#ReflectiveTeacher Blogging Challenge Day 12: A lot can happen in 5 years

How do you envision your teaching changing over the next five years?

Wow. A lot can happen in five years. Classes change, resources change…life changes. So to get an idea of where I could be, I had to take a look at where I was five years ago.

I was a single parent with a toddler starting the National Boards process for the first time while juggling 3 preps: Spanish I and II plus English I–a tested subject–for the first time. I didn’t have any language acquisition courses under my belt, much less a Master’s in Spanish. I was a department of one still in a school of under 200, and my only connection to state or national language associations was that one FLANC conference I presented on with a professor from some of my courses for Spanish certification–plus my franglais teacher Facebook friend from college.

There was no #langchat 5 years ago either.

So it was up to me and Google to figure out what “realia” meant, and then how to sneak it in between grammar and vocabulary. It was either Google or Teachers.net that led me to a textbook that led to a perfect score on the language acquisition theory section of the NBPTS test, but little practical change in my practice. I was genuinely surprised that my little Hot Wheel map directions activity only got me a 2 out of 4 in the small group entry. I mean, “teaching in the target language”? Who DOES that? It doesn’t even make SENSE.

So if the last five years are any indication of what’s to come, I predict still more humble pie. I’d like to think my menu will be somewhat more varied after a lot of the overhauling that I’ve done–perhaps even a little taste of glory here and there, when the realia and the comprehensible input and authentic purpose come together one fine day.

And in five more years, my little boy–who has a loving Daddy and wild little sister at home now–will be in the videos I submit for recertification.