Saturday, March 18, 2017

OWAT Story Scavenger Hunt: A thing you can do on sub days

I think I invented this activity, but I'm not sure. It's basically a gallery walk type thing that you can do the day after you do some One Word at a Time Stories. The best thing about it is that you can assign it as a sub plan and know the kids are still getting input. It also requires them to get up and move around the room, which is sometimes desirable. And it's personalized because it's kids' output! And if you're 6 months pregnant you can sit down for most of it!

Day 1: (15-20 minutes)

  • Maybe you're there, maybe you're not. 
  • Prep cards for OWAT. 
  • Print out these worksheets... or don't. I made up these worksheets this past time because I got tired of repeating the directions, and also it makes it clear how many sentences there are supposed to be at the end. Oh, and unlike Keith, I never do this in groups of more than 2 people.
  • Have kids do the activity. 
    • Encourage them to use Latin words they know as much as possible. You want to keep the stories comprehensible for their level, so if you have to add a bunch of extra vocabulary it's a pain in the butt.
  • Outside of class time, read them over and pick the easiest and frankly most coherent ones. 
  • Type them out, correcting grammar as you go. 
    • You might need to simplify the story or change things a bit.
    • I recommend changing the story as little as possible because some kids get mad when you change their stories. 
    • I don't keep the author names on the stories, but you can if you want.
    • Number each story.
  • Make Scavenger Hunt questions about them. 
    • You can use this worksheet as a template, but sadly you're going to have to change the clues to fit the stories you get, of course.
    • Definitely make them write down the sentence that gave them the answer or they will write random numbers.
    • Adding the vocab is a new idea this time and I think it's a good one. I don't actually know how this went because I'm not at Day 3 yet :) Especially if you've used this to introduce newish vocab, they will need the help.
    • Here are the stories that go with the above worksheet, for your reference. These aren't the best stories I've ever gotten but I wanted to use something recent. The more decent stories you get, the longer you can make the activity last. And the more input they'll get, which I'm sure is the more virtuous goal... but listen, I'm tired.
  • Print out the stories out in BIG text.
    • Use different colors of text or paper to differentiate between levels. On days I use this, I use it for all my levels.
  • Pin/magnet the stories up around the room wherever you can.
    • Try to spread them out and put them up a bit high because students will crowd around them and it can be hard for them to see.

Day 2: (15-20 minutes)

  • Give the sub some instructions like these: 

  1. Hand out One Word At a Time Scavenger Hunt worksheets. 
  2. Remind them to put their names on the papers.
  3. Go over instructions with students. They will not get credit for random answers.
  4. Direct students’ attention to the stories pinned up around the room. Be sure students know that Latin I stories are in RED TEXT, and to ignore the other ones.
  5. Students should individually follow the instructions and walk around the room looking for the stories that fit the descriptions on their worksheets.
Day 3 or whatever: (15ish minutes)

  • Mark the papers at least for completion.
  • Re-read the stories together. Project them, or if you have a small enough class, walk around the room together and choral read and/or choral translate them.
  • Ask your scavenger hunt questions in TL or in L1, whatever works best for you. 
  • Have kids correct their own papers as you go, if you want.
  • If you want, collect the papers again & mark them for interpretive proficiency.
There. Your lesson plan for parts of 3 days. Surround it with more input on the same structures. 

Bonus question: This particular iteration of an OWAT Scavenger Hunt sequence was aimed at a particular text. Do you know which chapter/unit/story I was targeting? The winner gets gloria immortalis! (My kids never get concrete prizes. KLEOS ONLY!)