In 2018, I learned about daily slides from Teacher Youtubers. The absolute new teacher that I was, I decided to give them a go. I have used French daily agenda templates every single year since then! This year I taught a whole semester with 0 prep time. The first semester I moved from classroom to classroom. Daily slides quite literally were a lifesaver.
Today, I am going to share with you HOW and WHY you should need this amazing routine for French class. Routines are an absolute must in French class. They serve so many purposes. This one, in particular, is all about convenience and efficiency.
What are French daily slides?
Daily slides are a digital way to display the day’s agenda (plan du jour), reminders, announcements, and other pertinent information to your students.
French daily slides are digital agendas.
Who should use French daily agenda templates?
Daily slides can be used by teachers of all subjects + grade 5+ students. They are a tool to help your students become more independent in their learning. French daily slides are especially ideal for teachers who :
- teach multiple preps
- have preps that repeat
- move from classroom to classroom and have a hard time keeping a paper planner
- like to have a record of previous classes handy
- are working on getting their students to be more independent
- teach students who are in high school
Why should you incorporate French daily slides into French class routines?
Save time with different preps
If you teach many preps, it takes a lot more time to erase the agenda from the board and write it for different classes.
Or maybe you don’t even share the agenda with your students. If that’s you, you probably have a lineup of students coming to you during the precious three minutes of transition asking, “So what are we doing today?”
Daily slides make for a smooth transition
I continue to use French daily slides year after year because they make transitions between classes so much easier. I get my students to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the tasks. For example, students take out the right materials or flip to the right page BEFORE class begins.
I make it very clear to students at the beginning of the year that my expectation is that they will follow the directions on the slides without me instructing them.
How do daily slides make for smooth transitions?
- students hand in assignments as it’s written on the slide
- they take out the materials I’ve specified
- students begin the first task without me asking them to
- reminders for next week/the day are already on the board
A convenient and exact record of lessons for previous years
This year I taught a whole semester without 0 prep time. From time to time, I went back to my daily slides from the previous semester for an exact order of tasks. It was an exhausting semester, so it was convenient to have my previous daily slides to refer to.
Reduce student anxiety
My one year of teaching without daily slides, my students used to tell me how badly they needed to know the agenda because they were anxious. Students, especially teens, like knowing what tasks and activities they will be working on. Also, if you do fun things – it’s so motivating for them to know a fun activity is just 10 minutes away.
Teach students vocabulary and structures in context
I teach Core French to teens and my daily slides are all in French. For beginner students, we spend the first month going over the daily slide and learning what the words are. I also use pictures and images in my slides to show students what the vocabulary means.
Make it easy for absent students to keep up
When you teach 150+ students, it can be REALLY hard to keep up with absences. Add in a lack of prep time, and tracking everyone down is virtually impossible.
Three years ago, I shared a “view-only” link of my French daily slides in Teams. This has now become a routine in my classroom. Students go to Teams when they are sick, they click on the link shared at the start of the semester, and they catch up on work they missed during their absence.
I also colour code the text on my French daily agenda slides so that students can easily understand what occurred in class!
How do you use daily slides?
I recorded a tutorial to help with this task!
