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: curriculum
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
Stepping Back and Taking Stock
This week has been rough. Very rough. The students are far past comfortable with me and the class - now, they are pushing boundaries and limits to see where the line is drawn. If I'm honest with myself, they've gotten away with a bit of chaos. I haven't been 100% on script with the whole … Continue reading Stepping Back and Taking Stock
Third Day of Class
First week of school, recap, part three. Here's an overview of what we did in class (Latin I - I do teach a total of 5 preps of Latin, from Latin I through AP Latin). We are on an A/B block schedule, so I only saw the students three times this week, for about an … Continue reading Third Day of Class
Teacher Notebook
In an effort to keep myself organized this next year while doing new (to me) activities and lessons, as well as find a way to record class behavior and/or misbehavior without a ton of extra "things" hanging around that I need to keep track of, I've put together a notebook of resources. Here's what I'm … Continue reading Teacher Notebook
Four Heroes (Quattuor Heroes) #1: Hercules
Hercules - MAXIMUS HEROS! Hercules, the greatest of the Greek heroes... maybe, maybe not. If you are a teacher looking for Hercules resources: a simplified, vocabulary-sheltered, comprehensive story on Hercules, along with CI activities to preview, assess, and review the story... look no further! [Disclaimer: I have not class-tested these resources yet, but am planning … Continue reading Four Heroes (Quattuor Heroes) #1: Hercules
What To Do Next?
[It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind... Thanks to an amazing CI Curriculum Picinic on Saturday with Tina Hargaden and Kaitlin Leppert, I have done just that. I am now editing my Latin II plans to focus on Roman values through cycles of description, narration, informational and opinion writing.] I've basically completed my plan … Continue reading What To Do Next?
End of Year Assessments
I struggle with assessments, in general, and final assessments, in particular. Everything inside of me fights this idea of testing or assessing students on how close or far they are from a set goal. I can't wrap my head around the idea that every student should and must be at the same point, with the same … Continue reading End of Year Assessments
CI and Me
Many times, when I'm faced with trying to explain what I'm doing in my class - either questioned by a colleague, an administrator, a parent, or even a student - I use the term "Comprehensible Input" and then get met with either looks of disdain - "another buzzword, another fix... why fix what ain't broke" … Continue reading CI and Me
Dinosaurs Speak Latin 