Norms & Values
High standards: While I believe it is essential that the classroom be fun and student centered there is also a need for challenging and rigorous work. While I build curriculum around an assessment of student interests and prior knowledge,  the students know that you are ultimately graded on the quality and consistency of the work you produce.

Respect: We are a flexible classroom, willing to have fun and look at topics unconventionally, but we will not disrupt the learning of others. That means  we will not disrupt our neighbors in other classrooms, and we will be respectful of our classroom peers and their unique learning styles and needs.

Building academic literacy: My ultimate goal is for students to be successful in school as well as in life. I build into my curriculum a variety of cross disciplinary review games, to refresh students math and science, as well as to push them to think differently about subjects and think on their feet. In our classroom we balance routine with spontaneity, we have set routines: notebooks, review games, bell-ringers, exit-slips, etc. We also have a lot of unpredictability within units and reviews the goal of this is to keep students engaged and their minds active.

Discussion: To learn a foreign language you must be willing to make mistakes. A low affective-filter is critical to the acquisition of a new language, and out classroom will not tolerate ridicule or mockery. Students have the freedom to make mistakes and express their opinions.

Variety: While we acknowledge there are learning styles and predispositions, we have to be willing to take risks in a language class. Dual-encoding is crucial to long term memory and learning, and we will be pushing our selves and each other to try out different projects that they may not be used to. This will be done gradually and mindfully, but it will be done.

Equity & Access

No bullying: As previously mentioned, low affective filters are critical to the building of a collaborative and inclusive classroom culture. Discriminatory language and any form of ridicule or bullying will not be tolerated int he classroom, period.

Differentiated instruction: In our classrooms there are always going to be varying levels of proficiency, background knowledge, and fluency, this means that I have to differentiate between students and assess their needs and scaffold accordingly.  All of my lessons are tiered, and I build in scaffolds to help students that may be struggling. I also work with students aids to accommodate and honor the plans laid out in their IEP and 504’s.

Comprehensible Input: It is crucial, especially in language instruction, to make sure you are doing everything you can as an educator to ensure your input is being understood. This can be achieved through a variety of pre and post activity strategies. In my classroom we strive to incorporate visuals, multiple modalities, realia, and hands on activity to ensure all students are actively understanding the lesson.