A Teacher's Guide to Our Story

 There are many places where things can go off the rails in a World Language classroom, especially one that tilts toward Comprehensible Input. I have never had any difficulty whenever I've said, “Take out your notebooks. We are going to take notes.” In these instances, students silently and furiously copy down whatever I put on the board. I have their complete attention. But notetaking is the exception rather than the norm in a World Language classroom that emphasizes communication over grammatical perfection. In a CI classroom, students are often acting out vocabulary words, engaging in conversations with one another, creating or analyzing stories, and playing games. These spirited strategies are presented throughout the Our Story series, along with other techniques that help students acquire language naturally. Executing these activities, however, while also maintaining a sense of order can be a real challenge.
 I've struggled the most with students blurting things out when they're excited and with the times they slip into English for various reasons—to chat with one another during transition periods, or because they're fatigued and using English is easier. I don't want to micromanage their interactions and behaviors in my classroom, but I also want them to treat our time together with a seriousness of purpose. Students talking out of turn detracts from the learning environment I strive to foster. Each year I ask myself how I can ensure that students buy into the world of Comprehensible Input that I hope to create with their help.
 I've found the solution to dealing with classroom management issues is actually related to one of my mentor teacher's mantras. As noted in Chapter 3: Know What Drives You, Steve professed, “The simplest answer is often the most sophisticated.” In terms of classroom management, I've found that a few simple strategies work. The two tools that have been most useful to me have been posting my rules on the wall and having students fill out participation sheets. Both tactics revolve around a clever concept known as T.A.L.K.

 When lesson planning, I pull from a menu of choices that mostly exists in my mind, although I do keep an actual document on my computer as well. These ideas come from everywhere: from my amazing colleagues, the internet, professional workshops, my own ideas, and, finally, trial and error. I look at the document whenever I'm feeling stuck and in need of a little inspiration. As we continue to teach, sometimes our favorite gems fall by the wayside and then we remember, “Oh yeah! I used to do that activity! Why did I stop doing that?” It's nice to have a list of effective strategies on hand that you can dust off and reinstate at any time.
 I encourage you to write down your favorite activities. You can use my list as a jumping-off point and organize what you typically do into categories. I've organized my activities into categories that align with the design of Our Story. Under each heading, I've shared three activities. The three that I've chosen require little prep, can apply to any story, and can be used by people with differing teaching styles. The categories are:

1. Opening Routines
2. Building Rapport
3. Brain Breaks
4. Important Vocabulary
5. Personalized Questions and Answers
6. Story Scripts
7. Previewing and Reviewing Stories
8. Reading Activities
9. Listening Activities
10. Speaking Activities
11. Writing Activities
12. Closing Routines

 While Our Story is my primary text, I like to incorporate other content into the curriculum as well. There are outside resources like books and movies that I weave into my lesson plans in order to break up the sequence of activities in Our Story. The standard structure of each chapter, which moves students through vocabulary, personalized questions, stories, and follow-up activities, makes Our Story a familiar and reliable resource; however, students enjoy a little break from the norm from time to time. To add some variation to the curriculum, you can use your own resources or even stay within Our Story. The series contains supplemental content like digital readers and multimedia programs that capture students' interest and allow them to switch gears easily. For example, the Spanish series includes a Netflix original called Go! Vive a tu manera, which my Spanish III students love to watch on Fridays. The digital nature of the curriculum means that there is no shortage of options to choose from—but be sure to also offer your students activities that take them off their screens entirely. Several suggestions for how to do that are included in this chapter. Once you've decided on the content you'll teach—whether inside of Our Story or outside of it—then you can pick and choose from a variety of activities that will help your students master the material and form connections with one another. A list of activities by category is given below.