Episode 103: It takes TWO to make Parent Night Chic

Shay and I had a BLAST recording this... can you tell!? Alsoooo yes, it did take TWO takes... le sigh... 

an extra tidbit from Shay! <3 and Dolly....

Here's a REALLY old blog you can read about Parent's Night too!

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Transcript

Annabelle:

Welcome back to Teaching La Vida Loca, the podcast you come to for short and sweet and sometimes spicy episodes full of enthusiasm, magic, and tips and tricks for your classroom. I'm Annabelle, your Maestra Loca, and I'm here to bring you inspiration, unapologetic authenticity, and ideas to spark more joy in your teaching journey. I'm turning up the excitement and elated to have you right here with me. I'm not just your host, I'm your cheerleader, and I'm thrilled you're tuning in. So, let's do this. Let's tackle Teaching La Vida Loca together. Hello and welcome to episode 103. 103 take two. 103.5. Yes, 103.5. With my dear friend Shay, who teaches in the upper school where I am at country day and I am really happy to have this conversation for the second time because Shay and I did, in fact, record this the other day, and it was epic, but not as epic as this second take is going to be. We feel confident. Bigger, faster, stronger. So, I just want to start with a gratitude for Shay for re-recording this with me because of my error. And she is the best. Look, she's trying to signal to me like, don't even. It's not your error. Give me a break. Oh my god. Okay, so we are here today to talk to you about parents’ night. But before we talk about parents’ night, I really want you to know a little bit about Shay. She's going to tell you what she teaches, how long she's been teaching and a little bit about herself. And then, and then we'll take it away. Go.

Shay:

Okay. Thanks, Annabelle, for having me again. I mean, I honestly kind of hope it doesn't work again so that we can just, it's like Groundhog Day. I hope you put, I got you babe, under our conversation. So, I'm Shay and I have been teaching French for 20 years, which is crazy that this is my 20 years. Yeah, yeah, it's really nuts. And this is the first year, maybe last year, but this is like the first year where I feel like, oh, I'm actually, I've been doing this for as long as every single student has been alive. Okay. That's a, that's a, you know, gut punch. But I teach eighth, ninth and tenth graders. And I was previously in the middle school. So, I taught sixth, seventh and eighth grade for 16 years. And then this is my fourth year, kind of with the older, older crew, which I say is, you know, all the, still the same angst, but less energy. So just, you know, what is your cup of tea? But it's a lot of fun. And I really, this is all I've done in my life. I went to after college, I went to live in France for a year as an assistant or teaching assistant, though I was in elementary. So, I was the English teacher. It was kind of like a, you know, special or pullout class. And so that was really fun. And the Loire Valley, I mean, I believe, and then for some reason I came back. What were you thinking? I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, I'm glad I came back because I have met a lot of fun people and everything is wonderful, you know, with the people, but man, I wish all these people were just living in the Loire Valley with me. But anyway, so I really enjoy it. It's lots of fun. I'm glad that you are now in my school and my colleague.

Annabelle:

Me too. You have no idea. Shay and I have entirely too much fun and we actually share a planning period this year. So, it's great. It's great. Fantastic. Yes. I found myself a lot of times last year in Shay's room just at the back of her class or listening in or she would be like, oh, my gosh, I'm doing something new. Come and see if this works. I have no idea if it's going to work or not. It's going to be fun. And she really is masterful at staying in the target language and keeping her kids with her and holding them accountable to speaking in the target language as well, which as we know, is a feat with elementary and high school kids. And it's a big deal. So, one of the reasons I wanted to talk to Shay about parents’ night was it was something that we had touched base about a couple times and I loved her ideas. And this episode is going to be better because I was able to go back and look at a parent's night from a million nights ago. Cheater. I am a cheater. I'm a cheater. So I guess what I'll share first about my new to me people. And then I'll ask you a couple questions. So, I'm good. Okay. So, we had parents’ night last week in the middle school. So, Shay lucky lady gets to do middle school and upper school parents’ night. Yep. I live at the school.

And so, I did mine. But I panicked a little bit because I realized that I did the exact same thing as last year. But I had some repeat families in there. The only reason I had repeat families was I was teaching their other child. So, I had taught one child last year. And now I was I'm getting their second. But it actually ended up being okay because contextually I was just sharing like what this class as a new to language learning new to language acquisition in a novice level class looks like. And so, I introduced myself very briefly and went straight into talking about acquisition over learning and the difference between the two. And I addressed them as expert facilitators of language acquisition because that's why their kids can speak so well because they facilitated acquisition of the language they didn't, you know, wait to speak the past tense until their kid was three years old. And I dressed that just like that with them. And then I jumped into an activity which she teased me last time we recorded this called Unicorn versus Dragon.

Right. Of course, that's your

Shay:

Oh, are we gonna do it? I want to do it. Yes, we're gonna do it. We're totally gonna do it. So, I got I

Annabelle:

was inspired by this a million years ago from Carol gobb, who definitely did not use Unicorn and Dragon. But basically, you put the two on the board, and then you give them five seconds, you pair them up, and you say you have five seconds to decide whose Unicorn, who is Dragon. I am obviously Unicorn in this scenario. And Shay is going to be the dragon, which also it also works. Yeah.

And Shay, then you tell everybody in the room, think of your favorite story from childhood. And then they're going to draw a blank for a second but then start giving them suggestions. Little mermaid, goalie locks and three bears, three pigs in the big bad wolf, whatever. Think of it. Have it in your head. And then you have to tell your partner that story. Dragon goes first. However, dragon is going to have to say that story without using any words that end in an N and no words that begin. I'm typing it in with an L. So those are Shay's rules. She has to follow those rules. And then she's going to try and tell me the story. I'm going to guess her story without her telling me the title. Ready, go.

Shay:

Okay. The story is the petite. Oh, I don't tell you the name of the story. I just tell you. Sorry. Just tell me the name. That's a kind of a dead giveaway. No, it's not the one you're seeing. Oh, okay. No, it is. And she wants nothing more, but to be a creature with the ability to walk many words. There are so many words I couldn't say with the ability to walk. And so, she makes a deal with the sea witch. And she goes to the beautiful beachfront property. Sure. Sure. Sure. Beachfront property of Prince Eric and wasn't that very fortunate. Oh, my God. This is amazing. This is what it sounds like. Go, go, go. But she didn't have a voice. She did

Annabelle:

not have a voice. Well, done. Well, done. That was that was incredible. And so, it sounds literally like that. And then the unicorn gets to go. But the unicorn, you make sure you give them different rules like no words that begin with a T and no words that end with an L or something like that, right? For Shay, those, those rules were actually harder than the first time you did this on the first recording that was infinitely harder to not be able to begin with an L that was really, really challenging. No, that was the same. It was? Yeah. Really? Because I couldn't say the little mermaid.

Lipetites mermaid. Yeah. So that but that's literally what it sounds like, except for all of your parents are doing it at the same time so they can all experience it firsthand. And then once they switch and they each only get like 45, 60 seconds. And then I stop and I just put up a reflection picture and I'm like, what did you notice? They all say infinite instantly. It was really hard. And I say, Okay. And then I say, y'all have been speaking English, some of you for more than 20 years. Some most of you it's your first language. And they're flattered when I say more than 20 years, because they're like, oh, my gosh, she thinks I'm only 20. He's only 20.

A little bit of flattery, a little bit of flattery. And then and then I said, but seriously, listening to y'all speak and share your favorite childhood story, you would have never known it was your favorite childhood story, because it took you forever to say it. You were stuttering and stumbling over your words. You were thinking about every single word before you said it. And then I said, but why? And then they all reference the rules. And I said, interesting, where were you looking when you were telling the story? Were you looking at the person that you were talking to? Or were you looking at the rules? 95% of them are looking at the rules as they tell it. And then I say, Wait, the person listening, where were you looking? And they realize, oh, I wasn't looking at them even telling me the story. I was also looking at the rules because I wanted to catch them in a mistake. I wanted to find them tripping up. And one wife I even called out, I said, you slapped your husband on the leg when he messed up. I saw you. And she said, I did. And I said, I know. And so, it's just pointing out that like, you're not even listening to the story. Your so hell bent on catching your, your, the person that's speaking in an error and calling them out on it. Because I taught you the rules first. I'm asking you to follow these rules. And because you're a person who cares about doing things right, and you want to impress me and you want to do it well, you're focused on the rules first. And you're looking at the rules first, right? Whereas if I am focusing on acquisition, I want them to make lots of errors, because it's going to be messy in the beginning. And eventually, it's going to get better and better and better. The more they hear it, the more they read it, the more they notice these changes. But the reality is, in the beginning, it's going to be full of errors, just like a toddler is has a million errors in their speech. So, I explained that. And then it was time to go because we only have 10 minutes. It's very quick. And so, I have to be really structured with them. I have to do my same call response so that they're silent in between.

We did, we did play a brain break in all of them, but it was 30 seconds of like just uno, dos, tres, dale, rock, paper, scissors. And it went really, really well. And even the people that repeated, I was like, I just realized I have your other kiddo this year and you had to see that same thing again. One of them was like, it was so good to see again. I knew I was so good last time. I couldn't remember what we did, but it was so good to feel that again. And the other one was like; I could do that a million times. No biggie. That was it was great. But now she is going to share about hers because she's situation is unique, not unique. A lot of us experience this. But yeah, we have the same kids as our kids are meeting us one time, but then we

Shay:

teach them again and again. Teach them for years. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Well, in the previous, in the first recording, I definitely flipped the tables and I was like, who's hosting this podcast now? I asked Annabelle, like, what are you, what are you doing when you have the same kids for three years? Because that's what my experience was like in six, especially with six, seven, eight, like they, I was it. Or, you know, that really, they really did just have me. And so, and so my eighth grade, it was like, yes, you're, we're in a long-term relationship now. We don't need to have this like, how do I, they're in the language. Like, okay, like they know me, they know my style. They have their kids have been in my room for two years now. So, like, what do we do? So, I have, you know, I'm sure as everybody does, you have to kind of tweak and you, you like, find what works and what doesn't work. And just like, just like in the classroom. But what I have landed on, and then I changed it this year, at the last second. And this is how I got a ticket onto this podcast because it was so good. I was like, Annabelle, do you think it's crazy? Like I'm changing something 20, 30 minutes before the parents even show up. But I, it was, I knew it was going to be great. So, I do something with the first year, with the first time I have the kids, I do something with their parents that's different than when I have repeaters, right? And not just sibling. I mean, literally, like I'm teaching the same group of kids again.

So, so the first year, I had been doing a Kahoot. And the Kahoot was high stakes because it was, if you won, you were getting your kid bonus points on an assessment. And it was legit. To borrow a phrase from the kids, they were locked in. Okay. And so, they could compete with their spouse if they wanted. Some of them chose to compete against the spouse, like to, to like, up the chances. The chances. Yeah. Heck, yeah.

Anyway, so I had questions like some of the questions were about me. It was on multiple choice. Some of them were about me, just so it'd be a more fun way to introduce myself, something that I was interested in, for instance. My favorite was where did I learn French? Because I'm an alum of the school that I work at. And so, if you know that, then you know it's at the school. And if you don't, like they were putting like, oh, your family speaks French. No, no, they don't. But that's like a more interesting way to get to know me. And then all the questions about the class. So not only just like routines and activities that we do, but like, what are the focuses in the class reading, writing those kinds of things? How do some of those activities look? How long do they last? You know, I loved it when the parents would put like 15 minutes. I'm like, have you met your seventh grader? Like they don't. Who's sustaining anything for 15 minutes now? So, like stuff like that. And then, you know, just different, different things about the class, like they are going to take home this stuffed baguette. I didn't tell you this last time. They take my baguette for the weekend. I hope you find out my next appearance on this podcast. And so, the parents, the best part about that is like, I said, okay, yeah, they're going to take home this stuffed baguette for the weekend. And they have to write about what the baguette does with your family. And of course, the parents like have that thinking like, Oh God, we did this when they were three, right? Like we did this in kindergarten. And I immediately called them on their reaction. And I said, this isn't your work, though. Like this time, it's called Payback. So, you can, you know, whatever. But also, the baguette is perfectly fine to sit around and watch television. Anyway, the question is, what is its name? No, they've never, they don't know anything. So that's a really difficult one. What is the

Annabelle:

name? Maurice. Oh my God, stop it. It's so good. Shay, I cannot tell you how excited I am because I'm doing something this year that is I can't, I don't want to share it right now. But I'm doing something so similar and I need your, your feedback on it before I implement it because, Oh my God, I'm so excited. Okay, okay, okay, keep going, keep going. That's an intentional podcast. Okay,

Shay:

but anyway, so I decided this year instead of like a hoop because I was crunched for time with those 10 minutes.
 

And just where my classroom is in the school, I decided to go with a game that I play in the class a lot. I do play cahoots, but there's this other game that the kids liked a lot more. And it's basically like a jeopardy sort of style game. But then if you get the, if you're correct, you have to see what points are behind the number and it could be good and it could be bad. So even if you're right, you don't necessarily win points. And the students really love that. And then of course the parents are really into it as well. And so, I did the same questions thing. I just had to tweak some of the questions to make them true false or yeah, more open-ended friendly. But the ideas were all the same. So, they were there and they really enjoyed that and got into that. And I liked it because

I honestly liked not having technology in the classroom because we don't do that hardly ever. And so, I really enjoyed like not having the screen, not having the projector. Like it was a much more, I don't know, just close-knit, more intimate experience, I think. That's nice. So that's what I do with the first, the kids who I have, you know, my first year with them. By the second year or even the third year,

Shay:

I do a mix, I vary it, but the last couple years I've been doing this art thing where I show a picture. It's like this fun activity we do in the class where is I show an actual painting of from French culture and then the parents like come up with a story about it. So, it's a story talk, essentially, but it's done with an authentic piece of culture. And so, they talk about it. And what I really love and what I really try to do is time it. Boy, I mean, I win when this happens. I want to ideally time it where the students have also done that activity that day in the class. Second place would be they do it the next day because but it's more fun, I think, for the parents to hear what the kids had to say than the kids hearing what the parents had to say because sometimes it gets perhaps not school appropriate. You know, depends on because at this point also keep in mind like I've had this group of parents for like three, two, three years. Yeah, they're very comfortable with you. It's that long-term relationship. It is a long-term relationship. Yeah, it is. And it's a close-knit community, the school anyway. Like it's small class sizes and that's, you know, very wonderful for so many reasons and that's one of them. So, whether it is that or it's um it could be another game that we play in the class or any sort of like warm-up activity. I might play um a video uh just like an Instagram thing or I'll get them to talk to speak in French and that's fun too because then they see us how it is but I you know that works really well with the younger kids. Like when you're first entering into kind of a more structured program um, they really like that. By sophomores they don't need the cell on how it feels to speak French in class because they're used to it but I do always no matter what the group is um toward the end I do address how you can help the students study French if you don't speak French because that's the concern my parents like my parents the parents come in and though they can like wrap their head around English or science or math depending or history depending but if you don't have any exposure to another language then it is difficult to approach and so how do you do that and mostly I tell the answer is have the kid explain it to you like if the student can explain this they know it and they should be speaking like you should be hearing the language the language in your home if it is studying for some sort of assessment so and they want to hear that they love that yeah it's cool. I encourage them to you know get their get their child to speak to them it's okay they don't know what it means that's all right yeah and that's

Annabelle:

that's I think the biggest thing too when I send home anything for homework it's I rarely do homework in the middle school but when I do it might be like go home and draw the pictures to the writing thing that we did and then read that story to your parents because it's so nice for their parents I love getting notes back like oh my gosh I can't even believe I have no idea what they were saying but and I'm like it's not about you understanding it's like yes the kid goes this story very well by now like my favorite my favorite homework assignment I'm actually like you I rarely give it

Shay:

um even in the high school but it depends on the it depends on the level and all but um my favorite is I'll like we'll learn a song in class and then they have to go home and sing it sing your parents and the parent sends me the grade it's so good yeah and then it's so funny because like last year this kid is like my mom's like because his mom's a teacher and she really held him accountable and like other people's moms are just like 10 out of 10 you know yeah that's amazing right but the dad was like I love this song like I got an email from this dad he was like I love this song I totally remember learning it and I didn't I felt like he could use some improvement so yeah it's hilarious you really see what you really see there is that family relationship yes you see

Annabelle:

what comes out they love it. aww that's so sweet I love that and I think what you said too I want to link back to what you said about how when they are newer to the classroom and younger it's really good for them to get that experience of speaking it versus like when their kid has been in the language forever and when I looked back after we had recorded it I used to use the will the beast clip which is a really short YouTube short and I did a clip chat with that for 10 minutes with parents and I just treated it and those were my repeats like people if I had had them in fifth grade and now this is their sixth grade year right and it would and it was really powerful for them just to walk in the door and I'm saying hola and they say hello and I go oh yes hello no it's like let's say Espanol and like playfully encourage them like okay now we're switching into Spanish because the other power of that is it starts to eliminate those questions of when will I get a list of vocabulary that they should be studying and I'm like no we're reading no vocabulary in stories we are hearing it in context like it shows them why it's like oh because they're literally having to listen the entire class period to yes I do I love greeting

Shay:

them in French right like there's like a certain like little some of them it's so funny nobody's just man they're either horrified, or they feel so fancy or something right like they really come in and they're so how they're like oh bulls*** you know it's like oh we're in this chic class you do it also your class

Annabelle:

looks chic and you always look chic, so they probably feel I always I always were black at parent night always and

Shay:

often at school you're very chic almost always I mean I'm in black right now that's why I'm in black but yeah, I'm always

Annabelle:

It’s so good. okay well um do you have anything else about parents’ night I can't remember if we I think we did um I think

Shay:

we did all that I was just I think it's just important more than content is just to see who you are right like if they know if they trust you if they think you're good they won't have any they're not going to ask questions about where's the vocabulary no they're like yeah she's got it yeah and

Annabelle:

on that note that's actually one of the reasons last year this year I ended around nine minutes and said does anybody have any questions and I didn't have a single question anytime however last year I spoke the full 10 minutes because I was terrified of getting questions as my first year at the school so I was just like oh and that's not okay and you need anything you've got my email uh and then they took the syllabus on their way out because I also didn't want them holding it in their hands and reading it during um but they just took it on their way out and there was a QR code in case anybody wanted the digital

Shay:

version um but yeah it worked really well yeah, I also play music you play music oh yeah during the transition

Annabelle:

oh yeah oh what the first transition was for advisory and so um I had like a really like chill almost like our sound bath we did that one yes behind the bowls to be clear y'all we didn't do a real one we just were in her living room it was great um but it felt so really fancy and chic again when you're around shay you just feel fancy oh but anyways it was like this music and then I said oh wait I need to put on my Spanish music and two of the moms were like no please and I said oh okay I said I understand as she turned they said no it's not that it's that this is the first time all day I feel like so relaxed it's so relaxing in here because I was like this really chill vibe which was appropriate because that's what I play when the kids are in my room doing their item each time you know so yeah that's funny see I just give them champagne

Shay:

when they walk it oh of course you do cultural, cultural reference

Annabelle:

god no the music is fun I think they like it yeah it's really fun they come and dance and it's really fun okay shay you are the best for recording this twice you are the best and it's not your fault all good I'm very happy to say too okay I'm not going to say it because you I did a terrible job last time but I know the word crazy is full so could you say until next time we will be teaching la vida loca la vida la vie fall la vie fall okay la vie fall okay well it's really hard to say okay until next time we'll be teaching la vida loca and we are sure you will be too