INCREDIBLE FREE PD Opportunity!

I am a week behind in promoting this incredible opportunity! So, most of you should already know about it and if you don’t then YAY, I am glad I am catching you! (We had our little bundle of joy come a few weeks early… see the end of this blog for a hint on baby loc@’s gender….)

Beginning on March 10th Jared Romey and his wife Diane are offering the first (I hope the first annual) Spanish Teacher Success Academy,  a virtual conference… FOR FREE! Don’t teach Spanish!?! That’s ok! Most of the sessions are going to be useful and applicable to other world language classrooms too!

Jared reached out to me a few months ago to ask if I would be willing to film a presentation for his online conference. I of course agreed, and was excited when he already had an idea of what he wanted me to talk about. He said that he was impressed with a blog I had written on making connections and building relationships with students and my unique take on the best ways to do this. Honestly, I don’t think there is a right way and a wrong way to building relationships with students, but I do believe that it is the single most important part of our job as teachers. 🙂

Each day from March 10th through March 15th, the Spanish Teacher Success Academy will release several videos related to that day’s topic.

March 10th: Kick-Off Party and Orientation to conference

March 11th: The Teacher Tool Box

March 12th: Heritage Speakers

March 13th: Engaging with your Students

March 14th: Motivating your Students

March 15th: Comprehensible Input

My presentation will be on Wednesday, the 13th. I like Jared’s description of my presentation better than my synopsis, so here you go: “Annabelle Williamson presents mindfulness methods that enable her to acknowledge and validate every student in her CI (Comprehensible Input) classroom in this dynamic and informative presentation. Alongside relevant and memorable anecdotes, Ms. Williamson explains the pedagogical benefits of ensuring that each student is seen and heard and validated. Teachers will be inspired to invest more time in building relationships with their students through a variety of activities and through intentional and concerted efforts to engage students on a personal level.”

I am seriously honored to be part of such an incredible line up of educators from all around the nation!

The sessions I am most looking forward to are: Bethanie Drew’s presentation on “Working Smarter, Not Harder (to maintain your sanity” because…. y’all know me… I need more sanity in this vida loca that I live… Her presentation will be on the 11th. I am also looking forward to Sarah Breckley’s presentation because…. well because Sarah Breckley…. Need I say more? Her presentation is titled Compelling & Comprehensible Techniques and pretty much EVERYTHING she does is compelling  (for teachers and students alike) simply because of her incredibly magnetic personality and her gifts as a comedian. Her session is on the final day of the conference, March 15th.

SO! What are you waiting for!? Register for this free incredible opportunity by following this link: http://spanishteachersuccessacademy.com/?orid=44297&opid=4

Jared, Diane and Speaking Latino have worked tirelessly over the past 5 months creating this PD. They recognize the challenge so many of us face in not being able to travel to attend PD, whether it is because of financial reasons or not being able to leave our schools or families… I am so grateful they’ve created this!

There are also other great resources available once you sign up for the conference. The All Access Pass will allow you access to the materials beyond just the days they are published. There is also a HUGE handbook of tips and tricks that they put together. It is an incredible resource that will be helpful “post” conference. My referral link is here and it is  the same as the above link, if you want to purchase the extension options. 🙂 YAY!

I hope y’all are well and staying busy! This upcoming week is Mardi Gras here in NOLA and all schools are closed… it is pretty much like a second Spring Break… It is epically awesome and I know you’re insanely jealous soooo I was thinkin,…y’all should move here to teach with me. 🙂 Seriously though… NOLA is awesome and we need more CI teachers!

Until next time,

HAPPY TEACHING!

Love,

La Maestra Loca