Super Students

Chaos sometimes makes you crazy and others a bit crazy and creative. Many colleagues must have experienced “a bit” of that, and I did recently when I was preparing to attend “ACTFL 2019”. Not that I left everything for the last minute, as has happened to me “sometimes”, but more like I wanted to surprise my kids and keep them focused and well-behaved for my dear sub while I was away. Let’s face it, is almost Thanksgiving and they are ready to say “gracias” for everything and “adiós” to school for a short while.

I decided to give my students some “Súper Siete” meaningful practice. All began with the traditional “yes/no” questions about themselves for starters, then spiced up with a bunch of question words, and finally my secret ingredient: a dictation.

Two days before traveling, I decided to test the dictation with my third, fourth, and fifth grade classes and I loved the results. Not only I got to keep their interest, but kept them peacefully interested. It is a little hectic to arrange everything not only for your school but for home and a little quiet is very appreciated, right?

I wrote a statement about each one of my students using the Super Seven verbs in the order I have them placed by my whiteboard, and by my seating charts. Thanks to CI, I know more about my students than they expected. This was the greatest thing to watch. They were not focused on spelling but on what I was going to say about each one of them. They predicted the order soon, and were surprised and excited to hear all I had to say.

One of my fifth graders complained : “Is it only that you know about me?”- because I had provided more interesting facts about his classmates according to him. He happened to get “Súper Tiene” and I mentioned he had two younger brothers. There was no much that I could think of when I was writing his statement using facts, and comprehensible, and familiar vocabulary. However, I was able to elaborate on my statement and named his siblings, their grade level, their teachers, their age, and added how much he loved them because I also teach them. He was all smiles and teary-eyed after that.

Another student, the last one in my seating chart and from my third grade class, seemed a little worried about what I was to say about him. He had been a little naughty lately and I guess he felt I was going to describe what he did. Just for the record, all my statements were positive or descriptive aspects but probably a little guilt was in the air. When I finally got to him, he got “Super Quiere”. I decided to use a little fiction to make the statement a more special. He was waiting for his turn patiently and totally deserved it! Since this kid used to sit with me during lunch when he was in first grade, I painfully got to learn his love for vehicles. He could easily imitate any vehicle sound …on my ear. His statement was this: “Cristóbal quiere un helicóptero”. As simple as that and it made it. I could not resist to ask the class if they wanted me to add more information – they were not tired after all the writing – and the whole statement ended up as :“Cristóbal quiere un helicóptero amarillo para su cumpleaños con seis elefantes verdes y un dinosaurio pequeño”. Cristóbal asked :”¿Dinosaurio bebé?”. I said: “Sí”. He was delighted!!

Once I finished reading all the statements, I had time to ask different students to read the statements about their classmates, and after each statement, I asked the “protagonists” if I was right or not, and continued with a question for them to elaborate on what I said. I did not have to beg for details because they were excited to keep talking.

Since I was pleased with the results, I went home and recorded my statements for each class using QuickVoice, added the file on my class page, and finished the plan for my dear sub. I made sure the recording played properly, and heard from my coworkers that she did not have any problem. I am excited to hear from my students tomorrow and see what their writing was like. Hope you could use this idea and share how it works for you!!