Teacher Self Care - How to prioritize yourself this year

Inside: How do you get a teacher/life balance? How do you take care of yourself as a teacher? How do you avoid teacher burnout? Teacher self care is the answer. 

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Best of 2018: must read blog posts for Spanish teachers

Inside: The best posts of 2018 from Mis Clases Locas. Binge worthy Nextlix shows for Spanish teachers, advice to first year teachers, using high frequency words, Quizlet Live Relay Races, Coco in Spanish class and much more. 

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Quick Tip: Plate Sketch Game - perfect for Christmas in Spanish class

Inside: The Plate Sketch Game. A perfect holiday activity for Christmas in Spanish class. 

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How to teach a novel - a typical day reading a novel in Spanish class

Inside: A typical day teaching a novel in Spanish class. How to teach a novel in Spanish class. 

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Reading a novel in one week in Spanish class - Tumba - using ideas from Whole Novel for the Whole Class

Inside: Reflections on trying something new and reading Tumba, a full class Spanish novel in just one week. 

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Libro lunes: Conexiones - Making Connections with the Spanish-Speaking World

Inside: a non-fiction book for Spanish class you need for your classroom library! 

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Quick Tip: 10 Halloween dance videos for any class

Inside: Halloween Just dance videos for any class brain break. Dance out that sugar and Halloween wiggles with goofy Halloween dance songs. 

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Libro lunes: El Cóndor de los Andes - a novel for upper level Spanish class

Inside: A review of Adriana Ramírez's novel for upper level Spanish class El Cóndor de los Andes.

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Movement in Spanish Class - 10 Ways to get students out of their seats - SSS

Inside: How to get your Spanish class moving. 10 ideas to get students out of their seats and moving around the classroom. 

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IWLA18 - Movement in Spanish Class

Inside: Resources for the All-Star ILWA18 presentation (C)I Like to Move it, Move it from Allison Wienhold. 

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5 MORE Binge-worthy Netflix Shows for Spanish Teachers

Inside: Neflix shows in Spanish that Spanish teachers will want to binge watch. 

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Why I Got Rid of Homework in Spanish Class

Inside: Why I ditched homework in Spanish class. 

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Dear teacher trying something new

Inside: An open letter of support to a teacher trying something new this school year.  

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libro lunes: ¡Papacito!

Inside: Why you need the novel ¡Papacito! from Spanish Cuentos in your free reading library.

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Using a Fluency Matters E-course - CIPeek

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Interpersonal Communication Skills - Free posters for classroom expectations in a deskless classroom

Inside: Interpersonal speaking skills rubric and posters to help with classroom management in a deskless CI classroom. 

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Mis Clases Locas Classroom Tour

Inside: My Spanish classroom tour without desks

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1st Day of Spanish 1 - Name Game Speedball

Inside - Name Game Speedball. The best activity for any new group of students on the 1st day of Spanish class. A go-to lesson for the 1st day of Spanish 1. 

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libro lunes: Juliana

Inside: A review of the novice Spanish novel Juliana. 

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First Week of French Class

Inside: Resources for the first week of French class. 

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Advice to a 1st year teacher - 10 ways to rock your 1st year teaching

Inside: 10 ways to rock your 1st year teaching. Advice from a teacher who has been there. 

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Libro lunes: Cómo salir de la zona de amigos

Inside: A review of A.C. Quintero's novel for Spanish class Cómo salir de la zona de amigos.

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Back to Spanish Class: How to start the year with high frequency words - SSS

Inside: The first post in the Back to Spanish Class series on Secondary Spanish Space. Find out how to start the year with high frequency words. 

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Libro lunes: Los tres amigos

Inside: A review of another book you need for your classroom library, Los tres amigos by Jennifer Degenhardt. 

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How to start your own teacher blog or TPT

Inside: Tips for starting your own teacher blog or Teacher Pay Teachers (TPT) account. 

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Libro lunes: Bart quiere un gato

Inside: A review of TPRS Books' novel Bart quiere un gato with resources to use the novel in class. 

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CIIA18 - Keep It Novel presentation - Resources for teaching with novels in a CI class

Inside: Resources for my presentation at CI: Comprehensible Iowa 2018 #CIIA18 titled Keep It Novel! It includes ideas for teaching with novels in a CI class. 

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Resources for teaching the novel Vector

Inside: Resources for teaching the novel Vector by Carrie Toth from Fluency Matters. 

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20 Go-To Activities for any novel

Inside: 20 Activities that can be used with any novel to introduce vocabulary, mix up comprehension questions, order of events, true/false, and retell. 

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The future of Mis Clases Locas - Your input = free resources & books

Inside: Celebrating 4 years of Mis Clases Locas with a chance to give me feedback and win free resources, books or money to spend at TPT. 

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Quick Tip: GimKit - a low prep interactive game for any class

Inside: How to use Gimkit to mix up your class. This interactive, computer based game is low prep, but high engagement, especially at the end of the year. 

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Quick Tip: Rotating Partner Conversations - a no prep way to get your students speaking Spanish

Inside: A no prep way to get your students speaking in Spanish the whole class period. 

Hey, hey we made it to May! Is anyone else feeling teacher in May exhausted? I think we can attribute it to all of the end of the year events, award ceremonies, graduation parties, concerts, finals, planing for next year, and more. At the same time, I know I have those classes that have just plain given up. With nice weather and late night track meets, my first hour is not there mentality, and that is if they even show up to school. But, today I had a ray of light in that class and with a last minute idea with 0 prep on my part they spent 40 minutes speaking in Spanish!

For some background information, I did this activity with my Spanish 3 students, who just finished Vida y Muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha. Wednesday they finished the book and as a last minute something to do after reading, I told them to describe the symbolism of each of the 16 chapter's chapter artwork (an idea from the back of the book). They were to be prepared to for discussion Thursday on the symbolism of each chapter. In reality my plans for Thursday just said "review book with interpersonal,"and I just came up with what we did on the fly. 

On the day of the discussion, we moved the chairs into pairs. (We ended up with one group of three due to an odd number). Students were allowed to use their books and symbolism notes, since this was formative practice and I wanted them to be able to cite evidence to back up their justification. I also was more concerned with getting them to speak and did not want them to run out of things to talk about if they had an unprepared partner. 

I set a timer for 4-5 minutes and students just talked about the symbolism of the art in chapter one and two. They also just talked about the chapter in general, which was fine by me as it was a great review for everyone involved and they were staying in Spanish. When the timer went off, students rotated and then talked about the next two chapters. To be honest at first I did not even set a timer, because I wanted to get a feel for how long they could go and then rang a timer when the conversation seemed to die down. While they talked, I walked around with a clipboard of their names, taking a few notes. (This helped many stay on task in Spanish, and they may have even thought they were being graded). They talked with eight different partners, which helped to keep the conversation fresh and provide a variety of different levels of speaking partners. 

Overall I was SO PROUD of this class for staying on task in Spanish for that long. It was an excellent review for those who have missed class as well as helped them dig deeper into the symbols and deeper meaning instead of just superficial comprehension questions. It was very little work for me and did not require preparation in my part. I got to save my own voice and energy, as they did all the work!

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libro lunes: La isla más peligrosa

Inside: a new book for Spanish class you need to get for your classroom library!

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How to start a Spanish class library - SSS

Today you can find my newest post, How to start a Spanish class library on Secondary Spanish Space. What did I miss? What would you add? 

To see many of my classroom library recommendations all in one place, you can visit My Amazon Store book list!

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Running Dictation in Spanish class

Inside: Running Dictation - a fun game for any class that includes a lot of movement!

Running dictation has been around the language teaching classrooms for a while now. Martina Bex posted about Running dictation in 2011, citing she learned about it from Jason Fritze. I first learned about it from Martina and have been using it in class for the last few years now. I have seen a lot of questions about how to implement it, and even though I have mentioned it in passing in many novel posts, I though I would add more details for those of you who want to try it for the first time, or are looking for a different variation. I know there are MANY versions of how to do this activity, but this is the way that I have found it works best in my school, with my students. (Always do what works best for YOU!)

Here are posts to specific novels that include a running dictation activity for a specific chapter

• El capibara con botas
• Brandon Brown quiere un Perro
• Peter va a Colombia
• Bianca Nieves
• Problemas en Paraíso 
• La Calaca Alegre

Prep

• Pick 8-10 sentences that retell your chapter or story. Make sure it is something students are familiar with and not completely new. I love to use the order of events from the novel teacher's guides. 
• Type them in large font, print and cut apart. (I do not number them, since I want students to figure out the order later. You could put one letter on each, that when put in order spells a secret message, like "PROBLEMAS")
• Tape them up spread out in a large space. I use my hallway and let teachers know they will be out and about that class period. I know other teacher go to the gym, commons or outside. If you can not leave your room, the sentences could be on one side of the room and everyone else on the other. 
• Cut scratch paper into fours (enough for all groups to have 8-10). I use these for students to write, draw and out in order. 

In class

• Divide students into groups of 3-4, with 3 being ideal. I like to assign these groups because you need at least one "leader" student in each group. This activity works best with mixed ability groupings. 
• In each group, let students decide who is A, B, C or D (the optional member). Each group needs 10 1/4 sheets of paper & markers too. 
• Explain the expectations & team roles. (My expectations are: stay in Spanish, no phones at any time, no writing in the hallway, only the current runner is in the hallway, stay with and support your team). Once a group has all of the sentences written, there are extensions to complete as well. 

Team Roles

• A Corre (Runner - Go to sentence, memorize & retell)
• B Escribe (Writer - Write down what the runner says)
• C Dibuja (Artist - Draw representation of sentence)
• D Edita* (Editor/Cheerleader- Check over work & encourage group - *Optional only if have 4)
• Jobs rotate after each sentence - (A becomes B, B becomes C etc)

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libro lunes: La piñata de Renata

Inside this post: It is time for another libro lunes, telling you about a great addition to your Spanish classroom library. If you implement FVR, or Free Voluntary Reading, make sure you also check out the game changer for me in regards to reading in Spanish class.

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lista lunes: marzo (mania musical, Las Fallas, spring break in Spanish class & more!)

Inside: Ideas for March in Spanish class, including March Music Madness, a no prep activity for after Spring Break, resources to teach the Spanish festival, Las Fallas, and more ways to add culture to class this March.  

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10 Confessions of a February Teacher Mom

It is time for another #Confession post. I have gotten multiple messages lately with teachers feeling overwhelmed and thinking that based on my social media I happen to have it together. 

Newsflash I don't have it together. 

I feel like I need to insert a dose or reality to hopefully help you realize that you are not alone. This time of year is HARD. It is cold. It is dreary. It is burnout month. Students are over school and teachers are having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the school year tunnel. While I am right there with you, my biggest advice is to mix it up. (Sr. Wooly Week was a great change of pace for us last week). Take care of yourself and don't take school work home. Do you want to feel a little better about yourself? Here are 10 confessions of a February Teacher Mom. 

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What is new from Mis Clases Locas

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Exploratory Spanish - What to do with 1 Quarter

For the last three years I have had the chance to teach Exploratory Spanish to 7th and 8th grade. It is a great opportunity to reach ALL junior high students with Spanish, including those who think they have no desire to take Spanish in the future, and students with 504 plans and IEPs who are pulled out for many general education classes. It is my personal goal to hook every student by showing them Spanish is fun and to make them feel successful. My first year I posted 6 Week Plans for Exploratory Spanish, while we were on trimesters. While I still use some of what I did then, after having eight sections of absolute beginner Spanish, I have refined my exploratory plans even more. 

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lista lunes: febrero (Black History Month, Winter Olympics, Valentine's Day & more for Spanish class)

Are you stuck in a winter rut? It has been below freezing for a full month, so my students and I are going stir crazy. It is time to mix it up in the classroom to try and bring the fun back. Here are some fun ways to bring in culture and fun this February. 

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5 Ways to use Dance in any classroom

The fourth post ever on Mis Clases Locas was about my favorite weekly classroom tradition baile viernes, where we start class on Friday with dance. It was also the most popular post of 2014. It seems that many people still want more ideas of how to Get your Spanish Class Moving, by the popularity of this post as well. Since I get a lot of questions about dancing in class, I decided it was time for an update. Here are five ways to utilize dance in any classroom, as well as some frequently asked questions. 

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Free CI Training in Dunkerton, IA!

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Planing to teach El Ekeko (e course)

Thanks to the the generous Fluency Matters 12 days of Christmas giveaway, I am going to once again adjust this year's curriculum plan. (One of my many perks as a #deptof1). I won a set of the newer El Ekeko e course by Katie Baker. This novel came out right after I made my big curriculum purchase a few years ago, and I am been wanting to teach it. 

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