Last July, the Advocacy in Action column was titled “Beyond Preaching to the Choir.”  To continue that metaphor, I’d like to share my favorite new quote about advocacy, “The reason we preach to the choir is because we want to inspire them to sing.” (Dr. Jay Ketner) I was inspired to sing even more loudly […]

Have you thought about presenting at WAFLT but then wondered if you really had enough to share? Well, you do! It’s all about the packaging. Maybe you don’t feel ready to spend a whole hour talking about what you are doing. Perhaps you prefer that one-to-a-few informal conversation with colleagues. Or maybe you have an […]

Do you have a story about mentoring that you’d like to share? Please consider submitting yours to: mentor@waflt email. If you are interested in finding or being a mentor, please visit WAFLT’s mentoring page. All mentoring participants and mentoring story contributors will receive a “Great Thought A Day” notepad!  We know from our own academic and professional […]

The landscape of world language education and of our schools is rapidly changing, presenting new challenges as well as reasons to celebrate. As I followed my own winding path across this landscape – through forests and open fields, over hills and mountains, and even into valleys and caverns – I unexpectedly found myself in an […]

The Wisconsin Language Roadmap asks, “What can YOU do?” It’s here, but now the work begins!  There is much work to be done at local and state levels! The Wisconsin Language Roadmap is a call for collaborative action. The key question that the report puts forward is: WHAT CAN YOU DO? Here are the resources […]

Recently Spanish 3 students at my school have been exploring different social and conservation problems through news, stories, and videos. While social activism is not exactly on the forefront of any of these sixteen year olds’ brains, I have found that there are 3 factors which play a very large role in student buy-in and […]

On those mornings when thoughts about helping a particular student or trying out a new activity jolt me out of sleep way too early, it is comforting to know that Jody Schneider is already up and grappling with something similar. I know this because she once offered to meet me at 5am! I consider Jody […]

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” John C. Crosby WAFLT members are invited to participate in our mentoring program, one of the many benefits of membership. WAFLT supports mentor partners by establishing connections and providing resources to the partners as requested throughout the professional development […]

YOU are an advocate!   How do we internalize and carry forward the positive and energizing messages from the 2018 WAFLT World Language conference? If you were in the audience for the keynote address, you heard these powerful words from the keynote speaker, Dr. Edward M. Zarrow, 2016 ACTFL National Teacher of the Year. “A world […]

As we approach conference season with WAFLT and ACTFL just around the corner, many of us are getting excited for the new ideas, the networking, the recharge to our batteries. In addition to teaching language classes, for the past 25 years I have spent many hours in classrooms observing others and working one on one […]