Learning About Novels

When I accepted my new position this year, one of the things I was most bummed about leaving behind (aside from great students, colleagues, and a job that I really enjoyed) was all the novels! Over the last couple of years I had received several local grants that had allowed me to purchase a whole…

First, Updates

¡Hola! To say “it’s been a while” would be an understatement, but it really has. So much has happened since my last post in May. First, in June I took a group of students to Costa Rica, and it was a truly incredible experience. Three days after we got back, I accepted a new position…

After the Exam

If your school is like my school, the last few days (or maybe the last week) are dedicated to exams. We typically have 48 minute classes, but for exams, we have periods lasting about an hour and a half. It can be tough to plan an exam that keeps everyone working for a good chunk…

Quick Tip: Google Tour Builder

At the beginning of this month, I had the opportunity to attend Ohio’s Google Tech Summit. A little piece of advice: if you haven’t been to a non-language-teaching conference for a while, find one, and a tech conference is a great one! Don’t get me wrong, I love Central States and really hope to make it…

Novel Review and Conversation Practice

My Spanish 1 classes finished Brandon Brown quiere un perro last week, and this week we are gearing up for a final assessment of the novel following the interpersonal speaking and presentational writing that Allison describes here. Last week, we played some games to review the novel and make sure everyone was really clear on…

My One Big Thing From Central States

Oh, spring in Ohio. On Wednesday we cut our grass for the first time this year, this Monday (the first day of Spring Break!) the forecast high is 71 degrees, and today is a snow day. I’m a little late to the Central States reflection game, but I’ve had some time to try out what…

March Music Madness 2017

As I mentioned last year, March is one of my favorite times of the year to be a language teacher. I love using music in my classroom. One of my students’ favorite things (and something that always gets cited highly for how they feel they learn the most) is our song of the week. Each…

Sustained Silent Reading…So Far

This year, one of my big goals was to implement SSR/FVR in my classroom. I have been slowly building my classroom library with trips to Ollie’s and padding out Amazon orders to get the free shipping with cheap books in Spanish (as I tell my students, I’d rather spend $8 on 2 extra books than…

The How and Why of Music in My Classroom

About a week ago, I was conversing on Twitter about how much I love incorporating music into my classroom, and teaching my students a song of the week. Wendy lamented that she doesn’t feel like she has enough French music with usable structures to do a song of the week. I couldn’t make any suggestions, but it…

Late Work Policy 2016

I can hardly believe that we’re two full weeks into the school year already! Things are going really well so far, and I’m loving my change to tables. If you get a chance, I highly recommend it – students no longer try to finagle their groups so that they’re always working with the same people….

Extreme Classroom Makeover 2016

This summer was a time of big changes in my room and I am so excited about them! For comparison, take a look at what my room looked like last year. Okay, ready for the new look? Here we go:The most drastic change for this year is the move to tables. I am beyond pumped about the…

2016-17 Curriculum

The last week or so, I have been loving that teachers are posting their plans for this year. I always love to see what other teachers are doing with their students! If you haven’t seen them yet, here are plans from Kristy, Dustin, Allison, and Sharon for everything from Spanish 1 to Spanish 4 (I…