More on visceral circling and Archie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRI9DcPLMaU

I had mentioned here that I wanted to experiment with making some sort of training videos that addressed common problems that we face in learning comprehension based instruction. I want to know if there is a training option to classroom video in which we kind of informally share thoughts about various topics we work with everyday. I just

We repeatedly discuss here nuances in the amount of L2 we use in the language. Most of us want to at least hit that 90% ACTFL figure, and some of us, Reuben at least, go fully up to 100% use. We strive daily to those ends. But the discussion on how much we use the

In the last of these articles on conflict, Robert picks apart the prinicpal’s letter to Ben Lev. The letter itself is repeated here in italics first: Dear —, I waited to respond until I had a chance to meet with the department today to discuss some of these topics. As I mentioned in my last

The queue is jammed but I want to return to the other three “variety pack” questions from jen in the next few days. This first one is about frequent absences: A  frequently absent student in another class got a D. According to the teacher, he missed all the days they had quizzes, so he didn’t

If you feel like backing up a bit and getting some really focused practice in circling and story building for next year, you may want to try either one of these ultra simple variations on the same original script posted here about three months ago. don’t forget your quiz writer, story writer, and artist*: Story

This thread got blended into the others, but, to return to it again for those who were following it, here is a reprint of that principal’s response to our PLC member Ben Lev: Dear —, I waited to respond until I had a chance to meet with the department today to discuss some of these

Last month Lea wrote on the general topic of keeping the professional peace and I repost it here because I need to read it over and over again. It is the way I personally want to move forward in my own interactions with others about what we do. I really want to remember it: … i would

Skip got this note from his guidance director today and would like some thoughts from us: Skip, We have a student who transferred in this year who will be taking Spanish 2 next year. She would like to know how to best prepare herself this summer. [The student] is VERY bright and being fast tracked in some Humanities

Diana recently wrote this as part of an internal email to DPS WL teachers. I would like to share it with the group and do so here with her permission: No teacher in this district exclusively uses the TPRS methodology. It is a strategy used by most who have taken advantage of the professional development offered. 

Skip may have uncovered a true gold mine of children’s literature for us, and it may indeed, as he suggests, replace our need to build our own libraries for each other as per: https://benslavic.com/blog/2012/03/10/fvr-instant-library-program/ The last idea we had was to mail them around to each other as per the above, but could this replace