I'm a French as a Second
Language teacher in the elementary school system in
Toronto Ontario. I've been teaching French on rotary for
8 years. There have been many challengesand it has been
3 years that I have been using PDC to help with these
challenges.
First I feel I need to give
you some background on the subject that I teach. French
is not always held in the highest regard, even though it
is one of our official languages. Much of this stems
from the question of separation of Quebec from Canada.
Many parent don't value learning a second language and
this is transferred to their children. I feel that since
it is required for students ( and I do believe a second
language is always helpful) to complete grade 9 French,
I can at least try and make it as interesting and fun as
possible, while still teaching them the basics they'll
need to receive their credit. Sometimes I get lucky and
a few decide to continue with their French right through
high school. With all this in mind when PDC was
introduced to me by Margaret Pearson I thought "I've got
nothing to lose and at least I'll have another
tool."
I'm sending some stories
about situations that have happened to me in the last 3
years. I will leave it up to you where you feel they
would be most beneficial. I hope that they'll be helpful
to those who read them.
#1: Jobs This really isn't a
story but some comments about classroom jobs. Being on
rotary this can be a very difficult task. Last year I
was fortunate to have my own classroom where the
students came to me. I decided I would have a "Job
Wall". I had 6 classes and each class had their own
chart of jobs. Each class brain-stormed the jobs that
they particularly needed as well as keeping in mind the
time of day they had French. For example: My grade 8s
decided 2 students should come in early and take down
all the chairs. This worked for them but none of the
other classes as the chairs were already down. Washing
the boards was another job that only 2 classes could
have, the class before lunch and the one before home
time.
I found that library pockets
on a bristol board worked the best for me. This year
however, things were much more difficult. I moved to a
school where I did not have my own room. I had to travel
from class to class. It was much more difficult to
brainstorm jobs because you have to keep in mind that
you are in someone else's classroom. First thing I made
sure I did was to ask the classroom teacher for some
space where I could keep a chart posted. The bristol
board format still worked but I had to make sure it was
somewhere highly visible.
Another tip that I found
works is having graphics or pictures on the job pocket
for the primary grades (1-3). The older students were
okay with having it written and we incorporated some
French by giving the jobs French names. Most of the jobs
the grades 4-6 came up with were standard but some were
unique therefore my grade 6 class came up with the idea
of have a "Job Description Book". It is a duotang that
has the title of the job and what is required. Students
brain-stormed in groups of 4 and then asked the rest of
the class what they wanted to add or delete. Once it was
completed all jobs had a description.
I have found that if a
teacher on rotary can maintain a job chart for 6 to 7
classes which translates to 200-230 students a classroom
teacher should have no problem for 1 class of 30 to 40
students.
#2: The power of class
meetings
My grade 7 class was a
challenging bunch from academic difficulties to
behaviour issues. The students informed me of a problem
they were having in their regular classroom. Each
classroom was given a CD player at the beginning of the
year. During the first 5 weeks the CD player was broken
during a lunch hour. The teacher was angry and the
principal was twice as angry. No one owned up to having
broken the CD player and things were
quiet...until....there was to be a dance. At this time
the principle decided that this class would not be
allowed to go to the dance because of the CD player.
When the students brought this up with me I suggested we
hold a class meeting and brainstorm some solutions to
the problem. As we went around the circle we recorded
all the suggestions and then voted on the one the class
wanted to try. They decided that they would put in $5.00
for the dance. $3.00 of which would go towards the dance
ticket and $2.00 would go to the CD fund. At first those
students that had nothing to do with it thought "Why do
I have to pay for something I wasn't involved in?" We
talked about this and majority voted for this option.
They figured that it was worth being able to go to the
dance even if they had to pay the extra $2.00. The next
thing they did is that they wanted the student who came
up with the idea to inform the principle and the teacher
of their decision. We invited them to the meeting and
the student explained the solution. All was fine with
everyone. New CD player was purchased and the students
went to the dance. What was also interesting was that
when the class got the new CD player they decided that
it would not be used unless a teacher was present in the
room.
#3: A stitch in time saves
letters going home.
During my second year using
PDC I found that I used many of the strategies and
principles of the program outside of my French class.
Our school only had 245 students and therefore was not
big enough to have a vice principal. When this occurs
the principal of the school asks or appoints some one to
be what is called the "principal designate". This
person's job was to "be principal" during his absence
from the school. I found that I used many of the
strategies during these situations with students. Here
is one of the ones I valued most.
Two grade 4 students, Paul
and Cindy ( not their real names) were playing tag
outside with some of their other classmates. At some
point during the game Cindy grabbed onto the neckline of
Paul's t-shirt and tore it about 10cm. When I saw the
students sitting in the office after lunch recess, the
little girl was crying uncontrollably because she was
afraid of what might happen. The three of us talked
about what had happened and how it happened. Cindy
realized that she should have been more careful and
there was no need for having grabbed onto the shirt.
Paul said that he should have played fair and stopped
when she had tagged him. However, I reminded them that
we still had a torn t-shirt. I suggested that we could
try and sew the t-shirt. They were both surprised at my
suggestion, probably because no one ever suggested that.
We had a policy that a letter would go home to the
parents and that the item would have to be replaced. I
asked if they wanted to bring in a radio to keep them
company as they sewed and Paul said he could do that. At
last recess the two showed up with the radio and the
t-shirt, (Paul had put on his gym shirt for the rest of
the day) and I had set up the sewing kit- something no
school should be without. We turned on the radio and I
started them off and taught them how to pull the needle
and thread. Paul discovered that he liked sewing and
that Cindy had been taught how to sew by her
grandmother. They chatted away and took turns until it
was done. The funny thing was that I just had to pop my
head in now and then to see how things were going or to
tie a knot. By the end of recess the shirt was fixed and
the two had actually had fun. The next day I asked Paul
about the shirt and if Mom said anything. He told me
that she had said it was a job well done and he asked
his mom if she had any socks for him to fix. Cindy told
her mom but no comment was made. All is well that ends
well.
