Spanish Daily Agenda Slides

How do you normally start your Spanish classes? Some teachers may have a warm-up on the board, a joke to share, or (like I had for many years...) nothing!

A few years ago, I was in a coaching cycle with the instructional coach at my school, and I was trying to find out where I was losing time in class. What areas of my class period were highly effective in keeping students engaged vs. what were times where students were doing nothing or were off-task? For me, that time was right at the beginning of class. It's a tough time to keep students engaged. I often will have students that are asking questions, needing clarification, or just having to go to the bathroom. And those are valid needs which deserve my attention and ability to answer them. The thing is, once the bell rings, I am supposed to be engaging these students.

To help out with this, I developed a Spanish daily agenda slide that I put up at the beginning of each class, and oftentimes leave up throughout the class period. This is a lifesaver at the beginning of class, because on the slide it shows what the students are supposed to be working on. Typically, there is one of three things up for what the students are to accomplish before class:

• Practice vocabulary -- I have created Quizlet sets for all of my vocabulary sets. Students can go there to practice. Or, this past year I have been creating Blooket games and sharing those links with the students as well. They can also go there to practice.

• Submit assignment -- Typically, students have four assignments throughout the chapter that deal with vocabulary or grammar that they are learning. If this is up, they know to use the time to ensure that they have submitted their assignment on Google Classroom.

• Prepare for test -- On days that we are taking a test, this is first of all a nice reminder that there is a test that day (there's always at least one student that forgets) and gives them a chance to look over their materials and think about what questions they have before they take the assessment.

When I first started the practice of incorporating these daily agenda slides, I had to teach the students how I wanted the slides to be used and what to do. Then we practiced it. I talked about what I should see the students doing, what I would be doing, how long it would last, etc. These reminders lasted about a week, with corrections made afterwards if actions fell below expectations.

Besides being a lifesaver at the beginning of class, students can also quickly see and prepare for what they will be doing throughout the rest of the class period. I write all of it in Spanish and depending on the level of the student, I may do some explaining of the day's agenda if there are several new words on the slide or words that may be difficult to remember.

The bottom of the slide shows students what they need to do after the class. This would be a place where I remind students to study for an assessment, complete a homework assignment, or practice vocabulary. I also love this section because it has eliminated the 'Do we have homework tonight?' question that I would get asked twenty times a day.

What do you do at the beginning of class to get students engaged in your class? If you feel like a presentation similar to mine would be helpful, check out the link below to grab your own slides for FREE!