senoracmt

School Shutdown: Planning for the NEXT Two Weeks

I have been SO grateful to my friends Martina Bex, Pat and Carol Gaab, and Jim and Jennifer Wooldridge for saving my behind this week. When I went to school Thursday, we were told that we should start thinking of how we would do ELearning should the schools close. By Friday evening, we were facing two weeks of planning!

Thank GOD for all the free resources that not only small companies like Fluency Matters, Señor Wooly, and The Comprehensible Classroom are sharing… big companies are opening up their platforms to bail teachers out as we navigate these unknown waters. Working at Fluency Matters and Wooly has let me see up close and personally how HARD everyone is working to give these materials away. Who could’ve ever imagined that nearly EVERY SCHOOL IN THE US would close??

But what they’ve given us is all for the first two weeks! They’ve shared and saved my hide for now and I need to start thinking ahead to what I’m going to do next. I would encourage you, as you try out all of these new resources to choose some and support the companies after the freebies run out. As our schools ask us to teach virtually, we need to be prepared to ask them for help with resources.

My first thought is that the ECourses worked out great today in my classes. I had all my students set up and we were able to log in and preview how to tackle the reader on our day together before the closure. If we end up with a full month closure, I’m going to purchase another title and do that next.

I’m a Señor Wooly subscriber so I plan to take the plans we are sharing through his site and use them for the next song that we tackle.

I am going to keep doing free-reading using Martina’s Choice Board and Revista Literal.

I love Screencastify so I am using the 2 week free resource and then renewing my subscription.

I am so excited about using Zoom too! It is free right now and it will make it nice to get to see my kids face to face (those who can make it at the given time).

What are your plans if the shutdown lingers on?

Published by senoracmt

I began teaching Spanish in Illinois in 1994. I have taught levels 1-4 in a small rural high school, 8th grade introductory Spanish, Biology 1, and 101 and 102 at the community college level. My Spanish classes are partnered with the community college to offer students 8 semester hours of dual credit on completion of Spanish 4. In 2011 I met Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido and have since co-authored the book "La hija del sastre" with Carol Gaab and authored the novels "La Calaca Alegre", "Bianca Nieves y los 7 toritos." "Vector," "48 horas","Bananas", "Sostenible", and "Papálotl" through Fluency Matters. In 2006 I became National Board certified and I have been serving as a mentor both for candidates seeking certification in world languages other than English and a virtual mentor for candidates in all certificate areas. I completed my Masters degree in Spanish education in 2011 and did my research on the use of Understanding by Design to create meaningful cultural units for the language classroom. I am a frequent presenter on this topic, please consider me if you are interested in a workshop on backward design. In 2013 I was named the ICTFL Foreign Language teacher of the year and in 2014 I was selected as CSCTFL's teacher of the year. In November of 2014 I was lucky enough to be one of the five finalists for the ACTFL National Teacher of the Year in San Antonio, TX. What a "Cinderella" experience! You can reach me via email at carrie at somewheretoshare dot com.

One comment

  1. Keep calm and give them things they can read and understand and listen to and understand. That is my plan. Love to you all. ~Profe HB P.S. How about Tina Hardegen’s book project??

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