Category Archives: Uncategorized

Do you fret about having too much teacher-talk-time in your lessons? Do you worry about whether or not your students are actually learning what you are teaching them? Here’s an infographic I made on the BOPPPS lesson planning framework. This framework ensures learners are actively engaged and emphasizes student-talking-time and student-centered learning. Be sure toContinue reading “BOPPPS Lesson Planning Framework”

A few years ago, I watched a TedTalk by Drew Dudley called “Everyday Leadership”. In five minutes, he was able to capture everything I felt defined me as a person. He spoke about things I had felt and was never able to put into words. Before his talk, I did not define myself as aContinue reading “A Lollipop Changed my Life”

Active learning fosters understanding rather than memorization of facts, as explained by the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Teaching Excellence. It encourages students to apply learning to different problems and contexts; it gives students more autonomy over their learning; and it helps students learn how to learn. This resource shows nine different active learning tasksContinue reading “Interactive Teaching”

Hello. My name is Shawna and I am a lifelong learner. Some might say I am in need of a 12 step program to help with my addiction to learning new things. I say, “learning helps make me feel like I can be a better me than I was yesterday.” My passion for teaching teachersContinue reading “Life-Long Learner Profile”

“Right?” “Does that make sense?” “Cool?” “OK?”  These are all variations of the question “do you understand?” and these types of questions are ineffective at checking your student’s understanding. Instead, it is better to ask concept check questions (CCQs). What is a CCQ? What can it check for? A concept checking question is designed toContinue reading “Concept Checking Questions (CCQs)”

This blog does not share personal information with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies. You can turn off the use of cookies at anytime by changing your specific browser settings. IContinue reading “Privacy Policy”

I work at ILAC and ILAC International College as a teacher trainer, curriculum developer, and program manager. I have had the pleasure over the last 9 years of working with very passionate, motivated, and inspiring teachers. The purpose of this page is to give a professional shout out to their hard work and commitment to life-longContinue reading “Professional Shout Out”

Hello and thanks you for checking out my blog! I love geeking out about teaching and all things related to learning as part of the 12–step program I am on as you read in my biography. It doesn’t matter if your a teacher with 20 years of experience or you are new to the profession,Continue reading “Feedback”

Concise, logical instructions are crucial to the success of any activity in the language classroom. We have all experienced the results that poor instructions can have: failure from s’s to do/complete tasks,  repetition or reprimands, students who “zone out” or aren’t paying attention when instructions are given,  frustration from both teachers and students etc.  ThroughContinue reading “Instruction Checking Questions (ICQs)”

Developing Objectives This guide, for Developing Objectives, is designed to help write clear objectives which outline the specific learning outcomes form the foundation linking directly to instruction materials, content or teaching techniques determine or assess when the goal of the lesson has been accomplished provide a framework showing learners their successes in completing the learningContinue reading “Writing Lesson Objectives”