Co-Teaching: 6 Models and their Uses

Do you remember your student teaching experience?

It really makes me mentally cringe to go there.  It was a great, life-changing experience in many ways, but it was also SO. HARD.  Overwhelming.  Draining.  Terrifying.  The 16 week experience of slowly processing the harsh realization that all the book knowledge you have doesn't equate to being a great teacher.  There are intangibles to consider.  Even when I had a supervising teacher who became a friend, with the best of intentions and the sweetest personality and...it didn't mean student teaching went smoothly.  I felt like a failure most days.  And looking back, I'm glad I don't have to do it again.

But, since taking a step back from the classroom, and looking for ways to still stay connected in the world of education, I have taken on a role of working with area student teachers.  And I am both comforted and challenged by the fact that these individuals will have a much different experience than I did (only 5 years ago, thank you very much).  I was asked to be the college supervisor for Grace College student teachers who are seeking a license in Spanish Education.  I did it last spring for this rising star, and now have the opportunity to do it again this fall for two young ladies.  And as we hit the ground running this school year, Grace provided an intentional time of training student teachers, classroom teachers and college supervisors on how exactly this experience will be different than what many the generation before them experienced.

Traditional Mindset on the left, Co-Teaching Mindset on the right. See the differences?!

You see, Grace is no longer doing the "traditional" method of student teaching.  You know, the one where the supervising teacher shows you what to do for about a week, then heads to the teacher's lounge as you "figure it out" and "sink or swim" on your own? Yeah.  That worked until we met the R.I.S.E. evaluation and the increased teacher accountability.  Then, classroom teachers weren't so fond of the idea of being absent all semester. So, Grace College adapted a new way of training student teachers involving the practice of co-teaching.  Since this topic is generally new, and altogether misunderstood often, I sat through a training on 6 different effective methods of co-teaching.  Welcome to the modern student teaching experience.  *does a happy dance*

   

Model 1: One Teach, One Observe
Sounds obvious, but there's something often overlooked:  The "Observer" is not passive.  They are not glancing around and then grading the occasional paper.  Before the lesson, the two teachers meet and discuss what needs to be observed and recorded.  Perhaps a student or group of students' behavior.  Maybe the amount of wait time given before calling an answer.  In my case, use of target language.  As one teacher instructs, the second teacher is actively gathering data on that topic and then both teachers meet later to discuss how that data will change their future teaching.

Model 2: One Teach, One Assist
This time, one is instructing and one is drifting about the room keeping students on task, answering questions as they arise, and doing whatever the first teacher needs them to do in the moment.  In my experience, this is the one most commonly used in our area schools.  Oftentimes, a para-professional or a special education teacher takes the "assist" role for classes with multiple students on their case load. 

Model 3: Alternative Teaching
After the initial lesson has been presented, many times certain students need the topic re-taught or paraphrased one more time.  This model of co-teaching is perfect for that.  First the lesson is taught by one teacher.  Then, the second teacher selects a small group of students and reinforces the lesson in a different way with discussion questions, review and formative assessments.  The first teacher remains with the larger portion of the class that might be able to do work more independently.  For example, this approach might work well if you have students that specifically struggle with reading comprehension.  After an introduction, one teacher takes those lower students out in the hallway and walks them through the questions step by step.  The rest of the class, however, is working in pairs at their own pace with the supervision of the first teacher.

Model 4: Station Teaching
In this model, you divide students into 3 similarly-sized groups.  Your classroom will have 2 stations led by teachers and 1 independently run station.  The best scenario here is that all stations involve different aspects of the same standard or topic.  That way, they are reinforcing each other without depending on the knowledge of the other stations (since each group will do them in different order).

Model 5: Parallel Teaching
If two teachers are teaching simultaneously, and covering the same material, they are essentially parallel teaching.  These teachers may be using slightly different lesson plans, but they are teaching the same lesson overall.  This is best used when interaction with students needs to be at a maximum and therefore the student to teacher ratio should be lowest.  I imagine this could be quite distracting depending on how the physical space in the classroom is divided, but I still think it has its place.  For example, there have been schools who have experienced a lot of success in dividing students into gender-separated classrooms.  With parallel teaching, one teacher could focus on instructing the boys in a way that is appropriate for them, and the other teacher could pull aside the girls.  Or, depending on the standard, the class could be divided into high/low groups and although the teachers go over the same content, they could tailor their questioning to the level of their group.

Model 6: Teaming
This is by far the most challenging way to co-teach.  It must involve two adults who know each other well and work very well together.  In this approach, the teachers essentially divide the instruction and add to, clarify and rephrase each other's thoughts.  So, one teacher may begin the lesson and then the next teacher might jump in with an example she thinks makes the point more comprehensible.  Obviously this approach would need careful planning and communication of expectations, but I could see this model being one of my favorites if I had the right teammate.

  

Not only are these six expectations that Grace has for its student teachers as they learn from their supervisors, but these methods would also be practical in any classrooms with teaching assistants, paraprofessionals, or two teachers of any kind.  I'm sad to say that I can't imagine many school corporations paying for two teachers to a classroom, and I haven't seen this in action in any foreign language classrooms to date.  However, in my former school there was a growing trend of getting the special needs teachers into the language arts and math classrooms to co-teach with the content area teachers.  Plus, our corporation also had math and language arts coaches at the district level and I could see them coming alongside some classroom teachers in these instances.  Even the history teachers down the hall from me were including some of these practices on their own by occasionally combining their classrooms and teaming up or dividing their joint students into levels and then each taking one half for a more focused lesson.  This could work for teachers who exchange their prep period to help their coworker and then switch the following day....the possibilities are endless if you are willing to get a little creative.

I am excited to see these models in practice as I observe my two student teachers this fall.  And I sincerely hope more veteran and experienced teachers start implementing more of these practices as well...they are ALL designed to benefit students more than one teacher alone.

3 Skills Every Student Needs (Inspired by Aaron Hogan)

As I prepped to participate in one of my favorite Twitter chats (#tlap), I found a blog post that truly resonated with me on many levels.  Aaron Hogan wrote a post titled, "4 Skills Every Student Needs" that highlighted the importance of the vital dispositions our students accumulate in our classrooms that may never be in our textbooks. I found this to be an especially timely post in light of the tragedies, violence and conflict in our country and across our world. I would HIGHLY encourage all teachers to read his post thoroughly before heading back to school, as the summer can be a perfect time to intentionally map out the "soft skills" we want to prioritize in our classrooms.

Here are my honest reflections after reading Aaron's post:

• My greatest weakness, personally, of the skills he listed is that all too often I tend to disagree with people, not ideas.  Ugh! I hate even writing those words. It is an important distinction that my passionate heart and language-loving-mind tend to ignore.  I want to model this. I want to teach this. I want to find this in more people.
• The concept of seeing multiple perspectives should be an easy fit into a world language classroom!  I love how he mentioned it's involvement in literature, but I couldn't help but think a classroom that elevates learning another's language has to be the embodiment of this value.  This is one way I tried to bring up this skill in class. My inspiration came from articles like this one & quotes like this one...

Find pin here.

• If we do not plan these conversation, they simply do not happen.  After all, they are tricky to write about when I have hours to do so...how much more challenging would they be to suddenly initiate out of no where?  When there is a tragedy in your community, discuss it.  Process out loud with your students in an age-appropriate manner.  Set aside your curriculum and show them that these types of things matter even more than their upcoming vocab quiz.  Be real.  But, in addition to planning conversations around these points in response to an event, we must be prioritizing these lessons this summer for the entire year.  I think we would all agree our job is much, much wider and deeper than our content area.  So, shouldn't the time and effort we put into these lessons reflect the level of importance we claim they have?

Inspired by his articulate reflection of often intangible concepts, I wanted to add 3 skills that I believe every student needs in addition to what Aaron wrote.  So...

3 (more) skills every student needs:

1. Defend your beliefs without becoming defensive.  To do this, students must first and foremost know what they believe.  This might involve researching the issue above and beyond repeating what their parents or more vocal friends have said. In addition, students need the ability to listen to and understand people who oppose their thoughts.  Finally, this skill takes a lot of thinking on your feet!  Being "put on the spot" is stressful sometimes, and a lot of people react by raising their voice, attacking the other person or shutting down. Perhaps in our classrooms we can stage debates and play "devil's advocate" just enough to coach students through these scenarios.  I am a firm believer that after the scheduled conversation or activity is completed, though, we talk to kids about what we just talked about.  Verbally walk them through why you just directed the conversation in that way.  Or, re-frame a point that was brought up so that it really sinks in to the class.  Help them learn to be well-informed and confident enough that they can have conversations about their firmly-held viewpoints without getting their feelings hurt.
2. Ask pertinent, thoughtful, and thought-provoking questions.  To really listen well, understand other perspectives and learn at a deep level, students will need to know how to know what they don't know!  Instead of coming up with the questions to scaffold one of our students to success, why not let another student volunteer that information?  I love trying to peak student's intelligent curiosity as it relates to cultural concepts.  Or, as we often try to fabricate real-life conversations in our language classrooms, let your students gain that practice of thinking and writing deeper questions.  Open-ended questions, by the way.  Opinion-inducing questions.  This is difficult for many people in our native-tongues...even more so as we learn to ask these questions in a different language.
3. Honestly reflect and alter personal weaknesses.  We talk a lot about "self-motivation" or "self-paced" curriculum.  And our culture greatly values independence and self-reliance.  But, in many of our middle school, especially, there are students who have never been taught how to take an honest (read: HARD) look at themselves and evaluate what they should change.  They allow our feedback to replace their own self-evaluation.  We can change this!  This skill can relate to Spanish class (vowel pronunciation, word order), school in general (organization, friend choices) or it can be much larger than that (fitness habits, relationship with parents).  How can we lead students to begin a life-long journey of admitting shortcomings, forming a plan to fix them and persevering until they are no longer problems?

After reading Aaron's post and my thoughts, what would you add?  How are you going to bring up these important topics in your classroom? Let's truly "facilitate thinking, support struggle and engage minds"!

Pin here.

Brave is Vulnerable

As mid July fades to late July, school stuff tends to be on the minds of many a teacher.  While some spend hours prepping their classroom and some pack their summer full of activities they never get to do during the year, sooner or later everyone will be thinking How should I start my year?  What do I need to do to get ready?  What do I want my students to learn from me from day one? And although I really want to write a detailed activity post later, I want to dedicate this post to a larger, more all-encompassing idea:  being brave.

You see, I read this post from Spanish Mama earlier this week and it really struck a chord.  She talks about many different ways that she wants to be brave:  in the classroom, with her children and with Spanish.  She even shared one of my all time favorite quotes:

Because those with accents speak at least one other language better. Think about it.

She caused me to reflect on the ways that I, as a teacher, should dare to be braver.  Ways I should lead by example.  Should set the tone in my classroom not in level of perfection, but in desire to learn.  So, I wanted to encourage YOU to do the same.  Spend time before the school year starts deciding how you are going to be brave in front of your students on a daily basis this year.  In my school we use the terms "growth mindset" and "life-long learner" a lot.  But how valuable are those words if we are not living them out?  Have you shown your students that you are learning something?  That would mean getting up in front of your class and potentially *gasp* making a mistake.  Looking foolish.  As teachers, we should be demonstrating to our students that sometimes being brave is being vulnerable. In language learning, in other classes, in relationships...in life!

Here are some ways to be vulnerable with your students:

• Tell a failure of a study abroad story.   Be specific.  Tell them a time you messed up pronunciation or couldn't remember a word.  Find a picture to go with it.  Don't skim over it:  tell them what you were feeling and how the situation was (or wasn't) resolved.  
• Start fresh with another language. Many Spanish teachers may be at a point where Spanish is second nature to them.  I know I had personally lost part of that frustration or "it's on tip of my tongue" problem...until I tried French. Or Turkish! *face palm*  Then I remembered my frustration very vividly.  Use Duolingo or another tool to try a language you are completely unfamiliar with and then relate it to the issues they are having in your class the first few weeks.  Share with them a few sentences you are learning to say and the phrases that you can never remember.  Tell them how long you're practicing and what your goals are. (You can read how I incorporated Duolingo into a lesson here!)
• Demonstrate a hobby that has nothing to do with your class. Bring in your clarinet or put your hand-lettered canvas under the document camera.  Tell your students how long you have been practicing and show them some before and after evidence of your progress.
• Challenge yourself to really USE your Spanish once a week and report to the class.  I have known many Spanish teachers who are so skilled in the classroom and their level of content, but don't have the time or intent to use their language outside of their school.  Call a friend, go to a local restaurant or volunteer to translate somewhere.  Whatever makes you a little uncomfortable to commit to because you might mess up or it doesn't suit your personality...do it. Then tell your students details of how it goes each time. That's being vulnerable. That's being brave.  

This Pinterest board might come in handy as you push yourself and your students towards braver steps this year.  Maybe you could print one out each week and put it at the front of the class to initiate a class discussion about your individual bravery goals.   

And perhaps the ultimate leap of vulnerability  for a Spanish teacher is the commitment to daily teaching Spanish in Spanish.  Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell posted a really though-provoking article about her position on how much target language should be used in classroom and when/how.  It is definitely worth a read (or two!) as we approach the school year.  It will shake up some of your preconceptions (it did mine!)  I am still working on my position statement and I truly think we all should be.  May we see our role as teacher as a platform from which we can (and MUST) model life-long learning by being bravely vulnerable.

Original pin here.

P.s. The title graphic at the top is one of my favorite examples of being vulnerable.  The girl with her back to us and the girl we can't quite see are two of the students that traveled with me to Spain earlier this summer.  This is a picture of them in El Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid striking up conversation with a woman who was shopping there to ask her questions about why she comes to the market and what her life story is.  Pretty BIG conversation to strike up out of nowhere.  No teacher waiting to help.  No manual on how to go about it.  Just two girls on their first day of language immersion learning being brave by being vulnerable.  And they got an AWESOME story out of it.

Leading Through Languages: Workshop Reflections

This past Saturday, Warsaw Community Schools hosted its first ever "Leading Through Languages" workshop at Warsaw Community High School. It took place from 9:00am-12:30pm and was FREE for Warsaw teachers (PLUS it earned you 3.5 professional growth points!)  This workshop excited me from the moment I heard about it because it was born of the collaboration and brainstorming of two dear colleagues:  Mr. Christopher Hindsley and Dr. Shu-Chun Tseng.  They dreamed up this conference declaring,

"Our mission is to inspire teachers by sharing global stories, equip teachers with skills and techniques to implement in the classroom, and enrich teachers by building a global community of educators."

Our wonderful sponsors & the door prizes.

Mr. Hindsley & Dr. Tseng introducing the day.

It was obvious that the day was going to be well spent when I received an email that I could go at 8:30am if I wanted coffee and pastries.  Most teachers might shy away from earlier Saturday mornings, but for a stay at home mom with a Hubby on baby duty:  Get me there as early as you want and get me some caffeine! Sounded glorious.

I immediately got the chance to connect with friends and colleagues that I haven't seen much of this school year.  It was so good to catch up with them and get a chance to "relax" with them throughout the day.  I was very impressed with the turnout that the workshop had:  administrators, music teachers, history teachers, language arts teachers, college students, stay at home moms, media center specialists and world language teachers were ALL present for this day of intentional learning.

**Conference Pre-face:  This Mom was on the verge of tears, literally the entire time.  Hearing life-changing stories and experiences from extremely invested educators and parents left me wiping my eyes for THREE.HOURS.**

We registered, received a folder from Manchester University stuffed with a notebook, a feedback form, a school map and the breakout session offerings and descriptions.  A few minutes after nine, the keynote speaker Kondo Simfukwe was introduced.

I was familiar with Kondo from hearing him speak at Grace College chapels when I was a student, and listening to him preach when I was church hopping around that time, too. However I did not know his entire story, and the way that he told it made him a riveting keynote speaker.  He was born in London, grew up in Zambia, attended high school in Australia and then moved to Winona Lake, Indiana for college.  The man has known culture shock, language diversity and plenty of stereotyping and misunderstandings.  He challenged us to go "Beyond the Cultural Veil", explaining that "it is amazing what happens when understanding takes us behind the veil of what someone did to perhaps why they did it."  Kondo went on to give three specific things that he wishes his teachers would have understood about him as a minority student.  These thoughts really challenged me as an educator to think of how my own cultural experiences have tinted how I view student's behaviors:

1. "I had a very low self-concept.  But I wasn't disinterested."  He explained that he felt fortunate simply to have the opportunity of an education, and would regularly claim he understood when questioned, rather than make the entire class stop for just him.
2. "I am completely people focused.  But, that doesn't make me lazy."  Project deadlines were difficult for him to meet because he valued conversations and relationships over all else.  
3. "I am community-oriented.  So, I'm not motivated by grades or GPA." Teachers tried to hold grades or class rank over him, when in reality no one tapped into his true motivation:  how he was impacting the entire class.  

Kondo challenged me to see behaviors (especially those of middle school students) as less of fully informed, intentional decisions and more as a product of their cultural experiences.  He reminded me that my students might not even be able to perfectly articulate their cultural understandings:  "By the way, that's not how culture works.  I don't go around saying 'this is my culture and I experience it sequentially in this way'...it's just who I am." Kondo made me want to be more curious and observant of my students' lives and hear more of their personal stories that undoubtedly impact their daily life in my classroom.

From there, we went to four different breakout sessions. Some were an hour long, but most were half an hour.  

I chose to attend Christopher's first session:  Connecting Cultures; A French & American Exchange Program.  He talked about the program he has helped to grow between a French high school and Warsaw which involves a three year rotation of a student exchange for two years followed by a group exchange the third year.  My favorite part of this program is that it is a true exchange:  each year the French student(s) come to Warsaw in the fall (six weeks as an individual or 10 days as a group) and each spring our students go to France for the same amount of time. Christopher really inspired me dream about what a Spanish exchange program in Warsaw could look like.  I started envisioning a two country program one day where we could send students to Ecuador one year and Costa Rica the next and then our group trip could alternate between the two.  I think this would so highlight the cultural differences, accents and country specific vocabulary that we can't properly cover in our classrooms.

Mr. Hindsley is difficult to capture not-moving in a picture ;)

A formerly un-motivated student's words about the exchange program and its impact on her.

A parent's words about how the program impacted her child.

Christopher reminded me that "our job is to infuse their day with culture, even if they can't get their passport or fly across the ocean."

Next, I attended Harrison Elementary teacher Deb McClintock & Harrison Elementary Principal Lee Snider's session:  Sister School Partnerships. I had worked in Warsaw during the process they were presenting, but I was completely unaware of all that they had accomplished!  Deb described how she had been intrigued by Asian cultures as a young child, and saw an opportunity to get paired with a Sister School in China thanks to a program called Global Indiana. She even got to visit the school, which happened to be in a prestigious resort community in China.  Lee then informed us of the logistics of scheduling the Principal of their Sister School's visit and planning a group visit for Chinese students to Warsaw as well. It was fascinating to hear how a group of elementary aged Chinese students came to our small town in Indiana, stayed with host families in the area, attended classes at Harrison and tried to live the life of our students. I got emotional (not the first time during the workshop) hearing how not only our students were impacted, but also their parents and siblings as well by getting to know people from across the world.  The difference between this program and the exchange program was that none of our Warsaw students have thus far visited China, but that is still a dream in process.  I am so excited to hear how this program continues to grow!

Lee's quote really struck me when he said, "Regardless of what our students later hear in the media, they can be grounded by knowing they have a friend in China who is a good person."

And Deb's dream deeply resonated with me when she said, "I want our students to have early exposure to other cultures so that their 'little antennas' are up and we can help make the world a smaller place."

Deb (in red) and Lee (center) were a great team.

Lastly, I went to an hour long parent panel of international or adopted students discussing the difficulties they have had in our schools. It was comprised of two local teachers who have adopted children, a parent who has an adopted child in our schools and an international parent who moved to Warsaw for work, started his family in our town, and has gone through the culture shock and stereotyping alongside his daughters.  It was (again) an extremely emotional experience for many of us as we saw their pain and concern about the difficult transition that their students have made in their young lives and how their peers and teachers have impacted that. There were 3 main questions that each panelist answered, and then the time was opened up for all of the teachers and administrators to ask additional questions.  The parents' vulnerability and transparency was inspiring as they bared their family's business to all of the strangers in the room for the betterment of our entire community.  I was so humbled and inspired.  I came away with a few key revelations that could impact how I interact with international students and families in the future:

1. "If you see something extreme or inappropriate, contact parents right away."  Many parents highlighted how the family may be trying to intentionally work on a behavior issue at home, and although it may not appear to be worthy of parent phone call home, always over communicate.  These parents have years of teaching and communicating to make up for and they need all the 'head's up' they can get.
2. "Just because he's speaking English well, don't assume he can read at that level."  As a language teacher I feel like I should not have been so surprised by this one, because we all know that different aspects of language develop differently.  However, it struck me as such a delicate matter when the student could potentially be so well incorporated socially, and yet be quite behind academically.  It also really convicted me as a language teacher that the students who do the best assimilating to our country are the one's whose verbal skills develop quickest.  Why is it that in so many of our classrooms the verbal skills are the ones that we sacrifice so that our students can 'master' accents and reflexive pronouns?
3. "In groups, put him with the higher functioning kids so he can model both their behavior and their language."  Sometimes this is counter-intuitive.  And different groupings serve different purposes.  However, there are definite times when international students or ESL students could benefit from being placed in a group perhaps they are not "ready" for.

The panelists sharing with us about their family's varied experiences in our schools.

We rounded out the day by returning for door prizes and a final word from the committee.  One of the questions (that, in my opinion should be on EVERY conference evaluation form!) was "what session would you like to see offered in the future?"  It was fun to brainstorm about different colleagues I know who could offer wisdom in this setting, and even dream about what I might have to say one day.  It intrigued and frustrated me that the conference claimed to highlight languages, but in an effort to include teachers from many content areas it ended up focusing almost entirely on cultures (valid, and extremely important, mind you).  My biggest hope for the future of Leading Through Languages is that we find a specific way to incorporate language development, language reference, and language pedagogy specific sessions.

All in all it was an INCREDIBLE first workshop. I came home eager to talk my husband's ear off about all that I had learned and organize my four pages of handwritten notes, quotes and ideas. This one will definitely be on my calendar for future years and I can't wait to see how it grows.  On Twitter, many educators tweeted pictures, quotes and reflections under our previously established corporation wide hashtag:  #WCSmission.

Tweachers

Twitter. has. changed. my. teaching.

About a year ago, I began to hate Facebook for the unnecessary intimate details I read daily about everyone I knew. Around that same time, I began to enjoy Instagram for the simplicity of a picture with a caption.  But now Twitter is becoming my new obsession for its combination of the strengths of other social media: simplicity (just 140 characters) and access to everyone and everything. 

(Found on Twitter, ironically.)

My school corporation (and especially my building principal) really encouraged all teachers to create a Twitter profile at the beginning of the year, "because it is leading the new wave of professional development in education."  I was skeptical. I pictured all the celebrity twitter accounts that middle school students flock towards and I couldn't imagine what I would gain from participating. I had recently attended Lorinda Kline's presentation "Twitter 101" at the local (AND AMAZING) E3Tech conference where I learned the basics of what Twitter has to offer and I created my account.  However, my principal really peaked my curiosity with his avid endorsement of using social media as a tool.  I dove in.

What I found AMAZED me.  I still categorize myself at the "AHA!" stage of the scale given above because I am still just dipping my toes in the incredible amount of resources and knowledge available for teachers on Twitter. Here is a list of the top 5 ways to use Twitter if you are a teacher (although there are countless more) :

1. Twitter Chats: Join in all types of real-time online conversations taking place on twitter between educators.  A chat will be scheduled ahead of time by a moderator who will then tweet out questions at specific intervals.  You can "lurk" (read along without participating) or tweet answers back and reply to others.  Chats are some of the best ways to get new ideas, share your observations and also connect with dozens of educators, administrators and educational gurus around the world.  Read this to understand how to participate and look over this list to find some chats you might be interested in!
2. Articles: Many educators will send out links to what they have recently read. Instantly, you have easy access to multiple books and articles that come highly recommended. Here is one that I have read recently thanks to Twitter.
3. Inspiration & Encouragement: When you are feeling discouraged or frustrated, Twitter is full of funny pictures, quotes, and memes regarding our jobs and problems.  There are also an unlimited number of quotes about education that serve as a great reminder in the midst of all the chaos. This one really stuck out to me.
4. Blog Updates: If you enjoy reading blogs (she says on her blogpost...) then Twitter is great way to get notifications when your favorite bloggers write a new post.  Many bloggers will tweet a link to a new post (like my favorite blogger, Maris, does).  And many "Tweeps" (people on twitter) will have a link to their blog in their profile (like you see here on Allison's page), so you might even find brand new blogs to check out.
5. Conference Snippets: Have you ever wished you could attend a professional development conference but you were stuck at home instead?  Thanks to Twitter, many times you can follow what is going on by reading tweets with a hashtag that represent that conference.  People who did attend might quote speakers, post pictures, or relay their reflections for the benefit of everyone who had to miss out.  Search hashtags like #campmusicuentos, #iste2015, #allwrite and #e3tech and read what's been going on.

Summer is a perfect time to get away from the paperwork, grading, phone calls, and late nights associated with teaching. Even while traveling, spending time with family, attending or ditching a conference here and there, and spending some time near the water everyone can still find some time to create a profile on Twitter and begin to use these suggestions to move from "denial" to "curiosity."  Start now! You never know what you may find and how it may positively affect your teaching this coming fall. Tweet away future "tweachers"!

What Kind of a Teacher are You?

I loved this challenge to reflect posted by Laura Sexton on her blog.  I wanted to define my teaching styles and influences in a concrete way, and I thought this was a great way to do so.

1. I am a good teacher because:  I am a good learner.  I am curious.  I hate to be stagnant.  I revise, reflect and revise again.
2. If I weren't a teacher I would be: A full time student. Probably getting my master's at a university abroad and never wanting to come back. 
3. My teaching style is: Relationship-oriented.  My classroom management, my report, everything is centered on how well I get to know my students and how much they trust me.
4. My classroom is: MESSY.  Blue walls, travel maps and pictures, papel picado, magnet manipulatives, student work, library books and magazine...learning is messy.  And I'm unorganized.
5. My lesson plans are: In an adorable polka dot planner.  I write/plan in that over the weekends and then I transfer them to a large calendar at the front of my room and a day-by-day agenda on the marker board. Each night, I also update my Teacher Webpage.
6. One of my teaching goals is: To grow our program to reach our elementary schools.  I want to show and convince our community how vital language learning is even BEFORE kindergarten, but especially in the primary years.  I hope I get to see the program trickle down to all grade levels. 
7. The toughest part of teaching is:  imposing things on students that I do not personally agree with. When I know something negatively affects them or their learning of Spanish, it is hard for me to put any amount of effort into it.  I know there will always be things that we must do simply because we must do them, but for me rationale behind the duty is everything.  If it is not there, I can rarely fake it.
8. The thing I love most about teaching is: character development.  Helping students to become better people, not just better language learners. 
9. A common misconception about teaching is: that one should teach the way that one was taught. Times are changing. Students are changing. We must change, or become irrelevant. 
10. The most important thing I've learned since I started teaching is: I know much less Spanish than I thought I did. I have not "arrived." I am not "accomplished." I continually have a long way to go, I just happen to be helping others come with me.

I would LOVE to hear your answers.  Share them with us!

#Teach2Teach: Q2: Politics

How do you stay inspired and not get bogged down by the politics of teaching?

Especially recently, this is a very tricky thing for me to do.

This past year our school was given a "D" by the state.  It felt like a punch to the stomach for a school that had been part of a corporation of "A" schools for the previous two years.

I know I must be biased, but my current school is the absolute best building of administrators, and teachers that I have ever been a part of.  Creative, passionate, talented adults truly looking out for students and challenging them to be their best.  All the parts of education I have always longed to be a part of, and none of the stuff I hate.  The despair and discouragement that rippled from this injustice was a knife to the heart.

So, this year, the politics of teaching have taken a front seat, I hate to admit.  Our school has been forced to make decisions that don't put students first.  Our administration has been backed into a corner and our teachers have been pushed to their breaking points.  Inspiration has felt sparse at times.

BUT.  There are still gems of individuals who say the right things at the right times and burst through all that negativity to remind me what is most important:  the relationships we build with students.

If there is one sure fired way to stay inspired and not get bogged down by the politics of teaching it is this:  invest into the souls that are in your classroom each day.  When it seems easy to feel burdened, stressed and overworked by things that are out of your control focus your energy on asking questions of your students. Not "Did you get your homework done?" or "Are you ready for the test?"but rather "What are you looking forward to this week?" and "What inspires you?"  Use your life experiences and perspective to shed light on their emotional disasters and challenge their black-and-white thinking.  Present them with more than assignments.  Present them with challenges and opportunities.  Push the pause button on the all-consuming conversation of standardized testing and offer a handshake and a personal greeting to the shells of people walking through your door.  Refuse to accept the answer "fine" when you ask how Juan is doing today.  Take notice when Melissa can't stay awake at the back of the room.  Congratulate Mitch on winning the geography bee last night.  Double check with Ellie when you notice a pattern of nurse visits right before quizzes.  Channel the energy typically put into teacher's lounge gossip and pointless complaints into how to better relate to and connect with your students.

The politics of teaching could leave me feeling inadequate, undervalued, ignored or stifled.  But the faces staring up at me from my desks beg for more than my wounded ego and victim mentality.  They deserve my fullest attention and energy for the moments that I stand in front of them.

Choose to matter.

#Teach2Teach Q1: The Balance

How do you balance the workload between teaching and planning? 

This is a question that I have grappled with every week since I began teaching.  There are thousands upon thousands of new, great, creative and inspiring ideas out there...and I, for one, have been known to spend hours upon hours just pondering the philosophy of what I do in my classroom and why.  But, when the bell rings and the students file in, at some point I am going to have to actually teach, explain, and model all these fantastic thoughts.  And, if I'm not careful, my passion for deep thoughts will impede my effectiveness as a teacher.

I hate that last sentence.  But it has been true at different times in my career.

So, here is my best advice for anyone embarking on this intimidating adventure of education:  prioritize.  You cannot do it all today.  You cannot do it all this week.  But you can do it all (to some degree) this year if you prioritize your goals.  Easier said than done, for sure. If I'm being honest, the following tips are best case scenarios for me...they don't always happen.  However, they have become vital to me this year in particular as I try to manage time with my 5 month old and time at school.  So, take everything with a grain of salt and fit it to your style, but if you're like me this might help you balance your enormous "To-Do" list:

1. In one sitting, plan out an entire "unit" (chapter of a textbook, project, etc).   As any good education major knows, start with the end in mind.  Focus on 3-5 objectives that are vital to your students' success.  Look at a calendar and vaguely map out how long you want to spend on each topic.  If you're new to teaching, this might be a MESS at first.  Just jot it down, even if it changes daily, to give yourself a timeline to work from.  I write down what formative assessments I think I'll need along the way (not specifics, just where I think I'll want to quiz) to give myself some short-term goals.  If I have any specific activities already in mind, I write those down too, but I don't spend time "lesson planning" per say.  Just over-arching themes here.  This is normally a Saturday or an evening a couple of days before I begin a unit.

Calendar in my classroom for student use.

2.  Now focus on step-by-step lessons for one day at a time. I know not everyone has to do this to be a good teacher, but I definitely did at the beginning (and still do when coming back from summer break, Christmas break, etc until I'm used to it again).  Using the general timeline you made for the whole unit, look at the activities you want to do on the first day.  I usually split mine up into a "Para Empezar", a few activities as a class and a "Tarea/Salida".  I go into school, sit at my desk, and open all my files and cabinets for this step.  I make my copies for the week.  I post as many details as possible on my Teacher Webpage.  Rarely do we get to everything I've planned for a day, so as I look at specific details for Day 2, I adjust.  When I first started teaching, this was something I did literally the night before a lesson.  Now, I can do most of my detail planning on Saturdays for the following week.  The more detailed I get at this step, the easier everything goes on the day of the lesson.

3.  Mentally plan to spend 1 evening a week at school. When I say evening, I mean an additional 2 hours after school.  I advertise to my students that on Thursdays from 3-4 I am theirs.  They can study with me, ask questions, make up assessments, work ahead...whatever they need.  Then, I usually stay until 5 working on my own organizational nightmares.  When I first started teaching, this was every night of every week until 6 or 7...or 10pm.  I simply cannot commit to that anymore, so I make stringent limits for myself.  This is not planning time; it is essentially additional teaching.

Baby Girl comes to Momma's study sessions.

Students at study session after school.

4.  Grade immediately. My policy has become that if I cannot grade it and get it back to them the next day, it is not worth assigning.  My first year, I was the teacher who put stacks of worksheets in a random desk drawer and ended up throwing them away the day before grades were due out of total frustration.  I've learned now that feedback must be immediate and consistent in order for it to affect learning.  So, when baby girl goes to sleep, Momma gets out a stack of exit tickets or quizzes and grades while she watches old Tonight Show episodes online.

First year frustration:  Why did I assign this nonsense?!

5.  Dream!  After you have mapped out your unit, zoomed in on what you will do tomorrow, set aside time for students, and graded what you've assigned..now you can change the world!  Or, at least, this is what I tell myself.  It's like a reward system:  if I've done the tedious items above, I will allow myself to #langchat, to read up on blogs (Maris Hawkins, Amy Lenord, Sr. Howard, yeah, I'm looking at you!), fantasize about future field trips and delve into what practices I've let slip into my routine that are not aimed at proficiency.  If I do not let myself get to this step, I wither away.  If I let myself start here, I'm about in tears by 2nd period because nothing seems to be going right.

Field trip to La Carniceria!!

As I look over what I've written, I'm amazed by how crazy it looks. But, it is honest.  I force myself to plan the little things (what I assume most people see as teaching) and reward myself by planning the big things (the things I LOVE to incorporate, but the things that are sometimes too huge to tackle everyday).  To teach, you must define what is most important for your students and put that first.  To teach effectively, happily, and for many years, you MUST define what energizes you and purposefully put doses of that into your life as well.