@mrfishersays
HS German and Spanish Teacher / Blog at MrFisherSays.com / Co-host of SLAyyy at https://slayyypod.com / NEA Foundation Teacher of Excellence 2024 / PNCFL Teacher of the Year 2023 / WAFLT Teacher of the Year 2022 / he/him
Level 2s are describing the songs using chat mats, and persuading each other to vote for the songs that they prefer. Level 3s are doing a deeper dive into the lyrics.
Boom! It's taken less time than in previous years - more focus - and easier to plan for me.
I'm doing March Music Madness with my kids, and have felt previously that it took so much time but I wasn't clear on what the actual goal should be. I've recently tried to be more focused: level 1s are just trying to understand the chorus and the bios of the singers. Basic info, small scope.
Graphic showing that Ben is presenting at the PNCFL Conference in Portland, Oregon on Friday, April 10th 2026 at 10:45am in Galleria 2. The title of the session is "Planning Against a Textbook."
I'm really looking forward to presenting at our PNCFL Regional Conference in April - 6 states, tons of sessions, colleagues from all across the US! See you there ✨
Spanish teacher Mary Hooker points at a projection screen, where the logo of the SLAyyy podcast is listed under the heading “how do we inspire?”
Always happy to see shoutouts - here’s WA Language Teacher of the Year Mary Hooker calling out SLAyyy in her keynote address about inspiration at the WAFLT Spring Regional Conference!
Thank uuuu ✨ I'm stoked!!
I am v proud of myself: over the weekend, I ran in a 10K that I had run last year and improved my mile time by 47 seconds! Took ~5 minutes off my finish time! Consistency has not been glamorous or always fun, but it's paying off. (This message mostly for my buddy in running @reedjam.bsky.social)
I have a senior who is super interested in history - reading tons of biographies in his free time, super plugged in to current events - and I have got him hooked on the @thisguysucked.com podcast. Came to school asking me what I knew about Dick Cheney. My work here is done... (paging @ceaubin.com)
The more planned and structured you are in the classroom, the more flexible you can actually be.
It looks so cozy and cute! I'm definitely intrigued. I just got LeafGreen and it's hitting me right in the nostalgic feels.
Just their initial gut reaction of "Herr Fisher, you monster!" was so funny to me. Process those verb endings, children, and ye shall never be deceived again -
After reviewing the answers, I said "What if something about this language told you all the answers without having to know me or Brent at all? That the answers were there the entire time?"
The kids were like "HOW COULD YOU, HERR FISHER." The betrayal!!!
(Hopefully they learned something grammary)
I did a Structured Input activity today (1st person singular vs. plural) and had the kids guess which hobbies are mine alone, and which my husband also likes. If they were processing verb endings, easy! If not, it was a good place to pop that up! They checked off if their predictions were right.
...but which game???
A student drawing of an imagined “missing” poster, reading “have you seen the bald man? If seen, contact non-bald Brent”
You’re absent for one day…
Paragraph reading: “The problem is this: few students - less than 5% - are able to endure the stressful nature of formal school training in languages. The task is to invent or discover instructional strategies that reduce the intense stress that students experience.”
I’ve been reading “Learning Another Language Through Actions” by Asher after talking to Jon Cowart for the pod, and this last paragraph resonated with me - almost 50 years since the first publication of the book. #LangChat
Are you taking brain breaks with your students? You might want to start! Check out the latest episode of the pod for tips on how to increase student test and quiz performance:
rss.com/podcasts/sla...
What do you say to those who claim you’re not American? I understand it’s confusing to encounter an American who can speak two different languages.
The Onion’s Exclusive Interview With Bad Bunny https://theonion.com/the-onions-exclusive-interview-with-bad-bunny/
I WILL be sharing this take with everyone who is subjected to my genAI rants (audience: anyone who talks to me for more than a few minutes)
I was just talking to my student teacher about how there's no pressure for us to be entertainers, or be funny. Kids are so funny if you listen to them. Like we were talking about tourist attractions and a kid said "the Space Noodle!" and like. Everytime I think about it I chuckle.
This episode was great - loved having Jon to talk! (He is an expert in so much more than just classroom management!)
Having a hard time conjuring up little tweets to share here because the state of the world is so hard, but I did want to let y'all know that I fixed the copy machine thrice this week, to the raucous applause of myself
SPEAK!! I was just ranting to my husband about this. My newish car has no knobs, and his brand-new car does have knobs, and I am so, so jealous.
2025 learning + 2026 reminder for teachers/educators:
We need to tell the good stories, too, about what is happening in our classrooms and schools. To tell them frequently and loudly and meaningfully.
(Because we know no one else is going to at this point.)
Respecting people’s pronouns literally saves lies.
Misgendering people is literally killing them.
Homeland security twitter screenshot - “all America wants for Christmas is remigration”
As a person who has been studying extreme far right ideologies for the last decade (and did a PhD on immigration) I find the entrance of “remigration” into the mainstream American political lexicon so profoundly disturbing
On the day following the shooting, the National Cabinet unanimously agreed to strengthen gun laws. Proposals brought forward during the meeting included restricting firearm ownership to Australian citizens only, accelerating the launch of a national firearms register, limiting the number of firearms a single person can own, and further restricting the types of weapons that are legal.
It really can be this easy btw.
If you’ve never thought about whether you’d use your body in an attempt to protect children who aren’t yours,
now’s a good time to stop talking and listen.
“Teaching isn’t just the science of instruction, it’s the art of language. And when our words consistently prime for progress, our students don’t just perform better—they begin to see themselves as learners who can grow, master, and achieve long after the bell rings.” —Cathleen Beachboard, High School Teacher
Cathleen shares 3 strategies: https://edut.to/48bL9fr
#EduSky
Two victims of previous school shootings — Mia Tretta, who was shot in the stomach in 2019 at Saugus High School, and Zoe Weissman, who survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — are now at Brown. Gun violence is out of control in this country.
Pink and red clouds at sunset over trees and power lines
Sky as I left my classroom yesterday afternoon 🤩