Teaching Problems from Last Year… and Solutions for This Year!
At the start of the new year, I like to spend some time reflecting on my teaching from the previous year. Specifically, I think about the pain points in my teaching practice, and I actively consider solutions to address those issues. I say this often on this blog, but in my view, teaching is one of the most challenging professions on the planet: we have the awesome yet daunting task of working with children, who have a variety of needs, while still addressing mandated policies and practices from supervisors, administrators, district leaders, county and state education officials, and even government leaders. It’s a lot!
I think it can be healthy to vent to trusted colleagues and friends, and I am a huge believer that most (if not all) teachers can benefit from therapy… but I also think that we as teachers need to take our classroom problems into our own hands and devise solutions whenever appropriate. I learned years ago that we teachers cannot expect supervisors or administrators to solve our daily classroom dilemmas for us: we’ve got to do the work ourselves to improve our experiences in the classroom.
In this blog post, I’m going to share some of my teaching problems from last year, as well as some of the solutions I plan on trying out in order to rectify those pesky pain points. I encourage you to read along not only to see what my major teaching issues are - and honestly, I’m sure you’ll be able to relate to some of them! - but also to see my train of thought in how I approach solutioning them.
Problem #1: Chatty Students
My students have been super chatty as of late. It’s almost like they need to socialize the same way they need oxygen to breathe. It’s been difficult for me to get through instructional lessons because I need to constantly stop and redirect students.
Solution: I’m re-arranging seats for a few weeks. We’re going back to single-file rows until students have re-earned my trust that they can handle being seated in pairs. I’m also redoing my seating charts and making sure that I strategically sit my chattiest students away from each other. I’m going to remind students of my expectations on a regular basis, and I’m going to be militant about enforcing a critical classroom management strategy that, if I’m being honest, I’ve gotten lazy with over the last few months: I’m not talking if they’re talking. If even one student is talking, I’m going to stop and wait until there is complete silence in the room.
Problem #2: Late Starts
Although my students know that they are to enter the room, find their seat, take out their binder, and begin working on the Do-Now I have projected on the board, I’ve been noticing that students have been arriving to class and sort of hanging out for a few minutes until the bell rings… and then they start making their way to their desks, taking out their materials, and beginning their assignment. This has caused us to lose a few minutes at the start of every class, as the preparation that should have been taking place right before the bell rang is now happening well after the bell has already rung. As a result, I’m losing instructional time.
Solution: Early on in my teaching career, I incorporated a super effective strategy for resetting a chaotic start to class. I’d wait for my students to quiet down, and then I’d express how disappointed I was in the way that they started class. I’d have them pack up all their stuff and exit my room. They’d line up outside of my room, and I would explain to them what I saw wrong about their entry into my class, remind them of my expectations, and inform them that we are going to practice exiting and entering my classroom correctly for as many times as it takes for them to do it correctly.
I am TOTALLY bringing back this strategy. Asking students to pack up their belongings and exit the classroom is super frustrating and inconvenient for them - they really don’t like it. But, a reset is essential if kids are walking into your room and not following your rules. I usually only have to reset my class once, and the kids just get it. They re-enter the room quietly, take out their materials, and get right to work.
Problem #3: Too Much English
I’d venture to say this is a problem that you’ve likely experienced at some point in your career as a World Language teacher. My students are using way too much English in our class, even using English to say simple things that they definitely know how to say in the target language. Not great!
Solution: I’m reminding students of the notion of emergent bilingualism, which means that students are in the process of becoming bilingual (or multilingual for some of my students). In order to get there, though, we should be using the target language whenever possible. Especially in instances where we have the language skills to communicate certain ideas in the target language. I don’t want to hear students say, “Can I go to the bathroom? I forgot my homework. Can I go to my locker? Do you have a tissue?” These are basic phrases that have already been taught - so why are we not using the target language?
I’m going to incentivize students to use target language by rewarding them with TL Points (Target Language Points). Every time I encounter a student using the target language in class in a creative way, they will get a raffle ticket on which they will write their name and place in a raffle box located at the front of my classroom. I’ll hold a raffle every two weeks, and the winners from each class will receive a World Language Class Reward/Incentive, pictured below:
Click the image above to check out my World Language Class Rewards & Incentives resource on TPT — you can grab these awesome prize cards for your students!
Problem #4: Exhaustion
At the end of the school day, I usually leave feeling exhausted and yet somehow overstimulated at the very same time. It sounds paradoxical, I know, but it’s my truth. I think in general teaching is a super overstimulating job, and the energy we expend as World Language teachers to deliver high-quality and engaging target language input can leave us feeling drained and depleted at the conclusion of the school day.
Solution: I’m going to weave in more regular Free Voluntary Reading time in all of my classes (Click to learn more!). This is a time where my classroom becomes a library, and students (and myself!) really benefit from the calm, quiet, and focused time to read in the target language.
Outside of the classroom, I’m going to find some breaks in my day to be intentionally mindful, and perhaps do a quick 5-minute breathing meditation (I love the Calm app). The school day feels like a whirlwind, but if I give myself some scheduled pauses to recenter myself, I think this could help restore my energy mid-day so that I don’t feel the crash at 4 p.m.
As we step into a new year, I hope this post inspires you to reflect on your own teaching experiences and identify areas for growth. The process of naming our pain points, exploring possible solutions, and taking ownership of our classrooms can be both empowering and transformative.
Growth doesn’t happen overnight, but with intention, creativity, and a willingness to adapt, we can make meaningful progress toward becoming the educators our students need and the professionals we aspire to be. Here’s to a year of reflection, renewal, and proactive problem-solving in the classroom.
Happy language teaching,
~ Michael
