The summer is officially coming to an end and my desire to join the teaching community again is increasing by the day. I feel refreshed and like I may actually have something beneficial to add to the language community again. My summer contained many beach filled days where the sun was hot and the drinks were cool. There were days where I didn’t leave the couch and days where we explored our new city for hours on end. It was everything that my tired, weary, soul needed.
My mind avoided the topics of SLA, Spanish, Acquisition, etc for at least 6 weeks but my brain couldn’t hold off any more when I started to see the back-to-school ads show up. Eventually, my restful nights turned into sleepless nights filled with thoughts like “how can I be a better teacher this year, what curriculum do I need to revamp, what are my own beliefs about SLA?” Eventually I had an epiphany that in order to answer all of my questions, I 100% had to mute several people on social media so the pressure of PD, material revamping, and classroom decor would end. I had to figure out what my classroom would look like after a year of teaching in Covid-19 hell and in a brand new district with 100% control on what curriculum I use. The influence from others on social media was doing me a disservice (not intentionally, of course. I truly love them at the end of the day).
You may wonder why I just didn’t do what I wanted in my previous district. The answer is…I am a people pleaser and I don’t conflict well. So, I did do what I wanted but I compromised too much. At my new school, I was actually told to use what I wanted and that it is completely okay to not do the same thing as everyone else. WHAT A BLESSING, RIGHT??? So, my brain went to work thinking about all of the techniques I wanted to try and resources I wanted to use but never did. I also jumped for joy thinking about the things I won’t have to do (adiós AMSCO). Let me tell you, it was a lot of mental unpacking and soul searching.
Here is what I unpacked and decided upon:
- I will use SOMOS by The Comprehensible Classroom as my main curriculum.
- As far a specific thematic topics, my school will use VOCES.
- Speaking activities will be on Flipgrid (hello, grad school research project). Yes, I believe in practicing speaking. Go ahead and report me to the input only guards.
- Adiós vocab memorization.
- Proficiency is key which means that the tasks need to align to the 5-Cs.
- Can-Do Statements will be used (no, my old school didn’t use them).
- SLOW DOWN
- Do what it takes to know the target is comprehended (thanks SE Cottrell).
- Grammar is implicit with some explicit exceptions when needed.
- Culture isn’t an option, it is the overarching umbrella to everything we do.
Ahhh, it feels good to get this off my chest.
Now that you know where I stand for the upcoming year, let’s talk about what you will see on this website!
- Freebies section! I don’t have any interest in selling things on TPT (did you know Ohio can actually take your license for not doing it correctly?) so I will be setting up a freebies section here of resources I make.
- More posts! I have 3 in my drafts and roughly 6 in my brain. Maybe 1 a week?
- Honest hot takes 🙂 If you need them more frequently, check my Twitter:)
I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and have a great transition back into the classroom!