Blogs on New-Teacher Support

When I taught, one way that I made it through the last few weeks of school was by thinking about the following year -- what I'd do differently, curriculum I wanted to try out, field trips I would take my kids on. And as I took down the things on my walls, I contemplated how I'd decorate for the following year.

Editor's Note: Larry Ferlazzo teaches English at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He writes a popular blog for teachers and is the author of three books. He also supports a blog that shares ideas and resources to improve the school-parent relationship. This post first appeared on edweek.com

This article is adapted from Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers to Classroom Challenges by Larry Ferlazzo, just published by Eye on Education.

A teacher thinks: State testing is done, the weather is getting nicer, and we are all getting spring fever. There are six or seven weeks left of school and students are easily distracted. It's even hard for me to stay focused. I don't just want to "coast." What can I do?

Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Don Doehla, French teacher and instructional coach at Vintage High School in Napa, California. Don recently stepped up to become the new facilitator of our World Languages group. He's got some great ideas for teaching world languages, including the use of project-based learning. He shares a few of these tips today. We hope you'll join him in the World Languages group as well.

The world may be small and flat, but it is also multilingual, multicultural, and more and more, it is an interconnected world. Consequently, cross cultural communicative competencies are increasingly important for mutual understanding and cooperation - how is that for some alliteration?! Our students' need to be able to communicate with their neighbors, here and abroad, is increasing with every moment which passes! The borders separating our countries are diminishing in importance as the global culture emerges. The definition of who my neighbor is has changed as well. No longer are we isolated from what is happening across the globe. Recent events demonstrate this quite well! Examples abound for everyone on the planet. We must be able to communicate well and proficiently across the kilometers which separate us.

I looked up the reference of one of my students who quoted some things from Robyn Jackson's seven principles for a master teacher, explained explicitly in her book, Never Work Harder than Your Students. While reading it, I was surprised by the list provided as the seven characteristics of master teachers: