I'm feeling that there is just way too much to do in a week for me to actually do it. Balancing my classroom, my coaching, grad school, my family is taking a toll. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, however. School is over in a few short weeks. There is a lot to do in that time: 20 Time projects, wrapping up learning for German 2 & 3, GenYes has their projects throughout the end of the year, and I have grad classes to complete.
The light at the end of the tunnel, though, is that I am halfway through the grad program and I will be done in early November. This time will go by quickly, though maybe not for my family. My wife wants pre-grad school David back who doesn't have reading or homework almost every night. My kids, the same.
The light at the end of the tunnel, though, is that I am halfway through the grad program and I will be done in early November. This time will go by quickly, though maybe not for my family. My wife wants pre-grad school David back who doesn't have reading or homework almost every night. My kids, the same.
Wrapping up the school year doesn't mean I take a break from the summer. Actually, I am continually learning and practicing new skills to make myself better in order to improve student achievement. This summer I am #cuerockstar faculty in Mammoth (cool) and am taking a 1 week seminar on coding from code.org in order to start a new coding class this next year.
German 2 is ending for good. German 3 and AP are at the end. German 3 will have its last year next year. What does this mean? Training the students to use German in meaningful ways but hopefully able to begin using more complex structures. I have ditched the book (#ditchbook) and this has been an interesting endeavor. My students like it because learning is not dictated by a book, but more by their interests and when issues come up that cause us to go back and review.
German 2 is ending for good. German 3 and AP are at the end. German 3 will have its last year next year. What does this mean? Training the students to use German in meaningful ways but hopefully able to begin using more complex structures. I have ditched the book (#ditchbook) and this has been an interesting endeavor. My students like it because learning is not dictated by a book, but more by their interests and when issues come up that cause us to go back and review.
Reflecting on what to do next:
Word walls, presentations, readings, projects, AP exams...... The end of the year drives me insane. We are moving towards the end of the year and begin tying up loose ends and wrapping up topics. The hardest part is knowing what to have students wrap up with, what they should know by the end of the year. Language builds upon itself and every thing we learn is connected to previous learning in some capacity. When we are going through the year, it is never linear going from one topic to another. I find that we end up learning based upon what the students need. This year, for example, German 2 is wrapping up with learning about describing a routine, like a morning or evening routine. This brings up reflexive verbs, new vocabulary, reviews the past tense, reviews conjugations, etc. This was necessary because students who are going to take German 3 next year, need to have an introduction to the concept in order to understand the bigger concepts.
German 3 is tackling the harder concepts of analyzing cultural phenomena in order to understand the topics and themes that come up in AP German. It's cool to see them explore these concepts and these too bring up grammar concepts and new vocabulary. It's all a dance and sometimes my feet get mixed up and I take a wrong step which then messes up my dance partner.
I think I want to write next about what I've done this year and how it's ended up working.
German 3 is tackling the harder concepts of analyzing cultural phenomena in order to understand the topics and themes that come up in AP German. It's cool to see them explore these concepts and these too bring up grammar concepts and new vocabulary. It's all a dance and sometimes my feet get mixed up and I take a wrong step which then messes up my dance partner.
I think I want to write next about what I've done this year and how it's ended up working.