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Seesaw Insight: Casting Call Selfies
Two of my favorite Seesaw features are drawing and labels. Combine them with comments and student selfies, and you can have a quick and easy casting call!The casting call can be used to demonstrate a...
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Final Reflection Video Portfolios
Things were going pretty smoothly with my Can-Do based portfolios and Flubaroo badges. But not smoothly enough. Not for me.This has been a common theme for me this year, despite admonitions from some...
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DIY Reading Practice for the AAPPL Test
Studies suggest that students do better on tests with familiar formats. I'm afraid I was remiss in preparing my students for the AAPPL test, for even though I have been kind of obsessed with AAPPL...
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Project-Based Blogging in Spanish
If my students learn nothing else in my class, they will learnhow to set a goal andhow to follow through. Blogging is a pretty useful tool when it comes to goal setting. Blogs are a record of progress,...
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Hot Seat Support Groups
Blogging is just the beginning. It gives students a starting point, a place to hash out what they can--and want to--say about their goals and progress. Their compañeros can check in on them too. But...
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Worth It
I don't think I'd ever heard the words "...will major in K-12 Spanish education" on graduation night before this week. Over 10 years teaching Spanish--nine as the only language teacher in the...
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AAPPL Results Analysis
I have been using AAPPL rubrics for a few years, but I had never administered the test. Ordinarily I'm a very anti-test type person, but in the face of waning school budgets and waxing xenophobia, I...
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Video Portfolios Were a Disaster
My thinking was that video portfolios would be nice polished products to wrap up students two years of Spanish exploration. I was thinking that they would be a nice simple way to combine everything...
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5 Steps to Sort Travel Pics for Student Use!
I'm ready for my next trip to Peru!I mean, I don't have anything packed yet, and I'm reasonably sure where my passport is.But I've got everything ready to go to store and sort the photos and videos I...
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SCOLT will pay for us to hang out!!
Have you ever wanted to just sit down and talk shop--in more than 140 characters?Do you need someone from outside your district to preach the gospel of proficiency and performance-based assessment to...
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Grades Are Not the Devil
I teach language: high school English and lower level Spanish. Communication is my business.And grades are communication.It is my goal to help students understand and be understood, but for that to...
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Flags by Wikipedia
Cultural analysis was officially part of my portfolio scores last semester, primarily for mathematical purposes (it gave me a fifth category for quicker calculation), but it also challenged me to...
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5 Reasons You Should Come to My Class This Year
While I would be DELIGHTED to come talk with you and your colleagues about whatever your little hearts desire related to life, language, and all things teaching, what I REALLY would love is for you to...
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Hybrid High School English
Mine is the last high school course our students will ever take. They're done with all other high school classes after the 12th grade and basically get to enjoy a full load of free college courses 13th...
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"That's not a project"
I don't know how I lucked out rooming with such an awesome dual immersion Pre-K teacher on my recent trip to Peru! It was so exciting to learn from her and absorb her strategies! Even though she...
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I Was Wrong about #Authres
Promise not to laugh? This is how I understood using authentic texts seven years ago. I do not know where the magic number 200 came from anymore, and WOW was I out of touch with even the CONCEPT of...
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#iFLT17 Tweets - Empowerment from Afar
Going to iFLT last year was one of the most revolutionary professional experiences I have had--right up there with three years of grad school!However, after a year of lots and lots of traveling, I...
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Why I Won't Teach Novels in Spanish
Let me be clear: I am a Spanglish teacher. I went into this game an English teacher, and novels have been the basis for my approach to instruction for a goodly portion of my career. It took me a while...
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That's My Jam! Starting Spanish 1 in Style
David Bisbal, I still love you, but it was time to retire "Te mueves tú" last year. Last year, Nicky Jam took my pop latino novio's place (I am eternally grateful to Sra. Whisenhunt for the...
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4 CI Strategies from CI Liftoff
I don't think anyone would call me a TPRS teacher, though I've certainly dabbled in comprehensible input for years, and I will gladly sip some CI Kool-Aid when offered a fresh serving, whether through...
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