Every teacher has his or her own take on the first few weeks. In fact, when you Google it, just a *few* results come up. How to begin the year in a CI class is something that I am asked about constantly. It is so challenging to know what you are “supposed” to do. I’ll…
Year ago, I learned about this End of Year Project from a colleague of mine. She had her students turn the class stories that she had written all year into books for her classroom library!!! BRILLIANT! The majority of the work is finished. You just have to print off the stories in larger font and…
I absolutely adore routines, procedures, and systems! I know that all students (and all kids) need structure and in my experience, middle schoolers DESPERATELY need it! I once heard a tale, I think in a teacher-prep class, about a teacher who missed one of their classes, but no one realized that she wasn’t in the…
Objectives are hard. Well, knowing your goal or what you’re teaching usually isn’t that hard, but writing it in the way that fits your district while being student friendly (and not letting it take over your life) can be hard. I remember a conversation with my sister-in-law (high school English teacher) during my first year…
This year, my school got 1-to-1 technology through a grant, so I’ve been figuring out how to use tech with CI!!! It’s been really fun, and one of my favorite tools is Socrative!!! Socrative is the most amazing exit quiz tool ever! You can do multiple-choice, true or false, or open response questions. You can…
I’m so excited for this weekend! YAY!!!! CCFLT!!!!!!!!!! The first time I presented at CCFLT was in 2011! I was in grad school, and my friend Jenna and I did a presentation called “TPR: Not Just for Vocab Anymore.” (YESSS, that’s right!!!! I have a link to it!!!!!! OMG!) This was LONG before either of us…
One of my favorite activities of all time that I only do about once a semester is DICTATION. I’ve used this activity with my Spanish Heritage classes to work on spelling, and it can benefit second language learners as well. The activity is an opportunity for students to listen to Spanish and write what they…
If you’re like me, then you’re pretty exhausted right now. If your students are like my students, then they too are exhausted. I LOVE everything that I’ve seen posted for Christmas (AMAZING resources from the iFLT/NTPRS/CI facebook page, Annabelle, Martina Bex, etc!!!), but if you just don’t have the energy for PQA-ing, MovieTalk-ing, or story-ing, I’m offering…
Per request, I’m sharing the Rigor & Interpersonal Communication Rubric that I use in class! Just like my Lectura Libre rubrics, I have many bright colored, laminated copies (double-sided, half-sheets) that I pass out when we need a refresher of CI expectations or when asking students to self-evaluate. Please note that I did NOT create the…
To give you a bit of context, I originally created this rubric for my 7th grade, middle school Spanish 1b class. If you’ve ever taught middle schoolers, you know that you have to NAME the EXACT expectations that you want them to do. Quantifying things like how many times students can get up or look…
Teachers use brain breaks in it lots of different ways. I find that I tend to get stuck in a rut and use the same one or two repeatedly for weeks (or months!!). In order to combat this, I have a couple different methods for bringing out new brain breaks. One way is by using…
I know that when I started out with CI, day 1 was a complete mystery to me. What to do…syllabus? TPR? Verbs? Greetings? Class builders? And on and on. Well, here is my take on day 1!!! With Spanish music in the background (thanks Annabelle Allen for the reminder!!!!), I stand by the door as…
