The Power of Public Art Check out this chalk drawing by David Zinn, a world-renowned street artist who happens to live in my neighborhood. Think of all the ways you and your students could talk about it in the target language! At all levels, public art can be a superb source of learning and interaction, […]
I sooo wish I had been able to offer these sooner, but I’ll be thrilled if they can still help any Spanish, French, German, or Latin teachers and their students! The linked slides, images, and tutorials are intended to help you support students’ exposure to and comprehension of the target language while enjoying a visual […]
Having heard from lots of people with both thanks and follow-up questions on various presentations I’ve done about using Zoom as a teacher, I decided to make a little course in 10 bite-sized modules—under 10 minutes each—to share my experience and tips for getting a ton out of Zoom without needing to learn any other […]
This post is a personal reflection and a challenge on the topic of my teacher mantra video #3, which you can watch here or at the bottom of this page. During the last two weeks, I have had two physical and mental crashes—times when, due to poor self-care the previous several days, I spent an […]
In this post: 1. Spanish for Latin Teachers, a new online course by JSB 2. Deep discount on just-launched virtual Summer Institutes with Tina Hargaden of the World Language Proficiency Project Spanish for Latin Teachers For years I have wanted to create this course to take advantage of the boost in comprehension and community […]
I’m all about improving teaching and learning without creating more work for anybody. The most recent pair of videos in the Tuned-In Teacher Mantra series addresses two of my favorite techniques for doing just that—in both face-to-face and virtual teaching. I’ve described the Buy-In Switcheroo and Making Lemonade before (in this post), but I believe […]
I hope you are safe, healthy, and even finding some ways to flourish in an unprecedentedly restrictive environment. I want to say Thank You to the many of you who have gotten in touch to encourage me as I’ve lost much of my income to the virus, and I want to encourage you with five […]
How students perceive our presence in the classroom has a huge impact on everything from their trust in us to their ability to learn efficiently. This is partly due to mirror neurons and partly because how we feel (or act like we feel) affects our communication, our enthusiasm, our attention to students’ needs, and even […]
It’s great when students are curious. It’s exciting when students aim high. It’s rewarding when students make connections. It’s thrilling when students take risks. But what about those times when one of these can get the class too far off track, or when satisfying one student’s curiosity would lose the rest, or when a student […]
Nothing is as important as human beings. Not ideas, not subjects, not institutions, not goals, not lessons, not information, nothing. This hit me harder than usual in the past week during some fraught threads on social media. I realized that I was drawn to some views more than others not just because of the overall […]