First Steps

The transition from legacy teaching methods to CI storytelling is more complex than you might realize. While the idea is simple enough (i.e., you tell interesting stories using easy-to-understand language and learners do something with that input), there are many obstacles that can get in your way. Here are a few that we will examine in this lesson:

These three are the biggest roadblocks I experienced when I first began storytelling, but they are not insurmountable. The key overcoming these obstacles and others is via comprehensive planning. The following are things we can do to overcome these obstacles, which we will look at in depth below.

Disorganization and Writing the Syllabus

Disorganization is my nemesis. My family and moved in the fall of 2021. At the time of this writing (months and months later), there are still unpacked boxes in my office and items I haven't found the proper place for. Just looking at the boxes is enough to make me shudder and procrastinate unpacking them for another day.

When you begin using CI storytelling, one of the biggest obstacles you will encounter is disorganization. You need to build a new structure for your course whose foundation is CI and comprehensible stories. This likely means that your syllabus needs to be revised, if not re-written altogether.

My syllabus is a clichéd "Living Document". It is always evolving to meet my own needs as well as the needs of learners. In general, it consists of four parts:

1. GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION

This includes static (fairly) things like my name, my email address, the room the class will be in, etc. This might change slightly from term to term, but in all likelihood, it will be easy to maintain. Checking this easy task off the list will free up your mental resources for some of the more complex elements of course design.

2. HOW WE LEARN LANGUAGES

On the first day of class, I spend about 20 minutes with students talking about how humans learn languages. I talk about things like Input, Comprehensible Input, Immersion vs. Submersion, and Storytelling as Input.

I put this information in the syllabus to make sure every student has access to it, and we can refer back as needed.

Some might argue that this is unnecessary for language acquisition and is therefore a waste of time. I understand this point of view to some extent, yet I feel it is important to share with students the reasoning behind why the course is the way that it is. I noticed a huge difference in buy-in from learners when I started doing this, and this reason alone is enough for me to continue discussing the "why" of CI storytelling.

3. HOW THE COURSE WILL BE GRADED

This is perhaps the best way to stay organized. There are two ways you could potentially set up your gradebook: defining a set total of points or using percentages.

In the past, I tried to calculate a set number of points learners could earn throughout the course. In my situation, roughly 60 percent of the points were summative assessments, and the other 40 percent fell into the formative assignment category. By having a fixed point total, the learner's grade was an empty bucket that filled up as they completed tasks and acquired language. When there were no new available points to earn, the course was over.

I love this metaphor and I think it is ideal for language learning. But the reality is that this system is too complex. I need my gradebook to be more dynamic. I need to be able to add or subtract assignments without having to recalculate point totals and maintain the proper mix of formative and summative percentages.

In my view, the benefit of using this bucket metaphor was too small for the amount of work required to keep it functional. I ended up ditching the fixed number of points in favor of a percentage-based system. It's not as game-like, but it's much more efficient and helps me stay focused on the important tasks at hand. In my experience, students never liked the fill-the-bucket-up game anyway.

Below is a list of how I break down my course point totals. I am always tinkering with this, but it is current as of the time of this writing:

Assignment Type	%	Description
Formative	20%	Interpersonal Communication
	20%	Homework (Online Workbook on LMS)
Summative	15%	Quizzes (Lesson quizzes, vocab quizzes, pop quizzes, etc.)
	15%	In-Class Essays
	20%	"Yo puedo" / "I can" Assignments
	10%	Oral Story Test
Total	100%

In the table above, you'll notice that Interpersonal Communication and Homework make up 40% of the grade. These are formative assignments. Beyond the percentages, I always include a brief description of each category.

Wherever possible, I include a rubric for how something will be graded. We will discuss this more in the 'Assessments' section, but the simpler the rubric the better. My go-to rubric has only three possible scores: 2, 1, 0. More on this rubric in the Assessments lesson.

4. OTHER REQUIRED ELEMENTS

I used to have a fantasy of writing a one-page syllabus. My school ruined this dream by requiring 13,271 syllabus items ranging from what to do in the case of an earthquake or fire to how I would communicate in the event of a snow day. I just plop these down at the end of the syllabus now. The dream is dead. Long live the dream.

UPDATING THE SYLLABUS

Even if your syllabus is already in good shape, it probably could use another iteration. This is straightforward but will require several revisions.

1. On the first pass, change any static information that needs to be updated. That is, your preferred first and last name, email, phone number, classroom number, etc.

2. Next, go through your syllabus and look for anything that needs to be changed regarding assignment categories, grades, percentages, etc.

3. The third pass should be to make any necessary changes to assignment descriptions. Give a brief description of major assignments and the kinds of assignments you will use frequently in class. If you don’t have all the details now (which is likely as a Beginning Storyteller), it’s fine to say something like, “more details will be provided as we get closer to this assignment”.

4. On the fourth revision, add and doublecheck any required syllabus language. This might be something about what to do during inclement weather or an earthquake. My school requires an obnoxious amount of these. Once these are in the syllabus, you can rest easy knowing that this task has been checked off your list.

5. Lastly, go through the entire syllabus again looking for formatting inconsistencies and typos.

This doesn’t seem like much of a system.

OTHER WAYS TO STAY ORGANIZED

START WITH A CHECKLIST

Nothing feels better as an instructor than to be organized and prepared on the first day. This is especially true when you are a Beginning Storyteller. Teaching with storytelling is a thought-intensive process. It taxes your working memory, especially at the beginning of the term. I’m sure you know what I mean when I say that having all the “to do” items checked off takes a huge weight off your shoulders. Updating your old syllabus, setting up your Learning Management System (LMS) for your class, planning a calendar, highlighting important school information, etc. We all have a slightly different set of to-dos, but they all need done before we start teaching.

Here is an example checklist going of things you should accomplish before the start of the year.

COMPLETE LMS SETUP

I really like Canvas as an LMS. It’s not the perfect tool for language instruction, but it’s better than others I am familiar with. I use it as my main communication tool with students. I upload documents here, send messages, keep track of and communicate grades, and even have additional reading and listening homework for students. Having this set up from day one means only minimal updating throughout the term, which means more free time and fewer headaches for me.

SET UP HOMEWORK SYSTEMS

My department no longer requires a traditional textbook (and there was much rejoicing), but it used to. It came with an online homework component that was supposed to make my life easier. If you have used online homework systems before, you know that this is quite the process to set up different sections and assign homework. However, the effort is front loaded, so it pays dividends later in the quarter when you don’t have to do much with this system to keep it running. It’s not “set it and forget it” good, but it can be close if you play your cards right.

My school did away with the online textbook homework component when we ditched the textbook. Since my college classes last only ten weeks, that is no bueno. Over the years, I created dozens of L2 processing activities for learners to complete at home. This includes frequent readings, listening assignments, comprehension questions, vocabulary building, etc.

I put all these activities on my LMS and let it do the grading.

Making such a homework system requires a huge time investment to create the activities. It also requires a smaller time investment to set up each quarter. However, affording learners the opportunity to process L2 at home is a huge win. Not having to manually grade their homework is icing on the cake.

The system is far from perfect, and I have some long-term ideas to overhaul my homework system. But for now, the system is running smoothly. Any smooth-running system that is already implemented is better than no system at all.

You can learn more about developing the kinds of activities I use as homework in Lesson 5: Guiding Learners from Input to Output.

MAKE A COURSE CALENDAR

When making your calendar, it helps to plan backwards from the end of the quarter and schedule tests, quizzes, homework, etc. This is one of the keys to make CI storytelling work. It may take a long time to get set up, since you need to make sure the homework aligns with the material you are talking about in class as much as possible. If your department requires a textbook, this is particularly challenging. Storytelling covers everything in the textbook, but it does so in a different order. This is one of the only complaints I ever heard from students: the textbook homework doesn’t perfectly match what we do in class. Ditching the textbook solved that problem for me, but your context may not be as flexible. If you are still using a textbook, spend more time up front to make sure the homework lines up properly with the stories you teach.

Once all these items are checked off, you will be ready to return most of your attention to teaching with CI storytelling. This is the end goal of crossing these items off your checklist. Completing all these administrative tasks will allow you to pursue the important things more fully.

Task Creep: Setting and Limiting Scope and Sequence

It's hard to find a method of teaching languages more flexible than CI storytelling. However, it's a double-edged sword. Due to its flexibility and being able to clearly see the end goal of learner proficiency, you will likely find yourself telling stories that are too complex. I certainly did this as a Beginning Storyteller. It's also likely that you will try to add too many new skills right off the bat (I was definitely guilty of this too). This tendency for a task to grow in scope is called “task creep”, and is a recipe for your CI storytelling program to lose steam at best and, at worst, maybe even fail altogether.

The trick for mitigating task creep is to define the scope and sequence of your course and to set a hard limit on it. In the "planning ahead" stage you have the freedom to set the scope of your course. Once that is set, though, you are somewhat bound to what you agreed to. All the planning from here on out is in service to the scope of the course. Expanding the scope after it has been defined sets you up for increased disorganization and diminished student outcomes.

DEFINE YOUR SCOPE

Are you going to teach the past tense in level one or level two? When are you going to introduce the subjunctive? How much vocabulary are you going to present, how fast, and in what order? These are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself when defining the scope and sequence of your course.

In many cases the scope will be pre-defined for you. My department had desired student outcomes listed for me when I first started teaching at the college. If this is the case, you just have to worry about the sequence piece, which is a big enough task in and of itself.

At the time of this writing, my scope and sequence for Spanish one is as follows. Please note that this is a legacy list of outcomes from when my department used a grammar-centric textbook as a department. We are currently re-writing outcomes and course content to reflect a more proficiency-based approach.

*Grammar syllabus trigger warning*

COURSE CONTENT

STUDENT OUTCOMES

Suffice it to say, I'm not crazy about the scope defined above. Then again, I didn't have a hand in writing it. While changing the scope is possible and maybe even desirable, is a lengthy process at my school. Honestly, it's not worth the effort. I can still accomplish all the stated outcomes through CI storytelling and do so more effectively than through traditional grammar instruction.

There are a lot of instructors who begin level one by teaching both past and present tense simultaneously. I did that when I was teaching at the high school, and it worked well. At the college, I am bound to the scope of the student outcomes, which means that past tense is out. Since my classes are only ten weeks long, I've found that there is no real problem in delaying the introduction of the past tense for a few months. Ten weeks is not a long time, so I must be extra mindful of how much information to give learners in order to set them up for success.

The sequence piece is where I have more control. Some sample elements from my current sequence are outlined below:

1. HIGH FREQUENCY VOCABULARY

• hay there is/there are
• ser to be
• estar to be
• tener to have
• querer to want

These are the five most important verbs in Spanish. They will be targeted all term long and are the foundation for storytelling.

2. THE DATE

This is a daily routine item that I do with students. Students quickly acquire the days of the week, numbers 0-31, and the months.

3. MORE HIGH FREQUENCY VOCABULARY

• ir to go
• decir to say
• trabajar to work
• pedir to ask for
• poder to be able
• llorar to cry

These are more critical verbs in Spanish. I will continue to target these the rest of the term.

As you can see, I am specific in what I am trying to target. By using my limited scope as a frame for CI storytelling, we will meet all our desired outcomes.

Selecting Stories

Without an anchor, a ship will swing wildly in choppy waters. In The Beginning Storyteller's classroom, stories anchor the course and make the ride much smoother and predictable for everyone on board. For the anchors to work properly, you must choose the right stories to teach and present them in the proper order.

Generally, I select six stories to anchor each course. Since I teach at the college level and am on the quarter system, this covers approximately ten weeks of instruction and provides a considerable amount of material. For The Beginning Storyteller, I recommend that you have an extra story in reserve. It is likely that your storytelling chops will not be developed enough to squeeze out all the CI from each story, and an extra story will give you some wiggle room.

It helps to view your six or seven stories as a set. The common thread is not theme, but vocabulary that increases in complexity with each new story. Whether you are teaching level one or level four, the first story you teach should be an easy one. Every language class is inherently multilevel, and you do not want to leave anyone behind in the first weeks of instruction. Intuitively, the first story you teach will be the most difficult for students, especially in level one. One hundred percent of the vocabulary may be new for some learners, so do not introduce too much complexity in your first story. Keep this in mind as you select this story. It should be complex enough to tell a good story, but simple enough for beginners.

Once you have told, read, and discussed the first story over a period of four or five days, all vocabulary in the story is fair game to recycle. The next story you teach should use as much of those words as possible, plus a small amount of new material. When you have finished the second story, the vocabulary from the first two stories is now available for recycling. The stories build in complexity as the term goes on, but they also provide learners a sense of security, as familiar vocabulary is shown time and time again.

You might feel that choosing, developing, and ordering the right stories is an overwhelming task. If this describes you to a "T", the CI Immersion Curriculum may be right for you. At the time of this righting, it is only available in Spanish.

Pareto's Principle

You may have heard of something called the 80/20 rule. It comes from Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who, as legend has it, noticed that 80 percent of the peas in his garden came from just 20 percent of the pods. This is true for a remarkable number of things in nature.

The takeaway from Pareto's Principle is that roughly 80 percent of the results come from 20 percent of the effort. Cut the fat. If you are anything like me, there is unnecessary activity and busyness that has accumulated in your daily teaching routine, and this must be trimmed. Find what is generating the most success for you and your students and start cutting out the rest.

For example, if you find that an activity is decent for learners but is hard to grade, it is likely taking up too much time. Either find a new way to grade it to make it efficient or kick it to the curb.

In my experience, CI storytelling gets even more than 80% of the results. Hands down, it is the biggest game-changer I have ever implemented in my language classroom.

Burnout from Ordinary Teaching Tasks: Developing Efficient Course Systems

One thing I've learned over the past ten plus years is that developing efficient systems and processes frees up your mind to focus on telling engaging stories in L2. Once you have the scope and sequence defined and limited, you are ready to start designing systems for the things that might sap your teaching mojo. These are things like lesson planning and grading. Let's briefly explore two systems you can implement right away to address these two items.

LESSON PLANNING

One of the most important systems you can implement is designing your weekly lessons around a story. Selecting stories that fit with your newly defined and limited scope and sequence will make this a breeze. My weekly system for storytelling is the following:

• Day 1 – Review last week, present new vocabulary, begin telling a story.
• Day 2 – Review new vocabulary, summarize partial story from yesterday as a class, continue and finish story
• Day 3 – Review new vocabulary, summarize the completed story as a class, read a short version of the story
• Day 4 – Review new vocabulary, summarize the completed story as a class, read the complete version of the story
• Day 5 – Review new vocabulary, summarize the completed story, assessment

These are just rough guidelines and will not take up the entire class period, but they represent my basic class structure for a typical week. I love the elegance of this, and I particularly like how this system allows learners and me to recycle the vocabulary and story several times throughout the week. This daily repetition leads to long term retention. Following this simple system saves me more than half of the time I used to spend planning lessons.

We’ll cover lesson planning more in depth in a later lesson.

GRADING

When I first started teaching Spanish, the systems I used to grade were extremely inefficient. I was very into error correction and would spend hours grading journals, tests, and other assessments.

The trick is to develop systems for creating assessments that 1) are easy to grade, and 2) give feedback in a way consistent with what learners need. Try to simplify your existing grading systems. To this end, I am huge a fan of the 2, 1, 0 grading rubric.

We will cover this more in depth in the lesson on Assessment.

EVOLVING SYSTEMS

The best system is one that is already implemented, however imperfect. Over time, you can iterate any system to make it more efficient and better serve your needs. My systems for grading, taking attendance, writing lesson plans, etc. do not look anything like they did at first. They are much better now than they were even just five years ago.

Lesson 1 Worksheet

Get more out of this lesson by completing its companion worksheet .