I'm back, but with some changes in place.

 It has been nearly 7 years since I have posted.  It sounds crazy, I know.  I have had a lot of changes since 2018.  In 2017, I was moved out of the library and into the classroom.  I was asked to teach English, on an Emergency permit.  It was a total whirlwind of change.  In August of 2018, I accepted a new position teaching English Language Learners and English at the high school level.  Now, here we are in 2024 and I am still doing English, but my primary content area is Advanced Speech and communication.  Dual Credit!  I had to go back to school, take extra classes, do more advanced work.  But, I am done and now I send 50 or 60 students away at the end of the year with college credit for Speech, a class that many dread in college. 

I know my focus has always been on technology in the classroom and such, and I would like to continue that but since my content has changed and I am not using as much technology in the classroom, I have some sites that are crucial to my teaching, but nothing like it used to be.

I would like to start implementing more of a strategy based blog, geared toward language learners since that is now my area of expertise.  I am not an expert. I am not exceptional at it.  It is a lot of hit and miss with this. Lots of lessons learned.

I started off with my first year absolutely clueless, but as I got training and experience, I have noticed success.  Let's take a look at the first site I use a lot: Breaking News English. 

Breaking News English is a great place to get quick readings activities with lessons.  I love it because there are often obscure stories that the students remember.  When I was teaching a resource class and having the kids do a reading activity each day, I would go here and build my lesson around the articles.  I love the fact that you can adjust the levels from 1 to 5.  There are beginner stories all the way to advanced and you can pick and choose the level you use.  I often go with the beginner, because most of the students I see each day are newcomers or long term learners- students who have been here for a long time but have not mastered English.  My job is to work with them to get their WIDA score up and get them tested out. This site is really helpful because there is actually academic language included within. 

I suggest if you are working with Language Learners, you check this site out.  I have really found it to be helpful when we are working on language building.