First Day of School

I just typed a whole long post and it disappeared when I hit Publish. This is so frustrating. So anyway, to summarize what I wrote.

My advanced Spanish kids seem very motivated and all of them mentioned wanting to work on their speaking ability. They also mentioned that they are weakest in writing. So I think my goals for the class are right in line with what they are thinking. Once the year gets rolling I plan to assign a monologue Gcast (www.gcast.com) assignment weekly as well as a writing assignment weekly. This will allow me to give them feedback on a regular basis. With only 7 kids in the class, I can realistically be getting good feedback to them that often. Isn't that amazing?? We also need to read some literature this year and will do quite a few projects related to that.

My Spanish II kids were quite confused when I said "Bienvenido" to each of them as they entered the room. They have either all forgotten everything they learned last year or didn't learn much. We spent just a little time reviewing present tense verbs and they couldn't conjugate regular verbs even as a whole class. We have a lot of work to do.

My Spanish I kids did not hesitate to express their opinions about how since we live in America everyone should learn English. It will be a challenge to change that very Anglocentric mentality into a more global perspective.

The staff here has been so very welcoming and helpful. It almost feels like one big family. We all had lunch together in the FACS room. But despite all that I still feel quite alone. I miss the camaradrie of being part of a department, sharing ideas, and just knowing that someone else in the school knows exactly what you are dealing with. I'm sure it will get easier as I get to know more people and as I make more connections outside of school but right now it is kind of hard. I have been connecting with people online through livejournal communities and through www.teachers.net which really helps. And I was so excited this morning to see the WAFLT conference brochure waiting for me in my mailbox and the previous Spanish teacher did put in the budget for the conference. I have always looked forward to that conference but this year of all years I'm looking forward to it even more.

Anyway, I hope all of you had great first days and that we all have a great year to come.

First day of school rapidly approaching

I've sat through meeting after meeting, met many very kind teachers, decorated and organized my room, planned curriculum and lessons, made seating charts, etc. All that remains is Open House tonight and a few loose ends to tie up. Then the kids come Tuesday.

My first impressions of this school have been nothing but positive. I was a little aprehensive moving from a huge school to one so small in such a small community but so far everyone has been so welcoming and willing to bend over backwards for others. I don't know how many times people have stopped me to check in, see how things were going, see if I had any questions, or make sure somebody had warned me about something coming up.

I do have to admit though that I feel very alone. I am a department of one. But when I get more established in what I am doing and find more connections in the area, it will be better. I've already been to the WAFLT website to preview what kinds of sessions will be at the annual conference. This year more than any I am really looking forward to the chance to connect with others and learn a few new tricks of the trade.

Website

I finally got a good start on my website (which is linked in the title). I am using Google Sites to create and host it and I really like it. It is super user friendly and allows me to do anything I want to with it.

Things are coming along

Now that I am in town I have had a chance to visit school, get more resources and figure out a few things. I feel a lot more comfortable about my Advanced Spanish curriculum and spent some time on my 8th Grade Exploratory curriculum. And today I spent some time putting together my website (which I have linked above). I have my syllabuses put together along with some of my first projects which I have posted there. Hopefully tomorrow, my school can post my website to their webpage.

I only have 7 students at this point in my Advanced Spanish class (and 9-12 in my other classes) and am so excited about how much I can do with my classes. My goal is to assign a short writing assignment and a speaking assessment (using Gcast) weekly to my Advanced Spanish class and giving the students some good feedback so that we can track the improvements. With this few students, I can really tailor the focus for each student.

I also plan to have all of my high school students keep a portfolio of writing assessments and feedback and speaking assessments. With such small classes we can do so much more!

Love and Logic

I finished reading Teaching with Love and Logic today.

One thing that I really took from the last part is the importance of a cool down time and not needing to enforce consequences immediately in all cases. I think back to times when I have been angry and in the heat of the moment. Those are not my best times. I often say things I don't mean and I'm not thinking clearly. If only in those cases I had taken a moment to step back and addressed the problem an hour later or the next day, I would have been able to think through it and come up with a better solution. The same is true for our kids. If it is something that can wait, then it is important to give them their thinking time. The book talks about just making an appointment with the kid at that time.

Love and Logic

I have recently read the first part of Teaching With Love & Logic. What I have read so far has really made me think about the way that I interact with students.

I have always been a "strict" teacher who consistently enforced a clear set of rules. And for the type of students I was mostly working with it usually worked. My previous school had so many good kids. But it was something that did not work all that well with my freshmen last year. They would push the limits and I would put on my strict face and push them back. I really struggled with my freshmen study hall last semester.

With reading this first part there are some things that I really think I need to change for the coming year. I will be at a new school and so I don't know my students yet so I don't know what will work with them but regardless I want to get out of the mentality of being the strict teacher. I want all my classes to have a more positive vibe.

These are the key things from Teaching With Love & Logic that will be in the forefront of my thoughts as I begin the new year.

• Encouraging students to solve their own problems. Instead of just delving out consequences, I want to ask more questions, listen more, and lead students to come up with their own solutions.
• Using empathy. I need to do a better job showing that I care about them, that I feel bad about the consequences that they suffer, and that I am there to support them in making better decisions.
• Have one general all-encompassing principle for the classroom instead a list of specific rules. This will better allow me to address each individual issue that comes up in the best way for the student and the class.
  
• More dialog with my students on a daily basis. The more that I can have 30 second conversations with my students, the better I get to know them and the more they perceive that I care about them. And in looking back at my experiences, I strongly believe it is true that people are more willing to do things for people they know care about them and that they care about.

I won't know how well any of this works in my classrooms until I get a chance to try it out but I really think there are some great ideas in what I have been reading and it is all common sense, things that I was aware of before but never quite put together. As I read more I will post more and once I start experimenting on my classes in the fall, I will also post more.

Welcome

Well, I have just signed up for a blog and would like to use this space to reflect on my classroom. I will be teaching in a very small school this fall and will be the only World Language teacher for the whole district. I will be teaching Spanish to grades 6-12. I am very excited and am looking forward to the challenge of a new school, new classes, new students, and balancing many preps.

I also started this because I just picked up the book Teaching With Love & Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk. I have not been able to put this book down and am looking forward to trying some of the ideas in my classroom this fall.

Well, the summer is flying by. We move to WI (from MN) this weekend and then after we get settled in, it will be time for school to start.