How a french teacher used differentiated blended learning strategies to help her students better tell time in both the target language and English!

1. A lesson in French
but applicable in any content!

2. Telling time in Language Acquisition :
A 21st century challenge for
6th graders and their
teachers
Combining strategies
to overcome the challenge...

3. What time is it?
1 2 3
Write down how you would tell the time you see on each
clock, on your index card. Write your first thoughts!

4. Now exchange your card with the
person next to you:
Did you write the same answers?

5. Who wrote the analog time?
Who wrote the digital time?

6. What would your students
have said?

7. Facts:
● Most of our students do
not use analog time
● They only know digital
time

8. Telling time : A multifaceted challenge:
A- Mastering numbers up to 100 in the Target language
(Particularly challenging in French: it involves maths
operations: 70 = 60 +10 85 = 4x20+5 92 = 4x20+12…)
B- Understanding the difference between analog and
digital time
C- Understanding time without using AM / PM (24h clock)
Which one do you think is the hardest?

9. Here are a few ideas to help your students “get it”
...A blended learning lesson to help 6th graders
understand “Time telling”
NB: Both in Spanish and French, the analog clock is still
widely used to tell time...

10. Students’ objective :
I can ...tell the time
I will….apply numbers up to 60
understand analog and digital time

11. 1- Warm-up activity:suggestions
- Kahoot game (10 questions mixing both analog and digital time) OR
- 3 questions to answer as a group on a large white board:
A- What date is it today?
B- What is the weather like ?
C- What time is it? (analog)
Students have 3 mn to write their answers. After 3 mn they rotate to the
nearest group/ they underline the mistakes and make suggestions to their
peers Teacher goes around, takes notes of who gets it / who does not/ guides
answers
Teacher askes what mistakes students found in other’s work / open

12. Students work collaboratively, are engaged, show
their understanding, get immediate feedback
Teacher moves from group to group and redirects
students: learning is taking place.

13. Students’ self-assessment of their understanding:
Students stick a sticky note with their name on the Wall Target’s three possible
zones to show their understanding. (Comfort Zone / Learning Zone/Panic zone)
At the end of the session, they can move their sticker if they feel they made
progress.

14. What did we do prior to this session?
- Explained the division of the clock in half and quarters
(Analog) : used a plate divided in quarts/halfs
- Many students discovered analog time and how to
read a wall clock
- Short + long handles: what does each handle
indicate?
- Worked on a table with time equivalencies between
AM/PM times and 24 hour clock time.

15. 2- Differentiating the lesson: Quiz on Canvas
Students take a 10 question quiz on Canvas (multiple
choice or filling blank answers) (5 minutes)
Teacher gets immediate feedback to see how to group
students OR students can decide which station they want
to attend depending on their results.
Teacher: provides a scale for self-evaluation :
10 - 8 = Superior 7-5 = Proficient 4-1 = Developing

16. Canvas quiz :provides immediate feedback

17. 3- Students can decide which station to start with based on
their results :
3 stations: 3 colors : Blue / White / Red (French flag)
ST 1: RED - Developing ( Teacher led station) :
1-Students make an analog clock with a paper plate /
2- They pull out labels with time phrases and move their clock handles to
indicate time on labels
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16AWVYOVMZ3NE0lQldlihfV12y-
K7I6hmYc6xDgMAYLw/edit?usp=sharing
Video to guide the making of the clock : https://youtu.be/el69hzqvyEY

19. Station 2 : White / Proficient
Students pull out labels with words related to time phrases
They lay them all on the table
They build as many sentences as they can.
They record their answers on a Google Form.
(These answers will be used next lesson when all students have to correct a
selection of wrongly built sentences )
https://docs.google.com/a/iss.k12.nc.us/document/d/1_TXMb7O7Q4izaZuLiH-
KJeKGR1VuIKQhR9L992kQws8/edit?usp=sharing
Students understand their mistakes when their peers correct mistakes as a group and give explanation about what is incorrect

20. What students created and how it can be used further.
Labels used to form sentences Completed sentences were used for follow-up
activity nex tesson

21. Station 3 : BLUE / Superior
Students:
- Understand time zones in the French speaking World
- Calculate time differences between USA and a country in the French
speaking world
- Create their own table of French speaking countries with big time
differences / challenging for their peers (activity will be used during next
lesson)
- https://docs.google.com/a/iss.k12.nc.us/document/d/11fDkOC6czW0BBFQ--
qWIJR0g2oEdxH9-so004gZ19bY/edit?usp=sharing
Sample of students’ work:

22. To select their French speaking countries,
students scout the poster or use the online link
provided.

23. Each station lasts 20 mn: virtual changes
- No obligation to rotate
- Students have the choice to stay in their first
station to either “get it” or continue an activity
they enjoy. (Teacher led station)
- Students at station 1 can rotate to station 2.
- Students at station 2 can rotate to st 1 or 3
depending on how they feel.

24. Exit ticket:
Students go back to the Wall target : They move their
sticker if they have improved their understanding.
(self-assessment)
They can also leave a sticky with
questions they still have

25. What students liked:)
- Freedom to chose their station / continue doing the
same activity if they enjoyed it
- Immediate feedback on Canvas
- Hands-on activity with clock making
- Teacher’s individual help at a small station
- Challenging activity for the Blue station (Interactive
map intrigued a few who wanted to explore more
countries / time zones)

26. How do I know it worked?
Follow-up lesson:
Students worked on sentences created by stations 2 and corrected mistakes
collabaoratively and mostly accurately.
- Follow-up Formative assessment :
- 80% of students “got it” and scored well on a task where they had to tell
the time analog and digital.
- 10% mixed both analog and digital
- 10% needed reinforcement to get the concept.

27. Strategies that made the lesson successful:
- Cooperative learning : Through warm-ups (work in groups) and each station
- Giving Freedom to choose a station beyond the results of the quiz :
Students take ownership of their own learning
- Students can express feelings about where they are in their learning (Wall
target / anonymous + Immediate Visual feedback to teacher) :
- Minimal time of Teacher on stage / emphasis on students
- 3-Tiered Differentiated activities through stations : allows student to learn at
their own rhythm
- Use of digital technology ( Google Docs, Google forms, Canvas, Interactive
maps, video for instructions)

28. Tips given by students to improve and grow...
- Set their computer and cell clock to 24h clock
- Ask parents at home to use analog time
- Ask your students to tell the time in your class by looking at the wall
clock only
- Ask them to write it on the in-out chart when they want to go to the
bathroom

29. Questions ?
Other Ideas to share?
Merci / Gracias / Thank you