Readings in Education: Pedagogy of World Languages
Karen Nerpouni ED 221b: Fall 2017
or Monday 5:00-8:00
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course prepares teachers of K-12 World Languages to plan for and assess student learning based on nationally accepted standards. The emphasis will be on practical strategies and techniques that teachers may use to promote target language proficiency and to assess student performance. An underlying goal of this course is for teachers to approach their chosen profession in a reflective and collaborative manner.
PROGRAM LEARNING TARGETS –The specific targets emphasized in this course are highlighted in yellow.
Upon Graduation, Student-Teaching Interns will demonstrate the ability to:
Plan, Sequence, and Scaffold Instruction and Assessment in ways that . . .
o emphasize enduring understanding, transferrable skills, and authentic experience.
o meet the needs of a diverse student population.
o challenge students intellectually and facilitate students’ independence and mastery.
o engage students’ prior knowledge, experience, culture, and stage of development.
o give students the support they need to meet high expectations.
Create a Safe Learning Environment for Intellectual and Emotional Development:
o give students ownership over the intellectual work
o maintain rituals, routines, and responses that support learning
o empower students to act upon issues of equity and social justice
o integrate students’ identity and experience
Engage in Reflective Practice:
o approach their own and others’ teaching from an inquiry stance
o integrate theory and practice
o seek out, engage, and integrate feedback
o analyze observation and assessment data to inform teaching practice
Enter a Professional Culture:
o engage professionally with others in their school context.
o locate themselves and their teaching in the broader culture of schools and schooling
Course Learning Targets
By the end of this course, Student-Interns will:
· understand basic information about language acquisition and how it informs instructional practices
· understand the elements of effective unit and lesson plans
· understand ways to create a classroom environment conducive to language learning
· possess a range of strategies to begin, continue and end a lesson or unit
· possess a range of strategies to assess student learning
· be able to use those strategies to create mini-lessons, lessons and a short unit
· be able to reflect and communicate critically upon what they have observed, shared and done
These goals also address the CAP Standards highlighted in yellow.
Standard / Element / Proficient Descriptor1: Curriculum, Planning & Assessment / 1.A.4: Well-Structured Lessons / Develops well-structured lessons with challenging, measurable objectives and appropriate student engagement strategies, pacing, sequence, activities, materials, resources, technologies, and grouping.
1.B.2: Adjustments to Practice / Organizes and analyzes results from a variety of assessments to determine progress toward intended outcomes and uses these findings to adjust practice and identify and/or implement appropriate differentiated interventions and enhancements for students.
2: Teaching All Students / 2.A.3: Meeting Diverse Needs / Uses appropriate practices, including tiered instruction and scaffolds, to accommodate differences in learning styles, needs, interests, and levels of readiness, including those of students with disabilities and English language learners.
2.B.1: Safe Learning Environment / Uses rituals, routines, and appropriate responses that create and maintain a safe physical and intellectual environment where students take academic risks and most behaviors that interfere with learning are prevented.
2.D.2: High Expectations / Effectively models and reinforces ways that students can master challenging material through effective effort, rather than having to depend on innate ability.
4: Professional Culture / 4.A.1: Reflective Practice / Regularly reflects on the effectiveness of lessons, units, and interactions with students, both individually and with colleagues, and uses insights gained to improve practice and student learning.
COURSE PRODUCTS
Bring hard copies to class for discussion purposes and upload digital versions to allow for feedback. See separate documents for more detailed explanation of products.
Observation/Reflection and sharing in class – 40%
o Classroom Climate September 18
o Lesson Planning October 9
o Assessments October 23
o Oral Language Discourse November 13
Lesson/mini-lesson plans – 25%
o Lesson on topic of choice October 16
o Mini-lesson on professional article November 20
Unit Plan – 35%
o Topic of your choice December 4
ACADEMIC AND COURSEWORK POLICIES
Policies are explained in the Handbook for the Teacher Education Program. Please refer to pages 20-28 for specifics related to the functioning of this course.
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation for you in this class, please see me immediately.
You are expected to be honest in all your academic work.
All work must be turned in on time unless there is prior agreement with the instructor.
If your miss a class or will be late, please inform the instructor and determine how you can make up the lost learning.
COURSE MATERIALS
There will be no textbooks required for this course, but there will be many readings from The Language Educator. This journal is available electronically through the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) for a basic fee of $45. Go to:
https://www.actfl.org/membership
COURSE OUTLINE: Note that class session contents may change if needed.
Note: All readings are either links or documents that can be accessed through your ACTFL membership.
Read prior to Class 1
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash-english.html
Complete survey:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Og_X9U6MSmNvPZqgkTRZJBAR2LzgoWpuUkS7PV6IKU4
Class 1 – September 11
How do we acquire language?
Topics: Comprehensible input and output, Meaning making, Checking for comprehension,
Assignment:
Read ACTFL
https://www.actfl.org/publications/all
World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements
Class 2 – September 18 (Room 212)
What is proficiency and what can we do to promote it?
Topics: ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, ACTFL Can-Do Statements, World Readiness Standards
Assignment:
Reflection on Climate that is due next session
Read Villalobos-Buehner, “The Roles of Competence, Perception, Identities, and Selves in Language Learning Motivation.” The Language Educator, Oct/Nov 2015: 44-48.
Class 3 – September 25
How do we create the climate for learning in the WL classroom?
Topics: Classroom configuration, Routines, Clear Expectations, Attitudes
Due: Reflection on Climate
Assignment:
Read Teaching World Languages: A Practical Guide Chapter 3 , National Capital Language Resource Center at Georgetown University, 2014
http://www.nclrc.org/
Class 4 – October 2
What are the elements of effective lesson and unit plans?
Topics: Providing a context, Guiding or Essential Questions, Determining Objectives, Backwards Design
Assignment:
Reflection on Lesson plan observation due for next class
Read Crouse, Douglass. “Going for 90% Plus: How to Stay in the Target Language.”
The Language Educator, October 2012: 22-27.
Class 5 – October 9
How do skills and knowledge relate to goals? What is the role of grammar?
Topics:
From Can-Do Statements to Skills and Knowledge
Assignment:
Write a day’s lesson plan for a class you are observing that is due for next class using the Secondary /Elementary Elaborated Lesson Plan Template.
Class 6 – October 16 (Room 212)
How can we effectively measure student learning?
Topic:
Formative assessment, Formal and informal assessment
Assignment:
Reflection on Assessment due for next class
Read Steps in creating Authentic and Performance-Based Assessment Tasks
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/worldlanguages/resources/orallanguages/02assessment
Class 7 – October 23
How can we effectively measure student learning ? (continued)
Topics:
Summative assessment, Performance Assessment, Integrated Performance Assessment
Assignment:
Read https://www.anglaisfacile.com/back-to-school-icebreakers.pdf
100 Ideas to Start the Year Back-to-School Icebreakers
Read Schenck, Stephanie. “We Need the “How”: Exploring Ways to Prepare Students for IPAs.” The Language Educator, Mar/Apr 2016: 39-42.
Class 8 – October 27 (This is a Friday- rescheduled class)
What are the best ways to begin a class or unit?
Topic:
Determining prior knowledge, Activating thinking
Assignment:
Design an activator and if possible implement it in your school
Class 9 – November 6
What are effective strategies to promote oral communication?
Topics:
Circumlocution activity, Information Gap, Think-pair-share, Carousel
Assignment:
Reflection on oral discourse for next class
Read Mazzante and Spangler, Donna. “A Research Toolkit of 12 Reading Strategies for the Foreign Language Classroom.” . https://dshs-pd.wiki.dublinschools.net/.../12+reading+strategies+for+foreign+language.
Find a short professional article on something we have discussed and teach it to us in a 10-15 minute mini-lesson.
Class 10 – November 13 (Room 212)
What are effective strategies to promote reading?
Topics:
Using authentic materials, Using adapted materials, Tailoring the task to the students
Assignment:
Work on your unit plan and ask for feedback
Class 11 – November 20
What are effective strategies to summarize a lesson or unit?
Topics:
Summarizer activities, Games
Assignment:
Read Curshall, Sandy. “More Than a Decade of Standards: Integrating “Cultures” in Your Language Instruction.” The Language Educator, April 2012: 32-37.
Read Teaching World Languages: A Practical Guide Chapter 9: Cultures, National Capital Language Resource Center at Georgetown University, 2014
http://www.nclrc.org/
Class 12 – November 27
How do we effectively incorporate culture in our language teaching?
Topics:
Products, Practices, Perspectives
Assignment:
Prepare a presentation of your unit plan for the next class
Class 13 – December 4
How can we apply what we have learned?
Topic:
Presentations of unit plans and discussion
Assignment:
Write unit plan and submit by December 4 or 8 at latest