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The character Leslie Knope from the show Parks and Recreation is known for her love of organizational binders, waffles, and geeking out over giants in her field that other people might not recognize. I do the last thing on this list, which I call “Knope-ing out” from the infinitive “to Knope out.” A couple of years ago, I was looking at the list of conference attendees, and immediately I started to Knope out over who was going to be there, who I might get the chance to meet, and who I might get the chance to talk to. I got to meet some folks and shake their hands while there, but the key thing I learned was that they were educators like me. In fact, one of the first posts I wrote for Path 2 Proficiency was on finding my voice as a teacher leader <insert link>. But every time I go to a conference I still Knope out–no matter if it’s a regional conference or if it’s ACTFL. Passing former ACTFL Teachers of the Year in the hallways or greeting district or state supervisors with a smile and a warm hug still causes my little language nerd heart to […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

We’re all about the proficiency path at our school. I’ve got the levels posted in my classroom: the ice cream cone graphic in elementary and signs with level descriptors in middle school. We’re using can-do statements in every unit, assessing with IPAs, learning language in context.  My alumni students leave with a language immersion trip under their belts and are well on their way to the state seal of biliteracy.  Our admin supports attendance in language classes for all students in our school, and made sure there were funds to send me to the OPI training and workshops with Helena Curtain and Laura Terrill to create a proficiency focused curriculum.   I’m really fortunate to have my school community on this path. But this spring, I was reminded of one stakeholder who may not have gotten the road map to understand where we’re going: the parents. This spring, I was reminded that the parents’ language class experiences still color their perceptions about their child’s learning.  The idea of there being a right and wrong answer, of memorizing grammar points and being tested on them, is still very prevalent.  This can be a source of anxiety and worry for them. At our […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

My personal journey on the Path2Proficiency began when I was a teenager. I had the opportunity to learn languages in several very different settings. I started learning French in junior high school using the Audiolingual Method (yes, I know, it was a long time ago). We never saw a word written in French for at least six weeks, but I longed for visual cues, so I tried to take notes on a single sheet of notebook paper (Como talley voo?). The next year (age 12) I signed up for an “Aural-Oral” course at the University of Washington Language Learning Center to learn Modern Greek. I spent several months on Tuesday evenings with a reel-to-reel tape recorder learning to pronounce Greek, understand some words and phrases, and (fortunately) how to write the alphabet and decode words in Greek. I guess I wasn’t close to proficient in either language, and I knew it. When I was 16, I headed to Europe with a group of dancers and musicians to travel to the Balkans and become immersed in the language and culture. And immersed I was. My French came in very handy a few times (though more people spoke German), and my Greek […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

“The assistant principal who observed us was impressed with how you all followed the lesson and participated!” I told my Spanish 3 class. “Did you know he was coming?” asked one student, “because it didn’t feel any different.” That was one of a few epiphanies I had about my teaching methods, as well as this whole path to proficiency. If students can participate in multiple rounds of discussions in partners and small groups, write about what they talked about, then relay that to another partner–all without scripting–then they are really working hard at maintaining a conversation, and they often they tell me they didn’t have enough time to really develop their conversation. After four minutes of speaking in Spanish, these students are telling me–sometimes lamenting–that they didn’t have enough time. I was floored the first time I heard my students say that! Back to my observed class. We have been working with the theme of current events, and two particular structures I wanted to work with were the conditional tense (what might or would happen) and the future tense (what will happen). These conjugations are fairly simple in Spanish, and the students found a welcome relief at not necessarily having to change the whole ending of […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

I’m on my way back from home from the return of the NECTFL conference in NYC and my head is spinning with ideas for writing my own blog posts. While that’s going to have to wait a little while, here is my summary of posts that caught my attention this week. The Big List of Discussion Strategies While not intended for a world language audience, this Cult of Pedagogy posts shares some ideas on how to get kids to discuss (talk in the target language). Each strategy includes an overview and link to an example video and I can see just about all of them in a language classroom. Try them and let me know which ones you liked.  Read Jennifer’s post –> Let Authres Take the Lead ~ Step 3 Megan from the Creative Language Class, finishes their series on using authentic resources as the foundation for lessons. Reading through it just reminds me think how much fun it must have been to be a student in her class. I’m engaged wanting to learn Spanish just following along her planning process. Enough said: Go read Megan’s post for yourself–> Improving Teacher Language Proficiency Until my daughter was born, I’ll admit that my German proficiency […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

OK.  I’m just going to say it.  I hate grading.  When I was a kid and helped my mom grade it seemed like so much fun.   Then I became a teacher and it seemed like the punishment for a job well-done.  I think it’s because I’ve always felt like this was the area where I am least prepared. Don’t misunderstand, I know my subject content. I can talk about grammar and vocabulary and word choice and syntax.  I love all those things and I know the rules backwards and forwards.  Imperfect subjunctive is exciting to a language nerd like me.  And of course, my education courses in college talked about positive, negative and constructive feedback. Teacher training boiled down to the basics:  “good job” and “that’s interesting, but perhaps next time you could try it this way (insert correct answer)” were acceptable.  “That’s stupid” and “Wrong!” were obviously to be avoided.   Quizzes and tests were marked for correctness, distributed back to students and the next lesson/unit begun. But I don’t think I really understood what effective feedback looked like and just how valuable it could be. Then a few things happened that radically changed my whole practice and perspective regarding […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

#ACTFL16 was, again, an exciting, worthwhile experience for me. I find it incredibly energizing to be in setting after setting with like-minded language educators, be it a session, a meal, or a champagne toast, with dear friends or new acquaintances. It is important to sustain the energy that a convention activates and to reflect on what you would change if you left feeling like you missed something (confession: been there!). As our careers transition and evolve, so does how we consider professional development – we begin to need it in different quantities and qualities, and this really resonated with me this year at ACTFL. Professional development happens in waves, and like any good tide, the timing is purposeful and exact, and we must be expecting it. If not, we’ll either drown unexpectedly or obsess over the lack thereof. We must realize that developing in our profession does not mean that the figurative water is always at the same level – it adjusts and therefore we must adjust according to what we need to receive. Don’t drown: If you left with a lot of ideas and new considerations, that is wonderful! Give them a few days, especially over break, to float […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

The thing about embarking down the Path to Proficiency is that there isn’t just one single path you have to take.  When I first began my journey towards proficiency, I found myself often looking to others further along the trek than me and asking them for directions. I knew that I couldn’t implement everything I was hearing and learning about in my conversations with more experienced teachers… so, where should I begin?  What do I have to master first?  “Just give me the Secret Proficiency Roadmap already, and I swear I’ll follow it exactly!” Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the Secret Roadmap didn’t exist.  Naturally, this makes perfect sense: every educator’s path is going to be different, based on their past experiences and learning, where they’re teaching and who they’re teaching with, and what their natural strengths and weaknesses are.  Nevertheless, I keenly remember the frustration at feeling totally lost several times during those first few years — and I’ve seen other new travelers struggle with it, too.  So while I can’t tell anyone else what course their route will ultimately  take, I can certainly share the story of my peaks and valleys on the Path to Proficiency […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

I’ve been struggling hardcore with my one of my classes recently.  They’re an upper-level class, and I feel like we’re doing the same style of thing every day, or most days at least.  Their interest in conversation and authentic resources and real-life issues is not really that high, and I’m at the point where I don’t want to try because the class has a weird vibe and it’s stressful.  It’s a course where I have a ton of freedom, and the students and I have picked the topics and themes we were learning about based on our interests, and up until recently, that had gone pretty well.  In the few weeks before Thanksgiving, it started floundering, and I was stressing myself out and making myself really sick. I spent Thanksgiving hanging out with my family from different places, and the more my cousins and I talked about what it was like when we were kids, the more this idea began to creep into the back of my brain.  I was going to take that class I was struggling with and do a mini-unit about their childhoods and their family traditions.  I was betting on the fact that they’d actually have […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

If there is one thing I would want a new(er) teacher to take away from my blog, and especially this post, it would be to create your Dream Team.  Do you remember the 1992 Olympics with the Dream Team?  This was such a big deal for the United States.  The team was comprised of some of the best basketball players; Michael Jordan, Carl Malone, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, and Charles Barkley.  Sports Illustrated coined “Dream Team” and our lives were forever changed.  As a teacher, you need to create your “Dream Team.”  I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful mentor, a colleague across the hall, and that teacher’s student teacher.  We began referring to ourselves as the “P.O.A.” or “Pocket of Awesome.”  Our “P.O.A.” was a unique system of collaboration, encouragement and betterment.  There were days when we would talk about things that didn’t seem relevant at the time, but later revealed themselves to be useful in everyday life or the classroom.  Our group of collaboration over time, turned into more of a familial dynamic that fostered the growth needed to be a reflective practitioner.  Since the induction of […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

My district is working its way to 1:1 technology integration district wide.  We call it TEConnect.  Instead of rolling it out all at once, they determined it would be best to have a few cohorts work this model into their classroom and year by year they’ll add more 1:1 classrooms.  As a TEConnect educator this means that I have an iPad for each of my students (a set of 28).  I wouldn’t consider myself “tech proficient,” but rather “tech curious.”  As in, “Hmmmm, what does this button do?  Oops, where’s the “un-do button?!”  As a result, my students know the following phrase and take ease in hearing it,  “Tranquilo, no pasa nada.  No. Pasa. Nada.” I feel as though I owe it to my students to use technology in the classroom as an enhancement tool to better prepare them for their future.  These are some things that I have discovered over the past few years of technology integration: The beginning is rough. As in, I need a triple latte and three brownies to cope with the chaos.  I underestimated all the little things, like having students sign in and REMEMBER their password.  (Sometimes I think my classroom is like that […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Teaching AP Spanish, for me, is as much a reflection on teaching Spanish 1 as anything could be. A couple of years ago, I was teaching several sections of Spanish 1 in addition to levels 3 and AP. Before that year, I knew what I was supposed to teach in level 1 because I was striving to provide them with the best basis possible for moving up the pipeline and to be ready for college level Spanish. But bridging from level 1 to college seemed so nebulous for my students. In Spanish 1, many of them were freshmen, so thinking about college seemed like an experience too far away to even think about that kind of investment. But what does it look like when students are taking Spanish 3 or 4 and are going to be in AP next year? How could I build into my students this year so that they’re ready for the next year? What should my levels 3 and 4 students know before coming to AP? Well, I asked them. Overwhelmingly, they said that students need to be able to talk to someone else. Not translate. Not script. Not conjugate. Talk. This was satisfying to hear, as their teacher, because […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

If students can’t use the language they are learning for practical – REAL WORLD – purposes then why do we do what we do? I think (desperately hope) that most teachers agree our focus should be on teaching students how to use the languages they are learning. Many of us have attended a workshop on proficiency or maybe even several but the conundrum is still how to I move from conceptual understanding to practice? Maybe there is fear of making the shift from  understanding to practicing. Fear of student buy in, parental or administrative push back, fear of our own limitations, all equally important to address and mitigate. This conundrum of shifting from comprehension to practice is fascinating to me. As educators, we are all at some stage of embracing the growth mindset for our students but often not ourselves. I have often said that I believe most teachers are overachievers who have embraced a profession that allows us to continue to learn and evolve. I do not think that anyone sets out be bad at their chosen career. So safe can become the default. Peggy Boyles once compared implementing performance assessment to becoming a gourmet chef. She reminded teachers that gourmet chefs did […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

I keep getting the same question: how do you make time to read all these blogs? Well, here is the secret I don’t read all of them all the time. Thanks to great apps like Feedbin however, I can check in on these blogs  when I have a free moment: in the TSA line at the airport, the car-pick up line at my daughter’s school, the sixty minutes of peace and quiet when everyone else sleeping in on Sunday morning. Once again, I found a couple of interesting posts that I thought were worth sharing: Proficiency Descriptors Not Numbers – Students React To The Change For the past couple of week’s I’ve shared Japanese teacher’s Colleen Hayes posts on formative assessment. While it’s great to follow along with her and read and I couldn’t have been more excited when she brought her students’ voices out this week. As educators we like sometimes forget that every action we take makes the learners in our classes feel something. Reading these student responses to giving up numeric grades is just priceless and should remind all of us of the real purpose of assessment in a world language classroom: performance & feedback. Read Colleen’s post –> […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

As teachers, we are constantly adjusting.  It seems like we adjust frequently with different trends that emerge- PBLs, no homework, IPAs, differentiation- you name it.  However, the best of each idea seems to stick as we work on the next idea emerging from education.  Also, as foreign language teachers, we are all adjusting our beliefs and policies since we are reading this blog!  As I have started to teach towards proficiency, I have found that I am able to adjust my instruction even more after I have reflected.  This is even more important because I am adjusting based on what my students are doing.  They are driving my adjustments instead of trends in the education world. Feedback Adjustments I love using Google Forms to collect feedback!  One of my easiest adjustments comes from weekly feedback from my students.  Wendy Farabough first taught me about Feedback Friday, and it is so easy to implement.  You can have students complete this during the last few minutes of class.  It not only lets me know what activities I should repeat, but it also gives me an insight into what they are thinking that week.  I can easily add an optional question like “is […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Spring is upon us, and teachers everywhere lament how difficult it is to keep students engaged as they are getting ready for state assessments and AP exams. It is also difficult for us teachers to stay engaged with new lessons and innovative ways to keep students engaged because we have been burning the candle at both ends for so long, and we see how our students are being drilled in other classes. What do we do when we have just hit the wall? Yes, Spring Break is coming up, but what do we do between now and Spring Break? Or how do we structure our lessons for the last marking period between the return from Spring Break and the end of the school year? In my last post I wrote about focusing on the right things in the class. But, how can we determine what are the right things to focus on when our students seem to swing between climbing the walls and slumped over their desks? Some teachers might even be thinking about the next school year already, declaring this year a wash. How can you keep your spirits up for the rest of the year without writing it completely off? […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

After taking some days off for a mini-vacation, I’m back this week with another blog summary.  The extra time allowed me some extra time to filter through more posts and the blogosphere didn’t disappoint. Below are some my favorite reads from the past couple of weeks. Of course, the weekend might also be a good time to review some of the incredible resources shared during the four regional conferences this past month. Pull up a chair, open your favorite note taking app and learn from your couch: #scolt16, #nectfl16, #swcolt16, #csctfl16. Grading: it’s only a matter of time! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you likely have been reading and inhaling every single post that Megan and Kara at the Creative Language Class have shared over the past couple of years. This week’s post really caught my attention because it addresses one my personal interests: Grading and the power it has over teachers. For most teachers it is all-consuming and Megan shares some interesting counterpoints to many of the myths of grading as well as outlines a powerful vision for how teacher could and should spend their time instead of grading.   Read Megan’s post –> Attack of the Translator: What […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

How many times have you set a goal? It may be too many to count. Perhaps the better question is how many times have you set the SAME goal? The question becomes do we have the right goal for the right time and if we have the right goal, how do we see it through to fruition? The answer is deceptively simple. The answer is consistency. It’s easy to say but difficult for many of us to put into action. So what will be your goal for this school year? How will you ensure you work on it consistently? Here are some ideas to get you started on an EPIC Year. 1. Be Honest Where are you right now? What evidence do you have to support your opinions about your current status? I’d encourage you to use a TELL Self-Assessment to get started. Pick a topic, or a domain or the foundational criteria and jump in. The more frank with yourself you are the better. You cannot make focused, sustainable growth if you do not have a solid grasp on where you are right now. The more accurate you are the better the results. It’s not always easy to look […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

August happened, there’s no turning back… So I mustered up the courage and walked through the classroom door. Greeted suddenly by the off-gassing of new tables, I immediately threw the windows open. Then came the deer-in-the-headlights moment. What will I do with them? How will I arrange them? Should I figure that out first before digging into the “real work” of getting ready for that first day?  I have to admit that I’ve always put the classroom arranging and beautifying tasks ahead of every other task in August; after all, I can’t really “think” until my stage is set. I had asked for the tables, but hadn’t anticipated what they’d mean to my space. I’ve always put a great deal of importance on my physical environment, be it my childhood bedroom, run-down student apartment, or my classroom. I can’t wait to hang up pictures, create color combinations that are soothing, make the atmosphere gemütlich; and that goes for my classroom as well. I’d always felt very confident about the learning environment I provide my students. They like my room, and they say so. The couch is a seriously comfy 70’s floral monstrosity, there are interesting ads, pictures, posters, infographics, and […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

At this point of the year, I am able to let students take even more control in level 2.  They are starting to become more confident in their abilities, and they know what I expect of them when we complete activities.  Now, it is time for them to take the reins!  Some of my favorite technology tools that I use to help support and navigate students can also be used for them to discuss their own learning. One of my favorite tools for interpretive listening is EdPuzzle.  In EdPuzzle, the teacher adds their own video or a video from YouTube to the platform.  Then the teacher inserts questions or notes about the video.  As students are listening to the video, the video stops and EdPuzzle asks the question.  If it is a multiple choice question, they can receive direct feedback.  With open-ended questions, the teacher can go back and add the feedback.  This platform is perfect for novices.  The teacher can provide support via notes and can draw attention to the specific area where the question is located.  In addition, the student can replay the section that as many times as they like.  This helps differentiate the video for each […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Four years ago, I left the classroom abruptly in the middle of February to go to (what I thought at the time) was my dream job. While I don’t rue my decision, I definitely know that it led me to realize how much I value being in the classroom and how much I love my students.   Someone once said the best teachers fall in love with their classes, and that was certainly true for me. As my former colleague told me, “You left too soon.” Last May, I became department chair at Miami Dade College InterAmerican Campus, but what I loved even more than being a World Language administrator in higher education (my first full-time job at a college), was that I got to go back to the classroom and teach.  In the three years that I was gone, I had learned a ton.  I learned that most of what I did right, I did because of instinct.   I learned that how you make students feel in your class is as important as what you do.  I learned that if you don’t question that you do, you will never change.   And most importantly, I learned that if you don’t embrace […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

I love what I do.  I love Spanish, and teaching, and I love watching students “get it”.  I also love presenting, and how I have a platform to share my journey with other teachers, but y’all, teacher burnout is a real thing.  Last year was a crazy year for me, and after my SCOLT presentation, I came back and pretty much hid in a hole and tried my best to make it to June.  It was just a slow-rolling meltdown to the end of the school year, with a whole summer of school curriculum writing and STARTALK curriculum & program facilitation ahead of me.  It was the first summer I’d put my kids in summer camp instead of being home with them all summer, and that combined with everything else had me really questioning my choices and feeling like I had nothing to share.  Then, the coolest thing happened… I started learning Chinese!  (No, really, I did!) I’m kind of obsessed with it right now, as anyone who knows me will tell you. In all seriousness, I can tell you that the process of rediscovering my love of language learning snapped me out of my funk, and it has led […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

When I started to teach towards proficiency, I knew what the end product was, but I was not always clear how to get there.  What would I do each day in class?  However, once I started asking students more and more proficiency questions on my assessments, I would start to notice the gaps in their learning and understanding that needed to be filled.  I realized that for interpretive reading, my students missed some key literacy skills.  Many times, they would overlook basic text structures that would allow them to understand the text or their description of the theme was vague.  Luckily, I combined some of my previous activities and I stole borrowed some ideas from our sixth grade English teacher!  These ideas can really support novices as they interpret a variety of authentic texts. One of my favorite pre-reading strategies is having students brainstorm all of the words they can think of in the target language around one topic.  Ever since I have read John Medina’s Brain Rules, I like to have students brainstorm and recycle vocabulary as much as I can to help students remember it.  I allow students to take one minute to write down as many words as they […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

My blog reading seems to be frozen just like this winter weather. I’m so ready for some spring weather. Spring: a time for renewal and for new ideas. And while the weather isn’t quite catching up with my physical desires for warmth, a season of regional spring conferences around the country allows us me connect and dream of warmer weather (or even better learning experiences for our students). I’ve enjoyed catching up with friends at SCOLT and NECTFL over the past two weeks, make some new connections and leaving each conference feeling warmth in my heart (and head). I’ll leave with you a couple of posts that caught my eye this week. Assessing Proficiency and Providing Feedback I very much enjoy following a teacher’s growth through their blog posts and it seems that Spanish teacher Albert Fernandez has been doing a lot of processing in advance of his well-received SCOLT presentation as well as attending what was an outstanding conference this year. In his latest post, he takes us through his thinking/reflecting/reacting to information he gleaned about the role of proficiency in assessment and even more important what this critical information means for his teaching practice. “That’s why if we […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

I like having new ideas and providing solutions. I like trying new things. I like changing. And I don’t like hearing excuses. This doesn’t mean I’ve not had my fair share of adversity; rather adversity, in part, has helped me forge ahead and maneuver through the situation to find a solution. In my senior year of college, I only applied to two graduate schools, so when one rejected me and the other accepted me, I was on my way to Spain to study. Yet, halfway through my year-long stint abroad, I became extremely ill and had to withdraw from my program and move in with my parents because I had Guillain-Barré Syndrome and, subsequently, couldn’t walk for about a year and a half. I was in a wheelchair during that time and had to relearn to walk while using forearm crutches. (Can you imagine having to learn to walk at age 23?) Not one to sit by and let life happen, I re-enrolled in my undergraduate university–the one I had just left six months prior–and worked on an additional degree during the next three semesters, then returned to my graduate program during the summers. I couldn’t just stay where I was–in my wheelchair […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

We are all so busy and it’s hard to keep up with blogs, social media. Many of you told me that you liked the weekly blog summaries I started last year and you missed reading them. It’s a new year and a new attempt at keeping up, even though I’m not making it my goal for 2017. In order to last longer than April this year, I need your help. What are your favorite language teacher blogs? Comment here or send me a message. See a post that is a mind grenade, let me know via social media so that I can include it in these summaries. Here are the posts that caught my attention over the past couple of weeks. Resolutions (Systems!) 2017: Become Officer Hopps We still can’t escape all the New Year’s teacher posts. Spanish educator, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell, got in on the game and provided her own unique spin on it and reminding us that “the difference between a good and a bad teacher is not the presence of mistakes, but whether they are OLD or NEW.” Read Sara-Elizabeth’ post –>  ACTFL16 – Big Idea Spanish teacher, Jennifer Kennedy, continues her reflection on the learning at the 2016 ACTFL […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

I’m an artsy person. I love anything related to art, or music, so you’d think that I would be the first one having my kids read and write about every artist in the history of Spanish art. The reality is, however, I teach Novice-Intermediate learners how to use the Spanish language. Don’t get me wrong, I love that. I LOVE that I am the content area where we can color because I can make it an appropriately leveled interpretive reading task. Some days, though, I feel like I just teach colors and numbers to 17 year-olds (32 kids at a time). Since I do not teach AP Spanish Lit, and because I refuse to do a lesson in English to teach them about something cool and cultural, my opportunities to incorporate real culture and art were few and far between. Why I’m writing this though, is that this year I had a breakthrough in my brain about HOW to teach content through culture. I know we’re supposed to do that, but the HOW of it is often not explained as well as we would probably like, right? So, this is what I did, in one small area related to Art, […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Yes.  I’ll admit it.  I’m a nerd. A big one. I’ll own it.  Grammar really gets me going.  Word origin, homophones, rhetorical devices and literary analysis excite me.  Old AP fill-ins were a challenging game I played against myself.  The Académie Française has nothing on me! (You French teachers know what I mean!) I won’t ask for a show of hands (no need to embarrass anyone) but I would hazard a guess that many of you are like me.  We love words and how they sound and all their subtle definition and connotation. We can spot a grammar error a mile away.  So it’s no wonder that sometimes the path to proficiency causes me to break out into a sweat when I realize the language functions needed for this unit don’t incorporate all the rules of say, the imperfect subjunctive.  In my enthusiasm, I want to teach (torture?) my students with all of the tiny grammar rules of every single one.  Because they’ll love it as much as I do—right? Wrong! Anyone who’s been teaching any amount of time knows that the majority of kids out there could care less about the past participle agreement with preceding direct objects or the […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

The ACTFL Annual Convention & World Languages Expo is gearing up for an exciting weekend in San Diego, California! Many are already there to take part in pre-conference workshops, as well as to participate in the NCSSFL and NADSFL conferences. Since the ACTFL convention is so large, and there are so many great sessions happening at the same time, we have a couple of tools for you. Take a look at Thomas Sauer’s post on Creating Your Conference Path. Sign up for text alerts from the TELL Project on upcoming sessions and giveaways! Visit us at Booth 1330 for mini sessions, to talk with teacher leaders, and learn from world language experts. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Use #path2actfl on social media as you’re on your way throughout the weekend. We are so excited to join you this at ACTFL, as well as on the path to proficiency! Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

“They know it for the quiz and then 15 minutes later they can’t use it properly.” How could they score so well on a scheduled quiz and then not use it correctly in a spontaneous classroom interaction? How could I make a more accurate appraisal of where they really are in acquiring a concept? How could I offer formative assessment on what they truly understand/know? And so this year I began the “Pop Check-In”. When I first announced one in my Year 3 class there were looks of horror. “A pop quiz? You hadn’t warned us! A quiz? For marks?” So I explained what the ‘pop check in’ is and isn’t: It is a chance to see what you have in your head ‘right now’ It is not ‘for marks’ but it is ‘for learning’ It’s a chance for me to see if I have further teaching to do regarding this concept Typically I “mark” the check-in that evening by putting a coloured dot next to response that needs another look  and the next day ask my students to look at/correct the problem. They receive a ‘complete’ mark when this is done. This works well but one day I returned […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Whew, here comes 2018! Can you believe it? New year, new you? New students? New routines? For some, all of the above; for others perhaps none, or one. I teach on block schedule, so when we come back to school in January, I have all new students, a new prep, and a new schedule. I have a LOT of goals for second semester, and they’re all intertwined and interdependent. Best of all, I’m really excited about them. A lot of good things happened in the fall, but much still needs rethinking, reworking, and revamping. So, I don’t have New Year’s Resolutions; rather, I have New Year’s Revolutions. Over the holidays, I was able to get out of town to relax and recharge. Hmm, I’m sensing a pattern. REvolutions, REthinking, REworking, REvamping, RElax, REcharge – we get to REdo many things in life, and as teachers, coaches, and mentors, we know the power of REpetition. As World Language teachers who teach toward proficiency, we are confident in the influence that comes from “do it again,” performance, and performance over time (proficiency). These ring true in language acquisition, pedagogy, and life. My goals this semester can only happen if I reflect often […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

There was a time not long ago that I would write a week’s worth of lesson plans at a time. On Friday I sat down (with my textbook teacher’s edition) and planned out the next week’s lessons, pulling the support materials, and then following the set plan.  Since making the shift to teaching for proficiency, I’ve found that, for me, that practice had to be left behind along with my 15 year old textbooks. I find that by following a thematic unit, and planning a lesson at a time, I am able to be more responsive to the children’s needs and language development.  But, it’s more work and has required a shift in how I use my planning time.  I am in the process of writing units, and a normal teaching day involves 7 classes spanning an age range of 7-14.  Truly, I love teaching the various levels, but at the end of the day, working with a rapid fire class schedule, there’s never enough time and something is often missing: Reflection. It’s this piece that is often left off in the time crunch, but it’s so, so important to me. Reflection is when I can assess how effective (or ineffective) […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

It’s teacher appreciation week! It’s time to celebrate YOU! While I personally believe we should be celebrating you every day, I’ll take advantage to thank each and every teacher, official and unofficial, that dedicate their lives to this calling. Please understand that this emanates from a place of deep gratitude for the teachers who have engaged with my son but also with every other student in Shelby County Schools (SCS) and beyond. I feel deeply connected to our students and want nothing less for these children, and all children, that I want for my own son. Not every person who serves as a teacher feels called but those of you who relate know the passion and dedication for which I am most grateful. I am grateful for your hard work. I am grateful that you spend countless hours creating awesome lessons and conveying content in a manageable way to our precious students. There are however a number of things for which I am grateful that often go unnoticed. Thank you for the model you provide. Yes I am grateful for the content and the instructional modeling you provide, of course! More explicitly however I am grateful for the model you provide […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Well, we’ve arrived. My husband and I are now thick in the stage of life where nearly each of our friends have one child and most have more than one. In the age of social media, we get to see these children grow up, which is pretty cool – I think of social media pictures and updates as a constant holiday card, always there when you’re ready for it. Technology can be an amazing thing! And, of course, in said pictures are activities: karate, music, soccer, basketball, math team, anime club, and much more. I can’t help but notice, more often than not, however, so many participation trophies, medals, and ribbons. Sigh. I hate even typing that. I am a millenial, and while my mind says, “We aren’t all special snowflakes, people!” my heart whispers, “But you are different, you can be anything…” That’s all well and great for character and confidence, and my parents made keeping our egos in check a main priority in a number of common-sense, now-comical ways. Society, however, didn’t. Society, and most of the input those of us under 35 received from the time of conception was that by golly we showed up and did our best and […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

The countdown has begun! Ok who am I kidding, the count down has been ongoing since mid February but nonetheless the end is in sight! I don’t know about you but the closer to the end the faster is all seems to fly! SO here’s three things I think you HAVE to do before you blink and your time is gone! Get feedback You have just spent a year together. No one is better suited to give you feedback than the people you have been with day in and day out. The vast majority of your students will give you meaningful feedback. What worked best? What could I do better? What advice would you give to future students of mine? If you could tell me anything what would it be? No names, no identifying content just feedback. Teachers get told all kinds of things and many messages are mixed. Administrators, parents, colleagues all provide us feedback based on a variety of motivations. The most critical feedback we can get is that from our students. They see us at our best and unfortunately some days, less than our best. We are human and they get that. So if you are serious […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

“I can’t put Intermediate 1 in the gradebook,” I declared to my class. “I wish I could, but I can’t.” I continued, “So how are we going to show the number equivalent to your proficiency rating?” It turns out that everyone’s fine with being on target unless it interferes with their GPA. Shelby County Schools, where I work, has a built-in pre-unit on proficiency for every level to make sure the students, parents, and teachers are all on the same page in talking about what in the world it means to have a certain proficiency level, so the students–my students–can state the district target, my class target, and how they can achieve each level by the end of the year. That being said, I still can’t put in Intermediate 1 in the gradebook. How do we track proficiency? How do I measure my students’ grades? It’s a tricky thing because while students want to be measured solely on doing all of their work, there’s no way we, as teachers, can provide any kind of feedback based solely on that. If we want our students to be proficient–actually using the language–we must move beyond grading vocabulary or fill-in-the-blank grammar quizzes and […]

I think that most world language teachers will agree with me that interpersonal assessments (assessments on which two or more students interact with each other) are very hard to get right, but they are arguably the most important. Most of us have learned that there has to be some type of problem for the students to solve; otherwise, the students spit information at each other without actually having to interact. However, they also need to be prompts that allow/require both (or more) students to communicate. Twice in my very short career (and I am sure this number will increase), I have had to have the students redo an interpersonal assessment because my prompt just did not fit the bill. This week, I gave the students an interpersonal assessment that I thought was going to be amazing, and it totally flopped…and it was totally my fault. We all make mistakes, right? What went wrong? So, the students did an interpretive reading on tapas in Spain, and we have been working with that material for a while. On the original interpersonal assessment that I developed, the students were given a hotel name and a tapas bar, and they were leaving from the […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

So welcome to my class – I know you may not have been here before – and I know already you have asked me about how hard I ‘mark’ and if there is a final and more. You’ve even asked “is this for marks?” about something I’ve asked you to prepare for class…You’ve been well-schooled by the ‘if it has a mark attached it is important’ idea from your classes. So let’s just stop a moment and review ‘marks’ in my class…here we go… Is this for marks? Will this count? Your class is a daily opportunity to learn and receive feedback on that learning. I know you may not get that yet. You’re expecting everything I ask you to do that has any ‘value’ to have a mark. So I’ll give you a mark for it. In fact everything you do, everything I ask you do prior to the summative is worth 0.5 marks. Yes. 0.5. Almost seems not worth it does it? I mean why not skip a class, why not choose not to do something for class? Why bother. It’s not worth much. But the sum of all those experiences, all those chances to learn, all the […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Thanks to a couple of Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grants I was very fortunate to be able to build K-12 language continuums. Working in the 21st largest district in the country, providing a meaningful language experience for all students in all 125 elementary schools was out of reach. I was  however, able to build a LCTL and a Spanish K-12 language feeder pattern in each region of the district. This work was some of the most coordinated work toward proficiency I was able to do. Working with these new teachers who were eager to learn as much as they could, their energy was infectious. I was able to work with the best, my dream team and as we grew the teachers and the programs their creativity flourished. Designing a “Cone of Proficiency” In our third year I formed a leadership team with representation from each language. These teachers met weekly and the synergy was inspiring to say the least. As we struggled to make proficiency meaningful and important to our youngest language learners these creative geniuses had the answer. Borrowing from video game language to describe moving through levels (i.e. leveling up) and an icon that most children enjoy (ice cream) we […]

I have been trying to write a post for over a month, and nothing has been working.  I’ve been struggling with writing, deleting, thinking “this sounds ridiculous”, etc, so I’ve written nothing.  Tweets don’t count, although, I’ve at least been doing that a bit.  As I’ve thought about it, I think what the problem is is that I haven’t quite gotten a grip on my brain this school year, so congratulations, we’re going to work through this together.  We’re all on the Path, right?  Please feel free to quit reading at any point… So this year I’m at a new school, and I’ve been working really hard to get my life together in this new place.  Let me start by saying, I love it!  I am incredibly happy, but there are challenges with how I manage my time (which I’m terrible at), how to work with new people, new and different challenges with students and curriculum, and how badly I miss some of the people I no longer see on a daily basis.  It’s surprising how heartbreaking that last one is.  Don’t discount that feeling, if that’s where you are. Change is hard.  If you’re in the situation this year […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

How do we convince students to stretch beyond their comfort zone when writing and speaking in the target language? I believe that teachers have to educate students about proficiency, both on a course level and the task level, so that they are invested in our collective work. Truly, we have a mighty task before us as we lead students on this journey. A standards-based rubric can be a powerful tool for undertaking this work. This year our department has a new standards-based presentational rubric that a group of us wrote over the summer to help guide our work on specific tasks. We spent four intense days at the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association’s Proficiency Academy with Thomas Sauer and Greg Duncan, and each afternoon (and some evenings after dinner…and some mornings before breakfast…) we gathered to peruse existing rubrics and think about how to craft our own. Our resulting “patchwork” product is most definitely imperfect and a work in progress, but having one common rubric forces us to hash out our questions and disagreements collectively, which has great value. I can talk to a middle school Mandarin colleague just as well as a high school French colleague as we try to decide what we mean, […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Time and time again teachers say to me “Just show me what a lesson looks like… a good one”. At times I wish there were a magic formula to give teachers insights to the entire process of planning, and most of the time I am glad there is not a magic formula because that is where the genius happens. Every student is different, thus every classroom is different, including the instructional needs. I believe strongly that there are some commonalities across great classes. The first is that planning is the most important instructional behavior in which teachers engage. (Mention briefly what the second thing is here, but leave the detail about checking for understanding for later) Ben Franklin said it best: “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.” So aside from actually planning, there are two key components that I notice that impact instruction in the classes I visit and the teachers with whom I work. The first key is to have a learning target. A clear, concise measurable DAILY learning target is key to planning a stellar lesson. Learning targets focus not only on the teacher and their planning, but engage the students as partners in […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Disclaimer: I’m going to share a very vulnerable confession, which as a teacher is extremely dangerous because it puts me in a perceived “weak” position.  Although I confess that I struggle teaching Spanish 1, I choose to view it as a strength because it helps me evaluate what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and what I can do to improve.  For any other educator out there, I would encourage you to do the same. During my first few years of teaching, my mentor teacher created my schedule so that I taught only Spanish 2.  Being that I was fresh out of college, I appreciated that she wanted to help me hone my teaching skills and classroom management.  As I became more comfortable teaching Spanish 2 and the proficiency targets and descriptors, Spanish 1 was added to my plate.  I was so excited.  The growth in Spanish 1 is magical.  They literally start with nothing and you get to see their growth.  As an educator this is very empowering.  It is also very empowering for the students to think about their metacognition.  For the past few years, I have drawn some conclusions about Spanish 1.  Somedays, I feel like I am […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Reading teachers’ reflections on what works or doesn’t work in their classrooms is not only a favorite hobby of mine, but also an opportunity for professional growth. Last Saturday, I decided to start sharing some of my favorite posts each week. While a majority of the blogs I read are written by world language educators, I’ll also share some other general education posts as I come across them in my readings. “How Am I Doing? I Know How!” Improving Formative Feedback Japanese Teacher Colleen Lee-Hayes continues her series of posts that focus on the power of involving students in the feedback loop. She shares several ideas that will make a big a difference in helping students move from compliant students to engaged learners and will help her “ensure that students don’t wait for me to tell them how they are doing – but rather that they will know and be able to articulate for themselves.” Read Colleen’s post –> Let AuthRes Take the Lead ~ Step 1 It’s highly unlikely that anyone missed this post, but I’m including this latest gem from the Creative Language Class. Kara is starting a series on the role of authentic resources, which seems to be one […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Summer is here in Memphis and it is arriving quickly for the rest of you, even if it doesn’t feel that it is. So this is the time of the year that we work long hours grading final exams and doing more math than many of us care to do normally in order to get grades submitted on time. So my question to you is this, what do your grades communicate? Do your grades paint a picture of the language your students have developed this year? Do they communicate how well they followed directions? Perhaps this is something that you haven’t thought about. As an administrator and working with many principals I can tell you it is an important distinction. Now or as school closes is the time to reflect over the year and the messages we send on the permanent records of our students to advocate for or against language learning. I say it like a broken record, every day in our classrooms we send messages to kids about who they are as language learners. Grades, send the biggest, loudest message. So what do they say? Let me share two interesting situations I experienced this school year to get […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

This post is not shiny or flashy with great pictures of my kids engaged and working on creative, fun, or culturally relevant tasks.  This is a reflection on a week that ended with crying and an unhealthy amount of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  This was my week of EPIC failure, and I feel that you should know when it falls apart for me as much as when things are clicking along on this proficiency path.  Sometimes, for any number of reasons, we don’t do what we know we should do, and our kids fail.  This is what happened in my class this week.  Someone once said, “no student has ever died from bad world language instruction”, which I’m sure is true although I haven’t fact-checked that statement, so I would like you to come with me and reflect on the results of my recent experience with my own “bad world language instruction.” Let me set the scene for you…I am giving a Benchmark exam: the summative assessment of the whole unit.  The listening passage plays, the speaker is speaking, and my children are staring at their tests with expressions ranging from slight confusion to horrified awareness that they […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

As a father of young kids, I’ve talked with other dads about when to share one of the most sacred of topics with my kids: Star Wars. We’ve gone ’round and ’round with what age, what order, and whether or not to start at Episode 1 or Episode 4, but the thing that remained clear was that this was a rite of passage from us to our children. We were discussing this in community in such a way that we might share our love of Star Wars with the younger generation so they, too, may know the joy we knew growing up about the mythology of the Force and the excitement of having light saber duels in the backyard and reciting “Luke, I am your father” in your best Darth Vader impersonation. (Maybe that last part was just me.) Many of us can recall our first time watching these movies and being mystified by the phrase “Use the Force.” And as I was introducing my sons to the movies over the winter break, thanks to the generous gift from some relatives, I made the connection that no one was working alone. Everyone was working in teams–red leader and the X wings, […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Perfect is boring.  No one likes the person who is perfect, or thinks he’s perfect, or strives always to be perfect.  It’s exhausting and thankless work to be perfect, and honestly, it is really annoying to the rest of us.  Because at the end of the day, none of us is perfect and in that imperfection, and our daily quest to find our best self, lies the richness of life. This shift in mindset was hard for me. I am your classic over-achieving, type A, obsessive must make all changes now and they must be the best, new, engaging proficiency-based lessons possible with no downtime during transitions and using all the 12 items on my TEAM evaluation form in every class in 47 minutes every day while maintaining 90/10 language input and having students show progress every day with a perfectly formed response , beautifully pronounced, which attempts to use complex structures, varied time frames and rich vocabulary appropriate to the topic.  WHAT????!!!!!! I was killing myself and my students, as well as our love of learning. We had lost sight of the real reason we were all signed up for this class.  We wanted to speak–let’s face it, that’s […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

In thinking about assessing proficiency and growth as I approach the end of the year, I sometimes feel overwhelmed and a bit of self-inflicted pressure. Since making the switch to teaching for proficiency, I’ve come to understand the importance of assessment and feedback like never before.  I am greatly influenced and inspired by the wonderful proficiency focused teachers on #langchat–many of whom work in secondary education, and have planned creative, effective IPAs for the end of the year. At the elementary level, the process of assessment looks a little different– and when I feel overwhelmed with the task of assessing all of the levels I lead, I try to remember what makes language learning in elementary so unique–it’s the long haul. The privilege of teaching elementary world language is developing a long term relationship with my students and the students’ long term relationship with the language. What this means in my school setting, is that I’m not looking at where the children are at the end of 2nd or 3rd grade always, rather where they are functioning at the end of 8th grade. It may take up to two years to see real measurable growth–especially because I only see my […] Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)