If you asked me about the most frequent dilemma questions I get/see in professional interactions, including teacher development communities, workshops, social media, and email, this would have to be way up there: What am I supposed to do about this PBL thing? Rewind please… You probably know this, but for clarity’s sake, let’s do a […]
For a teacher, opening old files is like opening an old photo album. You’re flooded with memories, and also reflections on what went wrong and what went right: Why did I let my mom talk me into that perm? Stirrup pants with winter boots! When are those coming back? If I had real friends, they […]
Social entrepreneurship… in Spanish 1?! A few years ago, a company called VIF International asked me to think and work with them on this question: What would a project-based learning curriculum look like in a novice Spanish class? It’s not an easy question. Project-based language learning presents the same problem Genius Hour does: how can you […]
What if every task students did in class had a real-world application? I asked that question during last night’s #langbook chat. This summer we started what we hope will be an annual summer-break chat to encourage language teachers to read quality professional books. For the inaugural #langbook chat, we polled and participants chose the book […]
Here in Kentucky we’re still digging out from last week’s ice storm. Yesterday I was able to get online for the first time in a week, so today, it’s back to blogging! If you’ve taught from a textbook for very long, you’ve found that they’re just not motivating to students who aren’t already self-motivated, and […]