Mindset shifts for a happier and more sustainable school year
Teaching is a hard job, and there are so many ways in which our mindset can negatively impact our sense of fulfillment and enjoyment in our careers. In this blog post, I talk about some of the mindset shifts I’ve made over the years which have led me to feeling happier and less stressed in my job. These are not meant to be a panacea for all of your teaching woes, of course, but they can certainly be helpful tools in reframing your teaching experience in a more positive way.
World Language Back to School Tips & Resources
Last summer, when I was beginning this blog, I wrote several blog posts for French, Spanish, and Italian World Language Teachers to help them prepare for the 2023-2024 school year. But given the novelty of my blog at the time, I don’t think those posts got as much traction as they could have! Therefore, I decided to create a new post this summer to highlight blog posts and resources that I think will be super helpful as you begin preparing for the 2024-2025 school year! Consider this a sort of back to school repository of content that will help you start the school year off on the right foot!
Back to School Unit & Lesson Planning for the First Month of French, Spanish, & Italian Class
Need some ideas for how to plan for the First Month of French, Spanish, or Italian Class? In this post, I walk you through how to plan engaging and fun lessons for the first few weeks of the school year in your introductory World Language classes. I include all of the instructional, practice, and assessment materials that you’ll need, and I give tips and strategies for how to pace your unit, what activities to implement and how, and ideas for assessing student learning.
Tips for Starting a French, Spanish, or Italian Club
If you’re thinking of starting a World Language and/or Culture Club at your school, this blog post is for you! I’m going to share some tips for how to get started, including things you may want to consider before proposing the idea to your supervisor or building principal. And if you’ve never considered starting a language club at your school, maybe you’ll find some inspiration here that will make you reconsider!
Reflecting On Your Year: World Language Teaching End of Year Reflection Prompts
Another school year has just wrapped up, and it’s the perfect opportunity to spend some time reflecting on how your year went in your World Language classes. In this blog post, I’m going to share a handful of helpful reflection prompts to help you think about your successes, challenges, and everything in between so that you can show up next year with a sense of clarity and purpose: you’ll know where you excelled, you’ll know where you struggled, and you’ll have a clearer sense of what you’d like to focus on in order to improve your teaching and your students’ learning experiences in your class.
French, Spanish, and Italian Food Unit Lesson Planning
Need some ideas for how to plan your French, Spanish, or Italian Food Unit? In this post, I walk you through how to plan for this unit. I include all of the instructional, practice, and assessment materials that you’ll need, and I give tips and strategies for how to pace your unit, what activities to implement and how, and ideas for assessing student learning.
Managing and Combatting End of Year Teacher Burnout
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it’s also the last or second-to-last month of the school year for most of us. How are you feeling? Are you a bit more stressed than usual? Ready for summer break? Exhausted? Completely burnt out? In this post, I’m going to share some ways to help you better manage the burnout you might be feeling as we enter the final weeks of the school year.
French, Spanish, and Italian Family Unit Lesson Planning
Need some ideas for how to plan your French, Spanish, or Italian Family Unit? In this post, I walk you through how to plan for this unit. I include all of the instructional, practice, and assessment materials that you’ll need, and I give tips and strategies for how to pace your unit, what activities to implement and how, and ideas for assessing student learning.
7 Simple Tips for Staying Comprehensible in the World Language Classroom
We all know that we need to use comprehensible input in our French, Spanish, Italian, and other World Language classes… but in my experience, how to implement effective comprehensible input strategies is rarely discussed. In this blog post, I am sharing SEVEN tips for how you can stay comprehensible so that you ensure your students are understanding the messages you are delivering to them.
French, Spanish, and Italian School Unit Lesson Planning
Need some ideas for how to plan your French, Spanish, or Italian School Unit? In this post, I walk you through how to plan for this unit. I include all of the instructional, practice, and assessment materials that you’ll need, and I give tips and strategies for how to pace your unit, what activities to implement and how, and ideas for assessing student learning.