Do you ever really wonder what the inside of a teacher’s brain looks like??? I really needed to dump out all of the things that I was thinking about in my brain and just get it down somewhere for me to reference. I figured it would be fun to share some of the things that I am working on, pondering over, and well…procrastinating on. You may find fun ideas for yourself or you may consider texting the teacher in your life and asking them if they are doing okay…because this year is HARD!

My brain looks like this….

Spanish 1 Brain:

  1. Getting observed in 2 weeks, definitely going to be working on talking about out likes and dislikes….must use the Chat Map from Amy Lenord!
  2. Interpersonal speaking in Level 1 needs to increase, change bell work to a speaking practice where they have essential questions to work through and they see how many they are able to answer by the end of the week…use an accountability ladder to keep them on task…ooohh and then I can do a quick group observation MWF with each group to see how they progressed throughout the week….could turn this into a Google form where they do a self-assessment and it is easier to track (can be used with my observation because that is student data/goal setting/ self reflection….informs my speaking activities for my observation on what differentiations to make next time) – yep, doing this.
  3. After a week of DDLM crafts, next week is back to business…we can do this.
  4. How can I get X to complete a task without getting distracted? What system can we put in place?
  5. Where can I find small clothing manipulatives for my braille reader while we are talking about clothing/colors/adjectives next week?
  6. Oh, maybe I should do a sentence scrambler activity as a pre-assessment for adjective agreement? …..yes, doing this because it is way more fun than a KWL chart. Then, their mini-summative assessment can be those sentences again and they have to see if they can get them correct after our lesson.
  7. Must make weekly slides for next week….

Spanish 2 Brain:

  1. Readers workshop needs to catch up on Monday due to field trip on Thursday and party on Friday. What do I do with the kids who finished with chapters 4-6 already? I don’t want them to move ahead without the next mini-lesson but don’t want to give busy work…..hmmm. Must think on this.
  2. For chapters 7-9, focus on conflict/ cause & effect???/ story mapping….. oh let’s do story mapping because we can review as a whole group Chapters 1-6 as we are working on filling in the story map (already have one ready), then they can do group reading, small groups can focus on helping each group fill in the rising and falling action….and then everyone finishes the book together as a celebration with chapter 10.
  3. After the book, we can dive into writer’s workshop with the Netflix Book project. Writing mini-lessons can be over summarization where we practice shrinking summaries and identifying the key details in the book. This is a great presentational assessment. Students can present their writing as a speaking assessment as well and we could do it gallery walk style. This should take us right until Thanksgiving.
  4. After Thanksgiving, we can dive into daily routine and that will take us to Christmas…..

Professional Life Brain:

  1. Must fill out pre-conference form
  2. Must create PD timeline as a proposal for admin to approve so we can get the topics covered that we want to.
  3. Need to email Teacher’s Discovery for a quote because I GOT MY GRANT $$$!!!!!!
  4. I think I want to write a book about how teachers in World Language can do workshop models to save them their sanity and honestly it just is really awesome.
  5. Must come up with a 6 module outline of the Spanish credit recovery course.
  6. My classroom is a disaster but I will just go in at 6:30 on Monday to get it done.
  7. I never laminated the color word wall…..
  8. I need to organize my Google Drive better.
  9. Must contact ODE to see if they offer PDs for WLE.
  10. I hope that girl who was crying today was okay after we hugged.
  11. What do I do about these cell phones?????? I really don’t want to be a total ….well you know…but it has got to get under control.
  12. Put together literacy PD for Georgia teachers for the 18th of November.
  13. Have I put any grades into the gradebook this quarter? I actually am concerned….
  14. CRAP I forgot those freaking Public School Works Trainings! Looks like I can do those in the car on the way to my parents.
  15. Oh….must log into Basecamp and figure out a Social Media plan for Calico next week.

Personal Life Brain:

  1. I am finally going home to see my family this weekend!!!
  2. I need to book our Spain hotel and contact Iberia about our flight being through British Airways now.
  3. Going to the doctor on Tuesday at 3:30pm…don’t forget…
  4. Next weekend, plan a day of nothing.
  5. Check into transferring grad school credits to somewhere else…..
  6. Plan a date night with my husband for soon.
  7. Breathe.

I LOVE my job so much but I am so excited to just not be at work tomorrow or Sunday and to finally see my family. We are real humans with real feelings and real capacity limits. Cheers to the weekend!