senoracmt

Spring is in the Air…

So the children have gone mad. Just kidding. No, I’m not. You know it’s true. The seniors have a countdown to the second of when they get out… we have Spring Break the week before Easter and then they return to 16 school days… they’re TOAST. The school play is over, Prom is nearly upon us, testing season is in full swing. It. Is. Utter. Chaos. But it is also the most wonderful time of the year. I am not kidding you. I would not trade these last two months for ANYTHING.

I got to induct LAST year’s junior Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica members with a formal ceremony…

AND… I got to induct THIS year’s members (AND with all the events that were happening only half of the inductees could even make it to the ceremony!)

The pandemic hit us hard on our Seals of Biliteracy but I still got to award a ton of State Commendations toward Biliteracy and I know that we did all that we could with what we had and I’m SO proud of the kids! We are #2bilit2quit at SCHS.

I am ending the year with units I am really excited about. In Spanish 4, I am doing my own maiden voyage of the Huellas 1 unit El paraíso es una biblioteca. It is a collaboration with the AMAZING Abra Koch. In Spanish 3, I am doing Medicina o cura while the seniors are still around and then after they’re gone, I will have two weeks with just my juniors so we’ll do Dame, dame chocolate to end the year. In Spanish 2, we are going to finish reading Felipe Alou and then wrap up with Mi rutina diaria! I can not believe how short our time is now!!

The year was really hard. There were times when I was so tired and so overwhelmed by all the balls I was juggling that I didn’t know how I was going to make it until April… but I DID IT. And now, I am in my prime season. And I look out at the seniors frequently with a tear in my eye thinking how proud I am of them and how much I’ll miss them when they move on… On Friday, for instance, we did a Discussion Thursday over the reader we are finishing and my 7th hour class was blowing me away and I was just SO PROUD OF THEM.

I hope you’re getting to a point in the year where you can see a light at the end of the tunnel too. I hope that you have had a relaxing spring break or that, like me, you are about to have one. I hope that we can be recharged and ready to do this again next year.

Monday is day one of the week before spring break… I can not imagine the wrangling of children I will be doing. I made a new song of the week to try to help reign it in. FRIENDS!!! It is Ed Sheeran and J Balvin!!! Check out the video here then the song of the week packet here. TPT is having a sale on Tuesday April 5 and Wednesday April 6! It’s a great time to grab things you need for the classroom! Use the code FORYOU22 to get them at a 25% discount!

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.

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