Tag Archives: ACTFL Core Practices

109: Streamline Lesson Planning


How do you plan out your individual classes and keep an eye on the pacing? Today’s episode is a Leveling Up episode, where I coach Tamica, a Spanish teacher in New Jersey. Lesson planning with a close eye on timing and class pacing is the area where she wants to level up her teaching practice. Dive in with us & take the ideas back to your classroom. 

Suggestions:

  • Develop a lesson planning template or framework that includes sections for warm-up activities, instructional content, single, pair and group practice opportunities, and assessments. This helps maintain consistency and organization. Break this into 2 or 3 sections per class.
  • Create a list of 10 go-to activities and work toward putting the number of minutes along with each one so that you can effectively gauge and determine how long each one will take.
  • Collect data on how long each activity takes and mix and match the activities.

Action Plan:

  • This Week: Create a list of 10 go-to activities that include various opportunities for single, pair and group practice opportunities
  • The Coming Weeks: As you move through the fall and implement the class template and activities, keep track of the minutes on task and make note of the time for planning purposes. Reflect on the effectiveness of your class template and planning. Revise and adjust your future lesson plans based on insights gained from the reflections and student input.

You  can also be a part of Leveling Up coaching episode if there is an area of your teaching that you like to improve or enhance.  Join me on the podcast for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode.  

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me as a guest on the podcast.

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108: You Get What You Ask For


We are back for a new school year. I asked you in the spring what you would like to get from this podcast. In this episode I’m excited to share with you how we will be changing up the podcast episodes (just a little) so that they are exactly what you are looking for and need as you approach your teaching.

  • Who is listening to the podcast?
  • Looks like you want 25-30 minute episodes
  • All the topics you requested
  • Leveling Up coaching episodes
  • What to look forward to

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me as a guest on the podcast.

You  can also be a part of Leveling Up coaching episode if there is an area of your teaching that you like to improve or enhance.  Join me on the podcast for a Leveling Up Coaching Episode.  

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

107: Write and Discuss and Parallel Texts


This is episode 6 in my 2023 summer headspace series. This is a chance to revisit episodes from the previous school year during the summer months when you may have a little extra time. Beginning August 28th, you will see new episodes with exciting new topics every Monday.  For today we take a look back at episodes 79 where Ben Fisher-Rodriguez shows how to do a Write and Discuss and episode 90 where Kaitlin Leppert talks us through parallel texts. These two activities work really well together.  Let’s jump in.

  • Ben Fisher (79): the benefits of using Write and Discuss
  • Logistics of doing a Write and Discuss
    • – when you us it
    • – how you do it
    • – the procedure
    • – what you can do after
  • Ben’s pro tips
  • Kaitlin Leppert (90): engaging students in a parallel text
    • – creating an original text
    • – whole Class parallel texts
    • – individual/small group parallel texts
    • specific examples
  • Combining Write and Discuss with a Parallel Text.

Episodes: 

 

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

106: Interpersonal Activities and Student Engagement


This is episode 5 in my 2023 summer headspace series. This is a chance to revisit episodes from the previous school year during the summer months when you may have a little extra time. Beginning August 28th, you will see new episodes with exciting new topics every Monday.  For today we take a look back at episodes 78 where Meredith White shares lots of interpersonal activities and episode 82 where Wendy Mercado and Valérie Greer give us a wealth of engaging language activities.  Let’s jump in.

  • Meredith White (76): how prescribed (curriculum) grammar and vocabulary come into play with communicative activities
  • effective interpersonal (and communicative) activities that we can use in our classrooms
  • Wendy Mercado & Valérie Greer (82): how “games” or “activities” address skill development and standards
  • lots of ideas for engaging activities and games
    • High Tech
    • Some Tech
    • Low Tech
    • No Tech

Episodes: 

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

105: Revisit Culture and Representation


This is episode 4 in my 2023 summer headspace series. This is a chance to revisit episodes from the previous school year during the summer months when you may have a little extra time. Beginning August 28th, you will see new episodes with exciting new topics every Monday.  For today we take a look back at episodes 78 where Allison Perryman talks about seeing, hearing and tasting culture and episode 88 where Kia D. London discusses representation in the language classroom.  Let’s jump in.

  • Allison Perryman (78): formats for presenting and engaging students in diverse cultural experiences
  • Allison’s approach of seeing, tasting and hearing diverse cultures with students
  • Kia D. London (88):  examples of centering representation and diverse racial and ethnic content from Kia’s classroom and curriculum
  • how to do this consistently while also engaging students authentically

Episodes: 

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

104: Revisit Teacher Toolbox Episodes


This is episode 3 in my 2023 summer headspace series. This is a chance to revisit episodes from the previous school year during the summer months when you may have a little extra time. Beginning August 28th, you will see new episodes with exciting new topics every Monday.  For today we take a look back at episodes 69 and 85, 2 of my Teacher Toolbox episodes with activity that you can use right away in your classroom. 

Activities Mentioned: 

  • Quiz-Quiz-Trade
  • At the Table
  • Shipwreck
  • The Card Path
  • The Die Decides
  • Logic Puzzles
  • Learn/Practice/Apply
  • Time Capsules
  • ChatGPT 

Episodes: 

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

103: Revisit Department Goals and Language Associations


This is episode 2 in my 2023 summer headspace series. This is a chance to revisit episodes from the previous school year during the summer months when you may have a little extra time. Beginning August 28th, you will see new episodes with exciting new topics every Monday.  For today we take a look back at episodes 60 where Tin Eagan talks about leading a proficiency-based language department and episode 74 where Mike Mitchel and Jenny Delfini discuss state language associations.

Episodes: 

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

102: Revisit Common Ground


This is episode 1 in my 2023 summer headspace series. This is a chance to revisit episodes from the previous school year during the summer months when you may have a little extra time. Beginning August 28th, you will see new episodes with exciting new topics every Monday.  For today we take a look back at the  episodes about the book Common Ground.

Episodes: 

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

101: What the Podcast Will Look Like Over the Summer


Now that the school year is over hopefully you have a little less on your mind and have a little extra time. This is the perfect time to get into your summer headspace.  What do I mean by “Summer Headspace?”

  • time to reflect without other pressing priorities and issues
  • opportunity to revisit themes and episodes with a fresh lens
  • catch something new.
  • finish an episode that you started
  • listen to an episode for the first time

I’ll group episodes by theme so that you can listen to them together with a 5 minute recap to pull the themes together. The links to episodes will be in the show notes.

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.

100: Look Back at 100 Episodes & 60+ Guests


Guess what? This is episode 100 of the world language classroom podcast. I was watching data to see if we would get to 100 episodes first or 100,000 downloads. I’m happy to report that we crossed the 100,000 download mark well before this 100th episode.  So, thank you so much for your continued support of the podcast and the many guests who have joined me over the past 2 years.  In this episode I want to look back at some key takeaways from the collective wisdom of guests and share some listener highlights as well.  Can’t wait, so Let’s jump in!

Episodes Mentioned in this Episode:

  • Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins (65,66)
  • Ben Fisher on Write and Discuss (79)
  • Kaitlin Leppert on Parallel Texts (90)
  • Cécile Lainé on Social Justice Standards (33)
  • Ben Tinsley on Diversity and Equitable Feedback (27, 58)
  • Joseph Parody Brown  LGBTQ+ Inclusive Classrooms (42)
  • Vicky Wang on Courageous Dialogues and Affinity Spaces (28)
  • Allison Perryman on Seeing, Hearing and Tasting Culture (78)
  • Kia D. London on Representation (88) 
  • A.C. Quintero on Equity in the Language Classroom (10)
  • Lisa Sherpard on Critical Thinking Skills (92)
  • Margarita Pérez García on Story-Listening (91)
  • Teacher Toolbox (25, 54, 69, 85)

Work with Joshua either in person or remotely.

Follow wherever you listen to podcasts.

Teachers want to hear from you and what you are proud of in your classroom.
Join me on the podcast.
We record conversations remotely, so you can be anywhere.