Bryce Hedstrom empowers world language teachers with the right training, materials, and support to become confident, successful educators who motivate their students to learn.
As an acclaimed author and educator, Bryce Hedstrom has written numerous books designed to help teachers engage with their students and teach language more effectively. In addition to his own works, Bryce also promotes the sale of books by independent authors whose writings align with his principles of teaching and learning.
Bryce provides training and support for teachers and administrators through one-on-one coaching, classroom materials, and educational resources. From guest teaching and classroom observations to developing strategies and designing curriculum, Bryce uses hands-on methods and engaging instruction to help educators to become more effective teachers.
Bryce is a well-known speaker and regularly presents at regional and national conferences. He loves sharing his knowledge and holds workshops designed to inspire and inform teachers of all levels. Bryce speaks on topics such as comprehensible input-based teaching, classroom management, student engagement, and reading.
This Month’s Featured Author
Verónica Moscoso
Verónica is an exceptional storyteller, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker extraordinaire!
“What I like about Verónica Moscoso’s books is that she just tells a good story without an agenda.”
-Tim K., adult language learner
Check out her latest book, Carla no habla. Illustrated by her daughter Olivia!
Book of the Month
“This is a book I have read and would recommend to you.”
The Whale Done School
By Cindy Zurchin, James Ballard and Thad Lacinak
The subtitle of this tremendously impactful little book says it all: Transforming a School’s Culture by Catching Students Doing Things Right.
Like Whale Done did for adults in business, this book applies lessons learned from training killer whales to younger humans in schools. Whale trainers figured out quickly that it was not wise to harshly punish the world’s most fearsome predators and then get into the water with them. The same applies to our students.
Here are some gems teachers can get from this book:
- We need to catch students doing things right (or almost right) rather than looking to catch them being bad.
- You get what you’re looking for.
- Ignoring what they do wrong and recognizing what they do right works. The behavior we focus on is what we get more of.
- We can build trust by downplaying undesirable behavior and focusing on praising and rewarding students for what they do right.
- Students do not have to show a perfect performance for you to give them recognition.
- Reinforce things that students do that are approximately right.
- Don’t give up on students that are resistant. Resistance is a whole lot better than indifference. At least with resistance there is something to work with. Resistant students can become your biggest fans.
- Challenging our students with small steps is the way to reinforce the behavior we want to see.
These practices will steer students toward wanting us to notice the positive things they are doing. I have seen whole classes switch to competing to being good, trying to please me, and contributing to the class rather than being disruptive and acting dumb.
I have used similar techniques for effective classroom management for years.
Here is a blog about a similar idea, using Super Puntos:
https://www.brycehedstrom.com/2016/super-puntos/
Catch them being good! Works for me. Try this out and let me know how it goes.
What Teachers Are Saying About Bryce
“I recommend Bryce to any educator looking to strengthen their classroom management skills or establish effective routines. His experience, wisdom, and approach to coaching were beneficial for me to implement, providing the support I desperately needed at the beginning of this school year. I feel more confident in my classroom management, allowing me to focus on teaching instead of managing disruptions.”
“I still use a ton of the tricks I learned when we had you come out. I think that was one of the best PD opportunities I have ever had in 21 years of K12 Education, so thanks again!”
“Bryce and I met at a conference in Chicago many years ago. In fact, I remember going in search of a karaoke bar with you and a small group of teachers. I just want to thank you for inspiring me to try CI. It has completely changed my outlook on helping students learn French. I still remember your caring stories about your own interactions and thinking ‘I want to be like him.’ And now, after all these years, I see how this approach enables us to be real teachers.”
“As a new teacher, I look for all the information I can to help me teach better—podcast, books, Facebook groups, etc.—but the 3 sessions I had with Bryce have been the single most helpful thing to me and my teaching. Also, I was able to instantly apply the knowledge he gave me in my classes and the difference has been astounding.”
“I don’t always use other teachers’ resources, but when I do it’s probably from Bryce Hedstrom. That’s a Dos Equis joke of course, but it’s also the truth. Bryce’s insights and materials have played a foundational role in the way I teach. I know that a lot of sweat and thought goes into his work, always resulting in high-quality stuff. Speaking of stuff, one of Bryce’s books that I have within arm’s reach is called Stuff for Spanish Class. I’m so glad that book exists. I’m even more glad that Bryce exists, because he is one heckuva person.”
“I have had the pleasure of attending several of Bryce Hedstrom’s presentations. Whenever I hear him speak I get something new to help me in the classroom. Bryce is a master at delivering helpful, reality-based strategies that can be applied immediately. His insight into community building, personalization and classroom management make his presentations a must for every World Language teacher!”
“Thank you for promoting so many wonderful Indy CI authors in addition to your own excellent resources. Currently we are working to expand a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative here in our district. Your site has such an amazing collection of diverse voices and characters. Wow! Just what we need.”
“Of all the presenters, Bryce Hedstrom has had the most profound effect on my teaching and my students. I have been able to create true community and connect in a real way with my students by doing passwords, student jobs and special person interviews. Bryce is the master of relationship building and the psychology of motivating students. I have also used his amazing free resources for free voluntary reading and shared them countless times with other teachers who were looking to implement FVR with their students.”
“Bryce has guided my teaching for years! Watching Bryce model immersive language conversations with students in an engaging, positive, and effective way was invaluable! The students participated enthusiastically and retained an incredible amount of information from the day! The training was a huge success! The students wanted Señor Hedstrom to return! Thanks, Bryce! Your strategies bring joy, enthusiasm, and high levels of learning to all levels of second language learning!”
“I scoured Bryce’s website when I started teaching, soaking in all of the insights and teaching resources. Then, for years, we interacted in online teacher communities where we learned and grew together. Obviously, Bryce has great knowledge and experience, and he takes learning and improving his craft very seriously, but what most stands out to me about Bryce is his humility and generosity. If you are looking for an agent of positive change, then look no further.”
“As language teachers, language is important, so when I say that working with Bryce is easy and delightful, I mean it. Bryce is a leader in the field of world language teaching and learning, but he is also attuned to people, both teachers and students, as he wants all parties to find success. As a teacher, teacher educator, presenter, author, business owner and genuine human, Bryce should be the one to be called upon to work with in whatever capacity you need his expertise. He has been so helpful to me and I’m certain he will be for you and/or your school district”
Comprehensible Input (CI) Teaching Methods
Bryce started developing materials, presenting and blogging because:
“It disheartens me to see so many teachers try and then give up because they cannot make all the pieces of their teaching work right away. I also dislike the way that the inertia in education is crushing the dreams of so many gifted teachers and making students think that they are bad at learning.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I want to contribute to solving these problems of discouragement and abandonment of our profession by giving teachers some hope. I believe that success in the classroom is possible; that students can learn and that teachers can be both productive and happy. Comprehensible Input-based methods, solid classroom management, varied reading approaches and fresh student engagement techniques can help us to get there.”
This website is dedicated to training teachers with his blog, helpful links and free materials, as well as his books and other materials.
Bryce Hedstrom
Author, Educator & Speaker
Learn more about Bryce