Low to no prep ideas to use for reading/listening

Ever since I helped lead the PEARLL summer workshop on input to output, I have wanted to write this blog post- but it is always so hard to find the time! As teachers are transitioning to a more proficiency based teaching, it can be overwhelming. Or they may have to use a textbook and want

Lesson Plan Inspiration and Updates

I wanted to share a bit of a haphazard post about what has been happening in my classes and life recently! First- a podcast update! Last year, I wrote down all of my lessons on Google Drive into folders and LINKED to the resources. It was a breakthrough for me! In the past, that was

How I use Calendar Talk

In this post, I am sharing how calendar talk has started working for me last year and this year. Calendar Talk originated from Tina Hargaden and Claudia Elliott has also helped how I see Calendar Talk. If you are unfamiliar with Calendar Talk, many teachers use it as a way to talk about what is

2022 Technology Updates/What I use in my own classroom

When I started out with my blog, I talked a lot about technology. I loved utilizing it in each class, and I marveled at what was available for teachers. Then the pandemic hit, and I felt a technology overload. However, since then, I have found some great tools that I still use with my classes

Day 1 ideas/tweaks

Whew! This summer has been amazing and a whirlwind. I have been so appreciative of the feedback that we have gotten over the book. I want to try to answer some questions about Common Ground that have been coming up at different points. I am excited that it is motivating teachers to make changes to

Happiness mini-unit: Novice students

This year, one of our central themes was joy and togetherness. With this idea, I decided to ask the question of my sixth graders: what makes us happy? I have to say that a lot of this was inspired by my conversations with Samara Spielberg who has done a lot of work on social-emotional learning.

March favorites: Infographics, field trips, and more!

This year continues to challenge; however, I feel much more motivated. Part of this involved going to NECTFL. I have to say- despite the pictures, NECTFL wasn’t all roses. Almost my WHOLE family got some stomach bug. I actually had to take off the day before I was leaving because I felt so bad. My

Heavenly Bites: Mexico Tortas

I really love a lot of the documentaries that Netflix has been producing that focus on various cultures in Latin America! The most recent one is Heavenly Bites: Mexico. I created a few day lesson plan to look at the tortas episode. Overall, we are studying the influences of other cultures on Mexican food and

Super Bowl Lesson Plans: 2022

Happy week before the Super Bowl! Next week, I am going up to present at NECTFL twice! (If you are going, I am presenting on Comprehensible Pop Culture and Best of GWATFL about Interpersonal Tasks and Assessments on Saturday. I would love to see you there!). For both my fifth and sixth graders, I am

First Fridays: February 4, 2022

Happy Friday! Whew- for me January was ROUGH with various quarantines and snow, but it calmed down toward the end, and I am feeling much better by this Friday. Although I definitely didn’t finish as many other things that I had planned. One thing was what to do with Olympic Games! Luckily, some other people