Core Thoughts - Into the wind!

My core schedule happens to be the last block of the day, and believe me when I say that sometimes it’s like walking into a wind storm - some days a nice, calm breeze and others a swirling galing wind, often feeling like a tropical storm! It doesn’t always make you feel overly confident that you planned the right lesson for that particular day for that particular classroom atmosphere. 

At the beginning of our project we created a ‘Well-Being and Attitude Towards FSL’ survey (you can find our template here) that we gave to students in grades 3 to 6. We will have them complete it at the end of the project as well so we can compare the results.

The survey covered four main topics: Attitudes about learning French; Resilience and Perseverance; Feelings of Accomplishment and Success; and Attitudes about French learning activities. I was very pleased with how students generally felt about the classroom atmosphere, most importantly feeling comfortable in a second language class. 

It was interesting to note that a lot of students know the importance of learning French. We didn’t ask why it was important, but most noted that it was important. What made us really happy was that most students said they really do try their best ... whatever their best may be for that day. Often reflecting with our school support counsellor, I realize that they are doing their best for that 30 minute chunk, at that part of the day.  It doesn’t change my approach to the class as I still have expectations, I still expect to put that golf ball within birdie range even though I might be hitting it into swirling gale force winds. I am trying my very best too! 

Most said that if they work hard enough that they can learn French. Most stated that they learn from their mistakes, and most stated that they don’t feel embarrassed when they make a mistake which made me feel that my classroom is a positive environment. 

Most didn’t feel like they were good in French, even though some are. It was really interesting to hear that most thought that their classmates were better at French than they were. I don’t know if they had most of their classmates in mind, or just one in particular, so they weren't the best in the class.

It wasn’t too surprising to me when I got the results back for our French Learning Activities. In general, students like game days, videos and songs. Some like having authentic communication and conversations, while very few liked writing. 

Some days I might expect more - just like on the golf course as that 70 looks a lot better than that 90. But report cards are just like scorecards, they don’t give you the entire story of how that score was achieved. 

Things I'm Grateful For
Feedback from our blog and sharing ideas about how to share information from IEP’s in one condensed page. 
Taking this time with Lisa to reflect on the survey that we were able to go over individually with each student in Grade 3 to 6. 

Things I'm Wondering About
I am wondering if I can make day plans that would easily incorporate Katy Arnett’s ULA’s (Universal Language Actions) that we chose to focus on for the project. (We'll be posting about ULA's soon!) 


Paul 


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