firstdays
September 2, 2019
What’s the most powerful use of your voice in the classroom? That’s a question that Justin Slocum Bailey (BlackBox videocast creator extraordinaire!) asked and answered on the most recent episode of WeTeachLang, an excellent podcast for hearing diverse perspectives of language teachers. I highly recommend you listen to it, but I was inspired to blog […]
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January 29, 2019
By now we’re all back into the language class swing, right? I love my breaks and I love teaching and I confess I have a love-hate relationship with that first day back after a break. I almost always have at least one dream sometime in the few days beforehand with one of the following scenarios: I can’t […]
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August 30, 2018
This podcast on productivity was the last straw for me. Near the beginning, the host reminded me of the research on how much better the brain works when you not only see something written down, but you wrote it there. Sacrificing a good idea on the altar of a new idea I don’t remember when and […]
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September 12, 2017
As much as I love my Madhur Jaffrey cookbook, “Quick and Easy” is not exactly how I would have titled it. But this year, I’ve discovered some super tasty Indian simmer sauces at the grocery store. Whoa. Guess what? My family loves them. They gobble up chicken in simmer sauces from a jar as much as or more than […]
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July 31, 2017
Welcome back! (sort of)
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What a whirlwind of a summer! In the last few months, I’ve driven a few thousand miles and flown a few thousand more. I kayaked under a full moon and listened for the “shot heard round the world.” I watched a water moccasin climb a creek bank and ate lobster before watching fireworks explode over […]
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May 25, 2016
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 […]
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December 26, 2015
In the twelfth year of designing syllabi, you may not have “the syllabus to end them all” – of course not! We’re always changing based on successes and challenges, right? But by this time I knew the five ingredients I had to have in a syllabus, and you wanted to hear about them. This August […]
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August 19, 2015
Many teachers have enjoyed using the taco talk to help beginning students and their parents (and administrators!) understand what a novice-level, proficiency-based class is all about. This year I finally tweaked the document to be helpful to teachers of intermediate students. And then a French teacher contacted me for permission to change the “taco” portion […]
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August 11, 2015
As part of last year’s back-to-school posts I posted a document to get kids (and their parents) talking about tacos to explore what proficiency is and what a focus on proficiency will look like in your classroom. Since then I’ve gotten several requests to adapt that document for intermediate students. Ask and you shall receive (sometimes, […]
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August 3, 2015
Stressed about creating your class syllabi this year? There are a lot of really great syllabi flying around the internet. There are even competitions to see who can do the (best? most creative?) one. I have to tell you, it’s stressful. I don’t at all think it’s intended this way, but I think it feels […]
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July 31, 2015
I hope you had a restful summer! I love back-to-school time because we’re all excited, mostly rested up, maybe feeling a little unprepared but ready to tackle what this school year has to offer. Watch what August has to offer Throughout August I’ll be posting resources and information I hope will help you get a […]
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February 12, 2015
What does your seating arrangement say about your classroom style? In my last post I made a side comment about how I handle seating assignments and discovered that the only time I’ve written about it on the blog was in the last bullet point in a post on increasing student TL use. How unfortunate, since […]
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