viernes, 11 de agosto de 2017

Ingredients in the soup

Image result for pozoleDuring the last four days, I have been thinking a lot about all the "ingredients" that we teachers use in our classes. As teachers, we all have our own "soup" that we serve to students. (I'm pretty sure that I read this metaphor on someone else's blog.) Every teacher's "soup" is unique and there is no exact, correct recipe for language teaching. (But yes, some soups definitely "taste" better and are more nourishing!) My soup ingredients have changed a lot and my soup has gotten much better in the six years that I have been sharing on this blog, partially because it is a place of reflection, but just as much, it has helped me to create an amazing PLN that I learn so much from!

I have spent the last four days at the Express Fluency Teacher Training in Brattleboro, VT. During this time, I observed some amazing teachers (Tina Hargaden, Grant BoulangerDustin Williamson, Annabelle Allen -AKA la maestra loca, Elissa McClean, and Justin Slocum Bailey) in classes and learned a ton from them at sessions too. One of the best parts of this conference was observing CI classes (if you can find a conference where you can do that, go!). I spent two days acquiring some French in Tina Hargaden's class. She is an amazingly skilled CI teacher. She made it so easy that at times that I didn't even realize I was sitting in a French class. I feel like I can really implement some of these CI strategies much better now.

Another highlight was that my sons (9 & 12) were able to be in class for four days with Annabelle Allen and Grant Boulanger. They really enjoyed the classes and acquired a lot. My boys even made comments about how this way of learning (really acquiring) Spanish is so easy and fun.

So, as I was at the conference, I got to thinking about what some of the main "ingredients" in my "soup" are, and I came up with these:
After these last four days, I have a some new "ingredients" to add to my soup.
I hope to share more about these new ingredients during the school year!

2 comentarios:

  1. Kara- What a great reflection. I spent the past week at an OWL training- an amazing method and with some amazing colleagues.

    ResponderEliminar
    Respuestas
    1. Thanks Kelly! OWL is another great techniques for CI :) We are so lucky to have so many resources and people to learn from.

      Eliminar