My planning periods have only lasted about 30 minutes for the past two weeks. Even though grades are due next week, I wouldn’t wish that time back for anything. What I’m doing with that time is too important to lose. I have over 40 “super seniors” in my English classes Read more…
Mine is the last high school course our students will ever take. They’re done with all other high school classes after the 12th grade and basically get to enjoy a full load of free college courses 13th year–plus my senior English class. I had a more experienced senior teaching English Read more…
I just read Trump’s inauguration speech and had an idea for my English class next week. We’re about to transition between units, so it’s kind of timely in more than one way. I got a lot of hyperbole from people I respect, on Facebook and in person, before I had Read more…
Highlighting is perhaps the most basic way for a reader to demonstrate interaction with a text. Highlighting is actual physical interaction that does not require readers to produce any new language, just interpret the input. Yet it allows readers to process and organize the input they are observing. Color coded Read more…
I’ve had a very good year. Students who used to hate, HATE Spanish class–MY Spanish class–are begging for Spanish III. Every single one of my students improved in at least two of the communication skills, and over half reached intermediate levels on reading, writing, AND speaking on the final IPA (My more Read more…
Love is a desire. A genuine, conscious, consistent, active desire. I have decided that love is a genuine desire, not only for someone else’s happiness, but the desire to actively help that someone achieve that happiness long term. And it’s not just the desire, it’s acting on that desire. Love is a verb, right? image Read more…
Personalized Learning is not quite what I thought it was. I mean, I get the meaning of the word “personalize,” and I’d heard about playlists and pathways at EdcampQC when Jill Thompson first mentioned the program they’re piloting in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools–not to mention their inaugural school tour (less than an Read more…
“Nothing up my sleeve! And..presto!” I thought there could be nothing more magical for my students than real-time video chats with real live teenagers in Spain and Argentina. School schedules and time zones actually create more distance than geography these days, however, so sometimes we have to make do. Maybe Read more…
What’s in your desk drawer, and what can you infer from those contents?I don’t have a desk. I teach at an early college in a college classroom that could house a college class or college event any day of the week, should the course schedule or calendar call for it. Read more…
They say you can’t hit a target you can’t see, so as we were setting up interactive notebooks today, page 3 (right after Table of Contents, First Day Fun Stations summaries, and an about me section with a lot of “soy”) became “Proficiency.” I stole the bicycle analogy from Srta. Read more…