I attended many webinars pertaining to teaching remotely, in addition to webinars that addressed language instruction and providing Comprehensible Input via online classes. Some of the webinars were pretty informative, and it’s a blessing to be able to get some professional development for free, and from the comfort of my own home. Other webinars left a lot to be desired, but this also helped me realize that many teachers are in the same boat as I, trying to navigate these choppy waters of online instruction.

The first webinar I attended was on March 19, led by Lance Piantaggini about avoiding burnout with online classes. I didn’t find this webinar to be particularly beneficial. He noted

having a lot repeated activities and check ins, which are important to online teaching, however I found his use of very long check ins to be tedious and a way to pass time. He did point out that being organized and recycling material is useful to avoid burnout however, and I found that with online teaching, there are so many resources and tools that it becomes overwhelming and unorganized,  so I have attempted to hone my focus on a few platforms that work for me, and keep the structure similar each day, so that students can find an expected routine, rather than constantly experimenting with different tools that can get cumbersome, confusing, and ultimately frustrating.

The next webinar that I attended was on April 21, led by Alicia Quintero. This webinar focused mostly on remote learning and techniques that this instructor had been using to teach her classes in Spanish. Her focus was on asking students check in questions to keep students engaged in a sense of community. She did mention that she has pretty long Zoom sessions to teach her classes, and I find this to be burdensome for some students. Again, this instructor emphasized reusing activities and structures to keep students familiar with activities, so that they could almost automatically know what to expect for the next class. This instructor also focused heavily on being meticulously organized with planning out lessons first in a physical binder, and having all of her resources and materials out in front of her physically, so that she could keep track of her lessons and instructions. I do believe that staying organized, and structured during online instruction is vital, to keep a level of cohesiveness and clarity for the instructor and students. This was the most valuable lesson that I took from this webinar.

Another webinar was on April 14, led by Bryan Kandel. I have attended many of his webinars in the past, and he has a lot of great tools and ideas that I have found useful and have implemented in my own teaching.

Bryan’s focus is on comprehensible input and how to achieve this in an online setting. He had some great stories (that he wrote himself) and he narrated the stories in Spanish and he included corresponding pictures and images to help with comprehension as he read along. He used tools such as Screencastify and slides to facilitate his instruction, and he kept activities simple, organized, and consistent. Again, he used familiar platforms repeatedly to avoid confusion. He used activities such as calendar talk, and he was directing instruction mostly himself. He suggested platforms such as EdPuzzle, FlipGrid, and video responses to illicit student response and student engagement. EdPuzzle is a way to ascertain that a student watched a video tutorial and answered the corresponding questions. I have found that in the past, if I scheduled a video tutorial for students to watch, many of them would skip the video and move on to the activity immediately, to finish faster without actually learning. EdPuzzle makes sure that a student watches the entire video and answers corresponding questions throughout the video to show that the student understands the material as they go along. Flip Grid allows students to show a video response, and record their answer and it allows other students to view their classmates’ videos and respond as well, which is also a great tool for comprehensible input. It was validating to see that I have also implemented these practices in my class and that I’m kind of on the same page as this other instructor.

I also attended a conference in UC Berkeley called the World Language Project. This was a 6 week course every weekend, and it was incredibly informative and helpful to professional growth. I learned many activities that facilitate comprehensible input, and gained access to authentic resources, which help move my instruction to more reality based for my students to understand the value and importance of language learning, rather than going through the motions in a vacuum for the sake of getting a grade. I have shown meals throughout the world, and students compared school lunches from around the world in the target language (Spanish). This was a very valuable course, and I hope to continue taking other levels in the future.