Whose voices are present in your classroom?

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better ~ Maya Angelou

I was inspired this summer, during a conversation with a friend, to examine the perspectives that are presented in the reading materials I put forward in my class.  To take a moment and consider the biases I intentionally or unintentionally bring into my classroom.  So many questions began to circle in my head.   Whose voices was I including? Were the voices of a variety of cultures being brought into the room?  Was I pushing my students to look at events from multiple lenses?  Was I doing enough to teach varied materials from around the world?  Could all my students identify with some of the materials presented in class?

I could not honestly say that I was presenting a good variety of voices.  I began looking through the books I have in my long range plans and made some changes.  I'm excited this year to explore the world with my French Immersion students from a variety of perspectives.

Here are a few of the books I will be examining with my students this year.

Le puits de l'espoir - Eric Walters
Moi, Malala - Malala Yousafzai et Patricia McCormick
Ici, c'est différent de là-bas - Naïma Oukerfellah
Wonder - R.J. Palacio

We will also examine different perspectives using current events and shorter texts from around the world.

My hope is by tracking the different areas of the world we examine with a world map on our classroom wall that I will be mindful to cover a great number of globally relevant materials with my students.

Do you have suggestions to add to my list?  Voices I should add?

This and That

It's hard to believe that the first three weeks of school have already flown by.  Getting adjusted to a new school year always takes a few weeks but I am finally feeling like we're getting things moving in my classroom.  I've been trying a few exciting new things this year and can't wait to show you want we've been up to.

1. 20% Time -  I had heard about this project but never attempted it myself.  Thanks to the inspiration I found over at Education Is My Life over 120 students are partaking in this amazing project at my school this year.  I teach French Immersion and Extended French(late immersion), so all the work is being done en français and so far I am so impressed with their amazing ideas!  We have projects of all kinds just getting underway, everything from learning ASL to creating how to videos for all kinds of things(origami, DIY projects...etc), to photography projects and even research projects on special areas of interest such as the history of pirates.  My students are excited and so am I.  There is a buzz of work going on whenever they are in 20% time.  I can't wait to see where these projects take us.

First week back!

Well the first week is done and it was AMAZING!  I was a little nervous starting school this year,  being new to my building meant meeting new kids and staff!  Yikes!  Well I had nothing to fret about;  not only are my students incredible but the teaching staff is beyond supportive!  This is going to be a wonderful year.

As a class, we are almost most done all of the activities from my Activités pour la rentrée package!  We still need to play the game with our Postcards.  Students each wrote two postcards - one was something they did this summer, the other something they didn't do - next week they will present their postcards and their classmates will try to guess which is real and which is fake.  So much fun!  During this activity, I am getting a really good look at their areas of immediate need in writing and the proficiency levels with the French.  Students really got into it when they realised that their would be a prize next week for the student who tricks the most people and the student who is most accurate when guessing about other peoples holidays.  It really kept them from telling others which was the truth and which was a lie.  I look forward to hearing their presentations.

Authentic Texts in the FSL Classroom

I am back from a wonderful camping vacation to d'Aiguebelle National Parc in Quebec.  It was a spectacular experience and is the inspiration for this post.

See how can you not be inspired by this beautiful lake!  This is le lac Haie which my husband and I canoed up and down on day 3 of our holiday.  This photo is taken from the amazing suspended bridge above the lake.  

What's on Your Wish List??? Linky and Sale!

Have you had your eye on anything over at Teachers Pay Teachers? I know I have lots of great products I can wait to get my hands on during the annual sale!  Today I decided to participate in Teaching with a Touch of Twang's linky party!