Andrea Caulfield

Presenter lineup for Spring into reading conference.

Need some fresh ideas for reading strategies in the WL classroom? I'm thrilled to be presenting alongside some stellar language teachers at this FREE conference this week...hope to see you there! Register at: teachersdiscovery.com/pages/spring...
#ADIteaching , #LangChat

Oooh this got the wheels of possibility turning for me! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing this! I really appreciated your candid thoughts on what went well and what you'd change going forward. I also always struggle with the desire to allow students opportunities for artistic expression vs filling our limited time with loads of high-quality input. Very cool project!

I'm in a large urban school district and we also tend to have more students in int low vs int mid after 4 years. But there are so many other factors that impact proficiency growth and which are not consistent nationwide: rates of teacher turnover, chronic absenteeism, FRL, class size, etc. #langchat

Love this! Thanks for sharing!

Yes! I've been feeling the same way. I guess we've all got to commit to posting and getting this motor running in the new year if we want it to work.

Yesssss! I observe many classes where the expectations bar is quite low. It’s usually coming from a good place: being mindful of their social/emotional needs, acknowledging the challenges in students’ home lives. But meeting (reasonably) high expectations makes kids feel so capable and strong!

Such an eclectic mix! I love it!

Thanks! I'll check it out!

Slowly but steadily working to acquire Chinese, and am in need of some new content to marinate in! Hit me up with your favorite CI-rich YouTube channels, podcasts, apps, and ideas, please! 谢谢

Andrea Caulfield Voces Unplugged is designed to help you develop a library of accessible and easy-to-read materials to connect your Spanish, French, German, Italian, and ESL language learners with the books that will ...

Not at the moment, but it is available on Voces Unplugged. Thanks for the interest! vocesunplugged.com/collections/...

Cover photo of Les zombies attaquent Québec mini novel

Couldn't make it to #ACTFL24 this year but my mini novel, Les zombies attaquent Québec, is at the Voces booth! Fun comprehensible read for levels 2 and above, AND it has QR codes with audio and comprehension activities for each chapter!

Agreed! (the character limit kills me on here!) If students are asked to output in ways consistent with their proficiency level, confidence grows. My personal sweet spot is 15%(ish) of the the class being output-oriented for levels 1-4.

We can know what they understand. But too many teachers have no idea what their students are capable of producing. Short targeted output tasks inform teachers which structures need more repetition. Also: in the absence of output, STUDENTS don't know what they can do! Output also builds confidence.

Note from a student about cartwheels

You can plan engaging, proficiency-oriented, standards-aligned lessons, but sometimes what they actually remember is the one time you did a cartwheel in class. If you are teaching the day before break and the kids are bonkers, give yourself permission to do a cartwheel (or your version of that).

What a valuable opportunity for them to reflect on where these stereotypes originate and what our products and practices might/might not communicate about our perspectives!

I’ll text Mira and nudge her to join!

That’s huge! It’s so problematic when all of the credit and/or blame for scores lands on one person. Building stronger vertical alignment (and vertical compassion!) is a top priority for me.

Making sure teachers at lower levels are familiar with what the AP exam tasks look like, and then scaffolding them down so that students are seeing simplified versions of those tasks at all levels.

@krisknisely.bsky.social
has some amazing resources on gender inclusivity in the language classroom. Leverage simple steps like not starting storyasking with questions like ‘Hay un chico o una chica?’ or, when introducing people (IRL or in informative contexts) starting with their pronouns.

(We’ve been textbook free for 15ish years and not in a hurry to change that.) Start by telling students that it’s evolving and terminology/usage varies by country, but that in our classroom it’s vital to have language to talk about nonbinary people Decide on a few terms to use. Go from there.

Any and all! Proud to work in a district where larger full curriculum adoptions require representation of marginalized voices. Yes, language is evolving, but we can't and shouldn't wait till newer linguistic variations are 'official' to have materials that represent all students.

Love love love real plants but also just treated myself to a stained glass succulent for my low light office.

Making sure EVERY student comprehends so that no one gets left behind. Making it impossible to hide / disengage from class. (Obv in a compassionate way, but gently insisting students show when they do/don’t understand)

As you're browsing the expo hall at #ACTFL, reminder to ask vendors (and yourself): How are my non binary students represented linguistically in this resource? Will it help them feel seen and affirmed? Let's tell publishers we aren't interested in materials that make some of our students invisible!

Experienced ADI teachers: what strategies are YOU trying to level up in, or what feels fresh and exciting to you? I'm planning our spring PD and have the delightful challenge of coming up with sessions for our deep bench of incredibly talented ADI teachers who are seeking something new and novel!