A few years ago, students and I rejoiced when I made the move to not be chained to chapters. I fluctuate between the traditional model (chapter units in a textbook) and lean more toward abandoning the text as the students progress. While this has been a work in progress, the level of student engagement and ownership of their work was immediately noticeable.
- Throw Away Your Textbook – This site was created by a Spanish teacher who felt frustrated after seven years of teaching with a textbook. There are a variety of resources for inspiration as well as “True Stories from the Trenches.”
- Google will change your world: If you’ve not already dove into the world of Google, make this your New Year’s resolution. Being a Google Certified educator, I understand how easily Google can 1) organize my life (emails, docs, classroom, quizzes…you name it), and 2) the creativity and ownership I can promote in my students.
- A future post to come about all things Google and how to become certified!
- Develop a plan:
- How will you determine units?
- How will you determine sub-themes within each unit?
- How will vocabulary be organized when they no longer come from a photocopy?
- What grammar and cultural content will be included?
- In what formats will I present materials if I don’t have a textbook?
- What resources will I draw on and give to the students?
I will admit that throwing out the textbook the first time I tried was very daunting. I was a young teacher who put more work into the unit than the students and I still wasn’t satisfied. Make your students do the work! They take ownership and there will be increased learning with more engagement. Trust me.
So let’s look at this again:
- Develop a plan:
- How will you determine units?
- I always have a starting unit in mind so that I am ready for the beginning of the semester.
- My students write in categories and I narrow down the list from common interests. I then poll the students, using Google Forms, to determine the top three units, with an additional unit if we have time at the end of the semester.
- How will you determine sub-themes within each unit?
- Each unit begins with brainstorming sub-themes in partners or small groups. Whiteboards are filled up faster than you can say “Allez!” so limit the time before you go down a rabbit hole of sub-categories.
- Common themes along with student votes for or against help start to shape the unit. You will also need to help your students realize that some of their extremely specific sub-themes may not have a place in this unit. But don’t restrict all their fun. When the sub-theme “bizarre foods from around the world” literally has your students bouncing in their chairs and saying, “Oui, Madame! Pleeeaase…”, you let that one in.
- How will vocabulary be organized when they no longer come from a photocopy?
- This is a little more legwork in the very beginning of the unit but worth it for several activities throughout the unit. Again, direct students to their whiteboards and assign sub-themes to partners or small groups. The class will create their own Quizlet class set but make sure to pare down the vocabulary to what is relevant with room for some fun words. Students will want to include everything but quickly realize that 200 words is too much.
- I create a Quizlet Class that is very clearly labeled, i.e., “French 2 (pd 3) 2019-20).” Each group shares words from their sub-theme and I add the English translation in a new Study Set.
- How to create a class Quizlet: Add a study set –> Create a new set –> Only editable by me (top right), change to “Certain Classes” and choose the correct class. Your students will now be able to edit the set so you can divide and conquer the list. Make sure to double check their spelling and accents!
- This is a little more legwork in the very beginning of the unit but worth it for several activities throughout the unit. Again, direct students to their whiteboards and assign sub-themes to partners or small groups. The class will create their own Quizlet class set but make sure to pare down the vocabulary to what is relevant with room for some fun words. Students will want to include everything but quickly realize that 200 words is too much.
- What grammar and cultural content will be included?
- I maintain the same grammar as I normally would per level. Cultural content is dependent upon the determined units, pursuing that topic in the Francophone world via literature, news article, France24 or RFI publications, YouTube, etc.
- In what formats will I present materials if I don’t have a textbook?
- This is where I put in too much time and effort on my first attempt at throwing away the textbook. Let them research and use different forums to present!
- Provide brief impromptu speaking guidelines via Google Docs.
- Example: A Level 3 music unit required daily group presentations outlining a French or Francophone artist, a brief biography, his/her influences and who he/she has influenced, and a sample song link posted to the shared class Google Doc.
- Create Google Slides to guide discussions and maintain focus. When you are without a textbook, it is easy to bounce around and lose students in the process. Alternately, have your students create and present their own Slides for an engaging class discussion.
- Provide brief impromptu speaking guidelines via Google Docs.
- This is where I put in too much time and effort on my first attempt at throwing away the textbook. Let them research and use different forums to present!
- What resources will I draw on and give to the students?
- While I create discussion questions surrounding news articles, videos, and my typical reliable resources (RFI, France24, Tex’s French Grammar, etc.), students must also research sub-themes and do their own presentations.
- How will you determine units?
The Curious Creator 