Bitmoji of JSB skateboarding with a racoon and saying ¡TÚ PUEDES!

2019 Reflections — Goal 4: Positivity

This is part 4 of my self-evaluations of my “Four Things to Be Relentless about in 2019,” which were Inclusion, Reality, Collaboration, and Positivity. You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here. This is how I summarized Thing 4: Positivity I’ve long had a mantra by which I remind myself […]

JSB with colleagues and adult students at a bar in Mérida, Spain

2019 Reflections — Goal 3: Collaboration

This is part 3 of my self-evaluations of my “Four Things to Be Relentless about in 2019,” which were Inclusion, Reality, Collaboration, and Positivity. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. This is how I summarized Thing 3: Collaboration I was the kid who hated group work because it made everything take longer. […]

outdoor brick stairs going up along brick wall with green vines

2019 Reflections — Goal 2: Reality

This is part 2 of my self-evaluations of my “Four Things to Be Relentless about in 2019,” which were Inclusion, Reality, Collaboration, and Positivity. You can read part 1 here. This is how I summarized Thing 2: Reality Practically no one’s actual situation is remotely close to ideal: curricular requirements issued from on high, tests […]

closeup of laptop keys with color added to some of the keys

2019 Reflections — Goal 1: Inclusion

I’ve begun reflecting on the year a bit earlier than usual. Starting today, I’ll publish a self-evaluation each week for one of my “Four Things to Be Relentless about in 2019.” My four things were Inclusion, Reality, Collaboration, and Positivity. This is how I summarized Thing 1: Inclusion Many areas that my work touches—pedagogy at […]

Top Five Posts of 2017

It’s the time of year for Top Somenumber Posts! I’ve enjoyed seeing other bloggers share their top posts of the year. Here are the five posts on indwellinglanguage.com that generated the most interaction. As you can see, three of them were reflections on / descriptions of things that happened at Express Fluency 2017. I hope […]

Winter Bonus Sessions Announced!

Having heard from several people who want to use some of their winter break to pursue a learning or teaching goal, I’m excited to announce that, for the first time in about fifteen years, I’ll be home during winter break and have opened a bunch of time slots for online coaching, tutoring, or conversation sessions […]

Do I Make Students Do Stuff I Would Never Do?

Here’s a goals-related question I occasionally ask myself: Now, the fact that I would consider something annoying or a waste of time in my own language learning doesn’t automatically mean it’s not worth my students’ while. We shouldn’t assume that our students are versions of ourselves, whether it comes to interests, temperament, neurology, or motivation, though […]

“High-Leverage Practices” from TeachingWorks

This week I go on a tangent from the Goals series to alert you to TeachingWorks, an initiative of the School of Education at the University of Michigan here in Ann Arbor. Its motto–“Great teachers aren’t born. They’re taught.”–represents its conviction that skillful teaching isn’t merely the result of certain personality traits, nor is it something that […]

What Are My Goals? (Learner Edition)

This is the second in a series of posts about goals for language learners and teachers. The first post raised a lot of questions for myself and others, questions I’m eager to explore in the rest of the series. For now, though, because this is a site for learners as well as teachers, I want […]