Stacy wrote about replacing a teacher in a building with little written curriculum. One group of students is failing to respond to her and she asks for help.
Dear Stacy,
It is time to get the positive endorphins flowing and the best way to do this is with a steady stream of positive endorphins being released through out the class period. Please see these prior blogs about how to do this.
https://minutebyminutespanish.com/how-can-i-transition-my-students-to-speaking-in-
Since your principal is willing to support you to grow the program, here is what I suggest you do once you are on board with the idea of using transition videos.
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Buy a remote presentation device and have it ready. A remote mouse will also work.
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Based on what you have said you have taught so far, move on to classroom items. You want every minute of this class scripted so that there is no down time. But you also have many preps. If you want six days of lessons scripted out for you, including all handouts, then Click here for classroom items lessons bundle .
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Insert the starter bundle videos as indicated in the lessons and start teaching with these.
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Get your head in the game and come up with one positive about each student – just for yourself. Practice in your heart how much you want them to love your class and do well. Envision the class turning around and how much everyone loves your time together.
Put it out to the universe and keep believing it. Stop thinking about what a pain they are. You must stop this as they can sense it. You are going to look back at this as one of your greatest teacher victories. Hum the song “dale vuelta a la tortilla” to boost your spirits.
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On the day you are ready to start, have a two minute heart-to-heart talk with them. Tell them that while you are not supposed to have favorites, they are your favorites but you don’t think they know it so you want to make some changes to the class so that they know how special they are to you. (Yup, keep telling yourself this) Then, change seats so that the usual sideways glances and little groups of resistance are separated. Put a lot of strategical thinking into this seating chart. Tell them to gather their things up and you decide if they look at the new seating chart on your screen or if you direct them. As soon as they are ready, tell them this is the new signal that class is beginning and play ‘class is about to begin’ and then launch into the greetings in the lesson plans.
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Super prepare with the next six lessons. Smile. Don’t look back. Fall in love with this class as they respond to the videos and lessons.
Stacy, you are asking the right questions and I believe you can and will turn this around — let me know if I can help.
