Happy New Year

The 2008-09 school year is coming---like an avalanche down a mountain. Each year, I set goals for myself. These are the two areas of focus for my classroom this coming year. 1) to work more collaboratively with colleagues both in my building and on line. 2) to incorporate more technology in my lessons. One of the things that is sorely missing from our profession is collaboration. I'll never forget a couple of years ago I was at a workshop. One session was a teacher swap shop, where teachers bring a lesson plan or an idea and share it with the group. At the workshop, I sat mesmerized by one teacher's presentation about how she get students to participate. Her ideas were brilliant and my mind began racing with ways I could incorporate them into my next lessons The disconcerting thing was the teacher involved was my neighbor at school. I had to go 120 miles away, pay XX amount of dollars to hear what my colleague and friend was doing daily across the hall from me. I am planning to use some o the ideas that Bill Ferriter has discussed in his blog, The Tempered Radical over at the Teacher's Leader network. I hope to present some of these ideas at the Penobscot Collaborative and at the Foreign Language Association of Maine conference in March My second goal is to incorporate more technology into my daily lesson plans. The idea is going to the computer lab has been a "treat" --much like the "outside class" on that first warm Friday afternoon in Spring. I am hoping to use technology to make my life easier--no small task and to enhance learning. Frequently, technology requires a major investment of time by a teacher and the learner benefit is minute. I am hoping to use things that will allow my students to practice using the language outside of the classroom and encourage them to explore topics and issues related to the target culture. Happy New Year!!!!