I am going to be SUPER busy this summer. Mexico, conferences, eight-year-old’s Shakespeare Camp. I don’t think I can pull off another Google Hangout series like I did last year for #LangCamp Online. Here’s what I can offer, though: an online book study and a FACE-TO-FACE PLANNING! Book Study The LangCamp Read more…
Google Classroom, how do I love thee? Not only has Classroom helped me all but wipe out late work, but now it also lets me ahead and make and save drafts of assignments until I’m ready to release them to my eager padawans. However, two of Classroom’s other more recent features Read more…
Common Curriculum is a website that lets me set up my plans in a way that works for me–and then rearrange my plans in a way that works for me too! After all, the best laid plans of mice and men are always going to do what best laid plans do. Read more…
This one’s for my North Carolina peeps with “Essential Standards” to address. Those of you not from NC could also use a form of this process for whichever objectives you’re expected to stick in your plans, and in fact, my example includes the ACTFL standards as well as our Essential Read more…
I think tests are stupid. A test can’t tell you how well I do my job or live my life–or anything you really need to know about me. Now, I’m really good at taking tests, and if you were to look at various test scores I’ve accumulated in my life, Read more…
Since I decided to start with passion this year, I’ve been approaching Genius Hour a little differently and rethinking the process and the order of the whole thing. Presenting Genius Hour to non-language-teacher colleagues at our district conference this summer also led to reexamining the stages of the process and Read more…
What if Spanish class started with students’ passions? What if we began with what each of them was individually interested in and build on that to come together for more collaborative projects? This pats year, I’d been saving the big Genius Hour/Passion Project finale for the last 6 weeks, figuring Read more…
In my Spanish classes, Genius Hour starts off as a weekly exploration of individual student interests in the target language, where I guide students through different resources and strategies for resource analysis. The purpose is still discovery and exploration, pursuing individual student passions, but I’ve found that if I simply Read more…
I’m set to have four preps next semester (in two languages), two of which I have taught only once before in my life. In other words, I’m going to need be organized. There are a few things I can set up for students ahead of time, a few policies to Read more…
Teaching Creative Writing was dangled in front of me once before: 8 years ago, in fact. I immediately started formulating a vision, setting goals, developing plans …that I never got to use. This year, a spring Creative Writing class was proffered once more, though I dared not get my hopes up Read more…