Uncategorized
March 26, 2012
Another change: Survey says…
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The “I CAN” goals in elementary are going well, so it’s time to keep up the lessons learned from Central States and change something else. One session I went to (a best-of-some-state) was about designing an entire year’s curriculum around a theme. This teacher planned her whole year around the idea that her class was […]
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March 19, 2012
Design your own final exam
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This year as I contemplated my final exam for Spanish 3, I didn’t want to do what they did last year, because I like the PhotoPeach reflection much better as a relaxing ending to AP Spanish. Since my most popular blog post ever is about student choice in homework, I thought, why not the final exam […]
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March 12, 2012
What I’m changing this week
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I just got back from the Central States conference, and although I only attended five sessions, as usual my mind is spinning with all the things I need to change (which would be why I only attended five sessions!). At the conference, I concentrated somewhat on elementary-related issues, since that is where I struggle the […]
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March 10, 2012
I just finished presenting my Best of Kentucky session, Target [Language]: Say Less, Expect More at the Central States Conference. Thanks so much to the few who stuck it out to attend the last session of the last day! Here’s a repost of my presentation for them and anyone who wants it: Target [Language]: Expect […]
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February 3, 2012
A storytelling success story
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In honor of last night’s #langchat topic, I want to share something that happened in one of my kindergarten classes this week. At my school, we have mandatory Spanish from age 3 in preschool through 10th grade. Until 2nd grade, however, students only receive between 15 and 20 minutes of instruction per week. I’ve been […]
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January 27, 2012
Last year I didn’t go to ACTFL because my proposal wasn’t accepted and I didn’t get to score AP exams to be able to fund the trip. This year I knew I wasn’t even going to try to go, but the reason is much happier. I’ll let Zoe tell you:So, here we go again! :)The […]
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January 6, 2012
Free Ebook for WL educators
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Our generous friends over at Calico Spanish have put together a free resource for you! Sign up today to receive Web Tools for 21st Century World Language Classrooms. This free e-book is an organized, user-friendly collaboration based on past Twitter #Langchats related to using web tools to enhance and develop all sorts of language acquisition […]
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November 17, 2011
Twice for #langchat we’ve polled the following question: What activities prepare students for AP from the very beginning? I confess, I probably wrote this question, maybe with some help from something similar being suggested as a topic. Certainly I’ve voted for it twice. But for whatever reason–perhaps teachers of lower levels don’t think much about […]
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October 26, 2011
Learning from #langchat
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If there’s one big principle I’ve learned over the past 10 years, 8 teaching and 2 in grad school, it’s that good teaching isn’t magic. Sometimes it looks like magic, but it’s not. Sure, some people just don’t have the personality or gift of explanation to be a teacher. But some very gifted people have […]
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October 24, 2011
Not your average health unit
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A unit on health is common in Spanish class. We have a unit in Spanish 2 on describing ailments and visiting the doctor. Then in AP I have a unit called “Cuidándome a mí” (taking care of myself). It’s useful -last year’s AP essay was health-related- but for AP I wanted to go beyond the […]
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October 10, 2011
Whoops! I completely forgot to post my Prezi from my second KWLA presentation! Here it is, Target Language: Expect More, Say Less. Target [Language]: Expect More, Say Less on Prezi
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September 27, 2011
Spanish 3 assessment documents
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Sometimes I feel like I’m reinventing myself every year. Do you ever look back on something you did and think, “Why on earth did I do it that way? What a bad idea! Here we go again.” I feel like I do that every year! So even though I completely redesigned my Spanish 3 class […]
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