Beyond Popcorn Reading: Engaging Story Time Activities

Popcorn reading (one student reads and then “randomly” calls on a classmate) is a common practice among teachers. People seem to either love it or hate it. I am not personally a fan and something I read recently reinforces how I feel about this practice.

“It’s crazy to try to assess children’s reading abilities by simply asking them to read aloud. They might do it successfully yet have no understanding of the text at all, and that’s not reading! We need to chat with them about what they’re reading to ensure they comprehend what’s happening in the story, to find out if they’re in the “world” of the story, to discover if they’re really reading or not.”
Mem Fox (2008). Reading Magic, p. 107

This quote is found in “Hi-Impact Reading Strategies” by Bryce Hedstrom. If you are a language teacher (including ELA), YOU NEED THIS BOOK! Bryce walks through 4 important components of reading in the classroom. He includes multiple quotes and evidence backing each of his strategies. There are even student handouts and project ideas.

When I was student teaching, I taught a novel and would have the students read aloud. My wise mentor teacher taught me that when students are speaking, they are focusing on their pronunciation, not their comprehension. When they read something for the first time, the focus should be on their comprehension, not their pronunciation.

So, how do we use stories in class? How do we move beyond popcorn reading? I have a few ideas for you. You will notice that quite a few of my activities involve the teacher reading. That is because I think it is imperative for teachers to read to their students. Why? Because the teacher knows. YOU know the story. YOU know the highs and lows. YOU know how to pronounce the words.YOU know the parts you want to emphasize. YOU know the sections they will need help with. READ TO YOUR STUDENTS!

“The soul is contained in the human voice.”
Jorge Luis Borges

Here are some of my favorite activities:

This is a good activity when I don’t feel like being energetic. I can sit down with my paper under the projector. I very rarely teach from my desk, so this activity feels like a guilty pleasure. If you want to try it out, here is a blank template for you!

Blank-Storyboard Download

Cornell notes are a big deal in my school. Every department has to include them in some way. So, I use them with reading! I have a blank document that I can use with any story. I go over what I expect them to write in each section and we come up with annotation marks they are expected to use to connect their notes to the text. You can use my blank template too:

Cornell-notes-blank-copy Download

These are certainly not the only strategies out there. I also suggest Running Dictation (Comprehensible Classroom has an excellent explanation.) This activity is a hit with every level!

While not necessarily classroom reading activities, the following activities are fun for post-reading comprehension checks.

If you have any questions or activities to add to this list, drop me a comment below!

Producing Poetry in High School Language Classes

When I was younger, I did not like poetry. But now I do, not because I understand it any better than I did in High School, but because I have discovered that it is a wonderful way to help students express themselves.

I teach a college-level composition class in high school (my students are in 11-12 grades). My final unit is a poetry unit and I have discovered that every one of my students is capable of writing profound poetry.

Students need time to think and be creative. In class we create multiple poems in multiple styles. Then we choose our favorites and spend time finding ways to work in symbolism and create imagery and emotion.

I begin the unit by introducing 5 types of poetry: lyric, sonnet, free verse, visual, and acrostic. Throughout the unit we will spend time creating each kind of poetry. First, I present an example and then we make a poem as a class, followed by 1-3 student practices (individually or in groups).

The fist poem we practice with is acrostic poetry.

Starting with acrostic poetry is low stakes and approachable. Students can find quick success and discover that poetry is attainable. This is also a fun one to do as a class. You can pick the word and then assign the letters to groups in the class. When they are done, write their lines on the board.

I introduce free verse poetry with “Oda al tomate”. Then we write our own odes to foods. Students tend to have a lot of fun with these poems as they always like to talk about their favorite foods. These are also fun poems to write in groups so there are more minds to think of metaphors.

Visual poetry is very fun as it creates an image with words. It can be hard to think of the image you want to create, but this allows students to think outside the “poetry box”.

Every year my students amaze me with their creations during the poetry unit. There is no real focus on grammar and students are free to focus on their imagination. I hope you try out poetry with your students!

Personalize the book “Carlos celebra” with this student template!

“Carlos celebra” is available on Amazon or you can get digital access for all your students through My Generation of Polyglots.

“Carlos celebra” is the second book in the Carlos series. In the first chapter, he prepares a surprise birthday party for his friend and roommate. In the second chapter he attends a wedding hosted by his sister. In the third chapter, Carlos returns home to celebrate Christmas with his family.

As with the first book, I have created a blank template for students to personalize this book. You can download the PDF file below (Print as is! Once you fold it in half, it all lines up) or use this digital version. (Please remember to make your own copy of the digital version to make it editable).

Yo-celebro-student-template Download

I have left this student handout rather open ended. I know that not every person participates in celebrations. I wanted the students to have the liberty to tell about the celebrations most important to them. I also thought that this template could be a fun way for teachers to explore culturally relative celebrations. The entire class could learn about a specific celebration, such as Las Fallas, and then create a page in their book as if they went to the celebration.

What ideas do you have for this template? Let me know!

Teaching Language With the Simple Novel “Soy Carlos”

“Soy Carlos” is available on Amazon and also through Bryce Hedstrom. You can get a digital classroom subscription through My Generation of Polyglots.

I first had the idea for a simple graphic novel while drawing out a story in class. I had a story template and drew a picture in each block with a caption underneath. I keep my drawings very simple because, well, that is about all the drawing I can do! But, my students had a great reaction to my simple drawings, which made me think there might be something special there.

Shortly later, my sister informed me that her husband was trying to learn Spanish. Language teachers know that language is best acquired through reading, so I began to think about how I could make the language as accessible as possible. These two instances led to the birth of “Soy Carlos”.

I had the remarkable opportunity to hold a virtual conference, hosted by the one and only Mike Peto, to share how I teach using “Soy Carlos”. You can watch a recording of that conference here!

So, here is a breakdown of how I teach: Class begins by making predictions about Carlos. I let them share ideas in English, but I also guide them in Spanish with multiple gestures towards descriptions they will see later in the book. (alto/bajo, gordo/flaco).

I go through each page line by line:

I start by saying “Carlos dice: ” and then I read the line.
I then compare myself with Carlos, followed by re-reading the line to describe myself, instead of him.
I continue by comparing the line about Carlos to students.
I then re-read the line and as students to respond to the line with “Soy similar” or “Soy diferente”.
I move on to the next line.

When I finish the page, I read the entire page again as written, and repeat it, personalizing the page to describe myself.

Here is a short clip of me teaching “Soy Carlos” from one of my classes.

Moving along this way, it can take up to 30 minutes just to get through one page, but this slow pace is important as it provides multiple repetitions, which are so essential to language acquisition.

To break things up, so the process doesn’t become too repetitive, I may sometimes change things up by having students read the entire page silently first or afterwards, the students may read individual lines out loud, we may all read together or we may “ping-pong” read (read the line in Spanish, and then repeat it in English).

I have also chunked the book into sections:

Pages 1-5 (physical description and personality traits)
Pages 6-8 (personal information)
Page 9 (favorite color)
Pages 10-17 (likes and dislikes)
Pages 18-20 (activities and more information)
Pages 21-23 (family roles)
Pages 24-27 (mom)
Pages 28-31 (dad)
Pages 32-35 (sister and pets)
Pages 36-41 (brother)
Page 42 (family review)
Pages 43-45 (friends preview and predictions)
Pages 46-47 (Marco)
Pages 48-49 (Leanna)
Pages 50-51 (Nalini and Chris)
Pages 52-53 (Friends and instruments)
Pages 54-60 (Group activities)
Pages 61-62 (Review)

After each section, students re-read the section silently and then we review it. One way we review it is by writing about Carlos in paragraph form. Another way re review it is by personalizing it. To this end, I created a document for students to make their own drawings. Feel free to download the document and use it in class! You will notice that every other page is upside down and the page numbers are not in order. However, when you print it, all you have to do is fold it in half and everything lines up!

Jake-student-template Download

Soy-Carlos-student-template Download

Je-suis-Pierre-student-template Download

For those of you teaching virtually, I have a Google Slides document (Soy Carlos student activity book) (Je suis Pierre student activity book) that provides students a digital way of creating their book. I still make my students draw, they just have to take pictures of their work and upload it into the document. In the “Speaker’s Notes” there are directions for each page and examples from the book. Feel free to make your own copy and personalize the activity for your own students!

One fun thing I do with the student template is give a little lesson (all in Spanish) about how to draw dynamic stick figures. I make it really simple and move step-by-step (This is how I draw a head; these are the body types I use; let’s talk about hair options!; eyes, nose and mouth; etc). The simple drawings lower the stress on students to be perfectionist or “good” artists.

Here is a clip of how I taught my students to create their cover picture for their own book:

I would love to hear from you! Are you teaching with “Soy Carlos”? How can I support you? What ideas do you have for teaching?

Story Roulette

Storytelling is something that I do quite often. I love telling stories. But, frankly, my kids get bored after the same storytelling style time and again. So, I decided to change it up.

For Story Roulette, you will need large paper and markers. I have a deskless classroom so I get the big butcher paper from the office and make my kids sit on the floor. Because they are on the floor, markers work much better than colored pencils (which just rip through the paper). However, you could also do this with a sheet of white paper and two partners at a desk.

You will also, obviously, need a story. This works best with stories that can be told in small chunks. You don’t want to be saying more than a sentence or two at a time. That being said, I have used Story Roulette to read a chapter from a book and to tell the legend of El Silbón.

In Story Roulette, students need to be in groups. You can determine the size of the groups. I never like to have more than 4 as the bigger the group, the less each person in it seems to participate. I have done this as well with just partners, but I find that 3 seems to be the magic number.

So, this is how Story Roulette works:

Students (or teacher) form their groups, get their materials, and number off. Teach assigns each group a letter
Teacher says a sentence of the story, repeating it multiple times (I like to walk around the room as I do this)
Students draw what is happening in the sentence (Depending on the participation of the class, I sometimes make each student have a different color so I can see that they are all participating). Teacher continues to repeat the sentence as students draw.
Teacher says a number. The person with that number in the group now has to say the sentence the teacher has been continuously repeating to their group.
Teacher now says a letter. The group with that letter repeats the sentence as a group to the rest of the class.
Repeat until the story is over.

After every 6 sentences or so I like to pause and have students retell the entire story in their group.

This activity often takes two days and can seem to move slowly, but the students are getting so many repetitions. They are hearing the words and phrases, and using them as well, multiple times in the course of one class.

When the story is over, I take pictures of their work. Then I can pull it up later to review the story or to do other activities with it. They are often proud of their picture (even, or maybe especially, when they are bad). Most importantly, this activity is FUN. They are working together, drawing, on the floor, and learning without really thinking about it.

I am sure that there are many ways to modify this activity, so if you have any ideas, comment below. Let’s collaborate!

I teach more than Spanish

I was teaching the Mayan number system. I was outlining how they wrote their numbers in column form and how it was a base-20 system. I showed them how each symbol meant something and how to add them together to get the final number. It was confusing, it was different, and for many students, it was hard to grasp.

After a short while, a student raised his hand. “Why are we learning this? What does this have to do with Spanish?” Another student chipped in. “Yeah, this isn’t Math class.”

I had an answer (a good teacher always does – whether or not it is satisfactory to the student). I had been teaching them the entire process in Spanish. The Mayans had (and continue to have) a large presence in the cultures of Mexico and Central America, which we were studying at the time. But rather than remind them of those simple facts, I said something different.

“Enseño más que el español.” (I teach more than Spanish). My class looked at me quizzically. I continued on (in Spanish, of course).

“Do you think that you are at school just to learn facts and information?” Lots of head nodding. “Well, you’re not. You are here to learn how to open your mind up to different ways of thinking. You are here to experience different perspectives so that later you can form your own. You are here to constantly re-wire your brain.”

There was a brief pause as students absorbed this and then we moved on with out lesson. But the question and the moment caused me to reflect on what exactly my role is as a high school teacher.

Yes, of course, I teach the Spanish language through stories and culture. But what else?

I do teach more than Spanish. I am required to help students prepare for the SAT/PSAT, so I teach study and test taking skills. I require papers to be written so I teach sentence, paragraph and essay structure. I ask students to figure out their own grades so I teach division and percentages. We use computers and I teach how to use different programs. I present artwork and teach art analysis. I play songs and teach music appreciation. I teach history and geography . I teach reading and listening comprehension. I teach communication skills.

I am under no illusions with my students. I know that many of them will not go on to study Spanish or even use it past my class. As a community college teacher I often heard: “Yeah, I took (1-4) years of Spanish in high school. I don’t understand any of it, though.” (Trust me, I work hard to combat that, but I know my own students say it too.)

So, perhaps the real lessons that occur in class are the not strictly content related. Perhaps they are the lessons that get kids who “don’t like to read” excited to read a book. The lessons that reinforce basic math skills. The lessons about how to be understanding of those around them. The lessons about looking at the world through different eyes. The lessons that force us to rethink our own patterns and norms. Perhaps even the lessons about another culture’s number system.

100% Target Language 100% of the Time

90%+ in the target language is the recommendation set by ACTFL. I remember myself thinking “90%? That’s so much more than what I am doing!” So I decided to make a change. I decided to jump in and speak Spanish as much as possible with every level. I remember being intimidated. I am not a native speaker and what if I didn’t know how to say something or explain something? And, if I don’t know the words, how would I make it comprehensible for my students? In the end, though, it came down to a choice. I was going to speak Spanish and nothing else. So I did. (I teach multiple levels, but here I will go in depth with my Spanish 1’s)

The first day of school, I greeted everyone in Spanish. I explained the class routine using TPR – no sweat. I told a mini-story (It’s great, simple, and gets student actors.) Staying in Spanish 90% of the time was going to be a piece of cake. Then we hit a culture unit.

I had already decided that I was going to use English to teach some things about culture. In the past I have had some amazing cultural conversations with my students and in order to go in depth, we discussed culture in English. So, halfway through the second week of school, I stood in front of my first class of the day and I warned them that I was going to speak in English. Oddly enough, I was nervous. It was like I could be a different person when I only spoke the TL. I took a deep breath and before I could open my mouth, one of my students raised his hand.

“Profe Bates,” he said. “Please don’t speak in English. You will ruin the magic.”

I smiled. I had created a magical space in my classroom – one that didn’t need English. Even though the rest of the class moaned and complained because they WANTED to hear me speak in English, I pushed forward in Spanish, and I have never looked back.

Now, I have a reputation. Graduating students tell incoming Freshman to not even bother trying to get Ms. Bates to speak English – she even speaks Spanish to you in Walmart! But it’s okay, because you’ll learn to understand her.

So, how do I do it? I do a lot of acting in front of my class. I also draw a lot of pictures (it’s very abstract art – like Picasso!). I use circumlocution and let my rock star students figure out the meaning for the class. When all else fails, or students get confused, I do write the English meaning on the board. However, I never let English come out of my mouth during Spanish class. I can’t anymore. I have a reputation to maintain.

Comparing the present and the past

Most language teachers at some point need to delve into the past tense. While this 3-day lesson is not the first exposure my students get with the past, it is the first time I clearly outline the imperfect past tense.

DAY 1: We start the day with a partner chat in English about what activities students did as children. It is okay if they also do the activity now. Then I randomly call on students to share with the class. I ask students to 1) repeat the action/verb the student said in English 2) tell me what that verb is in Spanish. I then wrote it on the board in black. We repeat it and talk about how it is what a person does now in the present. Then I write the past tense underneath it. We all repeat the word various times, then I repeat the student’s original childhood activity in Spanish.

This is the time for circling with questions. Ask “Who else did this action?”, “Did you do this action?” “Class, did Sue do this action?”, “I did this action, too!”

We work on this for 30-40 minutes. I have students pause and talk to each other about what they do in Spanish and we do a lot of questioning and circling. For the last 10 minutes of class, we do an inside-outside circle of students sharing what they used to do as a child.

DAY 2: Now that I have explicitly shown the difference between the present and the general past, I tell the students a story of sorts. I draw a line across the middle of the board and write “Ahora” (now) above the line and “De niñ@” (As a child) under it. We start by creating a character and describing him/her. Then we describe what s/he does on a typical day. My first class made her a boring person with boring activities. My second class made her much more interesting.

Make a line down the center of the board to divide the past and the present.

Once the present activities are decided, I have students switch seats and tell their new partner about our person’s present day.

Now it is time to switch it up. We go through the same verbs, but now change them to the past. Our boring person, it turns out, was an interesting child. Our interesting person was a boring child. We have a lot of fun with it!

Debrah es baja y gordita. Ella es feliz y activa. Ella va al parque. En el parque camina los gatos. De niña, Debrah era baja y flaca. Ella era antipática y enojada. Debrah iba a la escuela. En la escuela ella escribía mucho.

Ahora Debrah come huevos y atún para el lonche. De niña ella comía un sándwich de jamón y queso. Ahora ella lee el diccionario de “Twilight”. De niña ella leía “Huevos verdes con jamón”. Ahora se ducha en la noche. De niña se bañaba en la mañana.

Once we have determined the childhood of our character, students once again change seats and tell their new partner what our character used to do in the past. Once conversation dies down, I throw a ball or stuffed animal to one student who starts the retell of the story. I help by pointing at the verb and giving prompting when needed.

Now students move one last time. After the last move, they compare our character’s present and past. The sentence stem is already on the board to help them along. “Now Debrah is…, but as a child Debrah was…”. I walk around and make sure students understand and are getting it. If time allows, we go over it again as a class.

DAY 3: Today is a writing day. I have the students make a line from tallest to shortest and then I fold the line to pair them up. Each group gets a paper and writing utensil and then sits on the floor (I am *mostly deskless). I show the students how to fold their paper, one step at a time. The goal is to have 2 columns with 8 sections. (Fold long way once, then fold in half 3 times). The first column is labeled “Ahora” (now) and the second is labeled “De niñ@” (as a child).

As I demonstrate what I want the students to do, I re-emphasize how to know if a verb is in the present or the past.

I make an example of what I want with my students. The goal is for them to make a story like the one we told yesterday.

After writing a few lines to get the students started, I have them continue in their pairs. I have verbs on the wall to help them out as well.

Verb walls are a great thing! I remind students that for this activity we are working with the “general past”

Once most groups are done, it is time to move on. I combine the pairs and have them read their story to the other group. Once that is done, I switch up the pairs again. This time, they take turns reading one of their sentences (without the “ahora” or “de niñ@”) and the other group needs to determine if the sentence is in the present or the past.

During the last 10 minutes of class, I give an assessment. I am required to enter 1 data-based (non-participation) grade per week. This listening quiz should be rather simple for them with our practice. For the quiz, I chose sentences from the stories my students wrote. I read a sentence and the students need to indicate on their quiz sheet if it is in the present or the past. Then they need to draw a small picture of what the sentence represents. I am sure to choose sentences with verbs we have practiced extensively in class.

QUIZ listening past tenses Download

This was a fun, interactive 3-day lesson with my students. During this week, I also had them email me a childhood picture. Come back next week to see what I did with them!

Category: Teaching