Starting Strong: Portfolios & Learner Profiles

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Noemí Rodríguez (LTL Contributor)

As we all continue to get to know our new groups of language learners, I have been working on different systems to set up the school year for success and highlight language proficiency along the way. I believe that implementing portfolios, self-reflection surveys and having constant communication are solid ways to begin the school year. 

Portfolios: A Window into Student Growth

Portfolios serve as a valuable tool for tracking student progress and showcasing their achievements. By incorporating a variety of artifacts such as writing samples, audio samples, projects, and reflections, students can develop a sense of ownership over their learning and see their language growth over time. Ideally, if these portfolios can be a part of their World Language program from year to year – what an incredible way to see students grow along the proficiency continuum. 

Here are different ways to utilize World Language portfolios:

  • Goal Setting: Encourage students to set personalized learning goals at the beginning of the year. Discuss the WHAT & HOW behind the goals they set. 
  • Showcase Achievements: Celebrate student accomplishments by featuring their best work in their portfolios. This boosts language confidence and encourages future effort. I love being able to pull a students’ portfolio during parent-teacher conferences! 
  • Self-Assessment: Incorporate opportunities for self-assessment throughout the year. This allows students to reflect on their growth and identify areas for improvement. Here is a self & peer assessment for the writing prompt: Who Am I? 
portfolios

Digital portfolios offer an easy, personalized space to showcase their growth and achievements. By collecting a variety of writing and speaking artifacts digitally and having students reflect on their learning journey, they can develop a much deeper understanding of their progress and look back at any time. I like to use a Google Form to collect all of the URLs of my students and you can view a sample here. Make sure students change their digital portfolio sending to “anyone with a link can view”. 

Learner Surveys: Understanding Individual Needs

Are your students auditory, tactile or visual learners? Surveying students can provide insight into their different learning styles, interests, and goals. By gathering this information, we can tailor our instruction to meet their individual needs. Here are a few websites that I have used to determine which type of learner I have in my class. This is one way to collect data about your students and as a result, monitor & adjust my future lessons according to these learning styles. 

Another way to learn about your students is to simply administer a survey to “get to know them” and their preferences! I like to learn about a students’ interests, self assess on their Spanish speaking/writing/reading/listening abilities and any obstacles and/or future goals they may have for themselves at the start of the school year. I also like to tap into which units of study are of interest and certain in-class activities they prefer. 

Here are a few sample Google Form surveys to get to know my students throughout the school year and gather insight on their preferences. 

By starting off the year with a language growth goal in mind, at the midway point in the year, I like to one on one conference with students to see whether or not they have met the language goal they had proposed and if they haven’t or are still working towards it, they are then asked to state at least two actions that are reasonable and realistic to help them attain this goal by the end of the school year. It also provides insight to administer a similar survey at the midpoint in the school year and again at the end of the year. 

One on one conferencing or conferencing with students in small groups can go a long way. I highly encourage you to set up appointments with students during the first three weeks of school, mid year point and again at the end of the year. I ask students to schedule themselves over that time period using a Google Doc (sample). Even if this means that I only meet with one or two students each time we have class, this ensures that I dedicate quality time in getting to know my students and discussing their progress in my class. 

Building Relationships Through Communication

Effective communication is essential for building trust and rapport with students. Here are some strategies to foster positive relationships:

  • Open-Door Policy: Maintain an open-door policy to encourage students to seek help and support whenever needed.
  • Active Listening: Practice active listening to demonstrate that you value students’ perspectives and concerns.
  • Ongoing Written Communication & Reflection: Students have composition notebooks that serve as a weekly reflection. 
  • Positive Reinforcement: Provide positive feedback and encouragement to reinforce students’ efforts and achievements.

Students also have composition notebooks that serve as their “Yo aprendí” journals. These notebooks are used at the end of every week and students reflect about their progress in class. They add to these notebooks on a weekly basis (beginning classes in English, one paragraph) and I am able to communicate with students directly by adding my own notes and insights on their reflections. We go back & forth each week – so I am always corresponding with students in a low-stakes way about how they feel, what they did well and any goals they have for the next week ahead. 

We all understand that it is important to get to know our students and begin to forge relationships right from the first day. By developing strong connections with students, classroom teachers are able to establish climates of respect and mutual understanding in caring, nurturing environments, where student success is celebrated {no matter how big or small!} and learning becomes contagious.

How will you start strong this school year?

Make it Happen! #GoalsProject in Spanish Class

Posted on by Vicky Masson

It has been great to focus on one goal a month since the beginning of 2024. So many times we start school strong to find ourselves drifting as the months go bye. So far, in 2024, we have concentrated in collecting moments and doing more of what we love. So, in March, we will continue with … Make it Happen!

To me, to ‘make it happen’ is to accomplish what you dream of or desire by doing what is best for you and your students. It does not mean that it is easy or that it is a quick fix. It will probably require effort to solve problems and face different challenges. Thus, I want to encourage you to take the first step, take action, and make it happen!

It was the end of January and I remember thinking: What do I want to accomplish? How am I going to do it? Then, I learned about the #GoalsProject through social media and I signed up as soon as I got the green light from my school.

#GoalsProject – Make it Happen!

The #GoalsProject is done by students all around the world based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (I wrote about the SDGs in What Do You Do When You Learn Something New?). The UN SDGs are the solutions to world problems and a call to action to make it happen.

The #GoalsProject is a richly infused 6-week global collaboration project based on the SDGs to promote taking action in the classroom. It requires students to practice 21st century skills: learning skills, literacy skills, and life skills, which are essential for students to succeed in life. As a world language educator, this was exactly what I envisioned for my students!

The #GoalsProject also encompasses most of the principles of Powerful Learning. And what better way to provide voice and agency to my students than through taking action for the SDGs.

To introduce the project, students talked about the SDGs and learned about their importance and how crucial it is to help in achieving these goals by 2030. This year, students dug deeper into SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. 

Middle school was given 3 SDGs to choose from, and SDG 12 was the one we picked for sixth grade Spanish. I chose SDG 12 because it relates directly to the work we do at school with TerraCycle ‘to recycle the unrecyclable.’ 

Activities and Tasks: Make it Happen!

Some of the activities we did and some tasks my 6th-graders performed in Spanish class during their participation in this program are these:

  • Participating in a Virtual School Assembly  
  • Responding to Youth Ambassadors 
  • Having a video-conference with students in the Dominican Republic 
  • Completing a KWHLAQ graphic organizer 
  • Listening to videos about the ‘Circular Economy’ 
  • Completing a Systems Thinking Compass 
  • Creating a poster for Fact-ivist! 
  • Brainstorming solutions to problems related to SDG 12 

Let me share a little bit about these tasks below. There are links to the sources used as well. 

Participating in a Virtual School Assembly

The Virtual School Assembly was a webinar in which my students participated with thousands of other students in the world. It showed students the scope of the project and gave purpose to what they were doing.

Responding to Youth Ambassadors 

After listening to what Youth Ambassadors from all over the world did towards the SDGs and why, my students found inspiration to start their contribution to helping achieve the SDGs. Their responses in the Padlet showed how impacted students were by the Youth Ambassadors speeches/ presentations to a personal level. 

Having a video conference with students in the Dominican Republic 

Connecting with students their age from another country in Spanish and learning about their projects was a highlight for most of my students. 

Completing a KWHLAQ graphic organizer 

To show students’ thinking we used the KWHLAQ graphic organizer which is based on six questions:

  • K – What do we think we know about this topic? 
  • W – What do we need to find out? 
  • H – How will we find out the answers to our questions? 
  • L – What are we learning and what have we learned? 
  • A – What action will we take? 
  • Q – What new questions do we have? 

Using the KWHLAQ helped me see what students learned and what their interests were.

Listening to videos about the ‘Circular Economy’ 

The Ellen MaCarthur Foundation is all about the circular economy, which is key in achieving SDG12, Responsible Consumption and Production. We listened to some videos on this topic and discussed them. 

Completing a Systems Thinking Compass 

I loved having students complete the Systems Thinking Compass because it is a tool that helps students see the interdependence of any system.

The Systems Thinking Compass is easy to understand as it uses the four points of the regular compass but renaming them. So the N for North, becomes the N for Nature. The E for  East becomes the E for Economy. The S for South becomes the S for Society, and the  W for West becomes the W for Wellbeing. 

For example, having the SDG 12 in the center and thinking about the impact of consumption and production from the lens of Nature, Economy, Society, and Wellbeing helped students identify the issues and then connect their commonalities.  It was probably the most difficult activity we did as it required them to think in systems, make connections, and then present their ideas to the class.

Creating a poster for Fact-ivist!  

Researching data related to the SDG12 in Latin America was challenging as they had to find reliable sources. Students did their research starting from a simple Google or Bing search and narrowed it down to relevant sources like the World Bank, UN.org, Paho, Agenda2030lac, IDB, etc. In the end, students were able to identify data related to the SDG 12 that was interesting to them and complete their assignment of creating a poster using data.

At the beginning, data such as the amount of food that is wasted, was surprising to them, but it made this SDG real! Then, they created a poster to represent the data found using a digital art tool like Canva. The cherry on top was publishing their poster for the world to see. You can check them out in the Fact-ivist Gallery. 

Brainstorming solutions to problems related to SDG 12 

Using a storyboard, students sketched their possible solutions to problems related to SDG 12, from recycling to creating innovative ways to wasting less food. They came up with such great solutions! Then, they wrote a sentence or two about their sketches. 

Make it Happen!

In a fun way, students learned about the SDGs while having the opportunity to think about the world’s needs and contribute with their different perspectives to make a change. This experience was very powerful as it showed students what they can do to help the Earth and that they can do it.

I am happy to have made it happen for my students!

‘P’ is for Project in World Language Classes

Posted on by Vicky Masson

“’P’ is for Project” is one of the frameworks that I usually use to help students complete a project successfully in my Spanish language classes. This framework uses words in Spanish that begin with ‘P’, guiding students to identify and follow the different steps of the process while gaining independence. In Spanish, the 7 Ps of a project include: Preguntar / Preguntarse, Planear, Preparar, Practicar. Presentar, Personalizar, Pensar.

‘P’ is for Project

In English, most of the names for the steps use the word ‘P’ except for the very first one, which stands for ask yourself or questions. The framework includes: ask myself/questions, plan, prepare, practise, present, personalize (give feedback) and ponder (think and reflect).

Needless to say, there are other frameworks that guide students when they do projects, such as Challenge-Based Learning, Project-Based Learning, Project-Based Language Learning, Global Competence, etc. I have used these frameworks apart from the 7 Ps for Project with good results as well.

Having a consistent path when doing projects helps students know where they are and what comes next, which lowers their affective filter. It also focuses them on the task at hand and helps them stay in the language! 

In my classes the best learning has happened when students follow all the steps. I am going to show you the path my students – in elementary and early middle school – follow when doing a project in my Spanish classes. You can adapt these steps to use in Early Elementary or in High School. 

‘P’ in Preguntar / Preguntarse

We usually start our projects with questions. Questions usually bring more questions. The word for questions in Spanish is ‘preguntas’ and ‘preguntarse’ is the action of wondering.  It is the perfect way to start our ‘P is for Project’ framework.

I read the following “If we’re willing to ask the questions, we can begin changing things.” (Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, page 71). Though not all projects in my Spanish class lead to substantial change, students might change their way of seeing the world, their understanding of themselves, and their knowledge of other cultures. 

‘P’ in Planear

What may ‘Planear’ include?  It may include making a drawing, creating a simple outline, chunking what we need to do into daily doables, getting the materials needed, choosing what technology to use, investigating a topic, etc. Before we jump in, it is better to step back and think about what resources you need and what you need to do to achieve your goal. 

‘P’ is for Project: Preparar

‘Preparar’ may include creating a graphic organizer, writing the first draft, preparing a PowerPoint or using another presentation edtech tool. My students have realized that usually this step is the one that takes the longest and after doing a couple of projects, they take their time to complete this step thoughtfully. 

‘P’ in Practicar

‘Practicar’ is a key part of any project. Usually, in the first project of the year, my students skip this step. Students immediately get to understand that they should have practiced more before presenting in Spanish. When it is a presentational writing, they realize that they should have gone over, edited, and proofread their writing before turning in their final draft. Some students benefit from doing this step consciously as they realize that practicing compensates their effort. 

‘P’ is for Project: Presentar

Once students complete Preguntar/Preguntarse, Planear, Preparar, and Practicar, ‘Presentar’ becomes an easy part of their projects. They are proud and ready! They feel accomplished and it often helps develop their self-esteem. 

At the beginning of my career, I would have stopped after their presentation, either speaking or writing, was complete. Now I include two more steps: give feedback and reflect on their work. Why do I do this? 

‘P’ in Personalizar

‘Personalizar’ has become my students’ favorite part of any project. It is the time in which they give feedback and celebrate their accomplishments and their friends’. If students created a Flip as a presentational speaking assignment, for example, they give personal compliments on each other’s successes. If students created a ‘gallery walk,’ they proudly give their feedback on other students’ work by posting stickers or post-it notes. 

‘P’ is for Project: Pensar

‘Pensar’ has become my favorite part of any project. I get to hear students’ reflections on the process and as well as the product. I get to know how they feel and what they think. Interestingly enough, I also get to know how the project has opened their eyes to new products, practices, and perspectives, how it has transformed the way they see the world, and what personal connections they have made. It also gives me a chance to make changes to the project to help the following group of students. I usually use a form to capture their pondering on the project but other times, I prepare a set of questions and discuss them as a class.

So, to me, the ‘P’ is for Project because in my Spanish classes, following these steps -’Preguntar/Preguntarse (to ask questions), Planear (to plan), Preparar (to prepare), Practicar (to practice), Presentar (to present, in writing and / or speaking), Personalizar (to personalize and give feedback), and Pensar (to ponder, think, and reflect on their learning)’- help students engage in their learning by giving them a choice on what they want to learn about, investigate, communicate, and many times act upon. 

Books by Margaret J. Wheatley

Empowering Language Learners with Powerful Learning

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Vicky Masson

‘What’s in a framework?’ is a column of Language Teaching Lab. A framework informs our teaching and it shows a unique philosophy.  It gives us a shared language and purpose, and it lets us see teaching and learning from diverse perspectives

What is Powerful Learning?

Powerful Learning empowers all students to work towards a better world providing voice, agency, and time to reflect on their learning journey, all while using technology with a purpose.

Powerful Learning

As an  #HP Teaching Fellow, I am part of the #ReinventTheClassroom program, which is a collaboration with HP, Microsoft, Intel, and Digital PromiseI, and I am a teacher ambassador and an advocate for Powerful Learning.

Essential Questions in Language Classes and Powerful Learning

Essential questions are key in all disciplines and help maintain the focus of what we do. Language essential questions might read:

-How might learning a language expand my worldview to understand and value perspectives, to connect and collaborate in multicultural environments, and to become a global citizen?

-How might learning information, concepts, and ideas in another language challenge and invite deeper thinking, and help develop an inquisitive mind, all while reflecting and taking action?

-How can I best use the language I am learning to express myself and gain understanding in authentic contexts, in person and online?

These essential questions align with the eight principles of Powerful Learning to engage students’ hearts and minds 

  • Personal and Accessible
  • Authentic and Challenging
  • Collaborative and Connected
  • Inquisitive and Reflective

Personal and Accessible

In short, Personal indicates that every student has a unique learning profile. We should rethink learning styles, standards, and averages as Jessica Jackson Practitioner Partnerships Director at the Learning Variability Project explains. She describes the factors that influence learning and how to put into practice some strategies that work for student learning in the GWATFL TIPS Learner Variability video. 

It is Accessible when educators remove barriers and provide structures and supports, such as those related to the pedagogy educators use, the use of technology, and the design of a learning environment conducive to learning. Digital Promise Research-Based Design Certified Products verify products that are Accessible. I have used many of them in my language class, such as ‘Actively Learn,’ ‘BrainPop,’ ‘Newsela,’ ‘Microsoft,’ and ‘Quizlet,’ and I would like to explore more.

Authentic and Challenging

Students need an Authentic purpose for learning, relevant learning experiences, and a real audience. The following student generated questions in Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator’s Mindset should be at the centre of our teaching:

  • Why is this important?
  • How will I use it?
  • How does this connect with something I already know? 

Real World is a Digital Promise resource that guides you through the steps of the process of finding authenticity in your teaching. Give it a try! 

The Challenging principle brings in students’ strengths, setting high expectations, all while supporting students actively by making it a productive struggle. 

I used the Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) framework as well as the app ‘Need a nudge?’ with my Spanish Club, a Spanish Chapter for the AATSP Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad. In the Engage phase, students worked on our Big Idea which was Connections, our Essential Question “How do we invite people from our community to speak Spanish with us?” and the Challenge, which was to design learning experiences to connect with Spanish-speakers in our community. Students went on to the Investigate phase and then the Act phase, all along reflecting and documenting their findings. Awesome learning happened!

Collaborative and Connected

It is Collaborative when students work together to solve problems, learn from and teach each other, collaborate and communicate to create.

This is one of my favorite Collaborative projects ever! The No.More.Plastic project involved more than 416 schools globally across 68 countries, covering six continents. During 3 weeks students focused on the problem, solutions, and how to take action. Students learned about the UN Sustainable Development Goals first. My students created a chant to raise awareness about the use of plastic. They presented their chant at the school cafeteria as they felt it was the place they needed to start reducing the use of plastic the most. It was a moving experience!

It is Connected when students use technology purposefully, connect with their community and across the globe, and educators become co-creators in the process. 

My students participated in a global and collaborative project, #SingleVoicesGlobalChoices, opened to Middle School and High School students. We are located near Washington, DC and the other class was located in Barcelona, Spain. Both classes worked on creating Blackout Poems to celebrate National Poetry Day. We used a variety of EdTech tools such as Newsela, OneNote, Flipgrid and Padlet. My students loved the project!

Inquisitive and Reflective

In the Inquisitive principle, inquiry is a vehicle for understanding and it can be empowering. Learners ask questions, seek answers, and seek new questions. Being inquisitive helps making connections. 

In the Design it Yourself! Mini-Exhibit by the Cooper Hewitt museum students had to design their mini-exhibit using items found at home.

Students reflected on their work by answering questions such as,

–Has this project transformed the way you see the world?

–What did you learn about yourself?

In the Reflective principle, reflection supports deeper learning in context, it helps with the synthesis of new ideas and to better understand yourself and the world. 

When assessing Interpersonal Speaking, I generally use T. A. L. K. (from The Keys to Planning for Learning) an acronym where the T stands for Talk/Time, the A for accuracy in content and form, the L stands for Listening, and the K for Kindness. To me this last is the one that helps students reflect the most when they ask themselves ‘How can I help someone else achieve?’ They are putting on somebody’s shoes and being empathetic.

Challenges of Implementing Powerful Learning

Implementing Powerful Learning may be challenging. Consider these tips when you start this journey:

  • Put one principle into practice and grow from there
  • Align to the work you are already doing 
  • Consider your “why”
  • Keep students at the centre of all decision making processes 

Quoting Digital Promise, “Powerful Learning … provide[s] opportunities for students to deeply engage in their learning while using technology in ways that contribute to closing the Digital Learning Gap.”

Are you using Powerful Learning in your language classes?

Resources

What do you do when you learn something new?

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Vicky Masson

‘What’s in a framework?’ is a column of Language Teaching Lab. A framework informs our teaching and it shows a unique philosophy.  It gives us a shared language and purpose, and it lets us see teaching and learning from diverse perspectives

DKDK – Don’t Know what you Don’t Know

You do not know what you do not know. What counts is what you do when you get to know something, i.e. when you learn something. That is what happened to me when I learned about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are a path to action for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships. The SDGs consider sustainability from the economic, environmental, and social perspectives. As we know them now, the SDGs started in 2015 with a plan to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. I had to do something so I became a Cohort 3 #TeachSDGs Ambassador.

17 Goals

When I saw the image of the seventeen goals and started reading each one, I happily realized that most of the teaching happening in my Spanish classes related directly to them. I committed to introducing the 17 goals to my students, our changemakers. 

There is so much more information about the SDGs now than when I started introducing them in my classes. Fortunately, lots of these materials are in different languages! 

Let’s start by learning about some of these resources. Then, let me share some of the things that I did in my language classes.

SDGs in different languages

Let’s start with some places where you can find materials on the SDGs in different languages:

This is a short list with lots of information. These sites are great starting points for introducing the SDGs in language classes.

How I prepared to teach SDGs

In order to teach about the SDGs, I first informed myself. I took courses, I read books, I created a Wakelet, and I presented together with Gaby and Marcela in language conferences.

Since I became a #TeachSDG ambassador, I have introduced the SDGs to all my students. Learning about the SDGs is engaging and empowering for students, therefore, it boosts proficiency. Students want to learn, read, and talk about the SDGs. Most importantly, they want to take action.

How I teach SDGs in my language classes

I usually show them the Global Goals icons. I ask students their favorite goal or the one that catches their attention and why, how old they will be in 2030 and what they see each other doing differently than they do now. Then, I explain what the SDGs are and their importance, and connect them to what they are studying in class. In no time students realize that the SDGs are an intrical part of their life and of what we do in class.

SDGs = Enduring learning

The most enduring learning happens when students are connected with other students to solve problems. The No.More.Plastic. project was one of these instances. It was a three week project where 4th grade students had to attempt to answer: 

  • What’s the problem?
  • Are there any solutions? Let’s try to fix the problem!
  • Action! The students take action and try to bring change at school and at home.

Students researched about plastic, brainstormed possible solutions for reducing the use of plastic at school, and wrote a chant to share with the rest of the elementary school. They posted the chant in the cafeteria as a reminder of the importance of reducing the use of plastic. All in Spanish!

Students also saw some of the projects done by other schools around the world and felt part of it! 

My students were engaged in the content and empowered to make change happen. They were also proud when they received a certificate of participation.

SDG in language classes

The SDG framework is perfect for language classes. It is a powerful tool to raise awareness of sustainability, to empower students as changemakers, and to have students see that learning a language might have an impact outside the classroom. 

Don’t wait one more minute to introduce the SDGs in your language classes if you haven’t yet done that. Don’t wait to have students ask you: Why has no other teacher taught us about them?