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Seven things I will (should/would/might) do next year

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell May 25, 2016 7 Comments

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell ◆ Language Acquisition Specialist

Empowering teachers to boost children’s language acquisition process using high-leverage practices in everyday lessons, especially for Spanish and English language learners (ESL).

Seven things I will (should/would/might) do next year
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell May 25, 2016
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The internet and the calendar (and Allison, Maris, Wendy, Melanie, Valerie, and Megan) say it’s time to confess and reflect.

Inspired by a summary of an old #langchat, and then having that inspiration reinforced by these reflective teachers sharing their journey, here is a post more for me than for you.  What will – or might – or let’s be realistic, should – I do differently next year?  And if I take a minute now to lay out a plan of what to do to accomplish these goals, will I be more likely to do them?

1. Unify and (or?) motivate my units (again?).

Confession: moving to a once-a-week class with home educated students was a huge practical shift for me, and I had trouble adjusting. I had two 16-week semesters and told myself I was going to do one “unit” a semester but in reality it turned into a progression of Can-Do statements disconnected from any unifying elements, and we felt it…

Process: … until Kara Jacobs and Elena López inspired me to use Canela with my older kids, which in turn inspired me to use a Peppa Pig episode with my younger kids. It wasn’t perfect but was much more unified and gave me some much-needed framework in my curriculum design (without me imposing a textbook on myself, which doesn’t work for me either).

  • Include more student motivation.  We have a lot of choice incorporated already, but I’d like to find out more about my students’ passions and also connect them with people – the motivation that ended up sending me on a lifelong language journey.  What will this look like?
    – Send out a student survey in the summer to see what they liked and what they’d like to see changed.  Also ask about their interests, especially if I have new students coming in.
    – Contact the schools I have already identified in our two Latin American Sister Cities to try to establish a relationship and intercultural exchange there.
    – Browse the very good ideas bouncing around the internet on units and decide whether to select/adapt one of those.  (Some of these unit ideas can easily last me an entire semester!)
  • Decide if we will finish the Peppa Pig episode or turn to something else; El Chavo animado appeals to me because of the authentic culture aspect.
  • Finish the Canela viewing guide. I will continue with the older kids with this, and it may be our entire year’s curriculum, and so this goal may end up being as easy as “With the older class, we will do one unit, and it will be called Canela.”

2. Post activities earlier.

Confession: My students often got their activity ideas (4-6 of them) posted on Edmodo on Tuesday night, “due” Friday morning.

Process: I am now on the other side of the Year of No Grades (post coming!) and we don’t have “assignments,” just activity ideas.  I do track who does them, but students get no grades and frankly almost no feedback on them.  There are two reasons they get done, one intrinsic and one extrinsic: 1) “If I do them, I will improve faster, and if I don’t, I won’t,” and 2) “My mom says I need to do them.” Snapshot: No one learner did them all, and no one learner didn’t do any of them.  Anyway, I’ve got to figure out how to make myself get better at this.  Often the reason they weren’t done was that there simply wasn’t enough time to do them between Tuesday night and Friday morning along with all their other school and family activities.

  • Sketch activity ideas when I lay out my Can-Do statements on the syllabus / calendar.
  • Schedule a time to set these out.  Thursday night has always worked best for me, but our model now is more “flipped” in that the activities are less homework (review of introduced material) and more preview of the next week, so Saturday evening may be a better bet. When it’s not date night.

3. Use class time more wisely.

Confession: I really struggle to stay on task in class.  My students get me off on rabbit trails easily.  We have valuable discussions about culture and critical thinking and mutual respect and intercultural relationships, in English, but it’s especially damaging when I have such a limited amount of time to get enough comprehensible input to my students.  I quite frankly do not even try to hold myself to a 90% target language goal (post coming on my personal policy statement!) but I haven’t figured out yet where my balance is between the life conversations that give me rapport with my students and give them the motivation to continue this journey past me (Jeffrey the Penguin stories simply do not, sorry) and the stories, songs, videos, and variety of activities that keep us interacting with comprehensible target language.

Process:

  • We don’t have a stiff schedule. Talk to students a lot when they come in early, and as they help me break down my class setup at the end of the day.
  • Plan more thoughtfully and better before Thursday night at 11:00 and I will feel more comfortable with where each class period is going.
  • Now that my students are getting some proficiency, reinstate a TL-use encourager, like paying to speak English or having an English zone.

4. Figure out how (stuff) works in a blended model.

Confession: I ask students to do stuff they’re not ready for at home without me to help and don’t communicate well enough the message that
1) I just want them to try and explore, and
2) they don’t have to have everything “right.”
Also, I had every intention of implementing Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) this year and I SUCK AT THIS.  After a few brief (kind of successful?) forays with SSR this year, we almost never got to it. Okay, like not in the spring semester at all.

Process:

  • I don’t have time in class to do my classic vocabulary review consistently.  I’m going to brainstorm how to get kids working with vocabulary outside of class.  One idea: Give a set of words to look up on Google Images, post a favorite on Edmodo, and comment on someone else’s (in TL). Sketch one and come to show and identify/describe to a partner in something like Linguacafé?
  • I have always wanted to have an awesome reading corner like Allison and Carrie.  I love the idea of kids getting comfortable and doing SSR in a corner.  But it took us 14 weeks to get through 18 minutes of Canela.  When are we going to do SSR?  And how can I get learners to reflect and report on their reading?  And how could I possibly have a comfy reading setup when I have to set up and breakdown our learning space every single time we use it?
    I’m going to brainstorm this.  Will they do daily reading at home?  Good news, on this side of the Year of No Grades my students and their families were begging for summer activities to do, and we’re going to virtually read together Brandon Brown vs. Yucatán this summer (attacking Tumba, Robo en la Noche, and Felipe Alou next year) via Edmodo, with the older class, so they’ll be prepped for more reading.  (The younger class is getting a SSV (sustained silent viewing!) calendar for Pocoyó and Peppa Pig episodes.)

5. Improve feedback.

Confession: On this side of the Year of No Grades I confess to you that my students received almost no feedback.  I confess also that I had a student’s fall semester final assessment in my bag for three months before getting it back to him.  Scoring assessments is a HUGE mental block for me.

Process:

  • Take advantage of Edmodo.  Realize that the comments I make like “Great choice! Can you pick something you’ve never done before next time?” or “I’m so glad you asked a question here!” can count as valuable feedback bites.
  • You people who have 100-200 students in a day, I throw flowers and coins at you.  I had sixteen students doing one formal assessment per semester this year.  I will preach this to myself.  There is NO REASON ON EARTH I cannot get those assessments back the same DAY even.

6. Figure out a proficiency tracker.

Confession: I’m pretty good at communicating proficiency concepts and strategies to my student.  They know all about the tacos and the poster and could probably tell you exactly what skills they are looking to develop to increase their proficiency.  But giving them an opportunity to track their proficiency over time? HUGE FAIL.

Longtime goal + no plan for execution = always a goal, never a reality.

This year I tried my hand at interactive notebooks (another huge fail) and used a section in them for “I Can” statements on paper for students to glue in.  But I had time to assess students in order to give them these papers exactly one time.  And when I put them out so students could self-reflect and select the ones they thought they could do, none of them cared.  No one bothered to pick up a single paper.  So I don’t know if I’m doing this wrong or if my secret reservations about the value of any kind of badges, digital or paper or otherwise, have been justified here.  On this side of the Year of No Grades I am even more firmly entrenched in Camp Alfie Kohn but I’m open to all perspectives and strategies that might cast a different light on things!

Process:

  • The apps and tools and tricks overwhelm me but I can tell myself to find one thing and just try it.  Just one thing.  One way to give students a place to track their progress.  This will involve browsing Laura’s eportfolios category and FreeTech4Teachers’s 10 Tools for Creating Digital Portfolios.
  • I’ll be at ACTFL and the gurus of badging (looking at you, Noah and Laura) will be talking badges.  I gotta go to that.  And/or pajama party this with Laura as we share lodging at Camp Musicuentos Southeast AND ACTFL.

7. Use self-reflection as an exit ticket.

Confession: Even though I took a step toward getting better at student self-reflection by incorporating it into my new rubric, I didn’t even ask my students to take a minute to fill it out.  I was handing back those rubrics at lunch, even through the windows of cars after class the last day (and one still sits in my teacher bag…).  So when will this happen?

Process:

  • This mostly involves binging Colleen’s blog.
  • Inspired by Colleen, I’m thinking of self-reflection as an exit ticket.  It’s all about time constraints, people.

What about you?

I post this here now because I don’t want to do this the week before school starts.  You don’t either, so why not now? Share your list via your blog or comment here and let’s make some realistic goals and figure out how to accomplish them.

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Previous They couldn’t hear the word “no”
Next This side of the Year of No Grades: How it changed (me)
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
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7 Comments

  1. Erin says:
    May 26, 2016 at 10:49 am

    Oh, I can relate so very much to #3!! Something I am going to work on next year too! 🙂

  2. Shannon says:
    May 26, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    I wrote a really thoughtful comment a few minutes ago, but it got deleted. The cliff notes are that I especially resonate with numbers 3, 5 and 6. I am eager to read the post about 90% TL use as I am currently wrestling with my role. If my goal is mostly about building proficiency for my students than I am a skills teacher. I need to focus on that and find another way to work the culture in (perhaps collaborating with a teacher in a different subject area). If I really need to figure out both culture and language proficiency in 45 minutes/day something has to give. Please don’t forget to share your thoughts on that one.

    I moved to a ‘grading contract’ this year, which is essentially no grades, and becomes a reason to conference with my students every quarter about their progress during the last 2-3 months. I love those conversations (time away from TL use) and each quarter I leave thinking my students feel motivated. But then a new quarter starts and they would rather focus their energy on conversations and instant messages. I am drawn to Mike Peto’s participation rubric, and wonder about instituting something similar as part of a tweaked grading contract next year.

    This is just the start of my end of year ponderings. Thanks so much for sharing!!

    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      May 27, 2016 at 11:46 am

      Those are great thoughts and I’d love to hear what you come up with! I’m definitely going to share my thoughts on 90% TL use but honestly I have to ponder through it more myself, and I hope it will be my first post after the blog redesign (cough) (hopefully) soon.

      See you in July!

      1. Shannon Norquist says:
        May 28, 2016 at 4:07 pm

        My computer has been so weird about letting me see the comments on this post, so please forgive the multiple commenting. I’m looking forward to seeing you in July, and I will definitely copy you in when I get around to gather my self reflection for the year.

        1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
          May 28, 2016 at 9:52 pm

          No worries! I get so many spam comments (about a hundred a day) that all my comments are held for moderation before posting. So you just have to give me a little bit to approve yours and then they’ll appear. 🙂

  3. Shannon Norquist says:
    May 28, 2016 at 4:05 pm

    This is an amazing post!

  4. Christina Bacca says:
    June 9, 2016 at 7:52 pm

    I have my home educated kids 2 times a week for an hour each. My students are all high school and much of what you reflected on resonates with me. I have to give grades so this summer I am reflecting on assessments as well as “what is a unit really”? When I first started everything was very disjointed and seemed, as you said, to be a hodge-podge of lessons and little cohesiveness. I want to work on making it cohesive but allowing for the class dynamic and relationships to develop.

    I think TPRS publishing is going to have many of the novels online. I already charge a materials fee but part of the fee will be for the online books that have the audio and activities. I think that would be great for extra listening practice for the days in between classes and then I have loaned out books to my upper levels for free reading. They choose a book and read about 30 minutes a week. They have been very good about doing so and we don’t use class time because like you –there isn’t any.

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      • I see a... great chance to practice prepositions
      • Speaking of motivation: Guest interview on Paulino Brener's EPC Show
      • It's TIME! Open registration for Camp Musicuentos '15
      • The M that trumps your method, materials, & madness
      • Shake things up: Vary your seating - every day
      • #Teach2Teach 3: A coach who failed me, and a coach who didn't
      • Pronunciation gold: Forvo.com
    •  January (7)
      • It's a myth, #11: Assessing communication without communication
      • My favorite authentic resource combining culture & calendar
      • #Teach2Teach Question 1: The Great Balancing Act
      • All new resource: Battleship for es / está
      • 2015 Resolution #3, Expand your learning network: New blogs to watch
      • 2015 Resolutions #2: Act like we're on the same team
      • 2015 resolution #1: Stop being so hard on yourself
  •  2014 (95)
    •  December (22)
      • Book Club '14: George Müller & Bruchko
      • Best of 2014 #1: Every language teacher's biggest mistake
      • Best of 2014 #6: Carol Gaab's rebuttal to my TPRS critique
      • Book Club '14: Creating Innovators
      • Best of 2014 #2: Where I depart from classic TPRS
      • Book Club '14: Stella Bain, Gemma Hardy, & a bittersweet hotel
      • Best of 2014 #7: What I love about TPRS
      • Book Club '14: Monuments Men, With the Old Breed, In Pharaoh's Army
      • Book Club '14: The Kite Runner
      • Best of 2014 #3: Sample homework choice systems
      • Book Club '14: Crazy Busy
      • Book Club '14: The Hobbit & The Scarlet Pimpernel
      • Best of 2014 #5: How I use verb charts
      • Book Club 2014: Amazing Grace (Kozol)
      • Book Club '14: A Step of Faith & Walking on Water (The Walk series)
      • Best of 2014 #4 & #8: Curriculum planning outside the textbook
      • Book Club '14: Five Days at Memorial & Men We Reaped
      • Best of 2014 #9: Genius hour isn't a great idea for novice classes
      • Book Club '14: The Painted Veil & Life After Life
      • Best of 2014 #10: The new JCPS curriculum documents
      • Happy Cyber Week! Resource sale Dec. 1-3
      • Musicuentos Book Club 2014
    •  November (4)
      • Lessons from ACTFL '14: if they have all the answers, they're trying to sell you something
      • What's ahead: ACTFL, best of '14, and the book club
      • Linguacafé: The idea that rocked my interpersonal world
      • What we learned at IFLTA '14: Everyone struggles, Culture leads
    •  October (5)
      • Communicative teaching in the shadow of [grammar-focused] common assessment
      • More multi-tasking children's lit
      • Next on my PD list: New proficiency videos
      • What we learned at KWLA: share, think, respect
      • The game-changing authentic resource guide for Spanish 3+: it's here!
    •  September (4)
      • Three days and then...
      • The technology that's making us irrelevant...and more relevant
      • Thank you, reflective teachers
      • See you this year? Conferences & Camp Musicuentos
    •  August (6)
      • How I teach La ciudad de las bestias
      • Putting homework in their hands: Sample systems
      • The First Day Story: Empowering with CI
      • Keeping games communicative
      • Let's talk tacos: Informing parents & students on proficiency
      • Regreso a clases! Ciudad on sale
    •  July (2)
      • Oso de Mantequilla: A tribute
      • It's coming!
    •  June (7)
      • What we learned at Camp Musicuentos
      • Lesson plan: Indirect objects and celebrations (template too)
      • New Podcast: What kind of corrective feedback works?
      • New resource: Educating parents and students on proficiency
      • Another resource: JCPS new curriculum documents (K-12)
      • Introducing the past tenses together
      • Time for you to get feedback?
    •  May (9)
      • Upcoming workshop (IN): Proficiency-based lesson planning
      • Stop calling this easy & fast
      • Revisiting Photopeach for the AP Final
      • Stop stressing: It's wrong to do the best you can
      • Three tasks for crafting an effective message: Black Box Podcast episode 4
      • A Year in a Day: Camp Musicuentos 2014
      • Taking care of business: Summer collaboration for a successful year
      • 4 ways to tweak the exit ticket
      • Black Box Podcast episode 3: To Sell Is Human, part 1
    •  April (9)
      • Top 25 Spanish novels
      • Let's play
      • New activity resource: Tweetfest!
      • Black Box Podcast episode 2: Circumlocution
      • An impromptu "langcamp"
      • See you at ACTFL '14
      • 4 ways to keep curriculum relevant
      • Tutorial on the best free PD you'll find in your own home
      • The Musicuentos Black Box Podcast: IT'S HERE!
    •  March (10)
      • Authentic visual illustrations of proficiency (Spanish)
      • Curriculum planning outside the textbook, Part 2
      • A week or more of working with Vivir mi vida
      • Resource release: Complete verb pack
      • Curriculum planning outside the textbook: Part 1
      • Corrections to simple verb pack
      • Is this the best we can do?
      • Writing a restaurant review: Activity from Bethanie Drew
      • Putting a number grade on proficiency-based assessment
      • Resource release: Simple verb pack
    •  February (7)
      • My favorite source for restaurant (and other) reviews
      • Guest post: A TPRS rebuttal by Carol Gaab
      • TPRS strategies I don't put in my toolbox
      • What I love about TPRS
      • Repost: Valentine's #authres from Twitter
      • How I use verb charts
      • Guest post: What students need- A leader (David Seibel)
    •  January (10)
      • Every language teacher's biggest mistake
      • My new favorite digital storytelling app
      • Why Genius Hour can't work in a novice classroom
      • Website review: Geoguessr
      • 2014 resolutions #5: Use more authentic sources.
      • 2014 Resolutions #4: Take a step outside the textbook
      • Reviewing 2013: Five blogs to watch
      • 2014 Resolutions #3: Survey your students.
      • 2014 Resolutions #2: Collaborate with someone
      • 2014 Resolutions #1: Read a book
  •  2013 (110)
    •  December (13)
      • The #1 Musicuentos post of 2013 (and the six years before that)
      • Best of 2013: #2 - Tips for the new AP
      • Best of 2013: #3 - Choice in homework, updated
      • Best of 2013: #4 - Novice song for Spanish Class Idol
      • Best of 2013: #5 - Can you control vocabulary?
      • Best of 2013: #6 - Is your lesson plan out of whack?
      • Best of 2013: #7 - Four habits that enrich vocabulary
      • AP Spanish final exam: Controversia navideña y Vacunas para niños
      • Best of 2013: #8 - Novice high vs. Intermediate low
      • Best of 2013: #9 - Using assessment to inform your teaching
      • Best of 2013: #10 - Spot-checking conversations
      • First-ever Musicuentos ebook: Reader's Guide to Ciudad de las bestias
      • Happy December!
    •  November (8)
      • AP Spanish essay - Obamacare
      • Vote: Musicuentos proposal for ACTFL '14
      • Setting goals
      • Don't go to ACTFL '13 without TELLing
      • Repost: A story for demonstratives
      • Listen to some Grammy music
      • Caring about the Really Big Deal
      • Calm before the excitement!
    •  October (4)
      • Using assessment to inform your teaching
      • Just some fluff: Makeup for busy mom teachers
      • Top 3 mistakes teachers of novices make
      • Book review: Teach Like A Pirate
    •  September (7)
      • Interacting with authentic materials: a guide
      • Using audio-lingua
      • Seven keys to a great story
      • Stations: Exploring music
      • It's a myth: Equipping students to communicate with... themselves
      • Turn a Novice Song into "Spanish Class Idol"
      • Is your lesson plan out of whack?
    •  August (12)
      • Children's literature for the world language class (Helena Curtain)
      • App review & Giveaway! High School Spanish
      • Choice in homework, updated
      • Back to school: Proficiency posts
      • App Review: Storykit (bonus - meet my family!)
      • Back to school: Evaluate traditions
      • Back to school: Blogs with great ideas
      • App review & giveaway: Word Magic dictionary and thesaurus
      • My authorized AP syllabus
      • Back to school: Musicuentos "first days" posts
      • Back to school: Give them signals
      • Going back to school with Musicuentos
    •  July (6)
      • Tips for the New AP
      • Don't be fooled! What the AP does and doesn't measure
      • Illustrating proficiency with a laugh
      • Snag some free apps while you can!
      • Stop asking for unnatural language
      • Fun video: Animals, present, feelings
    •  June (9)
      • Targeting problems with a pop quiz
      • Song, irregular present, part 4: Tengo tu love
      • It's my birthday - check out our presents!
      • A meaningful approach to grammar
      • Websites for creating online magazines
      • A world with no magazines
      • Guest post: Coaching with choice
      • Screencast: Photopeach
      • Communicative grading made easier
    •  May (10)
      • Health infographic: Novice - Intermediate Activity
      • A lesson in finding authentic sources easily
      • Tips and songs for past participles
      • Foster higher-level thinking from the beginning
      • Summer: Language for the fun of it
      • Novice high vs. intermediate low
      • E-magazines with learner appeal
      • Step outside the textbook: Tell a story
      • Repost: Novice description with Jengibre and Pin Pon
      • Interpersonal communication by choice
    •  April (11)
      • Novice speaking: Describing self with Sie7e
      • Can you control vocabulary?
      • Activities from authentic resources: Future tense
      • Why I love mistakes
      • Maternity leave!
      • Lots of your class gone? Pick up a book.
      • Abandon the multiple-choice question
      • Songs for future tense
      • I choose béisbol: sample "homework" report
      • 300 times thank you
      • Reporting like kindergarten
    •  March (11)
      • Training in circumlocution: Ban the dictionary
      • Fun activity #9: A leer
      • Last tips on avoiding burnout
      • Cortometraje for narration
      • Make developing curriculum even easier
      • Even more tips on avoiding burnout
      • Authentic resource: trivia games
      • Still more tips on avoiding burnout
      • Two more ways to ease into developing curriculum
      • Song, irregular present, part 3: Carmelina
      • More tips on avoiding burnout
    •  February (10)
      • Intermediate news activity for all three modes
      • Easing into developing curriculum
      • If you don't pay attention to comprehensibility...
      • Burning out or burning bright?
      • Keeping the class engaged: Change activities
      • Fun activity #8: A cantar
      • Twitter/relationships activity, just in time for Valentine's
      • Tech tools gone wrong
      • Grading regular free-topic writing
      • Add more music to homework choices
    •  January (9)
      • Spot-checking conversations
      • Song, irregular present, part 2: Hace tiempo
      • Four habits that enrich vocabulary
      • Paragraph form
      • Myths 8 & 9: I don't do it because they can't handle it.
      • Assigning homework
      • Song, irregular present, part 1: Sigo con ella
      • More choice every day
      • A novice cross-curricular activity from authentic materials
  •  2012 (38)
    •  December (2)
      • 5 New Year's resolutions for every WL teacher
      • It pays to have a focus
    •  October (2)
      • Best and worst games I've seen
      • Example: authentic text for novices
    •  September (7)
      • Success with Stations
      • More student choice in homework
      • Prezi: The Choice is Theirs (KWLA 2012)
      • Prezi: Kick the Vocab Quiz (KWLA 2012)
      • Take the leap to standards-based assessment
      • Fun activity #7: Conecta cuatro
      • A song for feelings
    •  August (10)
      • Screencast: Edmodo
      • Myth #7: Spanish Mike is a taco.
      • A study in motivation, part 2: Self-assessing abilities
      • It's my blogiversary - but you get the gift
      • Menus
      • Reading guides: Cajas de cartón & Esperanza renace
      • A re-post for your first days back: Abecedario
      • Screencast: Finding authentic sources for prompts
      • Maintaining personal proficiency
      • AP redesign: Units & EQ's
    •  July (9)
      • A study in motivation
      • Advice for teachers in training
      • More uses for Amor de mi tierra
      • Book review: The Talent Code
      • Songs for 'duele'
      • The Case for Commands
      • Got idioms?
      • Like Musicuentos? Like it on Facebook.
      • Very short times with very young kids
    •  June (1)
      • 5...4...3...2...1... LAUNCH!
    •  March (4)
      • Another change: Survey says...
      • Design your own final exam
      • What I'm changing this week
      • Repost for CSC12: Increasing target language
    •  February (1)
      • A storytelling success story
    •  January (2)
      • Not going to ACTFL again, but for the best reason ever
      • Free Ebook for WL educators
  •  2011 (56)
    •  November (1)
      • Dear novice-learner teacher - love, an AP teacher
    •  October (3)
      • Learning from #langchat
      • Not your average health unit
      • Presentation: Target Language: Expect More, Say Less
    •  September (6)
      • Spanish 3 assessment documents
      • For KWLA 2011: Media from Reel to Real
      • Accuracy vs. proficiency: an illustration
      • Fun activity #6: A escribir
      • App review: Tour Wrist
      • Myth #6: Memorizing vocabulary
    •  August (5)
      • Trending topic = authentic comprehensible input
      • Got the rubric!
      • New year, new units, new assessments
      • Jumping on the Animoto bandwagon
      • Rethinking "late" work
    •  July (1)
      • A song made for early Spanish 1
    •  June (9)
      • Proficiency & tacos
      • Proficiency levels shouldn't be a secret
      • Flipbook illustration
      • Ethics in the language class - we aren't their parents
      • Activity #5: Gira la botella
      • Symbol Illustration
      • Connecting your classroom
      • Myth #5: The textbook is all I need
      • Taking paperless to the blog
    •  May (2)
      • Combat the 'este tiempo' monster
      • Children's DVD giveaway!
    •  April (6)
      • Activity #4: Drama Inmóvil
      • Myth #4: The Time Whine
      • Have you used PhotoPeach?
      • The myths aren't going to ACTFL
      • Fun activity #3: ¡Arriésgate!
      • Fun activity #2: A conversar
    •  March (3)
      • Dismantling Myths 2 and 3: Learning about language and its cousin, Grammatical Terms
      • Activity 1: Cuento poco a poco
      • (Trying to) Make learning fun
    •  February (10)
      • Two new options for out-of-class fluency
      • Great resource from la Sra. Birch
      • Dismantling Myth #1: What's a qualified teacher?
      • Keep singing: 189 pages of Spanish lyrics
      • #Charlando para aprender
      • Vote for this week's #langchat topic
      • It's time for them to use their time
      • For tonight's #langchat: A game for description
      • Short listening activity tailor-made for beginners
      • Ciudad de las bestias: Guides public & streamlined
    •  January (10)
      • Instead of the vocab quiz
      • Best songs for stem changing irreg. present
      • Do something drastic - kick the vocab quiz
      • Topic for #LangChat 1/27
      • Topic for the first #LangChat 1/20
      • Low-level learners can't understand authentic media, what?
      • They can't speak, and it's our fault: Dismantling the myths
      • Don't teach a health unit without this song
      • Since I stopped teaching to the [AP] test
      • Faith and Culture: help me decide our AP topic
  •  2010 (38)
    •  December (4)
      • 9 ways to increase students' TL use
      • I love collaboration
      • The problem with translation (from a student)
      • Why music is more powerful than anything (& how to use it)
    •  November (2)
      • iPad giveaway!
      • A collaborative project for our Spanish-teacher PLN
    •  October (2)
      • And the winner is...
      • In the spirit of open source: Ciudad de las bestias
    •  September (10)
      • Books recommended as 'easy'
      • Pure present tense & at least 22 repetitions of 'ya no'
      • For a conference attendee: resources in math
      • Searching BBC Mundo
      • Prompts with Power: writing/speaking prompts
      • Prompts with Power: Prezi
      • Prompts with Power: German & French resources
      • Prompts with Power: Dating in high school
      • KWLA Presentation: PLN-ology
      • Tweet with double objects
    •  August (6)
      • Interactive comic creator using Maya & Miguel
      • Ads of the World | Creative Advertising Archive & Community
      • Added some great new links
      • First 12 days of Spanish 1
      • My supply list
      • Scope & sequence, word list for Spanish 1
    •  July (4)
      • 5 tips for increasing (your own) target language use
      • A warm-up from @samocamila: por vs. para
      • Camila's all on board! (well, on Twitter)
      • Getting vocabulary from a tweet
    •  April (3)
      • Huge toy giveaway from SpanglishBaby
      • A case for avoiding "pet" grammar
      • Authentic audio with future tense
    •  March (2)
      • Interesting blog post about iPod as language lab
      • News article: appeal + subjunctive for influence
    •  January (5)
      • A high-interest exercise for imperfect/pasado continuo
      • A song with 17 verbs in past subjunctive
      • My corporate Spanish links, all in one place
      • "Adora la Exploradora"-the week we didn't feel like a boring past-tense review
      • My level 1 and 2 stories (for Bethanie, and whomever else)
  •  2009 (78)
    •  December (2)
      • A song with 37 repetitions of "más que"
      • Switch to a communicative set-up
    •  November (10)
      • Print & audio sources for AP synthesis essay re: efficient energy
      • Two songs for voy + a + infinitive
      • A case for free-topic blogging
      • It's 19 de noviembre!
      • Camila's new single: "Mientes" (release date 11/24!)
      • A case for pleasure reading
      • Noviembre - a popular month for songs
      • Zachary Jones's "Clozeline"
      • Two songs + resources for Ojalá + subjunctive
      • A song just for @mamitati
    •  October (13)
      • You can't buy this in a textbook
      • Cultural connections: Four songs to explore using Google Earth
      • David Bisbal's YouTube channel
      • Correction on Pin Pon in Shrek
      • Four songs for contrasting que & lo que
      • Nominados en la 10a entrega de los Latin Grammy
      • Story and songs for subjunctive: indefinite/negative antecedent
      • AP sythesis essay sources: Los indocumentados y el sistema de salud
      • Blog that does what I do, only better
      • My October playlist
      • We must not ignore the Paz Sin Fronteras (video)
      • Build your perfect tenis (en español)
      • Video with por, haber, past participles, commands, from Coca Cola
    •  September (9)
      • Latin Grammy website gets a cool makeover... and nominations!
      • Songs for the elusive 3rd pers. sing. preterite
      • I just made my first Yodio
      • KWLA Fall 09 Conference presentation
      • Found Juanes on Twitter
      • For you French teachers
      • Bilingual toy giveaway, gracias a @mamitati
      • Keeping your eyes open for gold nuggets
      • CNN launches Latino in America
    •  August (4)
      • A correction on the correction of La Frase Tonta
      • I am in technology heaven
      • An AP oral presentation, with past tense: "Consecuencias"
      • I love crossover songs
    •  July (2)
      • Raimundo, the bilingual Latin American snail
      • A song for object/refl pronoun 'te'
    •  June (5)
      • A song for your hip-hop fans
      • Developing world citizens
      • Aquí Estoy Yo: video oficial
      • A new group on my radar
      • Two months later, back to the blogosphere (with a companion)
    •  April (5)
      • A most fantastic performance at Premio Lo Nuestro
      • The heroes speak Español
      • A brilliant pair of songs contrasting por/para
      • Useless grammar I used to teach
      • Adding some links--check 'em out
    •  March (7)
      • Negative commands + culture
      • Winds of change
      • Our students aren't the only ones who have speaking problems!
      • Activity: News interaction (present perfect)
      • A new smash hit with a subjunctive benefit
      • A shout out for Jacob & Joshua
      • El campesino y la princesa (a Spanish 3 story test, with a bit of subjunctive)
    •  February (15)
      • More interactive websites, courtesy of my students
      • A product I love
      • Good stories for commands
      • a story for imperf. vs. pret. and subjunctive influence
      • Interactive websites: practicing house/location/color vocab
      • Subjunctive for doubt: Story, song, activity
      • A good story for 'tiene'
      • A song for subjunctive/nosotros commands
      • A story for demonstratives
      • Rules in a communicative class
      • Cause and effect
      • Relating everything to English
      • A correction on La Frase Tonta
      • Equipping and informing, for free
      • A project based on motivation
    •  January (6)
      • "How much is estuvo de pie?"
      • One more song for subjunctive
      • A couple more subjunctive songs
      • An example of vocab
      • Internet scavenger hunts
      • A Spanish 2 story test
  •  2008 (40)
    •  December (7)
      • Videos from Jesús Adrian Romero
      • Alex Campos's YouTube channel
      • A story test
      • A video for Navidad
      • Great new song for subjunctive
      • ¡Nueva música!
      • A fantastic blog post
    •  November (13)
      • Ever heard of Patito feo?
      • Two groups you just can't go wrong with
      • Things to be thankful for
      • Grammar learning vs. acquisition
      • Forced to give grammar tests?
      • High aptitude is a beautiful thing
      • Another Spanish 1 reading
      • New media list!
      • At the ACSI conference in Dayton
      • Story success: Huevos verdes con jamón
      • Another story source!
      • Words we don't use
      • Song success: Hace tiempo
    •  October (12)
      • Overgeneralizing, again
      • Spanish 2 Story: La llama se llama...
      • Song success: Me voy
      • Not posting lately
      • overgeneralizing
      • The outcome of Pin Pon
      • Pin Pon in Shrek?
      • Best practices
      • Reading in Spanish 3
      • SCORE!
      • My media list
      • Awesome YouTube video
    •  September (8)
      • KWLA '08: Assessing comprehension without English
      • Song success: La llave de mi corazón
      • Spanish 1 Story: Insectos grises para el almuerzo
      • Finding stories
      • Modeling the billingual lexicon
      • When it's not all sunshine and roses
      • What on earth is going on here?
      • Starting to share my journey

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