Alexis Blum, OWLA Professional Development Chair
Spanish Teacher, Wapakoneta High School

Happy Spring, OWLA! I hope you are enjoying your spring and finding happiness at the closure of another school year. It was so wonderful to see so many of you at our annual conference, Languages Alive in 2025. Attending professional development with the wonderful educators all across Ohio really fills my cup and gives me the energy and excitement to finish the school year strong. Here are some of my takeaways from our annual spring conference: 

1. Ohio has some of the best world language teachers I know! I walked away from each session and workshop feeling so inspired. I learned something from each educator that I was able to talk to, and it was incredible to be a part of such passion and excitement for education. 
2. Connection > Content. The biggest perk of attending professional development in person is the chance to talk, collaborate, and share with colleagues. There is power in hearing different perspectives and opinions! I love to learn, and being able to talk to others, problem solve, and laugh really brings the best out of all of us. For me, I loved being able to see friends and colleagues that I only get to see at these events. The joy was palpable! There were hugs and smiles all around. 
3. Global Connection is our superpower. There are so many ways to bring the world to your classroom. Our curriculum is WORDS! We can talk about ANYTHING! Use your imagination and bring the world to your classroom.
4. Time is a precious commodity. There were so many great ideas on how to save time as a teacher. How can you use the last 10 minutes of your class to provide rich input experiences? How can you save yourself time grading writing or speaking assessments? So many educators shared their amazing ideas at this conference – I could hardly keep up with writing it all down. How are you spending your time in your classroom? Are you doing things that make your students feel joy, excitement, and success? Are you doing things that make YOU feel joy, excitement, and success? Our time is precious – the time we have with our students, the time we spend with our families, the time we give ourselves…How are you spending your time? 
5. Camp OFLA. WOW! I will be the first to admit that I knew very little about Camp OFLA. I was so impressed with all the amazing culture and language that the dedicated teachers and staff at Camp OFLA bring to Ohio’s youth. From the World’s Fair to the Keynote Address, Camp OFLA brought passion, excitement, and adventure to our conference. I am so excited to see what Camp OFLA does in the future! 

Thank you to all the wonderful presenters and attendees at Languages Alive in 2025. I hope to see you at our professional development events in 2026!