have been the hook...

I taught a building your PLN (Personal Learning Network) via Twitter course for my school district the week before winter break. I was so excited for the opportunity to share Twitter and my PLN with other teachers in my district. I also had plenty of snacks (always important for after school meetings).  I was ready to make the case for WHY rather than HOW.

Three students arrived. Two of the three seemed to get started right away creating their Personal Learning Networks. However, I had a school counselor in my class that seemed to have more difficulty.  She struggled to sign-up on her iPad and then we had trouble getting Tweetdeck set-up for her on her laptop. Partly my error as I'm not so familiar with PCs. Finally ready for the fun stuff:  finding followers, adding columns of interest and writing a profile. I fell short.  I wasn't aware of #scchat at the time so finding relevant counseling material was a challenge. And surprisingly, her face didn't light-up when I said she could actually follow @chrislehmann @willrich45 @angelamaiers and  @alfiekohn. She did mention something about sewing as an interest but I just skipped over her attempt at making the tool  relevant  and tried again with @danpink and @debmeier.  Still nothing.

Class ended. Although the other two participants were quite happy with their new learning, I had the counselor on my mind.  I went home and did a few Twitter searches on sewing.  WOW!  I can barely sew a button but was amazed at all the cool information trending on sewing. I could see adding it to my list of hobbies. Why didn't I allow her to focus on her passion in class? She would have been hooked.

This experience brought up a few issues in prepping for my next class.

1. Meet my students where their interests and passions lie when introducing Social Media.  I cannot assume that passion is education. Just because I use Twitter just for "work" doesn't mean others will or should do the same.
2. Having a list of the current educational hashtags is crucial.

• Complete Guide
• Infographic
• Longest List

Lastly, is there a possibility that (in 2014) most educators who are passionate about education are already connected, reading blogs, and use Twitter?  Is there a purpose for teachers uninterested in education in general to develop PLNs?  Or, will a powerful PLN develop an interest in education? Did I learn about so many educational giants via my PLN or vice versa?  What comes first the chicken or the egg? 

Amigos en Asia

Course One: Final Project-Amigos en Asia

[gallery ids="33,32"]

Background:

My students in DP Spanish I were reading a book that mentioned a student attending a school Singapore. Most of my kids asked, "¿Dónde está Singapore?". Normal response for kids living in the US... A few more questions came up.  So, we decided to send letters to kids in Singapore to have our questions answered.  This connects well with WL standards.  We started writing letters (typing) when we realized we should just share the letter/doc with the students in Singapore.  A much faster option and we could include pictures and links. My students are NEW to a GAFE environment so the logging in, share settings, and creating links took a bit to sort out.

Here is the doc we used to choose a buddy and post our letter.  Our sister class in Singapore did the same and added their letters to the doc in response to what my students had first written. We also need a short intro so a few students made a short video introducing our school and our class.

The minute we had officially shared all our letters students wanted to know when we would hear something from our new friends. They asked everyday if I had received the letters so they could read them.  The power of connecting with someone on something personal is so powerful. They were hooked.

Upon reading their new friends' letters they immediately judged the Spanish level of their friends and had lots of cool comments.

• Wow, my girl is smart. Her Spanish is amazing.
• Cool, we take the same classes.
• She saw Maroon Five!
• He likes to ski, too.
• I cannot believe how many languages he speaks.

We used butcher paper to share out a bit what we had learned from our friends.

Next steps:

My students want to continue to communicate with their friends in Asia. They originally said they wanted to Skype with their new friends but most were nervous about their Spanish ability and more were just nervous to meet someone new.  So, we are going answer their questions, react to what they wrote, ask more questions and share more about our lives.  We will do this by making a video. The video will give us a chance to alter the Spanish audio if needed.  We can add subtitles as well. Lastly, closer to the end of the school year, we will hold a few Hangout Sessions where students can jump in and meet their friends.  We are always open, however, to any idea our school in Singapore may have on the process.

Reflection:

So far I've been extremely happy with the project. My students have improved their Spanish, learned a bit about International Schools, and have started the process of making friends with kids 1/2 way around the world.  They have also learned a lot about GAFE. And, they have been completely engaged in the process. I was a bit frustrated at first because I came from school where many systems (blogs, GAFE, etc) were built in. I'm using a lot of tech with my kids that is brand new to them.  I'd love more collaboration throughout the building in terms of use of tech. I found myself using more English than normal when I am explaining some of the new technology.  Also, I was unsure about the editing process for their letters. I followed our DP rubric  (as far as a grade) but wanted them to have the best letter possible as their audience was much wider than just me. Some didn't seem to care.  I was the one worried. I think I felt as if my students were an extension of me and I wanted to do a good job. I have to learn how to let my students be themselves while still providing enough guidance/español for them to be successful. I did correct some of the grammar in their letters even after they had "tried" to fix their mistakes.  I don't think I would have been so worried if the audience had only been me.  After reading their buddies' responses, I heard quite a few comments from my students as to wanting to do a better job next time. Most importantly, the message was more important to both groups than a proper conjugated verb. I'm looking forward to continuing with this unit/project.

 UbD Template

Voicethread for assessing language over time

After recently reading the Step by Step Guide to Global Collaboration, I was reminded of a project my students and I participated in years ago.  My 4th grade Spanish class in Colorado connected with a 4th grade class in Costa Rica.  Kids were paired together to create stories together using our wiki. As a way to get to know our buddies, we created a VoiceThread and my students talked about the others kids each student's personal slide.

For example. Sammi's favorite animal is a Lion or Carly's favorite color is blue.

Lots of language practice while also building community.  We embedded the VT into our wiki and shared it with our amigos in Costa Rica.

DVE meets CDS (link to the VT if it doesn't load)

Fast forward a few years.  Students are in 6th grade. I decided to use the initial VT to assess students language.  I added a current picture of the student and asked students to comment on each student as they did back in 4th grade.  Student loved seeing their previous pictures and listening to their voice samples. This year, I'm doing it again as this group (8th grade) moves to the high school next fall.  VT, already a fantastic collaborative tool, is also fantastic to capture growth over time. What tools are you using to track student growth (especially oral communication) over time? 

Twitter is my choice

In the last few days I have found 30 +  valuable Tweets containing content that I will use at some point in the next few weeks. Here are just a few of the resources that showed up in my Tweetdeck app that I have shared with colleagues.         

Día de los muertos                  Mi novio es un zombi             The Relevant Teacher

As good as Twitter is, I am still one of the only teachers that uses it in my District for Professional Development.  So, in order to share content/resources/connections, I have to use a listserve, an email or a  face-to-face conversation. Sure, it take another few steps to share out the content to teachers not on Twitter. However, we need to meet teachers where they are at the moment.

I like what AJ Julian writes in It's OK for Teachers NOT to be on Twitter . "Twitter may not be for everyone.  There are other options that might be better for various reasons for others."

I agree. I joined the MoreTPRS listserve almost 20 years ago and am still a member.  I never would have learned what I have about language acquisition and methodology without the inspiration and collaboration of this amazing network.  I have formed many friendships with these educators and look forward to seeing them in person at various conferences around the world.  I cannot yet claim the same for my Twitter relationships. For years many of these amazing language teachers were not yet on Twitter so I spent my Language Learning PD mostly on the MoreTPRS listserve (meeting them where they were). I used Twitter for more Tech, Leadership, and general Education topics.  Thankfully, many of these awesome language teachers are now on Twitter.

Yes,  let's meet our teachers where they are but slowly sharing with them the power and ease of Twitter or Google + is a good thing, too.  I plan to give another little demo on the power of building your own PLN. Twitter will be the first tool I mention. If you are thinking of doing the same, here are a few resources you might want to use. Twitter Handout

Twitter Infographic

Twitter 101 Presentation

Round Two: 20% Projects in the World Language Classroom

Two years ago I first experimented with 20% Time in my DP I Spanish class.  I had just read Angela Maiers' A Passion-Driven Classroom, we had just finished a KIVA Loan project, and being a long-time A Whole New Mind fan, I decided to give it a go. I was not clear with my expectations but I did give my students 4 guidelines. 

2011 Guidelines

1. Explore your passion.
2. Solve a problem.
3. Connect with another person.
4. Improve your Spanish.

Thankfully, my students hung in there and did the best they could with little guidance from me in terms of format and grading. It was quite messy but the results were amazing!  One day in December a student handed me a folder and said, "I'm turing in my Proyecto de Veinte Por Ciento". The look on the other students' faces was incredulous. Was it due they all asked? I quickly recovered from the shock myself and said something like, "it's due when you think it's due" and took her folder with a smile.  I wanted to model for my other students that this is the true essence of 20% time. Of course I never would have expected a student to turn something in without it being  DUE.  We made it through the year and many of the projects were outstanding. Some better than others and I'm sure some students would have preferred I had just told them what to do. We also struggled through failure which seemed to be a new concept for my students. 

A few of our favorites:

• Using a blog to make online cookbooks in Spanish and share with students across the school.
• Teaching local Spanish-speaking elementary students, in español, how to play Volleyball.
• Meeting, virtually, students from Honduras to prep for a Service Learning Project taking place in Honduras and then sharing her findings.
• Connecting with relatives and friends in Argentina to make special foods (alfajores) to sell for National Spanish Honour Society.
• Digging deeper into a topic studied in a TOK class and then sharing her thinking with the class.
• Asking the class to make Holiday cards (in Spanish) and donate a few bucks, then buying and wrapping gifts, and then helping deliver the cards/gifts to local Spanish-Speaking students with little financial resources.
• Researching the perfect place (Chile o España) to spend a GAP year after high school and then sharing the results with us. She chose Chile and actually went.

I'm back at it again, two years later.  I thought the learning was so powerful that I submitted to present at ACTFL this coming November.  My proposal was accepted and I'll now have two rounds of projects to share with other World Language Teachers. I started last week with my DP Spanish I class. Here are the first changes * in the process this round.

2013 Guidelines 

1. Explore a passion you are interested in LEARNING* more about.
2. Improve your Spanish.
3. Connect with other people.
4. Save the world in the process.*

Side note: Expect to fail a few times in the process.

I'm looking forward to sharing publicly how this round of 20% Time goes for me and my students. Please feel free to share any experience you have with giving your students 20% Time in your classes.

Time to get out of the eddy

I've spent hours, days and even years sitting in my kayak acting as eddy flower.  Colorado rivers are scary and their rapids are even scarier. The safe place, then, is always the eddy until you are confident to get into the big water.  Here you can safely watch your friends surf the waves without taking risks. In Jeff Utecht's book REACH he gives us permission to lurk (stay in the eddy) when first building your Professional Learning Network (PLN). He says it's part of the process. He's right. However, I have been lurking far too long. I've been reading blogs for education for many years. I've encouraged and taught teachers to blog and to tweet.  Years ago I could get away with the "do as I say..." mantra but today I need to model for my students true global collaboration, sharing, and learning. It's my turn to leave the eddy and play in the big waves.  I am not truly confident in my skills but I am hoping this COETAIL experience will give me both the confidence and inspiration to improve my digital footprint and deepen my learning in the process.