Explanation

Connection to World Readiness Standards

In the Spring semester of 2017, I received a Smart Board. I've never used one before and have never seen one work. I've used it more than a few times this Spring and, while I lament my loss of board space somewhat, am overall very happy with it. The majority of things I use it for a Comprehensible Input strategies and activities that I'd like to be able to save and share with kids. The Smart Board makes personalising things by class much easier than in the past, and provides extra support when doing things like One Word Images or Story Listening so that time isn't lost on incidental things. 

On this page:

1. Invisibles Smart Board 
   1. Video 
   2. Description
2. Story Listening
   1. Image
   2. Description
   3. Student Feedback
3. Task - Quid Demonstrat
   1. Images
   2. Description
   3. Student Feedback
4. Task - Quae Qualitas est Gravis Nobis?
   1. Link
   2. Description
   3. Follow Up

• Communication - Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.
  • In each of these examples, students negotiated meaning between each other, the class, and the teacher to create stories and discussions
• Communication - Learners understood, interpret, and analyse what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics
  
  • In each of these examples, student analysed and interpreted what they heard to ensure they understood and to argue their point
• Communication - Learners present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers
  
  • During the Invisibles activity and the task, students had to present their arguments and ideas in order to convince their teacher and fellow students to allow for certain ideas and images. 
• Connections - Learners build, reinforce, and expand their knowledge of other disciplines while using the language to develop critical thinking and to solve problems creatively
  
  • During the task, students had to validate their opinions by providing evidence, which helps develop critical thinking. By asking students to use the language outside of the context of our stories, students connected with other disciplines. 

Invisibles

The Invisibles is an activity that I found on Ben Slavic's site. It does not require the use of technology, but I wanted to save the images and use them to create a resources for extra listening and Comprehensible Input. 

Students drew these images for the most part and dictated what would appear in the image. I served as a facilitator, rather than as a narrator. 

The video was recorded using Chrome's extension screencastify and the video was posted for students to view and practice with. 

Story Listening

In this activity, I told a story that students had already read and worked with, "Iacobus et Caulis Fabae" (Jack and the Beanstalk) and illustrated as I went. In this activity, students listened to the story being told. The Smart Board enhanced the activity in a way that I was able to easily save my images in colour and use them later for a timed write or a discussion activity. 

Student Feedback

• I enjoy watching you draw while you tell the story, it flows better - Latin II student when comparing this to when students draw while I speak.
• I like being able to reference the simple images later.  The colour coding helps too. - Latin II student

Task Based - Quid Demonstrat?

In the images to the right, you will see three examples of this activity from three different class. Students were asked to determine whether certain activities demonstrated certain qualities in a person. The activities listed were running, killing, saying nice things, giving kisses, drawing pictures, and eating. The qualities given were loyalty/friendship, hatred/evil, good sense, and bad sense. 

Students did this in three steps: (1) they evaluated these on their own, (2) they met in small groups and discussed their thoughts, and (3) we met as a class and discussed these ideas and took notes on the arguments presented. This was all done in Latin. 

Each class hit the same basic points, but also noted different things. The use of the Smart Board allowed us to take notes and then share those notes with other classes, creating a personalised set for each class. The Smart Board also allowed each class to see the differences between each other and the similarities. Students were provided the notes and given the chance to review these at home. Absent students reviewed these as well, writing their own thoughts on the discussion down. 

Student Feedback:

• It was really cool to see what the other classes wrote and how we arrived at the same thoughts with different ideas. -Latin II student
• It was interesting to see how different each class was. - Latin II student who was absent on the day of the task.
• I liked being able to argue our points and see them on the board. - Latin II student
  
• I like how we were able to colour code each train of thought. - Latin II students who were both present and absent on the day of. 
  

Quae Qualitas est Gravis Nobis

Link to notes

In the link to the left, you will find a copy of the class notes for our discussion on Roman qualities. Prior to this task, we spent a week learning about and working with 15 specific Roman qualities such as: honestas (honour), digintas (dignity), and humanitas (humanity). Students prepared for our discussion by first categorising the qualities into four categories:

• has three parts
• is an important quality
• is a quality I demonstrate
• is a quality I wish to demonstrate

Students then turned to a neighbour and discussed these various qualities. As a class, we first reviewed which ones had three parts. Then we set up for our discussion of what was important to us by discussing what Cicero, the Romans, and I said were the most important to us. Students were then invited to share what was important to them. At the end of class, students voted on what they felt was the most important for the class.