Virginia Said:

How can I help a student who has reading problems in the areas of fluency and word tracking?

We Answered:

Without knowing the child's age it's impossible to know for sure, but what you describe sounds more like a true mental disability rather than a learning problem. No amount of instruction is going to make her track words properly. Have her tested.

Thomas Said:

How can I improve my verbal comprehension?

We Answered:

i think you just did!
but NOW say it all over in SPANISH!

lol
(*hint* Read more Spanish)

w

Ann Said:

How Can I Improve My Fluency In Spanish?

We Answered:

Watch Spanish TV. It will put the language into context, and it will help to visualize it by putting it into situations. The more you hear it, and hear native speakers use it, the more you will understand it.

Dedicate an hour a day to one of the soaps (novelas) on TV, and you will pick it up in 2 shakes of a lamb's tail.

¡Buena suerte y que disfrutes las novelas!

Danielle Said:

The principal has insulted me as a teacher. How can I tell him my thoughts w/o being rude or disrespectful?

We Answered:

I am sorry you were hurt and insulted!

I'm a bilingual principal in a bilingual K-5 school. I have a crackerjack staff of bilingual teachers, and the students and I would be absolutely lost without them. Sometimes it's hard to be the one who supervises teachers who are so good; what can I say or do that will enable them to do an even better job than the already outstanding work that they're doing? And I'm in my sixth year as the principal; my first year I had to supervise teachers who were not only outstanding but had been in the profession longer than I had. It can be a challenge to be a useful, helpful supervisor to such talented and experienced teachers as yourself. Really.

In this situation, my advice would be to approach the conversation as one between two professionals who both have the same goal in mind: the best teaching and learning possible for your students. I know this is tough, because you are in an inherently unequal power relationship, but if you approach the conversation in this way both of you are less likely to be in a defensive posture (you because you are feeling attacked by your boss, and he because he will feel the need to defend his authority). Assume misunderstanding and miscommunication, rather than disrespect, and you might have a more productive conversation.

I'd start by establishing your common goals: in this case, you could probably focus on the reading skills you are working on with your students (including fluency and comprehension), because that was the focus of the lesson that day. You can let the principal know that you are ready to listen to him carefully to understand his point of view (and you really have to be willing to do so!), and you would welcome the opportunity to learn from each other. This can accomplish a couple of things: (1) you can get a handle on what his actual expectations are and (2) you can have the opportunity to explain what your goals are and what strategies you employ in your reading instruction. You can certainly take pride in your accomplishments, and those of your students, without being defensive.

At the same time, even though at this moment you are completely convinced that the principal is 100% wrong, I'd gently suggest that in any professional conversation you always seriously entertain the notion that you might be wrong about something. Even the superstar teachers can learn from another pair of eyes and another perspective. I'm not saying he's right about everything (or even anything in particular from the list above); I just find it more constructive to assume in these situations that I'm going to learn something new.

Again, I'm sorry that you were hurt. We administrators are far from perfect, and I recognize that every word we say is magnified just because of the weight it carries when it comes from The Boss. Hopefully, some good can come from this early misunderstanding, if together you can figure out how to communicate your common hopes and goals for your students.

I wish you the best of luck--please tell me how it goes,

-s-