Monday, March 16th, my entire state's (Virginia) schools went on lockdown for two weeks. We were asked to begin virtual teaching on Tuesday. Locally, my school division asked us to provide educational opportunities for review, remediation, and spiraling, but not to begin teaching anything new. My best pieces of advice, so far, are: Ask your … Continue reading Two Weeks in Lockdown
Tag: Creativity
Content-Based Instruction
In an effort to teach the content of my Latin classes in Latin, following the advice of one of the best sessions I attended at ACTFL 2019: Building Better Courses: The Case for Content-Based Instruction by Kevin Ballestrini, Mark Pearsall, and Lindsay Sears, I have been creating One Page Wonders with my students, based on … Continue reading Content-Based Instruction
Those Middle Years in Language Class
I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about what my first year students and I are doing. Today's post is instead about my second and third year students. Those students are frequently the ones who end up forgotten as I plan activities and lessons. They are my "oh, darn" last-minute idea classes … Continue reading Those Middle Years in Language Class
O di immortales! Carmina in Classe!
I wish I had known what to do with songs or just how awesome teaching with songs is... Before I delve into what we've been doing in Latin I this week or just how excited all my Latin classes are to do songs, I have to start by saying thanks to a few folks. Latin … Continue reading O di immortales! Carmina in Classe!
VINCO (a listening bingo-like word race) and more…
A review of three activities that worked very well in class. At least one of them, I believe, might be an activity of my own imagination. VINCO* Though I myself am not a fan of BINGO, my students have always seemed to love it. Though, in reality, the game offers little in the way of … Continue reading VINCO (a listening bingo-like word race) and more…
Seating – Ideas vs the Reality of Live Students
As this school year is coming to an end, student attendance is spotty between standardized testing, retake testing, exams, and exam exemptions. I am still teaching as much as possible in this situation, but sometimes I just give up for that day. What to do then? Well, for starters, I ask the students to help … Continue reading Seating – Ideas vs the Reality of Live Students
The Three C’s of CI
[You might have noticed this post appeared, originally, incomplete... it was. After having planned open-heart surgery at the beginning of the school year, a large ovarian mass, borderline cancerous, was discovered in December. My surgery was planned for March 19th. Wednesday, March 13th, I ended up in the emergency room with extreme pain. I had … Continue reading The Three C’s of CI