Jen Kelly's thoughts on teaching French in the 21st Century
Written by Jennifer Kelly
Genius Hour presentation week is over!!! I’ve had notes for a blog post on my phone to-do list for… weeks? months? Alas, the spring term strikes again. Why am I always surprised by how busy we are in the final months of the school year? For what it’s worth, here are some reflections on the … Continue reading “Heure de Génie: Reflection”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
Pitch Day has come and gone, and I would like to share some of the observations I made last class and about the Genius Hour project in general. Authentic communication My overall goal for this project is to provide opportunities for my students to write, present and converse spontaneously about something they’re interested in. Each … Continue reading “Pitch Day Results”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
I’ve had two classes devoted to Genius Hour so far (see my previous post for details on how I’ve integrated Genius Hour into my course). There is a lot of buzz about this project, including students in other grades asking me about it! Without a doubt, one of the things students are excited about is … Continue reading “Genius Hour update: Countdown to Pitch Day”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
Cultivating Genius When I began my Cohort 21 journey back in 2012, I was grappling with how much flexibility I had to allow students to determine the content they learned vs. the content I selected to develop their skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in French. I learned a lot from my research and the ensuing personalized … Continue reading “Cultivating Genius”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
On November 20-23, I attended the ACTFL annual conference for World Language teachers. Here are some takeaways: Attending a conference this big with a colleague makes a huge difference Fellow French teacher Rachel and I had such a great time spending 24/4 together!! I haven’t been this blown away since my last Cohort 21 face … Continue reading “My ACTFL Takeaways”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
Happy summertime, everyone! At the end of a busy school year, I like to take some time in June to relax and recharge, but it’s also a great time to reflect and learn something new without the daily distractions of school life. I didn’t jet off to any formal PD this June; I was lucky enough … Continue reading “My Great Big Personalized PD Week”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
When I established my action plan for this year, I wanted to it complement my department goal of increasing oral fluency in my French classes. Although I initially believed the answer lay in google hangouts, the path has not been as straightforward as I thought. First, I set out to research what other teachers and … Continue reading “Practical uses for google hangouts: the research”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
Last weekend I attended an iPad workshop hosted by Joe Dale. In my exploration of how I can leverage technology to increase oral fluency in my classes, I thought it would be a good idea to learn from the most popular language teacher/iPad guru on my twitter feed. He promised to provide us with some hands-on experience … Continue reading “iPads in the High School Classroom… Yes or No?”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
The first thing I started to think about today in reflecting about everything I’d learned and talked about, was the following video we watched about a teenager with some pretty cool ideas about how to live and learn: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY[/youtube] Health, happiness and creativity: some good pillars to consider as I dive into the next steps … Continue reading “Action Plan: next steps”
Written by Jennifer Kelly
Hello everyone… is anyone out there? Thus began my google hangout at 8:30pm last night. I kept a solo running commentary going for an amazing 3 minutes and 57 seconds before Garth joined in and I concluded (too soon) that no one else was watching. When I hung up, I noticed that Carolyn Bilton, Susan … Continue reading “Google hangouts, glitches and all…”