I have been making videos with Adobe Spark with photos I just happened to have. Those have GOT to be getting boring, kitties and puppies or no. I want to entice more students to engage with this extra practice, and how better to do it than with their peers and THEMSELVES?
Y’all. I stopped reading For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood when I took the job in suburbia. My new school is the ethnic inverse of the Charlotte magnet school where I taught for one measly year. Honestly, Suburbia IS easier, if only for the numbers game (85 vs Read more…
Teenagers need immediate feedback–it’s just a neurological fact. I had been at a loss for how to make that happen with 30+ students, since Nearpod cut me off at 30 and I can only take hearing “You forgot to stamp MY paper!” 20 times a day, max. Fortunately, I have Read more…
I’m struggling for real, you guys. I sincerely, sincerely believe that authentic opportunities for engaging with other speakers of the language for an authentic purpose is the most effective and important way to motivate language learners. But man, oh man, if I could just get a word in edgewise to make that POSSIBLE some Read more…
I ordered 50 books from Fluency Matters in anticipation of my Spanish 2 animals unit. The thinking was that these would build students’, well, fluency, as well as their contextual vocabulary and grammar as they prepared to make a plan to help their amigos animales. I have been kind of Read more…
I had a choice. In theory my students have been working on one self-improvement goal since the snow days in January. In practice not so much. The cool thing is that they can totally express to me in Spanish “No he cambiado” perfectly clearly and explain how they need their goal, Read more…
I’ve failed at Persona Especial. I can think of nothing more admirable and relevant and beneficial than making your students your curriculum. But as I have failed at becoming Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell in the past, I have failed at becoming Bryce Hedstrom. I run out of patience and so do the 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…
Each week in January I’ve featured insights on the blog from some ladies with great ideas from my PLN. This week, I chatted with Wendy Farabaugh, (@MmeFarab) who had “A rough start” to her school year, but a lot of the problems she’s facing as a young world language teacher Read more…
I start the semester with passion projects. I end the semester with passion projects. It brings a sort of unity to the whole semester and gives kids a sense of relevance, of purpose for the whole studying Spanish thing. Now this does mean a little extra tap dancing on my part, Read more…