I’ve tried to stay afloat, reading a textbook, starting a master’s program in Spanish instruction, poring over lists of authentic texts and designing new units. Now I can breathe, but I’m moving in circles. I’ve been teaching Spanish for 5 years, but it seems I was only in the kiddie pool until Read more…
My first problem was that even I was unconvinced by how tightly connected the appliance/peso lesson from my Spanish I cooking unit was. Solution? Record something juicy from my narcocorridos unit! Second problem? Though the lesson was, I believe, sufficiently juicy, I was only able to get 7 of the Read more…
You made me miss lunch, and I want to thank you. Every minute that you stayed after family today was more filling than my Easy Mac could ever be. That you stayed at all, feeling how you felt, is a testament to your maturity and strength as a human being. Read more…
The truth is that only one student was terribly misjudged by his classmates. In fact, most were so accurately labeled that all they could do was say yes (hooray for repetition!) It went down like this: Last week, we selected activities (verb) vocabulary first through brainstorming, then categorizing, then a Read more…
Perhaps it was fate that brought us together. Perhaps it was Madame Techie’s post last week. Perhaps it was just time for me to experiment with Voicethread. I wanted students to go from images to meaning, using a real live context. I had already thrown some clipart of various weather Read more…
We’re all over the news for our impending transition. OK, we have an article in the Hickory Daily Record. But the switch is drawing closer and closer, and we’re feeling a little like beheaded poultry. Recruitment for next year is already underway, and we don’t have a lot of answers Read more…
Bilingual “Plátiza”Chalk talk = plática de tiza = plátiza “Chalk talks” are a classic method of instruction at my school. I don’t know where they came from, and they are probably classic elsewhere too, but I believe I have taken it to a new level–a bilingual level. Furthermore, it was the Read more…
I have been rolling this idea around in my head since last year, but just now feel ready to take it on. Below are my ideas for a unit on narcocorridos and the proposed ban on their production. Think it’ll work? What can I do to make it work better? Read more…
I have never taught a course with a state-designated end-of-course test before. I have prepared students for a writing test at the beginning of March (months after their course was over, or only a quarter into it). I have taught to county-designed tests, copies of which I had even before Read more…
It has been said that a dysfunctional family is any family that has more than one person in it. Though my school family this year has lost a couple of members due to fisticuffs (ironically, the sparring partners are happier than ever to be there–others didn’t have the stomach for Read more…