Talia Block
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Word Clouds

5/31/2016

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Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth on whether I like word clouds or not. After attending Amy Lenord’s session on Liberation from the List at Central States, I decided to give them another try. Over the past few weeks, I’ve worked with the clouds in various capacities to get the most out of their use. Here are a few of the activities:
 
1. Introduction of vocabulary
Copy and past the content of a website into the word cloud site and create! Once the word cloud is complete, students can begin by searching for cognates and words they know. I also encourage them to make educated guesses about words based on what they already know about the language. Students can share all the words with the class, and this becomes their vocabulary list. Once students have found these words (which usually ends up being WAY more than they could imagine), have them write a short summary of what they think the website might be about. For novice mid students, you may just have them write the most important words from the cloud. Now that you’ve activated some prior knowledge, students can read through the text and do various interpretive activities.
 
2. Info gap activities
There are a few different ways to do info gaps with word clouds. For my 3rd graders, I created a word cloud with adjectives and asked students to highlight the words that describe themselves. Once they did that, students paired up and asked each other about the various adjectives, highlighting with a different color on the word cloud. Students finished by creating a Venn Diagram to compare themselves with their friends. This could work with any set of vocabulary in terms of likes and dislikes.

In the 5th grade, I used word clouds to condense an “All About Me” page from a blog post. I created two clouds – one for each post. Students answered questions about their post based on the cloud and then partnered up to ask and answer questions based on their cloud.

Picture
3. All About Me
Word clouds are also a great way to present information. They can be used to start the year as a way to introduce students to one another or at the end of the year to sum up the various vocabulary pieces the students learned. I find that providing a brainstorm document of some sort helps students organize their thoughts and put more information into the cloud.
 
4. Guess Who
A word cloud is a great way to play Guess Who? in class. Students create their cloud without their name and their classmates try to guess who it is. The other day, I had students move from cloud to cloud. Not only did they guess the name of the person, but also wrote palabras claves, key words that helped them determine to whom the cloud belonged. Some were obvious, such as the student obsessed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James, and others were much trickier as multiple students participate in the same activities.
 
There are various sites you can use to create your world cloud. Here are a few that I’ve used in the past:
 
-Wordle: This is one of the original sites and provides you the ability to change fonts, colors, and word direction. The more times you write a word, the larger it becomes. You can copy text from websites, song lyrics, etc. It requires flash, so it cannot be used on a iPad. It often asks for updates and seems to work best on Firefox rather than Chrome or Safari.
-Tagxedo: This site is similar to Wordle, but also allows you to create the word clouds in various shapes. It also requires a plugin, but once downloaded, works just fine. It also works best on Firefox or Safari.
-Tagul: My favorite of the three at this point, Tagul works on any browser and also on the iPads. It gives more freedom than the others in that colors, fonts, and word directions can be changed for individual words or the word cloud as a whole.  Tagul does require a login, but if students have Google accounts through the school, they can use them here. The benefit of logging in, however, is that the site saves your work and you can return to it later.
 
How do you use word clouds in class? 
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10 Confessions

5/21/2016

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I the year comes to an end, I always like to look back at how both the students and I have changed. This change is not just apparent in the activities we do or in the amount of target language the students use, but also in how we feel as we crawl toward the end. As I read my Twitter feed, Allison Wienhold's (@SraWienhold) 10 Confessions blog post appeared, and it made me realize that there are some things I should confess as well. So here are my 10 confessions of an end of the year teacher:
  1. As I get closer to my due date at the end of June, walking around the classroom is less and less appealing; especially since I can barely squeeze between the chairs and the bookshelves!
  2. Drawing quietly as part of a project is no longer a homework assignment, but a legit in class activity.
  3. I can't seem to cook more than one or two dinners a week, which leaves both lunch and dinner a scramble.
  4. Most years, watching kids "graduate" from 5th to 6th grade is a exciting and a pleasure. This year, I'm happy for them, of course, but I will miss this groups' curiosity, interest, and excitement for learning.
  5. The end of this year is bittersweet, as I'm exhausted and ready to meet baby, but I'm totally freaking out about having a sub to start the year.
  6. I will not be sad if I never see (or more correctly hear) a student chewing gum in class again.
  7. We may be three weeks away from the end of the year, but I am more than a little tempted to start taking things off the walls and to purge unnecessary files and other things.
  8. I've worn sneakers to work every day for the past 3 months straight. Dresses, pants - it doesn'T matter. I'm totally ready for mismatch day next week. 
  9. I'm definitely counting the days until June 10th when I can put my feet up on the couch and watch hours of Gran Hotel without interruption!
  10. Despite my complete exhaustion at this point, I know that I will look forward to returning to school after maternity leave. I look forward to having a lot of time to think about new goals for the coming year and to what I want to accomplish, but also to what I'm willing to let go of as I embark on a new journey that requires balancing a baby and teaching.

I'm always glad to know that I'm not alone in letting things go as the year comes to an end, but also knowing that the need to relax and recharge is balanced with the excitement we all feel as we look forward to the new school year.

Now I'll pose the same question as Sra. Wienhold: What are your confessio
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Lip Sync Battle

5/9/2016

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Who doesn’t love a good lip sync? It takes me back to my days at summer camp, but lately, lip sync battles are all the rage. So why not bring it into the classroom. Not only is it a great way to introduce students to popular music in Spanish, but also a chance for me to catch up on the latest and greatest while throwing in some of my favorites! (Plus it was a chance to watch Jimmy Fallon’s lip sync battles gratuitously.)
Students have access to the set of music videos they can choose from before we begin the battle. At home, they listen to as many of the songs as they like and come to class with an idea of their top video. Based on their video choice, they are put in groups. If there are multiple groups that choose the same video, it is up to the group to make their performance standout.
 
Once in groups, students get to work on the studying the song lyrics, and especially the chorus. As this is 5th grade, students are only responsible for truly lip syncing the chorus. In order to impress the judges (a few teachers I roped in and me), they can learn more. Students get to practicing the lyrics while they listen and dividing the work amongst the group. Students perform no more than 2 minutes of the song for the sake of time (we only have a 30 minute class).
 
Next comes the dance moves. No one wants to watch you standing still for 2 minutes! Students choreograph a dance to the part on which they will focus.  It’s really fun to watch the students get into their dance moves. You never know who’s been hiding their talents all year!
 
Groups go against each other in pairs. The winner of each pair advances to the next round. Students are judged on their creativity, the clarity of the lip sync during the chorus, and group dynamics.

While this is a great way to wind down the school year, it is also a fun way to introduce new music to the students. It opens their eyes to culturally appropriate artists and genres, as well as provides input in the target language. Hearing different accents and voices broadens students’ ability to interpret the target language and make use of it. This activity can also be connected to their music classes, adding another layer to its’ purpose. 
 
Next year, I’d love to pair the songs for our lip sync battle with a Music Madness tournament in March, a la Carrie Toth and @Spanishplans. I would introduce these songs/videos in March and get the students geared up and listening. By May, they wouldn’t even need the lyrics to study! 
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