One Word Image

Hola, Locos!

I finally attempted a One Word Image with my Spanish II students! I can’t exactly explain why I’ve always avoided OWIs, but some adults are still afraid of the dark, so let’s move on.

If you don’t know, a One Word Image is a class character or image created via asking a story so that students are in complete control of the final personalized product. It’s creator, Ben Slavic, can explain this plan way better than I can!

Although I didn’t follow all of the OWI steps by the book, a lot can be learned from this lesson. Let’s do some reflection!

• Non-Scientific Plan of Attack:
  • Allow the students to select a Profe Dos (see below).
  • Ask the Ss to select an Artist.
  • Beg for lots of participation.
  • Ask the Ss to name a thing.
  • Ask the Ss to describe the thing via lots of either/or and open response questions.
  • Teach to the eyes to evaluate comprehension, know when to pause and point, and know when to ask for volunteer translators.
  • Ask the Ss to tell me what the thing is doing, where it is, how it feels, if it has any pets, and more. The options are endless and the difficulty level is selectable. 
  • Retell it.
  • Name it.
  • Write about it.
  • Retell it
  • Read about it.
  • Retell it.
  • Ask lots of comprehension questions.
  • Complete lots of formative assessments.
  • Draw it.
  • Show it.
  • Retell it.
  • Display it.
  • Be proud of it.
  • Use it all the time for other random activites in the future.

• Profe Dos: You will see me frequently ask a student, who was named Profe Dos by his or her peers, to make decisions for us. This student has to listen to the other students in order to decide on the most popular choices so that I don’t have to take a side. Another benefit is that it helps the class maintain control of the character to keep us student-centered. It’s Skill #36 in TPRS in a Year from Ben Slavic, and here are some more classroom jobs from Bryce Hedstrom. PS. I don’t pay the student some percentage of my monthly wages. I got billz.

• The Alphabet: You will see me pretend like I can’t spell things while writing our story on the whiteboard. The truth is, I am not always pretending, and we’re also reviewing the alphabet in context.

• Responses: There are many ways to ask for responses. In this lesson I asked for voting with raised hands, asked students to shout their ideas all at once, asked particular students for their input, looked for smiles and clapping, asked either/or questions, provided options, and more. Next time I hope to incorporate whiteboards and voting technology like a polling app so that I can hear more from the introverts and those who feel like they can’t get a word in.

• Management: It’s obvious that some classes are harder for me to control than others. Sometimes I have to encourage participation, but other times I have to point at our rules and ask for “atención” in order to minimize yelling. This is exactly why we don’t treat all hours the same. Next time, I might have the rowdier classes write on whiteboards instead of yelling, review the class rules right before the activity, maintain a seating chart, or only call on raised hands.

• Everyone needs this Mobile Magnetic Dry-Erase Flipchart Easel!
  

Many thanks to Tina Hargaden for providing demonstration videos, and also to Nancy Travis McLaughlin for loaning me sus cojones.

Peace out, Profes!