Never have I ever and the Present Perfect

Every year during this time of year, I can't help but take the walk down memory lane and think of high school and my basketball days. I certainly wasn't a great basketball player (not even a good one), but I do have some really good memories of those seasons and my teammates.

As a result, a few weeks ago, I was riding the School bus with the ACADEMIC team I coach and I remembered how we would play "Never have I ever" on the long bus rides home. Being the nerdy lady I am, I started to think about it in terms of grammar and realized that as serendipitous as it was, I would be teaching the present perfect to my Spanish 2 class later that week. 

As someone that is always looking to try something new, I taught my Spanish 2 students how to form the present perfect and then told them about this memory. Learning that this is a game that is rarely played nowadays, I typed up the following blurb and explained it to the kids.

"Never Have I Ever is a game that both allows you get to know each other better and to use what you already know about others to your advantage.  Everyone in your group will take turns saying something they have never done.  Each player starts with ten fingers showing.  Each time someone says something that you HAVE done, you drop a finger. The goal is to be the last player with fingers remaining."

With the game explained, I had the kids put together a list of five things they have never done. As predicted, many of them were very strategic in writing things they were certain friends of theirs have done so that they would need to put fingers down. I then split the class in half and in a round robin fashion had each student say something they have never done. I only allotted 15 minutes, and allowed the people with the most fingers left to claim themselves as the winner, but you could play even longer if you had the time.


In the end, it resulted in a high interest activity that required little to no planning and promoted listening and speaking skills. WIN!

Desk Posters

Let me start by saying that this is an idea I found on Pinterest. It is a modified work, not an original, but I wanted to share it out because my students love it and it has made a difference in the level of engagement.

Like many of you, my classroom is small. I have little wall space, and posters take up a lot of real estate. This idea, therefore, caught my eye when I saw it. It is a thin banner of commonly used phrases that I have attached at the top of my student's desks. The first time I put them on, I photocopied them on bright orange paper and taped them to the desks. As you can imagine, they lasted about three weeks before they came flying off. In a second attempt, I bought one of those scotch laminators and started to laminate them.

Desk Posters

What I mostly love about these, is that it is a quick go to sheet when the kids are caught off guard. No longer do they have to pull out a vocabulary sheet from a folder or look at the back of the book. Furthermore, they have been on the desks long enough that most of them don't even look at them anymore. The phrases slowly (without much work) have become part of their everyday vocabulary and students have the confidence to use them.

***BRAG POST***

I'm going to start by saying that a lot of this particular post is going to sound like a big, old pat on the back for me, but, I can assure you that it is much more than that and does indeed serve a purpose.

At our school, we invite the entire freshmen class and their parents to come in the last night of Summer vacation to meet and greet the teachers. A few years ago, on this night, I had a young man come in with his grandmother and I asked him his name. He told me and it was followed up with this conversation:

Me: Well, student, it is very nice to meet you! Are you excited for your freshmen year!!?!?
Him: No, school is stupid.
Me: Awww...Come on! School is great! It is my favorite place in the whole world! At the very least, I can promise you a great year in Spanish!
Him: No you can't.
Me: Sure, I can. Spanish is the best! You will be speaking it before you know it!
Him: I ain't going to learn no F*^%ing Spanish. I'm telling you it is stupid.

Ill be honest in saying that I was at a loss for words. I even went as far as calling the school counselor on the way home from school crying about how awful this experience would be. The next day, I tried to smooth things over. I went out of my way to make him feel welcome. And, again, my positive attitude and offer to help was denied.

Day after day, week after week I chipped away at this situation. And, he didn't make it easy on me. He stopped bringing paper to class and never had a pen. So, every day I would walk over to his desk and hand him a new sheet of paper and a new writing utensil. I kept his textbook under my desk to give back to him each day, and I would make sure he was as involved as every other student. Some days he would push me in terms of his behavior and out in the hallway we would talk about how I refused to give up on him. That I saw a kid with a bright future ahead of him and that I would do EVERYTHING in my power to make it harder for him to fail than to succeed.

We really came head to head when it became time for him to do his family tree project. At this point, he was adamant about failing the class. I knew I had to do something creative, and, so I offered him an opportunity to do a family tree of my Foreign Exchange Student's family (see my post on inviting FE Students to be TAs) . This particular student was from Colombia, and what took place during these two weeks was quite magical...

These boys bonded, to an extent that all the sudden Spanish wasn't something my amigo was so obstinate about any more. Little by little he would raise his hand in class and he would ALWAYS allow my TA to be his speaking partner. I saw,after months and months of trying, that wall come down.

The following year, he took my Spanish 2 class. Still a little on the rocky side, but, our good days outweighed the bad. I made sure to send as many positive emails home as possible and made sure HE knew that I cared not only about his performance in my class but ALL classes and that I wasn't going to go away. In fact, as a way to prove that to him, I extended him an invitation to pay forward the gift that was given to him by our dear Colombian. The opportunity to TA--and he took it!

Now this young man hangs out with me every day, tutoring, inspiring kids and teaching ALONGSIDE me. He tells my kids that "Spanish is cool as long as you stay positive" and that "You can try to give up, but, Miss Rad and I will be right there to pick you back up" . When I have a sub, he teaches. And, most of the time the kids in my class ask HIM to help them instead of me--and, every time it happens, my heart grows three sizes larger.

So far, this is has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. Never before did I think I could care THIS much. And, truth be told, this guy isn't rare. We all have kids like this and you never know how your class and attitude will affect a student and his/her life. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that every student deserves to be known and valued and that a little bit of adult attention, a kind heart and a helping hand can go a long way.

Making Freshmen Year Count

In addition to a Spanish teacher, I am part of a group of teachers at my school that runs a freshmen intervention program that is VERY near and dear to my heart. Though curriculum and lessons are passions of mine, I would be amiss if I didn't take the time to write about this huge part of my life as well...

As we work hard in education to keep students on track for four year graduation, it is important to understand that 9^th grade may be the last year that we have to intervene. Studies show that students are three to five times more likely to fail freshman year than any other grade and the impact of that on their future success is staggering. In order to keep Freshmen on track there are a few things that all districts can be doing to make sure all students succeed.

#1 Pull together a group of positive teachers that are resilient, innovative and flexible in attitude, schedule and expectations.

Empower this group of individuals to work together by giving them common plan time during the day so that they can collaborate and problem-solve. Encourage this group to get together at least weekly to review the Freshmen D/F list to identify any areas that may need improvement. Note that it is especially important to get a group together that is made up of different disciplines to get a well-rounded view of student performance. You will find that some students may do better in elective courses than core classes or vocational vs. academic.  Furthermore, having a guidance counselor and a Special education teacher on the team, makes for a great support system.

#2 Identify students that may need extra support or have circumstances that interfere with academic success before they even enter your building.

Ask your 8^th grade teachers to pull together a list of students that were at risk of not graduating to the 9th grade. Using that list, provide time for your team of 9^th grade teachers to meet with your 8th grade team so they can hear descriptions of each student on the list in terms of organization, homework completion, absenteeism, study skills, home life, etc..

If you have the resources, take it one step further by creating an early warning system to identify at risk students. At OHS we have compiled attendance rates, GPA, extracurricular involvement, office discipline referrals, number of Fs in 7th and 8th grade, MAPs scores, AIMs scores, and course assessment data.  Together with teacher anecdotes, this information paints a fairly accurate picture of student performance and need so that you are ready with support before they even start freshmen year.

 #3 Provide Teacher mentors for the 15% of students that were at risk of not graduating to 9^th grade

Ask Freshman team teachers to volunteer to mentor 2-3 students and meet with them weekly on an individual basis to discuss grades, teach organizational skills, offer homework help and serve as a strong role model. At OHS we call this program “Hawks Take Flight” and it links each HTF student with an adult in the building that they can count on to look over him/her. In addition to having a teacher mentor, students are invited to attend an after school homework café every Thursday with all of the HTF teachers and they are enrolled in a Study Skills course for the year that is facilitated by one of our Mentors. The vision and goal of HTF is to ensure all HTF students remain on track for on time graduation. It is a time commitment, but is well worth the success we have seen over the years.

#4 Set goals with mentees as well as take the time to recognize effort and successes

Ask your Mentors to do a weekly check-in of mentees in terms of attendance, planner usage, organizational skills, homework completion, assessment success, goal attainment and extra tutoring. Consider giving students a ticket for each area that is met to be placed in a jar for a weekly prize drawing. This type of system is effective for a few reasons. First of all, this is a group of students that rarely gets recognized for their academics. By acknowledging their successes, they feel as though their efforts are appreciated, and they are intrinsically motivated to work harder. Also, the ticket system takes the emphasis off of what isn’t done and makes mentor/mentee check-ins more positive, though they sometimes involve some tough conversations.

Essentially, this type program is relationship based. We’ve found that by the end of freshmen year, students have the confidence and mindset that they need to be successful.

#5 Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Make sure to keep two way communication open between parents, counselors, teachers, administrators and students at all times. Students are most successful when all parties are aware of what is going on with their education. Parent phone calls are a lot more meaningful when a teacher/administrator can not only describe what is happening in one class but in several. Furthermore, encourage your team to make positive calls home. A student is likely to continue to exhibit positive behaviors if you’ve taken the time to recognize his/her efforts, and, it sends parents the message that you truly care as you have taken the time to get to know and value their child.

Overall, there is no doubt that these five simple steps take time, but, the investment will be well worth student success and hopefully will translate to higher graduation rates in the future.