The biggest part of my professional development has been engaging in community with other language teachers. The ACTFL convention in November was like a breath of fresh air as the lone second language instructor at my school site. Being with other teachers and sharing ideas is so valuable! Since then, I've been meeting individually with a few other Spanish teachers in San Diego. I always come away from these experiences with new ideas and inspiration.
Last week, I started a group on Meetup.com to take these experiences to the next level. With Carol's help, we have already coordinated over a dozen teachers for our first Meetup! I wasn't expecting so many teachers to be interested in an end-of-the-year Meetup, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the responses.
One unexpected downside is the cost of the Meetup site. In all my years of attending other Meetups, I never imagined that there was a hefty monthly fee. I'll be looking into sponsors to offset this cost once we have a larger number of members. I have a feeling that there is at least one university out there that will be interested in sponsoring our group in exchange for exposure to teachers that may be seeking further education.
Overall, I'm just tickled to get some fresh ideas and meet some other language teachers!
http://www.meetup.com/Language-Teachers-of-San-Diego/
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