Professional Development

Classroom Strategies
Summer: A Time to Pause, a Time to Plan
Teachers all over the world face a similar dilemma: how to regroup during the summer while still taking small steps to prepare for the new school year?
Elena Spathis is a Spanish teacher in New Jersey, and currently works at the high school level. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish and Modern Greek Studies, as well as a Master of Education Degree in Language Education from Rutgers University. She recently obtained her second Master’s Degree in Teacher Leadership, with a concentration in English as a Second Language.
In addition to teaching, Elena also enjoys writing and blogging about her teaching experiences via Edutopia, Wayside Publishing’s Proficiency Talks, and her own website, the Spanish Teacher Diaries. She loves to travel and experience new cultures.
Professional Development
Classroom Strategies
Teachers all over the world face a similar dilemma: how to regroup during the summer while still taking small steps to prepare for the new school year?
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Classroom Strategies
As a high school Spanish teacher I often ask myself: would my students feel comfortable using the target language with a complete stranger in a foreign country?
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Classroom Strategies
Teaching often seems like running a marathon—we train and prepare, we push ourselves, and we keep going no matter what the circumstances.
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Classroom Strategies
Teachers and students are finding their formerly jam-packed, planned schedules on a sudden hiatus. Schools have emptied out, as have nearly all public places.
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Classroom Strategies
In what seemed like a span of a few hours, teachers needed to frantically shift to virtual instruction. All schoolwide events and extracurricular activities were suddenly cancelled. Feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and disappointment slowly settled in and took charge.
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Classroom Strategies
As we all anxiously await our schools’ reopening plans, much remains unknown. A series of potential scenarios could take place with short notice. While our schools may adopt hybrid schedules that combine an in-person format with a virtual one, we should be ready to transition to full-time virtual teaching at any given moment.
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Remote Teaching
It has been such a whirlwind of a year, especially as educators; we have been forced to revamp and rethink our methods in this unprecedented time. After scrambling to teach virtually last spring, many of us returned to our classrooms in a hybrid format this fall, while others are still teaching completely online. Our profession as we know it changed in what seemed like the span of a single day.
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Classroom Strategies
My district, like so many others, opted for a hybrid model this fall, combining in-person classes in the mornings with online classes in the afternoons. As you can imagine, I realized quickly that I had to rethink my methods, get creative, and be innovative.
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Classroom Strategies
Every year, National Foreign Language Week serves to highlight and honor all languages. In our increasingly globalized, interconnected society, it has never been more crucial to promote the value of language learning.
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Teacher Support
This past year was one marked by change, loss, and unimaginable hardship. For teachers and students, the ordinary school year as we knew it quickly became a distant memory. Even the classroom looked like an unknown space, with desks and chairs spread far apart.
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Teacher Support
We teachers often put so much pressure on ourselves to do more. On top of managing our teaching jobs and personal lives, we are frequently given extra duties and responsibilities at school outside of teaching.
Success Story
Teacher Support
Teachers are leaders within their own classrooms, but we look to our respective leadership figures for inspiration, motivation, and support. Our leaders have the potential to ensure the school culture is a positive, upbeat one in which everyone is given the opportunity to thrive. I have spoken with many educators over the years, and one of the main qualities they look for in their leaders is approachability.