Moving out of the book Myth One: It happens overnight
I have been chatting on twitter this morning/afternoon about not using a textbook to teach Spanish. There are some misconceptions about not using a book and I wanted to take a few minutes and outline my journey away from the book.
First, it does not happen overnight. I have been moving out the text for about three years. It took me so long because the book was a comfort zone for me. I had a nice collection of handouts and worksheets that I used with wild abandon. The worksheets were first organized by chapter in binders. Then I moved them to folders on google docs. I could share them with a couple of clicks or print them on my printer with magician quickness. It was an efficient, well running classroom.
Despite my efficiency, some students got it while others did not. Regardless of their grasp of the content, their ability to conjugate verbs or manipulate tenses, most did not take more than the two years required to graduate.
I decided to start small. In fact, I was not setting out to leave the book, I was just going to change one unit. I decided to combine two chapters. One introduced adjectives, the other introduced verbs and all the challenges they present
I decided that I could teach the same material ( adjectives and verbs) but, I could do it in a way that would be more enjoyable. I created a unit called “Mi mejor Amigo”. I started this unit by having my students talk about the characteristics of a their best friend. We made a list in English on the board. Then, I divided the class into groups of 2-3. The groups looked up the words in a dictionary. We wrote the translations on the board, resolved any discrepancies (like corto versus bajo). Then students picked the words that described their best friend. We wrote and talked about our best friends daily.
The second part of the unit focused on activities. Students created a list of things their best friend does. (Incidentally, these are frequently the things they do too.) Now students have list of verbs that describe the things their friends do in a typical day. I spent some time showing them how to conjugate in the third person singular.
Again, we talked and wrote daily about our best friends. As I finished the unit, I noticed some things:
- We had not used the book much. In fact we used them very little.
- I also noticed that my students were engaged.
- I also noticed that I was not stressed. This unit falls in November which for us is interrupted with parent/teacher conferences and holidays. I did not have the stress of getting to page 110 before parent conference. It was nice.
As I write this, I realize it will be too long for a single blog post. This will be an ongoing set of entries. The next myth is I Won’t Cover as Much.
