Decluttering Your Mind

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.

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.

If you are striving to create a proficiency-based classroom this year but are not sure where to start, we are here to help! These quick, low-prep tips will help you embark on your journey to proficiency-based teaching starting on the first day of school.

Between September 15 and October 15, the United States celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, honoring the people of Hispanic origin within the United States.

This month, CASEL and SEL4US (Social Emotional Learning Alliance for the United States) have jointly kicked off their 2021-22 school year SEL Showcase Challenge. The challenge includes monthly goals to inspire educators to make connections between SEL best practices and the tactics they implement in their classrooms.

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.

Want to get your students excited to start class? Start by having them join a Jam of the day! When I first started using Jamboard, it felt much clunkier and lagged more than Slides, so I did not use it very often. However, Jamboard has received some significant updates the past few months which has made it more functional than ever.

Would you rather conjugate verbs in another language or have a conversation with someone who speaks another language? Unless you are a true grammar geek, you prefer communicating.

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.

The end of the year is a special time. Starting with November’s Thanksgiving celebrations, we begin to publicly acknowledge our gratitude for those who have inspired and challenged us. However, this year has been different, and much more stressful, than past years.

World language teachers are the most creative educators. We have a million and one ways to engage learners in speaking and writing in the target language. Engaging students is our passion – well, that and intercultural connections, of course!

lesson design. Joaquín was a bright student with a great sense of humor and a strong creative streak, so, I could have anticipated what he would do, but I did not. That day, the class was ideal; students were quietly completing writing exercises in their workbooks. You could hear a pin drop.

Now that we’ve had about a month of this new school year, how do you feel? Overwhelmed? Exhausted? Challenged? Perhaps even discouraged? You have heard it already: This is a totally different school year. What do we do when these feelings grab at us?

Time and time again we look at the world through different lenses. As teachers, we get a first hand vision of what the values are, considering our daily interaction with our students. As adults of a certain age, we remember a world when we didn’t have technology attached to us at every waking moment.

As language educators, we take pride in integrating culture and language. We understand the importance of being understood in terms of the words we use in light of the products, practices, and perspectives of the target culture. Too often, culture is seen as an aside in the classroom and not integrated into every aspect of what we teach, but our profession is changing that.

We just created a new library of activities related to Spanish songs for your mid- to intermediate-high Spanish learners. Activities for each song can be posted all at once for students to complete at their own pace, or posted daily for completion as a class exercise.

Last week, The College Board revealed its modified 2020 exam structure, in which learners will have 45 minutes to complete two free response questions (FRQs). The full webinar of Thursday’s announcement is available on the College Board website, as are numerous resources supplied directly by College Board, including online AP® class sessions on YouTube.

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.