Be the change…

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

I have a long commute to work each morning.  LONG.  I usually listen to audio books so that I can “enjoy” being in my car as long as I am in my car in the mornings.

This week I have been driving to work in the most elated state possible.  I don’t know why I’ve been so happy driving to work each morning this week.  It could be for many reasons…I have been excited about what I am going to teach each day, I am excited to see a beautiful friend of mine who is coming to visit this weekend from Utah, it has been sunny and chilly outside each morning and so beautiful, I have been proud of myself for exercising each morning before school or because I have been listening to all kinds of music blaring through my speakers while I sing at the top of my lungs and dance like no one is watching me.  I think that might be why!  Here are my songs of choice so far this week:

Lady Gaga-Edge of Glory

Lady Gaga-Born This Way

Martin Solveig & Dragonette – Hello

JLo-On the Floor

It has been so fun dancing and singing on my way to work! Music can make such a difference in how I feel. If I can start my day bopping around like no one is watching and belting out a tune, I’ve noticed how great I feel.

I’ve been doing the same thing with my 7th and 8th graders each day. We sing and dance to at least two songs in Spanish as we start each class, and what a difference it has made in their demeanor and mine! I have to choose songs they like of course (which is difficult at times because there isn’t much that they “like”…middles schoolers)  :), and they are more focused, engaged and involved in class. I’ve found some fantastic songs to share with them and easy share the lyrics with this awesome app called jotnot pro.  It is like a teeny scanner on my phone that work with evernote, email, google docs and more!
Every Friday is Dance Friday in my classroom now and it starts our mornings off great!  Music.  SO simple.  SO great.  Seriously, try it.  Find the songs you love and, “You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

My 8th graders and I called Taylor Schrang today via Skype.  She is a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay.  My classroom was packed with all 24 of my 8th graders (that is a FULL HOUSE for my small school) and we chatted with her for about 30 minutes.  It was such a great experience for me and for my 8th graders as well.  Middle School students pretty much don’t “like” anything about school nor learning/work, but I think this Skype call was a winner in their books and in mine.

I was so proud of them today.  Many of them came up with some really great questions to ask her, and the majority of them were actually listening and interested in the conversation!  This is just the best way for them to learn about the people and culture in these Spanish-speaking countries that we learn about.  What we read in books and research online is very valuable of course, but since I can’t travel with them to Paraguay, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Argentina etc….this is the next best thing!  It was such a valuable learning experience for all parties involved.

Here is the video if you want to check us out!
Taylor has so graciously offered to chat with us more throughout the school year so we can continue to learn about Paraguay and the work she is doing there!

This website and music has done wonders for me and for my middle school students!  Oh my goodness!  James Wooldridge is a Middle School Spanish Teacher in Evanston, IL.  Someone suggested a couple years ago that I really needed to buy his music.  IT IS SO GREAT!  I wish I had bought it sooner.  It is right up my 6th-8th grader’s alley!  The humor, the beat of the music, everything!  They love it, I love it and they get to learn something at the same time.

I have NINE years with my students and by 8th grade it is hard to come up with things that they still enjoy and that I still enjoy doing with them.  Sometimes they are sick of me and I am sick of them.  It is just the truth.  So I keep trying and changing things so that they can have a good enjoyable Spanish class and so can I.

What I’ve realized about myself as a teacher is that I am happy when my students are happy…especially my 8th graders.  They are the hardest to please and even though I don’t have to, I really do try to please them and make them happy each day WHILE they learn Spanish.

If you are a Middle School or High School Spanish Teacher YOU NEED this music and you need to pay the $19.99 it costs to join the site.

SO I purchased this microphone called The Blue Snow Ball because a presenter at a conference about movie-making suggested it.  I use it when I record what we did in class on our Smart Board or when I film my students doing simple things and want to drown out background noise.  It is good for Skyping too in a noisy room.  Here are some posts on my school blog to check out to see what I mean….

http://blogs.bannockburnschool.org/lbeversdorf/2011/08/29/kindergarten-the-best-time-to-learn-a-language/

http://blogs.bannockburnschool.org/lbeversdorf/2011/05/26/septimo-ano-7th-grade-reflexive-verbs/

http://blogs.bannockburnschool.org/lbeversdorf/2011/05/26/sexto-ano-sixth-grade-el-26-de-mayo/

But here is the really funny part… I have it plugged in to my computer on a daily basis just in case we decide quickly to film what we are doing.  We do that some times if some one is absent, they can watch class on line, or if we just feel the need to show off what we know that day!

When ever it is plugged in, a red light lights up on the front.  You can see it here:

So my students actually think that they are being watched or recorded every moment that they red light is on.  They are well-behaved kids any way, but it is so funny to hear them whisper things like, “Isn’t this illegal?”  “Can she be recording us right now?”  “Why is that thing watching us?”  I’ve never said any thing to them about the red light. Some of them just talk to it.  When they pass it, they say things to it because they think I am recording and will post to blog.  It is hilarious.  None of them have ever asked me about it, so I am going to allow them to be ignorant and stay in the blissful realm of them behaving because they think they are being recorded.  They even show off a bit some times.  Love the Blue Snow Ball Mic for many reasons!

I am so excited!  My pestering of many Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay paid off!  This awesome volunteer named Taylor Schrang has agreed to connect with my students and I so we can learn about the real Paraguay and what the country is really like outside of books and what we read online!  Check out her blog!

I REEEEEEEALLY want to turn my Spanish class into a service project oriented Spanish class.  It is my dream.  I teach Kindergarten to 8th grade.  My students have ME as their teacher for NINE years and I want to impart a bit more on them than just the Spanish language and bits about the different cultures.  I want to be able to teach my students about the real world as best I can and burst their bubbles about how fortunate we are to live where we do.  I want to help them want to help others.

I never like to teach my students about a Spanish-speaking culture unless I have been there to visit and experienced the culture myself or if I have a contact or friend in a specific culture.  But I have taught them about most of the countries that I have visited thus far so I decided that Paraguay might be a good place to start if I want to really help them see how different other people’s lives can be.  So I was just google-ing tonight for a place to start.  A place to find some kid-friendly information about Paraguay.  When I searched, “Spanish Teacher + service project for kids” I found these websites from the Peace Corps.  The first is to have a speaker come to speak at your school about their experience http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/educators/ and the second is what I value most at this point.  It is a link to Peace Corps Journal entries (that link you to personal blogs) of volunteers living in Paraguay right now.  http://peacecorpsjournals.com/?Journal&journal_id=7309

So I should be in bed now because I get up at 4:45 each day!  But I have been reading these wonderful volunteer’s blogs and commenting on each hoping that someone will respond and want to connect to me and my students via Skype or email so that we can REALLY learn about Paraguay!

My friend Megan is at it again….Doing wonderful things in life to be the change and effect change!

Check it out here. She is working on a micro lending film that empowers women, and all people struggling to make it on their own, and just need that little boost from others to help…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1854708768/finishing-mfp/widget/video.html

Yesterday an awesome group called Cirque Amongus came to our school and our students participated in circus events throughout the entire morning.  They tried a tight rope, a trapeze, mini-bikes and unicycles, juggling, balancing acts, acrobatics and more!  It was a great day.  We had parents and teachers all day working together at school for this event and it could not have been more fun!

After lunch each student had to decide which even they would perform in the “big top” in front of the entire school.  After they decided this, we teachers and parents got to dress them in “wardrobe” circus outfits and then they each had their make-up done. It was so well organized and so well run.  I could not believe we got it all done in a day.

The group Cirque Amongus assigned all the adults to different tasks; you were either a group leader or you taught a skill for the whole morning.  Everything was randomized and selected through their computer system.  I was a group leader.  I was in charge of nine students.  It was a group of three 4th graders, three 6th graders and three 8th graders.  When I received the names of my group that morning I was a total pessimist.  I could not have imagined a more complex, difficult and strange group of students to be put together.  I thought their personalities would clash all day!  It was fabulous.

Each one of the kids in my group tried every activity, supported each other and had fun.  Even the two 8th grade boys (whom I thought would be awful) had some serious hidden circus talent.  Toward the end of the morning these two boys were a bit of a challenge, but it turned out to be a great time!

The one thing I thought about throughout the day and after the day was over was how important it is to listen and watch when you hear a kid say, “LOOK AT ME!” or  “Watch this!”  or “Did you see me?”  That is what I heard throughout the day from all ages of kids.  That little moment to shine and that small “hey check me out!” moment is so ultra important to them.  It meant so much to youngest and oldest in the school just to have that special attention and moment when they are on stage proudly accomplishing something they had no idea they could do.  Even those “too cool” 8th grade boys made sure I was watching from time to time very nonchalantly of course.  It was a wonderful day.

I think these little “watch this!” moments are even important as we get older, right?  It is always nice to know that someone is interested and proud of your accomplishments, right?

I sit here to write this post as my 4th graders play games online in Spanish that I have linked to our class website. They are so engaged so I thought I would take this time to write about them and be engaged myself.  It seems to be a good time to reflect.  They are so funny and we so excited today to play.  We never really get to sit and play games like this because I prefer to be talking and engaging them with Spanish that is usually coming out of my mouth or theirs, or reading, writing, singing…we are always doing something that makes a lot of noise. Today we have a small class because there are some students making up some tests.  I was going to teach a new concept today, but with students missing, I can do it next time.

Today they are quiet, so quiet.  I am not accustomed to this quiet.  They are on their own to play any game in Spanish that they want to play.  Here is the one they are obsessed with: BURRITO BUILDER

It is strange for me to sit here and not talk with them.  I actually do not like it.  It is weird for me.  I feel like I am doing something wrong by letting them just sit and learn on their own from games I linked for me.  Isn’t that weird?  I am usually engaging with them for 30 minutes straight and now we have been quietly engaged in a whole new way for 30 minutes straight.  It is a good day, but I still feel guilty as if I am not doing my job.  Maybe some day this quiet will feel right…I can see they enjoyed it.  When I stopped class they all said, NO! and did not want to leave…they hardly listened to me when I spoke and said it was time to go.  I had to tell them a few times they had to leave because 5th grade was about to come.  My darling digital natives!  Some of them still had their computers open and working on their games as they left through the door.

Here they are…no one said a word