My Flipping French Immersion Class

Last June, as we were finalizing our timetable for this coming year, a twist of fate saw me headed back into the classroom to teach two sections of Mathematiques 8 (French Immersion Math) after 2 years as a Learning Assistance Teacher (in addition to my administrator duties).  As much as I loved my role as LAT, I had missed the classroom and working with a class full of students.  I also missed teaching Math but at first I was a bit panicked.  I had taught it for 10 years but wondered if I could get back into the swing of things with the subject matter?  Also, since my past teaching in the Math classroom was what I consider my "pre-Twitter" days, I knew that I had discovered so many new and different technologies and teaching methods that I just couldn't go back to some of my old ways.  My head was swimming with possible ideas for how I could fuse some of the great things I was doing before (Kagan cooperative structures, project-based assessments) with all of these new ideas while dropping some of the more antiquated methods (worksheets, lecture-style teaching).  Wow!

I decided to try not to think about school for the month of July which I mostly did.  I ordered a couple of books which I had heard about on Twitter such as Dave Burgess' Teach Like A Pirate
 and Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, and Total Participation Techniques by Persida and William Himmele.  Once August hit, I was reading these books and searching for articles related to these topics and mathematics instruction.  I didn't just want to teach Math, I wanted to inspire my students to see Math as something fun, engaging, useful and relevant.

One place I really hooked into was Todd Nesloney's Flipped Classroom website: http://www.toddnesloney.com/  This guy is a veritable wealth of information and experience about how to go about flipping your classroom and using video lessons with your students.  I decided I would like to try some flipped lessons and see what happens.

I did my usual course outline and also added a letter to parents and students (based on Nesloney's which you can find HERE) which explains what a flipped lesson looks like, what I would be expecting of students and also included a short survey to gather information on students' computer access at home.  It is important to know what level of internet access your students have in order to make this work.


So far, I have flipped one lesson on square numbers and square roots.  Here is my very first video lesson:

It is, of course, in French but you get the idea. It is also funny how you don't realize what your voice sounds like until you record it!

I used the Educreations app on the iPad to create the scenes and narrate the exciting "action".  After I finished the video I discovered that this app does not allow you to download or share the video to You Tube.  You can give your viewers the video link where it lives on the Educreations website but I was worried that this would not play properly on my students' mobile devices so I made a screencast of the video, capturing it on the web-based, Screencast-O-Matic.  It worked pretty well but was an extra step.  I am looking for other apps which have Educreations ease of use but which allow downloads or YouTube publishing.

I taught my students how to view a flipped video by doing a practice video in class the day prior to assigning my acutal video.  Based on Nesloney's WSQ (Watch, Summarize, Question), I am having my students do an ERQ (Écoutez, Résumez, Questionnez for each video.  For practice, I had them watch a video with a simple message and a couple of key points which I found on the Alberta Education website.  Here is the English version of Math: It's everywhere.  I was happy they also produced a French version.

Then, I assigned my square numbers/square roots video which is about 4 minutes long.  I asked students to spend about that same amount of time doing the ERQ.

The next day, we began the class by a quick turn-and-talk to share ERQ's and then a whole class discussion, supplemented with some notes I had made on a Notebook slide (not for them to copy but to verify that the notes they had taken had enough detail).  I collected their notebooks to read and give some written feedback.  The next day, I highlighted a couple of student examples of well-done ERQ's on the Smart Board, pointing out what to do to create quality summaries and questions.

Sample Student ERQ

Following this, I asked students for their honest opinions of what they thought of this learning experience.  I was surprised and not surprised at their various, insightful answers, some of which included:

• I like how I can watch and re-watch the lesson without having to ask the teacher to repeat something, which I am sometimes embarrassed to do in front of the class.
• I like that I can pause the video for as long as I want to make notes.
• I can watch the lesson free of distractions from other students because I am at home with my headphones on.
• Being able to re-watch the video helps me to better understand what is being said in French.

• I like the face-to-face part of being in the classroom.
• Sometimes I wanted to know the answer to my questions right away but I had to write them down and wait for the next day in class.

What I learned from their feedback, their work on this lesson and their learning is that this sort of instruction really demands students to personally take charge of their learning.  A large percentage of the students really did a great job of writing a summary of the lesson content in their own words and they came up with some great questions.  A few students will need a push to become more independent learners but this is the case in most classrooms, I think.

Another benefit which I hope to gain from this model of instruction is increased classroom time for problem-solving and more time for me to spend with each student.  Spending less time on direct teaching and note-writing should leave more time for hands-on activities, inquiry and projects.  I will let you know if this pans out.

Moving forward, I would like to keep making videos and perhaps have students create video-lessons too as unit projects or performance assessments.  I think they will have even better ideas which they will more creatively present than I ever would.  Also, as teachers, they would really be absorbing and learning the content, they would have to collaborate to create these videos and I think they would really be engaged in the use of technology to show what they know.


To be continued...but in the meantime, I would love to hear about your flipped class experiences.  The more I can learn, the more I can improve.  Merci!

Thinking Outside of the Box for ELL Learners

 Image courtesy of Master Isolated Images /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thinking outside the box.  This expression with the commonly understood  meaning of thinking creatively to solve a problem actually has its origin with the 9-dots puzzle which asks that you draw 4 straight lines to cross all of the 9 dots without lifting your pencil:

There are various solutions to this problem which involve having to extend the line (s) outside of the box, thus “think outside of the box” to find the answer.

In terms of paradigms, sometimes you do not even realize you are inside of a particular box and then something twigs a creative thought which blooms into something great.  In the case of the story I am about to share, collaboration with parents, colleagues and the student led to a creative solution to a seemingly difficult problem.

At my school we have many students who are very new to Canada and are learning English as a Second Language.  Wait…second language?  Not always.  Sometimes we assume that the students coming to us are learning English as their second language but in many cases, English is their third or fourth language.  Thus, the term English Language Learner (ELL) is far more à propos.

When we register new ELL students, we automatically put them in our English program in a regular classroom with ELL supports such as:

• the teacher providing adapted learning materials in their subject area for the ELL student, focusing on vocabulary
• having students take an ELL option class with other ELL students and a teacher who works with them on English language skills
• an ELL pull-out during English Language Arts class to work with an Educational Assistant on English language skills, particularly if the student is level 1 or 2 ELL.
• additional ELL time during our Literacy period to work on English language skills on a computer program such as Rosetta Stone

A few months ago when we registered a student whom I will call Bea (not her real name), we set her up with exactly these types of supports.  We also put her in a class with another female student who speaks her first language of Arabic so that they could support each other while learning English.  Fast-forward a couple of weeks to parent conferences and Bea’s parents came in, very concerned about Bea.  We called a meeting which included our LAT/ELL specialist, the school counselor, an Arabic interpreter, the parents, Bea, and myself as the grade administrator for Bea’s grade.  It turned out that the interpreter was not really necessary as Bea’s parents spoke quite fluently in English but the interpreter, as an agent of CARE (an organization which helps new Canadians with settlement and adjustment to Canadian life) did act as a form of support for the family and helped them feel more comfortable approaching the school for help.
 
Bea’s parents were concerned because Bea was coming home from school crying and had reached the point of saying that she didn’t want to go to school anymore.  They told us she was frustrated at how slowly she was learning English and that she was very worried about falling behind academically in school.  Her parents related to us that Bea had been in the top of her class in Tunisia, the country where they had been living before coming to Canada.  Bea’s father was a doctor and her mother was a lawyer in their homeland and they are currently trying to have their education acknowledged in Canada.   So, it became clear to us that academics are important to Bea and her parents and it was easier to understand why she was so frustrated and worried about school. 

As we continued to discuss how things were going for Bea in her classes at our school, I mentioned that I had observed Bea in her French as a Second Language (FSL) option class and that I noticed how strong her French language skills were and that she seemed to enjoy this class.   To this, her parents replied that Bea’s second language is actually French and that she had studied enough French in Tunisia that she is actually quite fluent in French…and so are both of her parents!  As a former French Immersion teacher and current FI administrator in my school, I immediately began a short conversation with Bea and her parents in French and was fairly convinced that we could be meeting Bea’s academic needs in a completely different way than we usually do for ELL students.  My ELL “box” basically ripped open and an idea began to form about what to do to help Bea.  It broke my heart that she was disliking school so much that she didn’t want to come.  So, why couldn’t she become a French Immersion student?  If she took her core classes in French and we maintained all of the ELL supports that we already had in place to help her learn English, then maybe she would enjoy school again!  I mentioned this possibility to her parents who were very intrigued by the idea because they felt they could easily help her with her school work if it were in French.  They asked Bea what she thought about this and she looked at me and asked if it would be possible because she would like that very much.  I told them that we could do some testing and determine her level of French and then see what we could do.

Over the course of the next week, I tested Bea’s reading, writing and listening comprehension and I thought she was pretty fluent but I wanted a second option.  I asked a French Immersion colleague of mine to test her with the DELF materials and he felt that she could definitely handle being a French Immersion student, particularly because of her strong work ethic, desire to do well in school, and parental support. 

In our school we have two types of French Immersion classes: early immersion (students who have taken FI since kindergarten) and late immersion (students who began FI in grade 6).  Bea is in grade 8 so the decision we had to make was whether to put her in the late immersion class with students who have been learning French for only 3 years or early immersion with students who have been learning  French for 9 years.  It was an interesting conversation with my colleagues about where she would fit best, with her French being not quite as accomplished as the early FI students but probably a little more advanced than the late FI students.  Some other considerations included the fact that the late class was sitting at 29 students and the early classes were 24 and 25 students.  Also, the teachers felt that the late class tended to help themselves understand French by switching over to English a lot more than the early students and this would not be advantageous to a level 1 ELL student.
 
We decided to put Bea in an early immersion class and it has been wonderful to see her transformation.  Bea tells me that she loves it and is very happy with her new classes.  Her parents came in the other day to say thank you for seeing a way to help Bea to have academic success and that she enjoys coming to school and is happy again.

I know that the expression “thinking outside the box” is probably overused and the meaning over generalized but in this case it was an apt metaphor for the process of collaborating which led to a change in thinking  about how we meet the needs of certain ELL students.

Dispelling 3 Myths About French Immersion

   

I have spent most of my teaching career in French Immersion, first as a classroom teacher in middle school and now as an administrator.  Over the years I have heard and in some cases have even taken part in perpetuating some of the following myths about the French Immersion program.  In this blog post I hope to dispel some of the these myths based on my own experience and offer a few suggestions to ensure success for all students in French immersion.


Myth 1

French immersion is a program for elite students who are academically gifted, possessing a solid work ethic, and a love of learning.

Reality - We do have academically gifted students in FI who do very well in school but we also have students with learning disabilities, medical diagnoses such as ADHD and autism and students who are "average".  We have students who love school and students who are not so inclined.  We have students with varying work ethics. In short, we have a diverse clientele, all of whom deserve the right to learn a second language and become bilingual.

Myth 2 - French Immersion students generally come from higher socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds  because students from lower SES backgrounds cannot be successful in French immersion.

Reality - The SES profile of a french immersion classroom is no different than an english program classroom in a similar neighborhood.  Though generally, students from lower SES backgrounds tend to struggle more than those from higher SES backgrounds, the research says that "students from low SES backgrounds in immersion perform just as well in English-language development and academic achievement as do students from the same SES backgrounds in English-language programs" (Genesee, 2012, p.5).

Myth 3 - Students with academic challenges or disabilities should not be French Immersion students because it is hard enough learning one's first language, never mind adding the stress of learning a second.

Reality - "Below-average students in immersion perform at the same level as do below-average students in English-language programs" (Genesee, 2012, p.5).  Research does not suggest that students who struggle academically will have greater struggles in immersion than in English programs.  As a French immersion administrator, I have seen this time and again when students who are struggling in immersion leave the program and enroll in an English program only to find that they are experiencing the same academic difficulties they encountered in immersion.  Learning is learning and students who struggle with for example, reading comprehension, are not going to magically "get" reading comprehension because what they are reading is in English.

Next steps

Dispelling the myths around french immersion will take time.  These myths are fairly deeply engrained within the culture of french immersion schools including the attitudes of teachers, administrators, and parents.  In the past, students who have been identified as struggling in French immersion were allowed the possibility and even encouraged to leave the program and "switch" to English.  My question for those who want to switch out and to teachers, parents, and administrators who encourage this practice is: when the student continues to struggle in the English program (as they inevitably will) where will they go?  One cannot "quit" the English program as one can "quit" French immersion.

When a student is contemplating leaving French immersion, it is essential to call a team meeting which includes the student, parents, teachers, administrator and sometimes the school counselor .  There are always deeper issues than the student not liking French or the student struggling because of "the French".  It is our job as educators and administrators to provide learning services to support all students whether they are in English or French immersion.

After the team meeting, it is important to create a program of support for the student.  My other hat in my job is learning assistance teacher for French immersion students so it is my job to help students pinpoint their needs and then help them with those needs.  My only frustration right now is that I do not have more help.  It is very difficult in the city where I live to find French immersion educational assistants and I would sure love to have one!

In addition to individual help, teachers of French immersion need to become skilled at differentiating instruction and learning activities.  One of the great strengths of the French immersion program is the focus on vocabulary acquisition, repetition and oral development.  These are areas where teachers can begin to differentiate to suit individual student needs.  We must begin to make decisions about teaching and learning in French immersion based on what the research says about language acquisition as well as striving for inclusive French immersion programs which meet individual learning needs.

Above all, it is important to change our attitudes around what it means to experience success in French immersion.  We need to ask what it means to be bilingual?  For some students this is full functional bilingualism with the ability to read and write comparably in French and English.  For others, this may mean being able to carry on a conversation in French or use their oral language skills for travel and work.  Success in French immersion might look different for each student.

French immersion is no longer a program of the elite whether academically or socio-economically nor should it continue to be.

Genesee, F. (2012). The Suitability of Immersion for All Learners: What Does the Research Say? The State of French Second Language Education in Canada [Executive Summary]. Canadian Parents For French. Retrieved from http://cpf.ca/en/research-advocacy/research/the-state-of-fsl-education-in-canada/