February Department meeting 3:30- 4:30
US Latin room
Bring computers
share:
Emily- ACTFL conference sharing
Emily- ACTFL conference sharing
Brigitte- Vocaroo
announcements- placements by Feb. 21st, Team meetings, Accommodations- add?, LS Buddies, February celebration, Trips Committee progress
Atlas Rubicon time by class partners:
Share your stories and examples of collaborative development of units and curriculum. How do these documents guide teaching and consistency in programs? What do you look to units and curriculum to provide as you prepare to teach
Share your stories and examples of collaborative development of units and curriculum. How do these documents guide teaching and consistency in programs? What do you look to units and curriculum to provide as you prepare to teach
Carnaval/Chinese New Year!
Last year we enjoyed a lunch in the US language office to celebrate various cultural holidays. We would like to continue the tradition. The day we are looking at is Thursday, February 23rd. We can hold the celebration in the US language office and begin at 11:15. In this way, our IS and MS colleagues can join in on the lunch. The celebration and food can be out through US E and part of F blocks, so that we conclude and clean up around 1:00. Look soon to your email for a sign up of what to bring.
Carnaval du Quebec
Chinese New Year δΈε½ζ°εΉ΄
Carnaval in Venice, Italy
Carnaval de Colombia
THANKS! It is always a pleasure and a privilege to visit classrooms. I encourage us to visit each other's classrooms, especially if you teach the same class. After seeing many classes, I'd like you to think about these two articles. How and how well do we do these? Please feel free to post comment about each in the blog below.
1.Teacher talk vs. student talk
In Language Classrooms, Students Should Be Talking
Language classes often don't focus on the aspect of learning a language that intrigues students most -- speaking it. We should get students talking more.
2. Wait time/cold calling
Cold Calling
Cold calling refers to a protocol used in classroom-style instruction settings (or other similar settings) where the instructor calls on individual students to answer questions posed by the instructor on a regular basis during lecture. The key feature of cold call is the unpredictability about who will get called for a particular question, or equivalently, the unpredictability for each individual about when he or she will get called.
Reveal point
In Language Classrooms, Students Should Be Talking
Language classes often don't focus on the aspect of learning a language that intrigues students most -- speaking it. We should get students talking more.
2. Wait time/cold calling
Cold Calling
Cold calling refers to a protocol used in classroom-style instruction settings (or other similar settings) where the instructor calls on individual students to answer questions posed by the instructor on a regular basis during lecture. The key feature of cold call is the unpredictability about who will get called for a particular question, or equivalently, the unpredictability for each individual about when he or she will get called.
Reveal point
The instructor can choose different possibilities in time for when to reveal who is being called to answer the question. Below are some possibilities:
| Reveal point | Advantage | Disadvantage |
|---|---|---|
| Before stating the question to the class | The individual student can listen clearly to the question and need not ask the instructor to repeat | It forgoes one of the main benefits of cold calling: all students are trying to think of the answer to every question. Instead, since the name of the person answering is specified in advance, other students may reduce their level of attention. |
| Within a few seconds of stating the question to the class | All students have had time to hear and process the question | Individual students may not have been paying concentrated attention since they didn't know for sure that it's a question they might answer. Thus, the student who is asked the question may ask the instructor to repeat it. |
| Give a chunk of time to everybody to work out the answer (this may involve flipping through recent or earlier notes, or doing calculations, or taking time to formulate thoughts), and then reveal who'll be called | All students have had time to hear and process the question and attempt an answer. Thus, they can grade themselves by proxy upon hearing the correct answer. The technique can also be combined with in-class desk work either before or after the cold call. | This takes more time, and students may slack off in that timespan of a few seconds if the material seems too easy or too difficult. |
Other interesting articles:
If You Do Any of These 4 Activities in Your Classroom, You're Already Personalizing Learning
Personalized Learning- What does it look like?
As educators, we are tasked with the weighty responsibility of helping prepare students to be successful in life. And as wide a swath as life may cut, students must be prepared for whatever challenge it unfolds.
Despite many state standardized tests following the cookie-cutter approach of one-size-fits-all testing, educators every day are personalizing learning to meet the needs of individual students, meeting them at the intersection of their learning styles and the resources available to them. But the reality is, you may be personalizing learning, and not even realize it.
πClick on the link and take a look at this month's Online copy of ACTFL's Language Educator
8 Practical Skills Gained from Educational Travel
Educational Travel Practical Skills
Preaching to the choir- Here is the beginning of an article on the value of educational travel.
While I’ve spent a lot of my life becoming quite familiar with Amtrak, traveling to many places in the United States, my first travel abroad experience was actually only a few years ago. In the summer of 2011, I traveled to Greece with my college’s choir and immediately caught the “travel bug.” This past summer I traveled with my choir once again, this time to Ireland, and am now eagerly awaiting and fervently planning my next trip abroad. Though I’ve only been out of the country twice, those two experiences were significant enough to have taught me many important lessons:
Preaching to the choir- Here is the beginning of an article on the value of educational travel.
While I’ve spent a lot of my life becoming quite familiar with Amtrak, traveling to many places in the United States, my first travel abroad experience was actually only a few years ago. In the summer of 2011, I traveled to Greece with my college’s choir and immediately caught the “travel bug.” This past summer I traveled with my choir once again, this time to Ireland, and am now eagerly awaiting and fervently planning my next trip abroad. Though I’ve only been out of the country twice, those two experiences were significant enough to have taught me many important lessons:
Trips Committee: We will have an update at our upcoming meeting but for those that are curious, here is the slide that was presented to us earlier in the school year.
Trips Committee Purpose:
To ensure that Potomac teachers, coaches, and staff are following a set of best practices and guidelines for our students, families, and teachers when planning trips and when traveling. We want to be sure that Potomac trips align with our mission, vision, core values, and school priorities (administrative and curricular).
Additionally, because there may be contracts associated with some travel plans, it is important to have a system by which we ensure that we are being mindful of any fiduciary commitment on the part of the school and/or our families.
Lastly, for the benefit of our students, families, faculty, and staff, we must be try to be vigilant of any conflicts or redundancies when scheduling trips throughout the year.
Trips Committee Purpose:
To ensure that Potomac teachers, coaches, and staff are following a set of best practices and guidelines for our students, families, and teachers when planning trips and when traveling. We want to be sure that Potomac trips align with our mission, vision, core values, and school priorities (administrative and curricular).
Additionally, because there may be contracts associated with some travel plans, it is important to have a system by which we ensure that we are being mindful of any fiduciary commitment on the part of the school and/or our families.
Lastly, for the benefit of our students, families, faculty, and staff, we must be try to be vigilant of any conflicts or redundancies when scheduling trips throughout the year.
ISTE Standards:Learning, teaching and leading in the digital age
Teachers have always held the key to student success. But their role is changing. The ISTE Standards define the new skills and pedagogical insights educators need to teach, work and learn in the digital age.
How well do we implement this Set of Standards ?
For more details on AirDrop, go to the Airdrop Solution Sheet.
Also, feel free to drop by the IS Innovation Hub on Monday after school for tech help or brainstorming on how to integrate Chromebooks, iPads, and/or MacBooks into your curriculum. I am also available on Thursday in the Arundel library from 11:30-12:30. Thanks! Jenni Ashley
Know any alum who work with languages to come and talk with students?
While it is not always possible to arrange for field trips, many of us still have contact with alum who use their language skills in their work. Arranging for a visitor in class may work better for everyone's schedules and students can see where their language studies will get them in real life. Please consider bringing in someone to speak to your classes.
News and Conferences
Summer Institute- Learning and the Brain ConferenceClick on the link for more information.
Join this institute in Santa Barbara, California in July to engage in intensive training to understand the neuroscience underlying learning disabilities and interventions for these disabilities.
Global Language and Culture Conference at the Mohonk Mountain House in New York to take place Sunday, April 23 through Tuesday, April 25, 2017 "Equity and Social Justice in the World Language Classroom"
| Language Scholarship Applications Now Open |
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| ACTFL Seeks Proficiency Assessment Specialists |
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Some of our Paw Prints News!
SPANISH STUDENTS DEVELOP LANGUAGE SKILLS WHILE CODING
To celebrate Computer Science Education Week and the Hour of Code, sixth grade students coded in Spanish. The Hour of Code is a worldwide initiative to promote problem solving, logic, and coding skills.
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MAPPING IN SPANISH CLASS
Students in Mrs. Kirsch's 8th grade Spanish class recently worked together to assemble and label a map of Central America.
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IS Happenings
