Hello Teacher Friends!
August is upon us, and you know what that means! SCHOOL! I am starting in a new district this year AND I'm movin' on up to high school Spanish (1 & 2). I am having pretty mixed feelings: pumped to go back, sad to leave summer. The constant struggle for teachers!
I hope your summer has been all kinds of fantastic. I know mine has! Between weddings, creating new TpT items, vacations, and church events, I have been all over the place. If I'm being honest, I am VERY ready for routine, schedules, and calendars again.
Every year as I begin a new school year, I think about what students want from teachers, no matter the subject. I think about what I wanted as a student and the teachers I admired most. What did those teachers have that others didn't? The answer for me was always PASSION. Sometimes, I hated a subject but loved a teacher because of their PASSION for the subject.
My main question is HOW teachers incorporate passion into their everyday, standards-based classrooms. How do we meet standards and still show our kids that we LOVE what we do? What can we incorporate into the daily mundane to give our kids a little umph, a little motivation, a little extra HOORAH?
The result of my questioning? This list. By no means is this a comprehensive list of ALL of the things you can incorporate into your classroom to add passion or fun. There are only THREE suggestions. However, it's a start! Feel free to comment below how YOU would incorporate passion into your classroom.
Here we go:
1. Cook up! If you like to cook at home, why not bring the joys and the yums of your kitchen to your classroom. I think one of the BEST ways to tie in culture is to let kids experience culture through taste. Everyone loves food! If you love to cook, cook for your students! Make the last Friday of every month Paella Day, make a Tortilla Tuesday (As in tortilla de patata, cebolla, etc.). Learning is as much about enjoying everyday life and culture as it is about how to conjugate ser. Show your kids that! And let them bring food too! (Though I may be wary of trying it...)
If you're not as big of a cook, you could just have the students watch cooking videos. Check out "La Receta de la Abuelita," on Youtube. She's pretty awesome and it makes for a good listening activity. I have a follow-along resource for videos on this Youtube Channel that you can purchase here.
August is upon us, and you know what that means! SCHOOL! I am starting in a new district this year AND I'm movin' on up to high school Spanish (1 & 2). I am having pretty mixed feelings: pumped to go back, sad to leave summer. The constant struggle for teachers!
I hope your summer has been all kinds of fantastic. I know mine has! Between weddings, creating new TpT items, vacations, and church events, I have been all over the place. If I'm being honest, I am VERY ready for routine, schedules, and calendars again.
Every year as I begin a new school year, I think about what students want from teachers, no matter the subject. I think about what I wanted as a student and the teachers I admired most. What did those teachers have that others didn't? The answer for me was always PASSION. Sometimes, I hated a subject but loved a teacher because of their PASSION for the subject.
My main question is HOW teachers incorporate passion into their everyday, standards-based classrooms. How do we meet standards and still show our kids that we LOVE what we do? What can we incorporate into the daily mundane to give our kids a little umph, a little motivation, a little extra HOORAH?
The result of my questioning? This list. By no means is this a comprehensive list of ALL of the things you can incorporate into your classroom to add passion or fun. There are only THREE suggestions. However, it's a start! Feel free to comment below how YOU would incorporate passion into your classroom.
Here we go:
1. Cook up! If you like to cook at home, why not bring the joys and the yums of your kitchen to your classroom. I think one of the BEST ways to tie in culture is to let kids experience culture through taste. Everyone loves food! If you love to cook, cook for your students! Make the last Friday of every month Paella Day, make a Tortilla Tuesday (As in tortilla de patata, cebolla, etc.). Learning is as much about enjoying everyday life and culture as it is about how to conjugate ser. Show your kids that! And let them bring food too! (Though I may be wary of trying it...)
If you're not as big of a cook, you could just have the students watch cooking videos. Check out "La Receta de la Abuelita," on Youtube. She's pretty awesome and it makes for a good listening activity. I have a follow-along resource for videos on this Youtube Channel that you can purchase here.
2. Do a Service Project: I am super excited to get my kids involved in serving a Spanish-speaking group of people this year. If you saw my last post, I talked about an amazing group of kiddos in Guatemala who are in major need of some basic things: clothes that fit, school supplies, etc. I'm planning on posting pictures around the room and allowing students to participate in optional planning & organizing sessions where they can brainstorm and ask questions like: What could we do to provide these students with lightly used or brand new clothes? How can we get them there? What personal touch could we put on it? This helps students connect to the language in a deeper way, a way in which HELPS other people. How cool is that?!
3. Dance/Sing: Dancing and singing - MUSIC - is, in my opinion the #2 best way to experience culture in the classroom (right after food - hehe). Encourage your students to find new Spanish music, have a dance party for the last five minutes of class, bring in a dance teacher to teach them how to salsa, use Spanish music to teach grammar, let them watch "how-to" dance videos as a reward, let them translate popular English songs into Spanish. The list is endless. Just for fun, here is my favorite Efecto Pasillo song (kind of old but I still love it!):
OR ** BETTER YET**
Throw a party with food AND singing AND dancing as a fundraiser for new clothes for beautiful children living in Guatemala or Peru or right in your community who may need it. Charge $5 to get in, have the Spanish club (or your classes) make decorations, and go to town!
My main point is GET PASSIONATE about something relating to your subject and SHOW that passion off to your students. We have the unique opportunity to open our students' eyes to the world. Take advantage of it!
Throw a party with food AND singing AND dancing as a fundraiser for new clothes for beautiful children living in Guatemala or Peru or right in your community who may need it. Charge $5 to get in, have the Spanish club (or your classes) make decorations, and go to town!
My main point is GET PASSIONATE about something relating to your subject and SHOW that passion off to your students. We have the unique opportunity to open our students' eyes to the world. Take advantage of it!