I’ve been a little busy these past few days so unfortunately I haven’t had much time reading blogs.  While normally at least glance over hundreds of posts each week, I had to do some initial curating just by headlines alone. Here are several posts I thought would be interesting to share. There are a few more that I didn’t have a chance to read yet, so they might make it into next week’s summary.

  • Template for Novice High Interpretive Listening

    One of the biggest reasons I enjoy reading teacher blogs (aside from the many honest reflections that many bloggers often share), is the willingness of teachers  to share materials from their classes. In this post, Spanish teacher Marisa Hawkins, walks us through an interpretive listening activity which is a great example of allowing students to process language (input).  Read Marisa’s post –>

  • iPad Diaries Volume 13: More Thoughts on iPad Stations

    This short post from French middle school teacher, Samantha Decker, gave me some ideas for how to expand on the idea of stations and personalized learning. I wanted to include it here because her blog is a new one to me, and I can’t wait to dig through the other iPad Diaries and the rest of her blog.  Read Samantha’s post –>

  • Let students create the input!

    How often have we heard the phrase “Work smarter, not harder” from a workshop presenter? Easier said than done and unfortunately, often the workshop presenter that utters the phrase doesn’t actually give any examples of how to accomplish it (in a world language classroom.) French teacher, Wendy Farabaugh, finally gives us an example as she describes how she is using student work from one week as the input for the next week. Read Wendy’s post –>

  • From the Path 2 Proficiency Blog

    Ownership of learning seem to be a big theme at SCOLT in Charlotte this weekend, and coincidentally it was also the theme of two brutally honest posts by Paul Jennemann and Alyssa Villarreal. While Paul discussed discovering his own voice as a teacher, Alyssa asked and tried to answer some really tough questions that every teacher should answer in order to Ensure Student Voice. Both are worth a read.

Published by Thomas Sauer

Thomas Sauer is the Director of Design and Communication for AdvanceLearning and an independent consultant. He previously held positions as world language specialist in the Fayette County Public Schools and Jefferson County Public Schools for almost ten years and taught German at the University of Kentucky, Georgetown College and Kentucky Educational Television. He has directed a variety of state and federal grants, most recently as program director and consultant for several successful STARTALK programs. Thomas has served as President of the Kentucky World Language Association as well as on the Board of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages and the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Named the 2011 Pearson/NADSFL Supervisor of the Year and a 2010 Global Visionary by the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana, Thomas is passionate about helping educators making the shift from teaching to learning.