Comprehensibly IB

For one word images (OWI) I like to assess our students using Criterion C: Communicating in response to spoken and/or written and/or visual text. I teach mostly 9th graders in Spanish 1 so I use the Phase 2 criteria for assessment. After a class completes their OWI, I snap a picture and save it to my Google Drive folder. I give each class their own folder and one of the subfolders is OWI. I name it whatever character it was and put the date so that I know when we completed this creation. Our school utilizes Schoology as our online platform for instruction. So when assessment time rolls around, I upload the picture to Schoology and they complete their descriptions from the image provided on their iPad. To assess the students, I go over our Criterion C rubric with them. But, for now, I give them each a copy of the Crit. C rubric and let them look over the details of what they are being assessed on. I usually give them their rubrics 3-4 days ahead of time we go over it every da...

One of my favorite Comprehensible Input activities is the "One Word Image" also known as the OWI. It is an amazing way to get kids to really get involved in the language and have them quickly pick up vocabulary because it has been produced in a way that is meaningful to them. So what is an OWI? An OWI is an image that is created by input from the students. In my class, we have a class artist. This is someone who likes drawing but can also pay attention to what we are saying in class and create a really awesome doodle based on what the class comes up with. The student artist does this at the back of the class with an easel and we don't reveal the OWI until the next day (to peak anticipation!) One thing I like about OWIs is that we can target specific vocabulary if we need to. Let's use my Hour 7 Spanish 1 class for example. We created "Becky" the blue and yellow watermelon who was bigger than the Eiffel Tower. I wish I had a picture because she was...

During the last week of school, I was planning for next year. I know this isn't for everyone and it isn't even for me every year. This year, however, I couldn't shake the need to be better prepared than I was this year and for me, the best time to do that is when I am thinking about it and I have my kids in front of me, remembering our challenges and what I can improve upon. For me, my opening routine needs work. As I reflected, I realized that I was not great about updating our class plan every day and where to find homework/assignments. I wanted to create a place where students can see the same 4 things every day when they walk in, in the same place: (1) Their warm up, (2) the daily agenda, (3) the lesson objective and (4) any homework they will have. Using Slides , I made a Master Copy at the very beginning that I can duplicate every day as needed. I also made sample slide of how I plan on filling each box out. Make a copy of this! Add it to your Drive! Modify color...

The name at the outset seems like an oxymoron. The International Baccalaureate program is so all-encompassing and complicated that I don't necessarily think it can be qualified as "Comprehensible". I need a 3-day workshop just to pin down all the acronyms; but, I digress. As I dug through the amazing resources by  Tina Hargaden , Martina Bex and  The Comprehensible Classroom ,  Mis Clases Locas  and more, I realized that I was also searching for a resource that blended Comprehensible Input with the Middle Years International Baccalaureate program and I wasn't finding what I needed. I wanted a place to help me with units and Criterions A and B and C and D and for someone to explain to me what exactly an ATL is and how I can meld it into my World Language classroom.  This goal of this blog is to meld the worlds of CI and IB into a place where resources can be found by someone who is currently using them in real time (well, I mean, I guess it's summer so perhaps ...