Before beginning any posts on pedagogical practices I wanted to be up front and transparent about the context from which these practices emerged and had success.  The twenty-four years of my career serving as a high school teacher of Spanish were not without their challenges and hurdles.  However, I must also recognize that I enjoyed some advantages that I hear from many colleagues across the country that they do not have.  Let me acknowledge them before I speak of the challenges.

The school district is in a small village in Western New York surrounded by some large dairy farms.  The population has been slowly declining.  They currently graduate about 60 students a year. There is a very small ELL population, a significant special education population and a sizeable population of students who qualify for free or reduced lunches.

Advantages

1. I taught in a school with a culture in which teachers could teach and students could learn.  This is not a given in many places. I worked with a very stable and experienced faculty that understood about character education long before it became a fad.  Most of the administrators I worked for were able to walk that fine line between just and consistent discipline and fair and compassionate consideration of emerging adults. While there may have been disagreements about how individual cases were handled, overall, the staff and administration created a climate that fostered mutual respect and fairness.

2.  My class sizes were by all measures very reasonable.  The largest class I ever had was 24 or 25.  Most were between 18-20. Anybody who claims that “research says” class size makes no difference has clearly never taught and is sporting flaming pants.

3.  While the school lacked what folks might count as “diversity,” among our faculty were folks with wonderfully varied backgrounds, interests and experiences. All teachers have unique stories to explain what drew them into the profession and what drives their passion.  The cool thing about our faculty was that just about every kid could connect with the experiences of at least one adult in the building.  It always gives me pride to say that no student was ever invisible in our building.  To me, this explains why we never had rashes of bomb threats, false fire alarms or other disruptions.  The last time I remember that there was a threatening note found in a restroom, other students had come forward to identify the perpetrator to the assistant principal before the  building had been completely evacuated.

4.  For all of my years at Perry High School I had my own room.  There were a few years toward the beginning, when my school was a 7-12 building, when I had to have a class in my room during planning time, but once it became a 9-12 building, that never happened. My room was secure and I didn’t have to worry too much about vandalism or theft of materials.  This may sound like a small thing, but I know colleagues across the country to spend years trying to teach from a cart with a desk in a janitor’s closet.  It’s inefficient and stressful to make teachers exist this way.  My room was fairly spacious and for most of the year was comfortable.  It did lack air conditioning, which made for some uncomfortable days in late May and June at times.

5. At the high school level, with the exception of a few classes over the years, most of the language classes I taught were considered electives.  That’s not to say that all of the students were there by their own choice or were necessarily motivated by a pure thirst for language proficiency.  In NY, one unit is required for graduation for all students.  Owing entirely to the wonderful colleagues I worked with in the Middle School, nearly all students met that requirement before arriving at the high school.  While I did see students representing a wide range of abilities, including most students who had aspirations for college, I didn’t see those with what I’d characterize as hard-core learning issues. Their schedules were filled with supports to get them through their basic diploma requirements.

6.  I had enough of a budget that allowed me to build up a collection of instructional materials to enhance student learning.  Over the years that budget did begin to shrink, but I was able to get what I needed in terms of basic supplies.   I had accessibility to adequate technology to integrate it into classroom instruction over time.  Not extravagant, but adequate, which is more than many of my colleagues across the country have. Like most teachers, I used my own money for professional development resources and conference lodging and transportation.

7.  Only a few times, during the years when I was working to expand course offerings, did I have to teach two levels in the same period – and it was level IV and V – which is not as daunting as trying to combine earlier levels.  I don’t know of any other discipline for which teachers would be expected to teach two courses in the same period.  You never see, Algebra and Geometry classes combined.  Guidance counselors would never dream of putting Chemistry and Biology students in the same period for “scheduling reasons.”  But it seems that this is a “thing” that world language teachers across the country put up with.  And it stinks.

So, I wish to acknowledge and emphasize that any tips, techniques or activities that I may share here may not work in the situation in which any colleague teaches.  If something that worked well for me doesn’t work in another setting, I make no judgment about either their efficacy or commitment.  All I try to share is what worked for me in my setting.  No less. No more.