As more and more districts adopt curriculum from The Comprehensible Classroom as their primary teaching resource, one common question arises:
What does teaching with fidelity look like?
Teaching with fidelity doesn’t mean every teacher in a district is a carbon copy of one another. Instead, it means teachers share the same mindsets, goals, and expectations while still honoring student needs and teacher strengths.
Let’s break down what that looks like in practice:
Core Mindsets for Teaching Somos
At the heart of acquisition-driven instruction are three Core Mindsets, and we encourage all teachers using titles from the Somos family of curricula (Vamos, Somos, Nous sommes, Huellas) to teach out of these mindsets:
Connection over Curriculum
In order to help students acquire the target language, teachers focus on connection and true communication with students. This means teaching the students in the room, at their level, and providing them with target language input (reading, writing, discussion topics, and more) that is compelling and comprehensible. The goal here is authentic connection and authentic communication: not talking at your students, but truly living in the moment and communicating with them.
Communication over Language Targets
Instead of ‘covering’ a checklist of words or topics, teachers aim to communicate authentically with students in ways that the student understands. The goal is for students to understand 95% or more of classroom interactions, conversations, and activities.
Learn more about the Core Mindsets for teaching for acquisition »
Autonomy with Consistency
A final goal for all schools is to find the fine line between autonomy and consistency within a school or district. Teachers need flexibility to adapt lessons to their students’ identities, interests, and strengths, and to their own teacher strengths! At the same time, schools and districts benefit from shared expectations about goals and resource use.
What Fidelity Means in Practice
Teaching with fidelity means leaning into these three ideas (Connection over Curriculum, Communication over Language Targets, and Autonomy with Consistency) while using the curriculum resources as they are designed.
Although departments and districts in various contexts will answer this question differently, we can offer a set of expectations that can serve as a starting point for conversation around fidelity of instruction.
What Teachers are Expected To Do:
First, focus on a list of positive expectations for teachers: what you expect them TO do. Here is a list of expectations that many districts find works well for teaching Somos with fidelity:
- Speak so that students understand and scaffold understanding for all students.
- Focus on connecting and authentically communicating with students using the curricular resources as the means.
- Read the Teacher’s Guide closely, and use the resources provided in the Guide to learn about unfamiliar instructional strategies.
- Try activities as listed in the Teacher’s Guide for each unit.
- Administer assessments using the assessments provided.
- Grade assessments using the provided grading guides and rubrics.
- Work toward the department or district-established year-end language performance goal for each level.
- Teach within the unit and resource range for that level. (See below.)
What Teachers are NOT Expected To Do:
After establishing positive expectations, consider some negative expectations. What do you NOT expect teachers to do?
Here are some recommendations:
- Teachers are NOT expected to move through units at the same pace.
- Teachers are NOT expected to administer summative assessments at the same time.
- Teachers are expected to NOT teach with extra-curricular or supplemental resources that are not part of the unit or resource range for that level.
Defining Unit and Resource Ranges
To create consistency across a program, instructional leaders should set unit and resource ranges for each level. Think of these ranges as the library of teaching resources that can be used for each level.
Establish Unit Ranges
Begin by determining unit ranges for each level. For example:
- Exploratory Spanish: Vamos 1 Units 1-10
- Spanish 1: Somos 1 Units 1-10
- Spanish 2: Somos 1 Units 11+
- Spanish 3: Somos 2 Units 1+
Within the range of units selected for a given level, teachers should start from the earliest unit and teach through the units moving forward. However, teachers should have flexibility to not cover every unit in the range so that they have flexibility to adjust pacing based on what their students need. Based on the experience of thousands of teachers using the curriculum, teachers can comfortably aim for 6-8 units per year.
Note: We recommend that teachers using Somos 1 teach Units 1-9 consecutively and do not skip any of the units. After Somos 1 Unit 9, it becomes less important to teach every unit. Teachers can pick and choose the units they want to teach based on what their students can understand and what they are interested in teaching. So, a Level 2 teacher might begin with Somos 1 Unit 11, skip Unit 12, teach 13-14-15-16, skip 17 and 18, teach 19, etc.
One additional recommendation is for schools and districts with highly mobile populations. Those districts may prefer dividing units by semester/trimester (e.g., Fall Semester Spanish 1: Units 1-2-3. Winter: 4-5-6 Spring: 7+).
Using Supplemental Resources
The Somos Curriculum alone (Somos 1 Novice and Somos 2 Intermediate) provides enough content for at least three years of instruction, and Huellas and Vamos add three more. There is no need to supplement with additional resources, but many schools choose to.
Included in the Curriculum Bundle:
When teachers receive their Somos 1 Novice Curriculum License or Somos 2 Intermediate Curriculum license, they receive access not only to the curriculum units, but also to a set of supplemental resources. These include things like games, holiday lessons, and more. Use the Resource Map to see the supplemental resources that are included in Somos 1 or Somos 2. These resources are marked with a blue check mark on the Curriculum Map. Departments should consider which of these ‘included’ supplements must be taught in each level, and which ones may be taught in each level.
Additionally, The Comprehensible Classroom publishes many resources that are not included with a curriculum purchase but are of great value to districts. These resources include:
- Garbanzo (an affiliate company)
- El mundo en tus manos (news subscriptions)
- Holiday lessons, grammar lessons, games, printable readings, etc.--all included with a Tesoro subscription
Departments and districts should consider which, if any, of these resources can be optionally used in each level. No matter what, the optional resources should match the level (vocabulary range and text complexity) of the unit range for each level. The Resource Maps for each curriculum title list resources that connect with each unit but are outside of what comes with a curriculum purchase.
Finally, the department or district should consider what resources from sources other than The Comprehensible Classroom can be used in each level. Can teachers supplement with Señor Wooly? Which videos in which levels? Can they participate in March Music Madness? In which levels? Which novels can be taught in which levels?
The goal here is to build a comprehensive library of options for each level, clarifying which resources must be used and which ones are optional. Best practice is to keep a shared document of approved resources by level! Teachers can suggest new additions during department meetings, ensuring alignment with the Somos mindsets and research base.
To supplement or not to supplement?
Instructional leaders and departments might choose to allow supplemental resources because they want to support increased teacher autonomy and choice.
They might choose not to allow supplemental resources (at least upon initial adoption) in order to support teachers in focusing their attention on becoming familiar with and using the curricular materials. Learning new strategies, mindsets, activities, and assessments takes time!
If instructional leaders choose to make supplemental resources an option, it’s important to keep in mind that teachers may not want to use them or feel overwhelmed by the prospect of adding something else to their plates. It makes sense to make supplemental resources optional for teachers. However, deciding who gets to teach what and when is an important step as well.
Fidelity = Clarity + Flexibility
Every school and district will define “fidelity” a little differently. The key is to communicate expectations clearly while preserving teacher autonomy to connect with their students.
With shared goals, unit ranges, and supplemental resource guidelines in place, teachers can feel confident they’re implementing the curriculum with fidelity while still making it their own.
This post was written by Elicia Cárdenas, Director of Professional Learning.
