Tips for guest speakers

 Here's a tip sheet I made for guest speakers coming into middle school classrooms. 

Tips for speaking to middle school students

* Plan what you’re going to say- make an outline with timing. Even if you don’t stick to it, at least it will give you a guideline of where your talk is heading and what you want to talk about.

* Think of ways you can ask the students to participate. This can be a question like, “raise your hand if you….” or asking individual students questions. Try to get a student to speak every few minutes, in order to keep their interest and keep them engaged in the conversation. If you raise your own hand while asking a question, it signals to students to raise their hands as well. 

* If asking a whole group a question of any kind, give them plenty of time to process your question and think about their answer. After asking a question, count to 5 in your head (this will feel soooo long) before calling on someone or moving on. 

* Visual aids will help keep students engaged. Pictures in a slide show, objects you can pass around, or something for students to look at or touch. 

* Think about writing things on the board or on a large piece of paper- answers to student questions, diagrams of things you want to demonstrate or explain, vocabulary words, etc. Anything you write down for students to see will be something they can return their attention to instead of having it pass in and out of their ears. 

* Think about the vocabulary you are using and your audience. Are you using technical language, acronyms, higher-level vocabulary, or concepts that need to be explained? It might be helpful to bring a visual aid of these new words. When asking students about their understanding, instead of asking, “does everyone know what ______ means?” ask, “who can explain to everyone what _______ means?” Students aren’t likely to admit they don’t know something if they think everyone else does know it. Always explain if there is any doubt about students’ understanding.

* Have a sense of humor. Kids can be silly, weird, and tired of having adults speak to them. It’s okay to joke with them, and not take yourself too seriously. 

* Tell stories. Personal stories connect you with your students.  

* If you are speaking longer than 25 minutes, try to break up your talk with some kind of movement, stretching, or a break. Students get restless and tune out around 20 minutes. 

*If you’re able, and the space allows, move around the space as you talk. Moving between desks occasionally or to the back allows you to engage more closely with the students and keeps their attention from wandering.

Listening

I've been looking for more listening activities for my students that isn't just my voice reading stuff all the time. So for our lesson on personal information (phone number, address, etc.) I had my family record some very simple scripts for me through WhatsApp. (I just had each person open a conversation with me, and instead of typing a text, they hit the 'record a message' button. It comes through like a voicemail in your text conversation thread, just hit play to hear it.) I did four of these, below are the first three. They were good practice, and hard but not TOO hard. One of my students said it was really good practice and she wants to do more like this. 

Fall Kinder Camp

Fall starts tomorrow, so today for Kinder Camp (2-5 year olds with a parent), we did a fall theme. Here's my lesson:

1. Coloring. I usually set out coloring for the kids to work on as they come in, since they come in at all different times. Coloring is good for little one's fine motor skill development. Today's 'letter of the day' was L, so I had a page of capital and small L's to trace, and a page with L things to color - lion, lamp, leaf, ladybug, lizard. I got these on Teachers Pay Teachers from Palabrisos.

2. Reading. I usually read two books out loud to start the day. The Denver Public Library folks will put together a set of books on request, so I just asked them for fall-themed read alouds for preschool and they sent me a bunch of books. I read Falling Leaves 1,2,3 by Tracey Dils and Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.

3. Making applesauce! We made homemade applesauce in the instant pot! (I borrowed the instant pot from my mom!) I had all the ingredients prepped, including most of the apples cut into small chunks. But I gave slices and a plastic knife to all the kids and had them chop up some apples, too. Then we took turns stirring and adding the rest of the ingredients. I stuck it in the instant pot to cook. I used this recipe from Life is but a Dish. 

4. While our applesauce was cooking, we went out on a leaf hunt. There are 4 different types of trees right outside the classroom, so we walked around and collected leaves we liked in many different colors. Then we came back and glued them to construction paper. For older kids, you could have them make shapes or art, like the animals made of leaves in Leaf Man.

5. Next we did our letter of the day. I bought these cans with pictures of things inside for each letter. I had been doing these with actual little objects inside a paper bag, and the kids liked that better, I think, but it was a lot of work to track down 6 or so objects each week that start with that letter and fit in a bag that kids will know the name of. So the kids take turns reaching into the can and pulling something out and we say the name and the L sound, and then we go around and talk about some of the objects, then I ask for each thing to be put back in. "Can someone put the lion back in? Can someone put the lamp back in?" Then I read our 3rd book, It's Fall by Linda Glaser. This is usually the last thing I do, or I read it during snack, but our applesauce still needed more time.

6. Next we did these do-a-dot fall pictures. I got these dot markers from Michaels, and the printables from ProTot learning on TPT. I'll be honest, I don't really 'get' do-a-dot activities, I think they are kind of dumb. But I read a blog post about how the one-to-one correspondence skill is important for kids this age to work on. And the kids do enjoy it.

7. Finally our applesauce was ready! I mixed it up with an immersion blender, served it up to the kiddos, and gave them all some pretzels in addition. They mostly liked the applesauce! I think it was a very cool cooking activity for them to do. The only thing I would have done differently is to make it first thing after coloring, before reading, so there would be plenty of time for snack. We had just barely enough time to eat.

Last thing I always do is give each kid a sticker, and let them pick out a book to take home and keep (I got a huge donation of books, way more than I have space for in the center. So I give them away when I can.)

This was a great class today! It would be hard to do the applesauce with more than say, 6 kids, and they need parent help for cutting. And as I mentioned, I would start it earlier. But the result was delicious, and they cooked it themselves! Kind of. : )

Freeze Dance

Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best.  Yesterday we played freeze dance at ASP, and it was a huge hit. 

One thing I've learned is when I announce, "okay, everyone, we're going to play a game called freeze dance!" (or whatever the activity is), I get a lot of groans. No matter WHAT the activity is.  But if I just start it, with one or two kids, more are sure to join in if they want to. And if they don't, they are the ones missing out. That is how it worked yesterday with freeze dance. 

I turned on a Pandora Kidzbop station on my phone and plugged it into my loud speakers. I started the music, and grabbed the two kids who were buzzing around me with nothing to do, and we just started dancing. Within seconds, most of the group was dancing, too, including the middle schoolers and the boys.  One of the kids shouted, "what are we doing??" and I said, "Freeze dance!" and then I went and paused the music. During the pause I said "we're playing freeze dance! Anytime the music is on, dance! But when it stops, you have to freeze!"

You can call kids out if they move during the freeze time, but I didn't really, because I didn't feel the need for an elimination game. I would just say, "Ishrak, I see you moving!!" but the moving kids could keep dancing when the music came back on.

Honestly, they liked it so much, they asked if we could do it again today.  Freeze dance! The easiest thing!

Conversation Cards

When people are filtering in to an ESL class (or any class), it can be awkward to sit around together, waiting to see who else will show up, trying to make small talk, but not starting the lesson yet...especially when it is adults, especially when they don't speak English very well, and especially when you don't really know each other.

I've started doing something for that time before the lesson starts to work on getting to know each other, and also for my students to practice speaking.

I write 6-10 easy conversation questions on individual index cards, and put them facedown on the table we'll be working at. The questions sometimes relate to the topic of the day, sometimes they are just small talk. I also try to think of a variety of types of answers when I write the question, for example, simple yes/no answers, single word responses, and longer sentences.

I'll start by drawing one and reading the questions out loud, showing the question to anyone who is sitting there, and then I'll answer first.  For example: "What is a TV show that you like? I like cooking shows. Do you like cooking shows? Where they show you how to cook? What TV shows do you like?" And then I try to have them answer.

Then I have the students take turns choosing cards, reading the question, and we each take turns answering it. When everyone is there, I just put away the rest of the cards for another day and start the lesson.

Here are some of the topics and questions I've done so far:

Morning Routines:
What do you like to eat for breakfast?
What are you wearing today?
What time did you wake up today?
Do you like to take a shower at night or in the morning?
What time do you like to wake up?

Hobbies:
Do you have any pets?
Do you like to go swimming?
Do you play any sports?
Do you prefer the mountains or the beach?
What is a movie or TV show you like?
Do you go to church? temple?
What do yo like to do on Saturdays?
Where would you like to travel?
Have you gone on any trips lately?

Seasons:
What do you like to do in the summer?
What is your favorite season?
What month is your birthday?
What is your favorite holiday?

Weather:
Do you like the weather in Colorado?
Do you prefer rain or snow?
What is your favorite weather?
What do you think the weather will be like tomorrow?

DIY Flannel Board

Flannel boards are a huge part of story times in preschool and toddler education. I do not have much training or experience with preschool education, but I currently teach a once-a-week 'school readiness' class for 2-5 year olds to get them ready for preschool and kindergarten. So I decided I wanted my own flannel board. They aren't THAT expensive at places like Lakeshore, but I knew I could make my own. I googled plans for making your own flannel board, hit Joann's, and here is the result:

I bought a cheap bulletin board to start. I had intended to buy a prepared stretched canvas, but they were pretty expensive.  Then I bought enough flannel to cover it and staple it to the back. I picked this fun blue/green tie-dye look flannel, but the internet recommends solid light blue or light green, because those are more univerally useful for stories that take place in water or outside, and they are just mellow background colors. We'll see how well my background does. I borrowed my friend's staple gun to attach the fabric, and her suggestion was, "stretch that fabric TIGHT before you staple." I did stretch it tight, but I didn't stretch it TIGHT, so there are some loose spots, but hopefully it will be okay. 

For my first story, later this week, I'll read "I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean" by Kevin Sherry, and then have the children put up each piece as we retell it.  I got the idea and the template for all the characters so you can make your own pieces out of felt, at Storytime Katie. I also bought a few sets of pre-made felt pieces from the Etsy shop Storytelling Fun. I will combine some from the Ocean set I bought from Etsy and a few that I made from the template to do the story with the kids. Making them wasn't too hard, but obviously buying them was even easier. And the bought ones are quite cute. 

I made the whale and little blue fish. I purchased the jellyfish and crab

I haven't used these yet in a storytime, but when I do, I'll post the results...if they worked for me. I also bought some small canvas boards that I would like to cover with the extra flannel so the kiddos can have their own flannel lapboards, but that is a future project! 

 

Whisper Phones

I've known about whisper phones for a long time, but this is the first time I've made them or used them.  

Whisper phones are just short pieces of PVC pipe with PVC elbow joints attached to either end. When a kid puts one up to their ear, like a phone, they can whisper into it and hear themselves loud and clear. These are great for reading, especially kids who still read out loud but don't want everyone to hear them or in loud classrooms. 

This year in ASP (After School Program) I decided to put a much heavier emphasis on reading. I really believe the only way to get better at reading is to do a lot of it. And the students' reading scores from this past year didn't reach our expectations. So every day, for half an hour or more, it's pretty dedicated reading time. 

Ashmita using a whisper phone to read a book on her phone

But kids do not love to read, so I am working on making things more fun, and whisper phones are one way to do that. Typically they are used in classrooms of very young children learning to read, but I've found that here, kids of all ages like using them, and because they are neat and fun, it's not embarrassing for older kids to read out loud to themselves if they need to.  

I just found the instructions online, google "whisper phone instructions".  I think I got 3/4" PVC and they folks at ACE cut it into sections for me for free. I think the sections were like, 3 1/2" long, and then I bought a bag of 10 3/4" elbow joins. Popped them together, and wrapped some colorful duct tape around the center section for flair.

My whisper phones, with scissors for size reference.