Every new school year comes with relationship building, routines, defining spaces in our room, and little rituals that we all use to make our classes unique and great for every learner in our communities.
Of course, without needing to go into too much detail, this year is unlike any other and comes with more things to add to our routines. If you are teaching face to face, you will be working on hygiene routines, and if you are teaching remotely you will need to work on norms to be in a virtual class. No matter how we start the school year, we all need to work on making sure that every single student is feeling safe, validated, and extra loved.
I suggest you explore the Responsive Classroom website because it has a wonderful amount of articles and resources that are helpful for the first weeks of school, ideas to build relationships and routines in your classes, and so on. Something that I love about Responsive Classroom (RC) is how it always focuses on phrasing everything with a positive tone and in a simple way for students to understand. Students’ voices are very important in RC, and that’s why teachers who use RC create classroom norms and agreements with their students.
I know many language teachers are eager to start the school year in the target language right away. I have to say that was my approach for many years, but I no longer start my classes in Spanish. This is partly because the school where I teach emphasizes that it’s better to take the time to slow down and work on relationships first to get to know our students and for them to get to know a little about me, too. I truly value this approach and see it as an “investment” in my relationship with my students, rather than a “waste of time,” and as a result, the school year goes smoothly. I can’t say it makes it perfect, but the ride is certainly more pleasant and more connected.
You might want to read these posts where I share tips for the first days of school:
Quick Tip for Starting the Year Off with Distance Teaching
When teaching students online, it comes in handy to have some visuals to help your students figure out what you are asking for. In my experience with online teaching in the spring, I didn’t really have to invest time in relationships, but just to continue to grow them, based on seeds I had planted in person earlier that year. In another sense, though, teaching remotely felt like starting from zero because I needed to add more to the skills that were based on in-person teaching and learning. I found myself drawing quick pictures to remind my students to stay muted or unmute themselves if I couldn’t do it. There were times when I needed to see all my students on camera and to have them raise their hands to participate. This school year feels like the opposite. I will start teaching remotely and am arranging my teaching to account for this, but I have to work extra hard to build relationships, that’s why is so important to start with a kind of short presentation where children can know a little bit about you and find ways to connect with them.
Visuals are key when teaching a language so students can make connections faster, and for that reason, I have prepared this set of cards that you can use with your students. In this case, you will need the physical cards as a quick visual way for your students to understand what you are asking them. That should help during your lessons to remind your students or let them know what they need to do. Click here to download and print them for your classes!
I might be going back to the beginning of my teaching career (when I was a teacher traveling from classroom to classroom). I did it for about 8 years in Boston and for a few months in the school where I currently teach due to some renovations.
A few years ago I wrote a post for traveling teachers, but a lot of things have changed since then and now that I am looking into possible options because I might become a traveling teacher again, I thought it might be nice to share with you what I have been exploring.
My experience as a traveling teacher has mostly been using hard tote bags since they can easily stay open. I had the one in the picture (size L) below and I really liked it because it also had pockets inside. As I mentioned in my older post, I used one per grade with duplicate materials.
I also used a collapsible cart to give my shoulders a break. I had to travel between different buildings, so sometimes it was not great when there was snow on the ground, but it was still handy when the weather was nice.
I wish there had been something like the cart below when I was traveling. I like that it has many pockets to hold tiny things like a laser pointer and markers.
In my current job, I had to travel for a few months during my first year, and I had a cart like the one in the picture. To be honest, I used it for about two months because I was not comfortable taking it to other classrooms and it made a lot of noise while I was going from classroom to classroom, so I went back to tote bags.
If I end up traveling from classroom to classroom I think I will keep a tote bag and the awesome rolling cart with organizer set. I think I will carry fewer manipulatives since, due to the current situation, I won’t be doing activities where the children have to pass anything around. I will use Google Slides and other online resources to each and will use the classroom’s projector and keep some flashcards because you can’t trust technology 100%! I will also have a few puppets to bring smiles to my younger students! And yes, since I love telling stories while drawing, that will be one of my most valuable teaching tools!
I will also carry my awesome laser pointer. I can’t live without it! I like this one because it can be charged and I also like the green light.
And we all know that we need to wear face coverings and carry wipes, hand sanitizer, some gloves, our own markers, erasers, a lot of patience and love! If you are a traveling teacher this year, please share in the comments what your plans are!
Seesaw is one of the most valuable teaching tools I have used during Distance Teaching. I have been using it for over three years, but I’d always limited myself to asking students to retell stories or to send them messages with links they would need during class. I have also used Seesaw as a backup plan for third grade and up when I had a sub that didn’t know Spanish. Seesaw is a wonderful portfolio that allows students to see their progress. It has also been a tool that has replaced paper assessments (Yay for the trees!). So I realized that I really needed to learn more about Seesaw during Distance Teaching. I feel that I now have created a bank of resources that I can use as emergency lessons or reuse if we continue with online teaching.
If you want to learn more about Seesaw, they have been offering different types of professional development (PD) and also have a lot of information on their website.
These are two activities that I created during Distance Teaching. Feel free to copy them to your library and make the changes you need to make them work for your students. You will need to have access to a premium Seesaw account to make changes to it. If your school is using Seesaw, you likely already have access to it. If you or your school have a free account, you can assign it to your students as is.
The first activity is based on the story “La vaca que decía oink”*** by Bernard Most. I read this story to my kinder and first grade students and used this activity as a way to review key vocabulary.
This second activity is a retelling of the story “La gallinita roja”*** in a much simpler way. Just like the activity above, you can edit it to make it fit the needs of your students.
I hope you and your students enjoy these activities!
This a list of what I have in my classroom and can’t survive a school year without any of these materials.
Chime: Sometimes we need breaks from using call-and-response chants or clapping our hands. I have found a three tone chime* that works well because it gives enough time for my students to settle down.
Map: I had a hard time finding a map that was simple enough for my elementary students. Luckily I came across this map on Pinterest, and it has been the best purchase ever. You can find it at Spanish Cuentos.
Puppets and Plush Toys: Puppets and plush toys are a great tool in language teaching. I love when my students make connections with some of them. They become one more member of the class. Visit my post where I talk about the use of puppets in a world language class.
Special Chair: I have a chair that my students use when we sing to them to celebrate their birthdays in class. They all look forward to having a chance to sit on that chair in class. They also get a small gift from me which is usually a pencil, eraser, or small craft from Colombia. They also get a birthday certificate. Click here to download some free ones for your classes!
Play Parachute: Every single one of my students seems to love parachute time, no matter how old they are. It’s always fun to use parachutes for a brain break. I have written a few posts about how I use them in my classes:
Authentic Art: I love displaying art from different Spanish speaking countries. I usually label items to show where they come from.
Favorite Music Playlist: Thank goodness for YouTube! I love how you can easily make lists of your favorite songs. I like creating playlists by grade levels. Here is a list of some of my go-to channels:
Flags: I have flags and posters from the different Spanish speaking countries. You can display them all at once or take them out one at a time when you do the country of study. This pack is available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Pointers: I found a really awesome set of pointers* that I use while looking at our “Plan de la clase” as well as when we play interactive games on the Smart Board. These ones have been the best so far! I have had them for about two years now:
List of Brain Breaks: Brain breaks are great not only to get your students’ attention back, but also for you to take a break as a teacher. I keep a list of brain breaks and yoga cards handy. Download free yoga cards here!
Simple Picture Books: Last year I started a library in my classroom. So far the books that have worked best are books with minimal text and also books that the children are already familiar with in English.
Movies: Sometimes I like using movies right before the break when I know a lot of my students will be missing. I also use them when I am out and can’t find a sub that speaks Spanish, or just being honest, to take a break!
Balls: Yes, balls of different sizes to play games or ask questions!
Instruments: Playing with these is something my younger students really enjoy!
Apron: This is not a “must,” but it has been great for me to stop putting things in my pockets when I am teaching. I used to always end up emptying my pockets of an assortment of things at home that should have stayed at school instead of hitching a ride with me – things like tiny pointers, markers, pencils, and the classroom keys. This is the one I plan to use this school year. I am especially excited about the llamas on this one!
What is something you think I should add to this list? Please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments box.
I like approaching the first days of school in a very low key manner. We are all getting ready and adjusting to the new routine, and as some suggest, it may take up to 6 weeks for children to finally feel ready for your class. This is especially true as I am an specialist, and I see my students two times during the week. I am not a lucky homeroom teacher who gets to see them everyday! I like to use my first classes to show my students how my class works and what I expect from them, but before I dive into rules and procedures, I introduce myself.
Every year I make a book or presentation where I share with my students a bit about myself, my family, my country of origin, and something fun I did during the summer. I create a short story book and use pictures to illustrate it. I call this book “Todo Sobre Mí.” Students really want to know who their teachers are, and they really appreciate the information you can give them, even telling them my first name, but letting them know that I prefer to be called “Señora Gómez” (however, note that this is not true anymore; this year I am going to make the shift to allowing them to use my first name, just like my students always did in Colombia.)
This is how mine looks!
Would you like to make your own? Grab materials to create yours HERE!
After sharing information about myself, I inform them about what I expect from each of them in my class. I predominantly use the target language for this purpose, but I also speak about 10% of the time in my students’ shared language, as suggested by ACTFL. To convey my expectations clearly, I rely heavily on visuals, simplifying my class guidelines as much as possible. In fact, the expectations I use are as follows:1.Respeto 2. Bondad 4. Español
And of course, I don’t want to end my first class without knowing students’ names and introducing or reviewing “Yo me llamo…”
