Letās face it: itās HARD to invest students in Spanish class.Ā Weāre competing for studentsā attention and we just canāt keep up sometimes.Ā Theyāve got phones, friends, sports, video games, and their lives are moving a thousand miles a minute.Ā It can be hard to invest students in Spanish class, and itās tempting to try anything tech-related to get their attention.

In my experience, we actually need to take it back to basics when it comes to investing students in Spanish class.Ā Sure, we can try all the new tech and mix up our activities every ten or fifteen minutes to stop the boredom, but what we really need is to set and share goals, invest students in us, and let them be awesome.
Set Shared Goals
In order to invest students in Spanish class, Iāve been setting shared goals since YEAR ONE (excuse me while I pat first-year-teacher-Kathryn on the back).
Whhyyyy does it make such a difference?Ā If you share your goals and set goals with students, they know what theyāre working toward.Ā Instead of learning for the sake of learning, students are working toward something bigger.
When I first started teaching, I taught seventh grade ELA.Ā My studentsā seventh grade test scores directly impacted their high school options (AZ is a school choice state).Ā As a class, we discussed what that meant and talked about what it meant to be an average student, a below-average, and above-average student.Ā As a group, my class decided that they wanted Bās or better because it was above average.Ā They wanted more options for their high school choices, and better grades opened doors.Ā So when it came time to take an assessment, it wasnāt just about āpassing the test.āĀ Now, my students were invested in earning a B or higher so they could have more future options.
Looking to set goals for yourself?Ā Check out this classroom vision resource for teachers.
Class-wide goals
So what does this look like in action?Ā As a class, you can set goals.Ā Check out this AMAZING norm-setting resource from La Maestra Loca.Ā She walks you and your students through sharing ideas and building norms together.Ā I also build in goal-setting by asking students to discuss what success looks like in Spanish class.
Doing this together instead of top-down invests students in your class because theyāre a part of the bigger goal.Ā They arenāt just working because you told them to, theyāre working because they want to achieve the goals that they set out for themselves.

Individual Goals
At the start of the year, I make an effort to check in with my students and determine what they want to work on individually.Ā This could be through a survey, individual check-ins, a worksheet, etc.Ā The options are limitless.
I encourage students to think about their academic strengths and determine what they might struggle with in Spanish class.Ā If theyāve studied Spanish before, they can usually identify their challenges.Ā I ask them to pinpoint a specific communication skill (reading, listening, speaking, writing) and whatās tough about it.
After identifying their challenges, I encourage students to set simple goals.Ā Maybe they want to make five-word vocabulary lists to support them during speaking activities, or they want to use WordReference instead of a translator (read more about stopping translators here!).
Follow-Through
Setting goals is great, but the way to invest students in Spanish class is to FOLLOW UP on those goals.
You can remind students of class-wide goals byā¦
- Posting them on the wall
- Adding them to your slides during independent work time
- Including them in expectations during assessments
- Adding them to the header/footer of your worksheets
For individual goals, I follow up by checking in on these goals when we do grade reflections.Ā After each unit, I encourage my students to reflect on their grades, consider their successes and challenges, and check in on their goals.Ā We use this worksheet for independent and partner reflections.Ā It makes it so easy to follow up with students and check in on their goals.

Be Yourself
Be Authentically You
I think Iāve said this before, but your students KNOW when youāre faking it.Ā A little white lie every now and then may be necessary, but you canāt fake your personality.Ā In order to invest students in Spanish class, you have to be your authentic self.
In order to be authentically you, share stories that are connected to the class topic.Ā Sharing them in Spanish is even better!Ā Click here to read more about being a fearless Spanish-user in class.
For example, maybe youāre teaching about ordering food and remember that time you put your foot in your mouth (not literally) at the mercado in Chile.Ā Or you visited a local restaurant and didnāt think to order in Spanish even though the staff all speak Spanish!
This shows students: A. That youāre human.Ā B. That your experiences could be their future experiences.Ā By sharing possible future situations with our students, we can invest them in Spanish class because they see how theyāll use this knowledge in the future.
Invest them in YOU
Honestly, Iām not the best at this with high schoolers, but I crush it with middle schoolers!Ā Sometimes kids just donāt connect with our content area, but they connect with us.Ā By sharing those stories above, youāre sharing classroom-appropriate parts of your life.Ā Iām not telling you to share the story of your most recent breakup (you know, unless itās relevant to the content), but share your hobbies, share your interests when theyāre related to class.
By sharing these pieces of yourself, you might find unexpected connections with your students.Ā I have a student who LOVES fish.Ā All fish.Ā Fishing, studying fish, eating fishā¦Ā You get the picture.Ā If I share that I went snorkeling in my city recently and saw a tropical fish, Iāve got him hooked.Ā Does he love Spanish?Ā Maybe not, but he is interested in my fish story!

Let Them Be Awesome
The biggest way to invest students in Spanish class is by building their confidence.Ā If they feel confident, theyāll not only use Spanish, but theyāll keep advancing without even knowing it.Ā They will feel empowered to participate and share their ideas, and theyāll start their work because they feel ready to do so.
Support Them Left and Right
When students feel supported, they feel confident.Ā There are SO many ways to support students, but my favorites are rescue phrases and word walls.
Rescue phrases are go-to phrases to support student understanding.Ā I like to keep rescue phrases on studentsā desks, but this printable card can also be stapled or glued into notebooks for easy reference.
Word walls are my next favorite way to support students.Ā I keep the top 50 frequently used words on my wall, and I recently added the Super 7 Verbs for āyoā and āĆ©l/ellaā to my walls.Ā Students can use these resources in class to quickly find the words theyāre looking for instead of asking me or feeling stuck.Ā This helps them participate, write, and grow.
Opportunities to Succeed
Lastly, I want all of my students to have multiple opportunities to succeed.Ā Iāve always worked in really diverse schools with a variety of student needs and I developed this freebie checklist to help me differentiate and support all of my students in class.Ā When students feel successful, itās easy to invest them in class.

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