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A list of excellent books every teacher should read.

When I first heard about the exit ticket, I thought it was a great idea.  It seemed like a way to keep myself accountable to assess every student, and it seemed like a way to keep students accountable to do something to show me they'd learned what I'd taught.  It also seemed like a decent classroom management tool - if you didn't pay attention and do the exit ticket task, you couldn't leave.

When I first heard about the exit ticket, I thought it was a great idea.  It seemed like a way to keep myself accountable to assess every student, and it seemed like a way to keep students accountable to do something to show me they'd learned what I'd taught.  It also seemed like a decent classroom management tool - if you didn't pay attention and do the exit ticket task, you couldn't leave.

Shake things up! Make language learning more engaging! My name is Megan Smith (just got married in July… Yeah!!) and this is my sixth year teaching Spanish in Louisville, Kentucky. I studied International Business and Spanish at Grand Valley State University in Michigan and am now finishing my master's in Education at Northern Kentucky University. I really love my job and what I get to do in the classroom. I'm lucky to have a school who gives me freedom to try new things, a friend and mentor (Kara) who challenges me as a teacher, and other hardworking teachers who are willing to collaborate with me! I am honored to have been the 2011 Kentucky New Teacher of the Year from the Kentucky World Language Association. In November 2013, Kara, Rachel, and I presented at ACTFL's national conference in Orlando. How awesome! And a big hello from me, Kara Parker! I'm the other collaborator on this blog. I'd say that I've been "around the block" when it comes to teaching. I've taught for 12 years total (6 at a private Catholic girls school, 2 at a large public school (with Megan), and now 4 years at an awesome alternative school). I have my National Board Certification in World Languages. I'm excited to share on this site. :) Hopefully you can take something from the ideas posted here to make your classroom better for your students and your workload a little lighter. Here's to sharing! If you'd like to reach us, send us an e-card, or invite us to your school… Here's an email both of us use! :) creativelanguageclass@gmail.com

"Over the course of two years, I, along with the Burlington Public Schools tech team, had the opportunity to meet and connect with over one hundred schools. These discussions would usually involve what device works best in the classroom and how the iPad is affecting teaching and learning outcomes. Frequently this conversation focuses on the most effective hardware for teaching and learning. While this is an important decision to make, it should not be the focus. In fact, the best devices a school can employ are great teachers."

"Education is catastrophically deficient in trust. Pro-accountability education reformers presume that, absent carrots and sticks, classrooms would be overrun with lazy and incapable teachers. Traditional instructors presume that, absent carrots and sticks, classrooms would be overrun with lazy and incapable students. Both viewpoints emerge from a noble desire to make classrooms high-performance spaces, but in actuality they suppress excellence."

Good tips for building a positive classroom culture.

"Sometimes, in order to gain perspective on a situation, I imagine myself zooming into outer space and looking down on whatever is going on. From a distance of thousands of feet above whatever craziness is happening I can see more clearly and determine the actions that are available for me to take. "

Excellent resources for including game-based learning opportunities

"On a given day, how much time do your students spend working on their fluency? At the elementary level, hours are devoted to reading and speaking fluency. In middle and high school, students read aloud, deliver oral presentations, and write in a variety of formats to improve upon their language fluency. And yet, while we devote a significant portion of every school day to a student's reading, writing and language fluency, how much time is devoted to the development of their technology fluency? "

"What boosts PBL from a fun and engaging exercise to a rigorous and powerful real-world learning experience? Researchers have identified four key components that are critical to teaching successfully with PBL (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008; Ertmer & Simons, 2005; Mergendoller & Thomas, 2005; Hung, 2008). All of these play a role in the curriculum-design process."

It's a practical guide to building 21st century-student competency in the "4 C's" - critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation. The book is designed for middle school and high school teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders. It also shows how the 4 C's in a PBL context align with the Common Core State Standards. Sample projects, CCSS-aligned 4 C's rubrics, tips for technology in projects, notes for school leaders on building support for 21st century learning with PBL. Authors: Suzie Boss, author and BIE National Faculty, and John Larmer, Editor-in-Chief, BIE

A Review of Research on Inquiry-Based and Cooperative Learning By Dr. Brigid Barron and Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University "Decades of research illustrate the benefits of inquiry-based and cooperative learning to help students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in a rapidly changing world."

A couple of weeks ago, Samer Rabadi, Edutopia's Community Manager, started this discussion on the Community Bulletin Board: "What Does It Mean to Be a Connected Educator?" He observed that, for many of us, becoming connected educators has transformed our lives. I would certainly agree with that!

If you've ever considered having students bring their own devices (BYOD) to class, you've probably worried…won't the kids text all day long? How do I keep them from taking inappropriate photos or posting on Facebook while I'm teaching? Aren't students' phones a huge distraction? Here to help is Kristy from the 2 Peas and a Dog blog. Kristy is a Canadian middle school teacher who is in her seventh year of teaching Grades 7 and 8′s. She has allowed students to bring their own technology into the classroom for a few years now, and is excited to share how BYOD works in her classroom.

"Making learning interactive has always been difficult for educators. Students rarely want to collaborate and get involved in discussions, because most of them are afraid of making mistakes and saying something wrong. Luckily for all of us, the emergence of technology used in classrooms has made educators able of making the learning process interactive. Blending the traditional textbooks with innovative web tools that inspire collaboration will be the wisest thing you've ever done for your students. The goal of project-based learning is to enable your students to put the things they have learned into practice and develop valuable skills through the project development. They will learn how to make priorities, manage sources, and summarize new concepts. The final goal is to enable them to understand a certain concept more easily."

"Traditional American classrooms tend to fit a particular mold: Students face the front of the class where teachers lecture. Students take notes, finish assignments at home, and hope to memorize enough information just long enough to pass a test. Engagement and passion are often in short supply - among students and teachers. The system does not necessarily accommodate all learning styles, and even those who fair well may be missing out on other important work-life lessons, like how to creatively solve problems, stay focused, work as part of a team, and organize their thoughts in a way others will understand. This is where project-based learning enters the equation."

#PBL On-line - a great resource for learning about Project-based learning!

Tons of resources collected by our good friend and ACTFL President, Toni Theisen.

website on Jason Ohler's work