Chez Renée

Props generate interest!   Students and passersby will wonder what's going on in your classroom if they see, for example, a picnic scene set up on the floor.  Grabbing the interest of your students is an important key to motivating them to want to learn. Props allow you to use less English.   Those of you who are world language teachers know that it is important to use as much of the language being taught as possible in the classroom.  If you can point to a plastic apple, you can say, "This is an apple.  It's red.  It's a fruit." in another language, and students will be able to understand without an English translation. Props reach students with different learning styles.   You can appeal to many of the senses with props.  In my opinion, students will remember what was taught more easily if you engage more of their senses in your lesson. Props can be used in many ways in a world language classroom.  I use them frequently to intro...

I saw my  first "back to school" sign of the summer while shopping at Target yesterday.  Carpe Diem.   It's time to seize the summer, or whatever you have left of it :).  Here are some principles I'm trying to follow...they help me to feel ready for the new school year when it arrives.   Sunset in Frankfort, MI Give yourself permission to sleep.   The alarm will be ringing before you know it.  If you're like me, you find it difficult during the school year to get 8 hours of sleep each night.  Protect your long-term physical, emotional and mental health by allowing yourself to get enough sleep on a consistent basis. Get away.   Take advantage of the time you have to travel.  A change of scenery is good therapy.  My husband and I try to enjoy the incredible splendor of northern Michigan as much as we can.  Watching the sunset over Lake Michigan (above) is one of the highl...

When I started my teaching career, I was fortunate to have a boss who mentored me.  I got into teaching through the back door, so I needed more help than the average first-year teacher!  Doug spent one on one time with me each week (even though I'm sure he really didn't have the time to do so!), giving me advice.  All these years later, I'm still following these bits of wisdom that he passed on: Be STRICT, but be NICE .   Doug always said he was going to write a book about this one day.   It is possible to be strict, or in other words, to be consistent in requiring that students do what you ask them to, without being mean.   Make this your motto. You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar .   As much as possible , reward students for doing what you want them to, rather than attempting to punish every time they don’t.   This helps keep the tone in your classroom positive.  Elementary school teachers are great at this...

I mentioned in an earlier post how excited I am about finding ways to use my new iPad2 in the classroom!  I also mentioned my favorite app so far, called Face Jack.  Here's an example of how students could use the Face Jack app on their iPads in conjunction with the adopt an escargot  project which I currently use in my third year French class. If you're unfamiliar with adopt an escargot, it involves students "adopting" a snail shell and inventing the life of the snail.  My students love it!  I used one of the shells that came in my adopt an escargot kit in this video.  I also used one of the profiles that came in the kit to describe this particular snail.  I plan on asking my students to make a video about their adopted snails next year, and to use Face Jack in the video.  Obviously, students would be speaking French in their videos.  What do you think?