Department meeting- Wednesday, January 9th
3:30-4:30 IS Latin room 187
Agenda:
Ace Everett, service learning connections in our classes
Announcement- Emily- January 30 Chinese visitors
Presentational (samples) Click below
Speaking
Presentational Communication Instructional Strategies
World Language sequence level time
Brain Break Calendar! Print this
3:30-4:30 IS Latin room 187
Agenda:
Ace Everett, service learning connections in our classes
Announcement- Emily- January 30 Chinese visitors
Presentational (samples) Click below
Speaking
Presentational Communication Instructional Strategies
World Language sequence level time
Brain Break Calendar! Print this
These are items that the US Curriculum Committee is discussing to help make teachers lives better. Stay tuned for more information and dates.
- Possible release time (half day) for US for comments- less class time-moving comment cycle (and grades) back by a week
- Release day for teachers with many college recommendations (individual)
- There are long term goals being looked at like levels of change (master transcript/schedule change are long term goals)
- Also, short term goals like making use of campus and local areas, time for faculty to socialize across departments, more time and training with learning support, understanding beyond ap more, homework amount, more department meeting time
- Please take field trips- use Laura Miller as a resource for field trips (alum)
- Jen Durham to come to a department meeting
- Atlas updates- Academic deans will change over the new/old teachers
- Time needed (professional development)
- Team Time
- Searches: Atlas Keywords for use in updates: Keywords for searches: Authentic materials, tests, quizzes, recycling, listening, reading, writing, speaking, culture
- Consistency and Teaching- Co taught classes should- give same assessments, give assessments on same day, return at the same time, give back within a certain number of class days, teachers tell students how much an assignment is worth, students may ask their average in class, assessment evaluation consistency
Intercultural Activities
- Council of Europe- T-Kit 4: Intercultural Learning In the classroom
- EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MODERN LANGUAGES -lesson plans
Part of our job is loading our little darlings up with comprehensible input. The other part of our job is educating students, their parents and our administrators about comprehensible input and language acquisition theory, because chances are they’re expecting a more traditional approach. And I’ve found that if your parents and admin understand CI, you’ll get a lot more support. And the time to inform them in before there’s a concern. Proactive beats reactive every time, people!
I wrote this letter for parents, explaining what we do in our classes and why we do it in parent friendly language. Feel free to make a copy and edit it to make it work for you! I generally pass it out at Back to School night, so they have something to read while they’re waiting for the fun to begin. But you might want to send it home at the beginning of the year with your syllabus. Speaking of your syllabus…if you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s mine!
Are ya’ll back in school yet or still soaking up the last bits of Summertime goodness? My first contract day is Wednesday already (gulp!) and the little darlings arrive the following Monday, eager to lear lots of Spanish, I’m sure. I stopped by my classroom a few days ago to check on it. When I left in June it looked like this. On August 2, it was pretty much a train wreck. The IT elves have been hard at work “upgrading” our internet and leaving a path of destruction in the wake. I took a deep breath, closed the door and I’m just crossing my fingers and saying my prayers that when I open the door next week, the cleanup elves will have done their magic and we’re ready to hit the ground running!
Visit other schools- We currently have standing invitations from Episcopal, SSSAS, explore an area school this Spring semester
Spanish resources:
Buena Gente videos for Spanish
Buena Gente
Podcasts in Spanish NPR
Radio Ambulante
Get Students Talking with Ongoing Conversations
In our dreamiest of teacher dreams, some of us might imagine days when our students spontaneously erupt into complex, nuanced conversations about the things they’re learning in our classes. If we borrow the language of the Common Core, they would “engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.”Read more
Google Academy
Google Certification Academy that opens just twice a year to prepare teachers for Level 1, Level 2, or Trainer-level certification. The next open enrollment period starts this week, from November 20 through December 4. Earning Google certification is a fantastic way to strengthen your so if you think you might be interested,click here to learn more about the academy.
Public Speaking and World Language
Recently, Harry Strong sent us some information about public speaking. In World Language, public speaking is one of our skill sets. Take a look at what Harry offers us.
Another great public speaking resource from the New York Times is forwarded with this email. If you choose to sign up for this event, remember the school subscription login and password:
Flipgrid Help:
If you go to your Flipgrid page and click on the topic, you can click on the SHARE button. From here, you get a flip code. Perhaps that is what was asked of students? I suggest just sharing the Topic Link URL you get from this share page. I just did that recently and posted the URL on Google Classroom. Kids were able to click on the link and get to my grid.
Hope this helps!
Jenni
FRENCH CLASS CELEBRATES ST. NICHOLAS DAY
7th grade French students were surprised and delighted to discover their abandoned shoes outside of class filled with traditional gingerbread, oranges, and sweets! St. Nicholas must have snuck by!
Llama Santa!!
A CHINESE IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
On a recent field trip to Fairfax's 99 Degrees restaurant, Ms. Liu's Chinese students had the chance to practice their language skills in an authentic environment! The students ordered food, conversed with one another, and described their impressions of the hotpot – all in Chinese.
On a recent field trip to Fairfax's 99 Degrees restaurant, Ms. Liu's Chinese students had the chance to practice their language skills in an authentic environment! The students ordered food, conversed with one another, and described their impressions of the hotpot – all in Chinese.
7th Graders Promote Recycling en Español!
After receiving information from Mr. Pingree and Mr. Conroy, the 7th grade advanced Spanish students discussed recycling at school. They made posters in Spanish to mirror the information provided by Fairfax County as reminders to us all.
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Conversación con Sra. Varoutsos
Sra. Crowley's 8th-grade Advanced Spanish class chatted with Sra. Varoutsos (en español) about what Potomac used to be like when she was a student in the IS and US. Students prepared questions ahead of time and inquired about all aspects of IS life including uniforms, sports, free time, homework load, teachers, and Potomac traditions.
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Project Zero Online
Project Zero makes its research accessible to educators around the world through six, 13-week online courses offered twice a year, starting in February or in September. These professional education courses are research-based and grounded in the day-to-day work of teachers and administrators. Throughout the courses, participants apply what they learn as they learn, receiving personalized feedback from a coach as well as from fellow participants. Participants register for the courses with colleagues from their work setting, so the courses become a way to support collaboration and sharing within as well as across schools, districts, and organizations. Limited scholarship opportunities are available. The February 2019 courses are open for registration.
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Project Zero Classroom
From July 22 to 26, 2019, Project Zero will host its annual week-long institute, "The Project Zero Classroom." In the company of PZ researchers and experienced educators from around the world, participants open up the questions at the heart of teaching and learning: What kinds of learning experiences and assessment practices will best prepare students for the demands of an unpredictable, ever-shifting future? How does understanding develop? How do we nurture critical and creative thinking? How do we ensure that all our students are learning? The institute features frameworks and tools developed through Project Zero's research, offering educators the opportunity to learn how these frameworks have been implemented and adapted in a variety of contexts, across grade levels and disciplines, to deepen student engagement, support learners in thinking critically and creatively, and make student learning and thinking visible. Participants engage in analyzing their current teaching and assessment practices and developing new approaches to planning and instruction that respond to the diverse ways in which their students engage and learn. Registration for the PZC and applications for scholarships will open later in December 2018. Check here to learn more.
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