First week of a new school!

Week one at my new school is done! It was a whirlwind and just flew by. Teaching 4th-8th grade is very different than just 3rd-5th grade even though two of the grades are the same. My 4th graders are learning Spanish for the first time and it is so fun to watch them experiment with the language. On the other hand, my 8th graders are in their 5th year and I am their third teacher in three years. They're still trying to see who I am and what class is going to look like for them this year. So far so good, I think :) I was very nervous to start with the middle schoolers but they really are quite a lot of fun! Quick refresher... I see my 4th-6th graders twice a week of 40 minutes. I see my 7th and 8th graders every day for 40 minutes but only 9 weeks out of the year.

I started each class basically the same way... shake everyone's hand while they say their name (me llamo ___. - yes even the 4th graders did this!) We shared good news from the summer (required bit from Capturing Kinds Hearts... great program if you've never heard of it) then I showed a picture slideshow of myself and my family. I spoke about every picture in Spanish and then had the students translate (or guess for the 4th graders) what I said. Even the 4th graders picked up on almost everything I said. Then we did a ball toss and for the middle schoolers, we also played a quick review game. Day 1, done! Day 2 was all about picking out Spanish names (am I crazy for making myself learn twice as many names as I already have to?) and practicing asking/answering questions about names. Middle schoolers played another review game. Up next comes a quick communication unit with classroom commands and useful phrases for all grades but the vocabulary is different in each of the grade. I am reviewing the basic 4th grade vocab in every grade though to make sure everyone knows what I want them to know.

Many of the teachers in my school have children in the school and I am lucky enough to teach most of them (no pressure... right?) So far though, many of those parents have come up to me saying that their kids are really enjoying Spanish (yay!). That makes me feel good. Plus, my assistant principal and principal have both stopped in my class at least once and left with smiles on their faces. My principal even speaks Spanish! How awesome (and rare) is that?!?

I have so many ideas flowing through my mind about what I want to do and how that it is difficult to organize my thoughts right now. I will still be updating my blog regularly (though maybe not as regularly at first as I adjust to my new school) so be on the lookout for lesson ideas and my thoughts on the (Spanish) teaching profession!

The end of the beginning

It’s over. My first year of teaching is officially over. My first job is officially over. And it doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel like when I go to work tomorrow, I can go in an hour later because I don’t have to plan. I have curriculum meetings 8-3 this week and then that’s it. It’s surreal. I can’t believe it’s June! This year went by so fast. Every year since I can remember just keeps speeding up and now it feels like I’m just flying through life. Last year at this time I was substitute teaching, planning for a wedding and a honeymoon, and getting ready to move to a new city. This year, I am preparing to go to China in a week (yay family!), putting offers on houses, and getting ready for my new job (in an old city - the one where I grew up) where I’ll have my second, first-year of teaching. If the University of Michigan taught me anything, it’s that changes are good and exciting;they are just new opportunities to explore this world and myself in a different light. I am sad that this chapter of my life has ended but am looking forward to the future. Check back on this blog over the summer and next year as I continue to explore the wonderful world of education as a Spanish teacher. Have a great summer everyone!

More fire alarms

Update... (no I did not set up the fire alarm again). The fire alarm has gone off 3 or 4 more times since I set it off all by different people. It always goes off for the same reason; either something in the oven or burnt popcorn in a not-so-great microwave. I'm just proud of myself that I set it off when there were fewer kids in school (because it was after school) and it was a nice day. We've had to stand outside pretty long some days in the cold and wind while waiting for the firemen to give the okay the other times it has gone off.

Hey girl

The end of the year is pretty difficult. Students are check-out and ready for summer and I'm getting there as well. So while I was on facebook, one of my friends mom's posted this on her page and I clicked the link. It's kind of weird but made me smile. Sorry guys, this blog is just for female teachers but is still entertaining whenever you need a pick-me-up. Check it out!

"Standardized" testing in Spanish

My 5th graders this week get to do something that no other 5th grade class has done before in Lake Bluff. We are taking online computer assessments, in Spanish! (They were not pleased with me when I told them that was the surprise for class this week haha.) The test is called the STAMP4SE (for grades 3-6; grades 6-12+ take the STAMP4S) and you can find more information on this website. Basically, it is just a way to measure language proficiency in our school. Since this is the first year, there are still working out a few technicalities in the assessment so not everyone finished everything but it will be taken every spring from this year forward. This is not an assessment that needs any studying ahead of time and it doesn't count for a grade. It is just a way for the world language team to see how much Spanish our students are soaking in.  There are 4 parts to this test; reading, writing, listening, and speaking, however, I am only giving the last two sections this year. In the future, 5th graders may take all 4 sections, who knows. The data we get this year from the assessments will be used to help in the redesign of the curriculum over the summer. Here are a few things that I've noticed about the test:


1. It takes almost 15-20 minutes for elementary kids to get logged in to the test after testing the headphone/microphone, downloading the directions documents from my dropbox, and entering the test codes, passwords, and usernames. And it really helps to have the tech person or just an extra pair of hands to help during this set-up.
2. The listening section is like 20 minutes. (The number of questions varies on how much Spanish you know.... the more Spanish you know, the more questions you take.) But the sound cuts in and out so the kids can't always hear the whole question. After day 2, we figured out that you can just refresh the page but sometimes that doesn't even work.
3. You can't go straight from listening to speaking. Instead, you have to log out of the test, quit safari, turn the airport off.... then turn it back on and log in again. Otherwise, the test stops working during the first speaking question. This si weird and annoying but something I can deal with now that I know it happens.
4. Kids get nervous during the speaking sections. They speak super quiet into the microphone because they're afraid of speaking in front of their peers even though we do multiple speaking activities every lesson.
5. Some kids asked me if it was okay that they spoke a little bit of English during the speaking section because they didn't know a word.... I just shook my head and sighed. 
6. New pages (questions) take forever to load. Sometimes it just stops loading and you have the quit and turn the airport off to pick up where you left off.




I'd love to give this test at my new job but I have no idea how the curriculum and/or budget works at NHA. That'll be something that I have to figure out this summer or next fall. I like the idea of giving this national test because it is aligned with the ACTFL oral proficiency targets. (I'll do a post about those a little later.) 


I am excited (and nervous) to see the results!

Free online resources for students

This website has a list (and explanation) of a bunch of websites that are kid-friendly. I haven't really looked through the list yet but thought I would share it. From a glance, they seem pretty good.

Free online resources for educators

You ever have that moment when you realized that you somehow forgot to plan your next lesson (life happens)? Or when you're just at a loss for an activity because the kids need more practice with the vocabulary because you're sick of doing the same thing? Or you need an easy sub plan that's NOT a worksheet? Then check out this website! It works for any language because you type in the words but it has all the templates, pictures, and directions for game boards, dominoes, bingo, crosswords, word searches, etc (yes I realize some of those are worksheets, but not most of them!). This list is endless! I just stumbled upon this website this morning and immediately book marked it for the future. I hope you find it as useful as I do!