March is staring me down, dear colleagues. That long, long month with not a single day off. My classroom routines are long-established, I know my middle school students inside and out…but the end of the year is not in sight. Not at all. This period, between winter and spring breaks, represents our last long, sustained chunk of serious learning before state testing, warm weather, field trips, and general exhaustion overtake us. I find that I need glimmers of hope in March. Proof that we have accomplished something this year. Too often I am distracted by my students’ seemingly endless absences, missing work, or speaking of English (really? still?!). I ask myself, are we getting anywhere on this path to proficiency? Sometimes I’m so deep in the weeds that I can’t seem to zoom out and see the big picture. Students need a bit of a boost, too. And what better boost than seeing evidence that they are really learning and making true progress? When students are getting back assignment after assignment marked Intermediate Low, they may not realize how far they’ve come. Each sublevel takes time to master, and that incremental growth can be too hidden for impatient, young minds […]
I took a look at my gradebook at the end of last year. My tasks were all jumbled together and still classified in the traditional 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening. I had evolved to using descriptors instead of numbers, but nothing else had changed. I couldn’t easily tell you how proficient a student was in any particular skill – in part because the information wasn’t easy to find. It certainly did not reflect my journey down the proficiency path. So this fall my colleague Connie and I decided that if we were implementing proficiency then we also needed to fully make the jump to modes. And if we were going to use modes of communication in class, our gradebook had to change as well. At the start of the year I put my new gradebook together with 4 separate pages: Interpersonal, Presentational, Interpretive and “Out Of Class Prep” (our take on what work at home really is). Doing this led to some revelations about my practice, some surprises and, ultimately, necessary changes. Interpersonal – We set these tasks as anything requiring a possible negotiation of meaning between two (or more) students. Wow – if you had asked me BEFORE […]
Whew, here comes 2018! Can you believe it? New year, new you? New students? New routines? For some, all of the above; for others perhaps none, or one. I teach on block schedule, so when we come back to school in January, I have all new students, a new prep, and a new schedule. I have a LOT of goals for second semester, and they’re all intertwined and interdependent. Best of all, I’m really excited about them. A lot of good things happened in the fall, but much still needs rethinking, reworking, and revamping. So, I don’t have New Year’s Resolutions; rather, I have New Year’s Revolutions. Over the holidays, I was able to get out of town to relax and recharge. Hmm, I’m sensing a pattern. REvolutions, REthinking, REworking, REvamping, RElax, REcharge – we get to REdo many things in life, and as teachers, coaches, and mentors, we know the power of REpetition. As World Language teachers who teach toward proficiency, we are confident in the influence that comes from “do it again,” performance, and performance over time (proficiency). These ring true in language acquisition, pedagogy, and life. My goals this semester can only happen if I reflect often […]
It’s been a year of growth for the Path 2 Proficiency community: more than a dozen new teachers joined as authors and readership almost doubled, but most importantly the reflections and conversations grew well beyond this site. This blog doesn’t exist to promote anyone or anything. This blog doesn’t exist to showcase the perfect teacher. This blog doesn’t exist to provide all the answers. Instead, this blog allows regular educators like Michele, Jaime, Rebecca, John, Matt, Sharon, Tim, Christi, Maris, Paul, Juan Carlos, Holly, Rose, Amanda, Valerie, Betsy, Alyssa, Lisa and Meredith to share their reflections about what is working in their worlds, what failed, and how they plan on helping their students further their own path to proficiency. If you are a reader of this site, please take a moment to thank these brave teachers for sharing their reflections in such a public format. It’s because of them that we all become better educators. Of course with growth comes growing pains and some parts of our site are currently not functioning properly but that should all get cleaned up in January along with some other exciting updates. Since all of our posts are very personal reflections some posts hit nerves […]
Planning
How does your planning of learning experiences prepare students’ Path to Proficiency?
Whew. I’m tired just thinking of all that went into this semester, and I’m not actually sure how it all got done. Beyond just thinking, I find that reflection, true, intentional, pointed reflection, is critical, and as tiring as anything else. Coming off of ACTFL weekend recently and looking into various PD endeavors for the spring, I can’t help but juxtapose our highlight reels and how we highlight real. Teachers attend sessions, read blogs, send tweets, listen to podcasts, and more, from the World Language Education all-stars we’ve come to know and love. Their strategies are proven, their classrooms warm, their student results impressive — but, how does that make us feel about ourselves? For me, not always awesome. I am not jumping to conclusions; psh, come on. I’m pogo sticking, high jumping, catapulting myself towards conclusions, and internalizing the verdict that 1.) they’re awesome, and 2.) I am not awesome. Truth time: they are awesome. But also, we all are in our own, different way(s). But being awesome and expecting to bring your A-game every single day isn’t sustainable, for them, for us, for students, period. Proficiency has made me a better teacher, and a better understander of my […]
For many years I’ve wrestled with how to handle my absences from school– but generally, I have two options for my elementary and middle school students: 1) cancel classes or 2) have an adult who is not normally with the students/not a Spanish teacher supervise class time. My struggle with this stemmed, essentially, from the fact that I was focusing on discrete grammar and vocabulary, which provided little flexibility in what a substitute could do with the students–the children were very reliant on me for their learning. This week, I had to call in sick for the first time this year, and quickly found how shifting to teaching for proficiency has changed how my absent days look. My upper elementary students met with my teaching assistant who facilitated independent activities: FV (free and voluntary reading), choice work(fast finishers) and playing Verba. This fall, I started with FVR in class– the students love it and are in the routine of independently choosing books and articles that are a ‘good fit’ for them. I was inspired by Martina Bex and her laminated fast finishers that focus on language in context that can be completed with a dry erase marker and self-checked, when applicable. […]
As we kick off another school year, a lot of topics are swirling about in department meetings, district PD, online forums, Twitter, workshops, and more. This organization system or that one, new seating charts or going deskless, standards-based grading or category percentages, and much more. But, as Rihanna tells us, don’t get it twisted. There are some subtle nuances that define our teaching in big ways that we may not realize, and at the beginning of the school year, they merit some reflection. “I taught it” doesn’t mean that they ‘caught’ it How many times have we said that to colleagues, “But I taught that!” Usually out of frustration because students aren’t showing mastery, this is a deceptive statement. If there are students in the class who are showing that they grasp certain language and can use it, then it was, indeed, taught. But, don’t get it twisted; are these students the exception or the rule? Do they represent other students in the class? Or, would everyone stand to benefit from some re-teaching and differentiation? The high flyers can go even higher, and the rest can finally take flight, without the pressure of knowing other students are ahead of them. We […]
We know that teachers make a lot of decisions, many of them split-second and with a lot to consider. In all of that question answering, however, I think we as teachers sometimes forget to do some of the asking. Coupled with that is how hard it can be to prioritize and decide when assessing if we can answer at all, especially if the question deals with our own wellbeing. Confession: I’ve always thought teacher “wellbeing” was a tad vague, and, if not made concrete, meaningless to teachers. We put others’ wellbeing before our own many days, and it can be hard to figure out what our own self-care, mental health, etc. even looks like. Plus, we teach in 2017 – there’s a constant pressure to make lessons jazzy, smooth, and exciting, because if they aren’t tech-filled and pedagogically sexy, our classroom will be the backdrop of sleeping students on Snapchat, or, gasp, we’ll be known as the “packet” teacher who spends hours at the copier and does anything but engage students. The horror! The truth? Just because we can do anything doesn’t mean we have to do everything. Innovative teaching lies somewhere in the middle of the aforementioned so-called extremes. […]
This fall, I’m returning to the high school classroom after being away from teaching students for five years. During this time, I made an effort to remain professionally active and connected, and I learned more than I would have if I had been working full-time, thanks to social media, professional organization, podcasts, and conferences. Since the day I opened the door to my new classroom, I have been in a period of deep reflection. Frankly – I’m unpacking. Unpacking how I used to teach and my old approaches to language learning and teaching. I’m keeping some treasured practices and items, and getting rid of a lot. I need to move forward to a new way of teaching, focused on proficiency. What am I keeping from my “old” classroom? I am keeping some of my old beliefs. I believe that: Connections are central to student success, and that I need to empower and engage learners. Each learner is a unique individual with unique skill sets and experiences. The use of the target language is key to student success. Teaching should reflect how the brain learns. Good unit and curriculum design, and reflective planning are critical. Assessment is integral to the cycle […]
Learning Experience
How do you facilitate meaningful learning experiences for students on the Path to Proficiency?
Through my posts on this blog, I’m tracking my experiences, as both a novice teacher (in regards to proficiency) and as a more veteran teacher, with ten years of public high school teaching in my past. This first two months of being back in the classroom, after five years outside of public schools, have been the most engaging and tiring of my career. I finally have a spare minute to write this post. I’ve been looking at student work through the lens of communication, and this new perspective has significantly improved my classroom. I’m seeing student work with fresh eyes – and I’m uplifted and inspired by what students can do. At the beginning of the year, I spent the first class establishing French as a the language of communication. I also began the process of engaging students through comprehensible input and an authentic resource. For example, in level 2, I used an excellent video from 1jour1actu about rock music. Leading with input was incredibly fun, and the video provided ideal subject matter for reviewing functions from level 1, including expressing preferences, describing family, and asking and responding to questions. As an added benefit, the content was interesting to students, […]
University School of Milwaukee World Language Teachers Share Their Notes From Visit to the Singapore American School This past May 2017, my colleagues, Alison Dupee, LS French teacher; Neelie Barthenheier, a MS French teacher and LS and MS World Language Chair; and I returned on fire with inspiration to grow as 21st-century world language educators. We had heard about the Singapore American School’s exemplary world language program from our consultant, Greg Duncan. He described it as one of the best elementary school language programs in the world. When I attended a 2016 ACTFL session last fall conducted by SAS’ Upper School WL Chair, Jean Rueckert, and the MS principal, Lauren Merhbach, I was struck by the similarity of their program and ours. The difference was that they had been working with Greg several years longer than we had, and they had already overcome some of the hurdles we were facing. They had renamed their classes according to proficiency levels, developed an efficient three-year rotating cross-divisional culture plan by language, and most impressively shared video footage showcasing the intermediate skill development of an elementary Chinese and Spanish student. How were they developing such communicative facility so early in their students’ language […]
It’s important to confess right here at the beginning that I am a firm believer in learning and playing being one and the same—specifically every step along the way from Novice Zero to “survival language” Intermediate Mid-ish. So, the lessons, materials and activities I present and discuss here are firmly rooted in the idea that students need to be doing things (and HAVING FUN) to acquire language in the short term and stick it out long term. I should preface the rest of this blog post with a quick “About me”. The truly curious can take a peak at my bio, but for now I will briefly say that my name is Matt, I am 23 years old and currently pursuing my M.A. in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland. I have been a Spanish teacher since the age of 16, and a Chinese teacher since the age of 19. As a full time student, I don’t have much time to teach during the school year, but I currently still teach Chinese every summer at a STARTALK program. For those who are not already aware, STARTALK is a federally funded grant program that trains language teachers and provides […]
Listen to understand, not to respond. When I heard those words two years ago, they really resonated with me. The context was teaching toward proficiency, but really, I think they’re good advice for life in general. Listen to understand, not to respond. Since 2014, in teaching toward the goal of student proficiency, I have become a better teacher. Obviously a better teacher of language and SLA, but really, I have become a better teacher of people. I’ll say that again: proficiency has made me a better teacher of people. In learning the rubrics and indicators, I’ve had to really hone my ability to analyze my students’ language development (or lack thereof, sometimes). What is the difference, really, between novice low and novice mid? Novice high and intermediate low? And then, how do I articulate that to a student? i.e. “You can level-up your language here by ______,” in student-friendly language that’s measurable and attainable. Whew – it’s a lot to think about! And then to lesson plan around being able to actually have time to have those conversations while not tearing your hair out and/or wondering what the other 35+ are doing? Ha! Sorcery, I tell you, sorcery. That listening, […]
Three seconds. Research has shown that giving students at least three seconds of think time after asking a question increases results in a number of ways. Yet, with time constraints and our students’ waning attention spans, we are continually pressured to crank out questions and answers, call on a variety of students, make sure everyone feels good, bada bing, bada boom, ready to move on. How long do teachers, on average, wait? ≤ 1.5 seconds. I just asked my husband a series of six questions, easy and personalized ones about his life that he could answer quickly, and only waited 1.5 seconds between before cranking out the next one. He answered the first rapid fire, hesitated on the second, then stopped washing dishes and slow-turned to look at me like, “Really?” as I continued over his hesitation with the next four. Granted, they were back-to-back, but I highly recommend you try it – once he missed a beat, he got frustrated at my impatience, and students do, too. High-flying students see it as a motivating challenge (remember, like us, they aren’t normal) and the rest/majority see it as an impossibility, even if they can respond; they already see that they won’t be given time to have […]
Performance & Feedback
How do you and your students use performance & feedback on the Path to Proficiency?
March is staring me down, dear colleagues. That long, long month with not a single day off. My classroom routines are long-established, I know my middle school students inside and out…but the end of the year is not in sight. Not at all. This period, between winter and spring breaks, represents our last long, sustained chunk of serious learning before state testing, warm weather, field trips, and general exhaustion overtake us. I find that I need glimmers of hope in March. Proof that we have accomplished something this year. Too often I am distracted by my students’ seemingly endless absences, missing work, or speaking of English (really? still?!). I ask myself, are we getting anywhere on this path to proficiency? Sometimes I’m so deep in the weeds that I can’t seem to zoom out and see the big picture. Students need a bit of a boost, too. And what better boost than seeing evidence that they are really learning and making true progress? When students are getting back assignment after assignment marked Intermediate Low, they may not realize how far they’ve come. Each sublevel takes time to master, and that incremental growth can be too hidden for impatient, young minds […]
I took a look at my gradebook at the end of last year. My tasks were all jumbled together and still classified in the traditional 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening. I had evolved to using descriptors instead of numbers, but nothing else had changed. I couldn’t easily tell you how proficient a student was in any particular skill – in part because the information wasn’t easy to find. It certainly did not reflect my journey down the proficiency path. So this fall my colleague Connie and I decided that if we were implementing proficiency then we also needed to fully make the jump to modes. And if we were going to use modes of communication in class, our gradebook had to change as well. At the start of the year I put my new gradebook together with 4 separate pages: Interpersonal, Presentational, Interpretive and “Out Of Class Prep” (our take on what work at home really is). Doing this led to some revelations about my practice, some surprises and, ultimately, necessary changes. Interpersonal – We set these tasks as anything requiring a possible negotiation of meaning between two (or more) students. Wow – if you had asked me BEFORE […]
I think that most world language teachers will agree with me that interpersonal assessments (assessments on which two or more students interact with each other) are very hard to get right, but they are arguably the most important. Most of us have learned that there has to be some type of problem for the students to solve; otherwise, the students spit information at each other without actually having to interact. However, they also need to be prompts that allow/require both (or more) students to communicate. Twice in my very short career (and I am sure this number will increase), I have had to have the students redo an interpersonal assessment because my prompt just did not fit the bill. This week, I gave the students an interpersonal assessment that I thought was going to be amazing, and it totally flopped…and it was totally my fault. We all make mistakes, right? What went wrong? So, the students did an interpretive reading on tapas in Spain, and we have been working with that material for a while. On the original interpersonal assessment that I developed, the students were given a hotel name and a tapas bar, and they were leaving from the […]
How do we convince students to stretch beyond their comfort zone when writing and speaking in the target language? I believe that teachers have to educate students about proficiency, both on a course level and the task level, so that they are invested in our collective work. Truly, we have a mighty task before us as we lead students on this journey. A standards-based rubric can be a powerful tool for undertaking this work. This year our department has a new standards-based presentational rubric that a group of us wrote over the summer to help guide our work on specific tasks. We spent four intense days at the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association’s Proficiency Academy with Thomas Sauer and Greg Duncan, and each afternoon (and some evenings after dinner…and some mornings before breakfast…) we gathered to peruse existing rubrics and think about how to craft our own. Our resulting “patchwork” product is most definitely imperfect and a work in progress, but having one common rubric forces us to hash out our questions and disagreements collectively, which has great value. I can talk to a middle school Mandarin colleague just as well as a high school French colleague as we try to decide what we mean, […]
In my education program, my professor would tell us a great analogy about grades and retakes. She said that as teachers we should allow students to retake assessments, so they can continue to practice and improve with the language. We want students to practice so well that they can attain a proficiency with the language. Then, she made this analogy: if we were going to jump out of a plane, we would want to have the person who got an A in parachute packing, packing our parachutes instead of someone who earned a C. Even if the person had to keep practicing until they earned an A, we would rather have the person who kept practicing until they earned an A instead of the person who got a C and then went to work. Therefore, we want to let our students practice as much as we can to make them as proficient as we can. We frequently discussed “how well is your parachute packed?” It made sense for me; however, it was difficult to implement. As my assessments after college mainly relied upon discrete grammar and vocabulary, it didn’t make sense to retake assessments. I wasn’t sure how to recycle […]
Professionalism
How does your continued growth as a professional support you on the Path to Proficiency?
Whew, here comes 2018! Can you believe it? New year, new you? New students? New routines? For some, all of the above; for others perhaps none, or one. I teach on block schedule, so when we come back to school in January, I have all new students, a new prep, and a new schedule. I have a LOT of goals for second semester, and they’re all intertwined and interdependent. Best of all, I’m really excited about them. A lot of good things happened in the fall, but much still needs rethinking, reworking, and revamping. So, I don’t have New Year’s Resolutions; rather, I have New Year’s Revolutions. Over the holidays, I was able to get out of town to relax and recharge. Hmm, I’m sensing a pattern. REvolutions, REthinking, REworking, REvamping, RElax, REcharge – we get to REdo many things in life, and as teachers, coaches, and mentors, we know the power of REpetition. As World Language teachers who teach toward proficiency, we are confident in the influence that comes from “do it again,” performance, and performance over time (proficiency). These ring true in language acquisition, pedagogy, and life. My goals this semester can only happen if I reflect often […]
It’s been a year of growth for the Path 2 Proficiency community: more than a dozen new teachers joined as authors and readership almost doubled, but most importantly the reflections and conversations grew well beyond this site. This blog doesn’t exist to promote anyone or anything. This blog doesn’t exist to showcase the perfect teacher. This blog doesn’t exist to provide all the answers. Instead, this blog allows regular educators like Michele, Jaime, Rebecca, John, Matt, Sharon, Tim, Christi, Maris, Paul, Juan Carlos, Holly, Rose, Amanda, Valerie, Betsy, Alyssa, Lisa and Meredith to share their reflections about what is working in their worlds, what failed, and how they plan on helping their students further their own path to proficiency. If you are a reader of this site, please take a moment to thank these brave teachers for sharing their reflections in such a public format. It’s because of them that we all become better educators. Of course with growth comes growing pains and some parts of our site are currently not functioning properly but that should all get cleaned up in January along with some other exciting updates. Since all of our posts are very personal reflections some posts hit nerves […]
I wanted to write an encouraging, end of semester blog what would linger over the holiday and inspire us to come back raring to go in January. Unfortunately, I have to tell you, I’ve been in the weeds this semester. I felt like that 80s movie with Rick Moranis, Honey I shrunk the kids. You know, the one where the kids get lost in the backyard and have to make their way back to the house but everything is an obstacle—the blade of grass, the ladybug, the beetle carcass, the aluminum can, the water sprinkler. Our familiar world and things we never give a second thought become overwhelming hurdles that seem so daunting we feel we will never reach home. That is how I felt this semester. Wasn’t I just being super cheesy and telling everyone how much I love back to school???!! Yes, Yes, I did write my previous post about my joy of back to school, and how it is the most wonderful time of the year. About how much I love it—I really do! And I meant it. I really did. Then. But like the shine on a new toy, the excitement of a new school year […]
Whew. I’m tired just thinking of all that went into this semester, and I’m not actually sure how it all got done. Beyond just thinking, I find that reflection, true, intentional, pointed reflection, is critical, and as tiring as anything else. Coming off of ACTFL weekend recently and looking into various PD endeavors for the spring, I can’t help but juxtapose our highlight reels and how we highlight real. Teachers attend sessions, read blogs, send tweets, listen to podcasts, and more, from the World Language Education all-stars we’ve come to know and love. Their strategies are proven, their classrooms warm, their student results impressive — but, how does that make us feel about ourselves? For me, not always awesome. I am not jumping to conclusions; psh, come on. I’m pogo sticking, high jumping, catapulting myself towards conclusions, and internalizing the verdict that 1.) they’re awesome, and 2.) I am not awesome. Truth time: they are awesome. But also, we all are in our own, different way(s). But being awesome and expecting to bring your A-game every single day isn’t sustainable, for them, for us, for students, period. Proficiency has made me a better teacher, and a better understander of my […]
The character Leslie Knope from the show Parks and Recreation is known for her love of organizational binders, waffles, and geeking out over giants in her field that other people might not recognize. I do the last thing on this list, which I call “Knope-ing out” from the infinitive “to Knope out.” A couple of years ago, I was looking at the list of conference attendees, and immediately I started to Knope out over who was going to be there, who I might get the chance to meet, and who I might get the chance to talk to. I got to meet some folks and shake their hands while there, but the key thing I learned was that they were educators like me. In fact, one of the first posts I wrote for Path 2 Proficiency was on finding my voice as a teacher leader <insert link>. But every time I go to a conference I still Knope out–no matter if it’s a regional conference or if it’s ACTFL. Passing former ACTFL Teachers of the Year in the hallways or greeting district or state supervisors with a smile and a warm hug still causes my little language nerd heart to […]
Alyssa Villarreal
Alyssa Villarreal, is the President of Advance Learning and World Language Coordinator for Shelby County Schools (SCS) in Memphis, TN. Ms. Villarreal holds two masters degrees (Curriculum and instruction and educational leadership). As the World Language Coordinator for Shelby County Schools (SCS), she coordinates the district’s language program, which includes programs in eight languages including Spanish, French, German, Russian, Latin, Japanese, Arabic and Chinese. Ms. Villarreal has written and directed three successful Foreign Language Assistance program (FLAP) grants in her nine-year tenure in SCS. The first was to build a K-12 Russian program and was received in 2007. She was one of eight World Language Coordinators nationally to receive a 2008 FLAP grant to build K-12 global villages in Japanese, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese. In addition to her district duties, she has worked as the Foreign Language methods instructor for the University of Memphis. She has served as program director of three STARTALK programs for Memphis City Schools, consultant to other STARTALK programs and a STARTALK site visitor. In addition to her district duties, she has worked as the Foreign Language methods instructor for the University of Memphis. She is currently serving as President of the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages (NADSFL) and was named the 2012 NADSFL Supervisor of the Year.
Amanda Robustelli-Price
Amanda Robustelli-Price is a French teacher in northern Connecticut. An educator passionate about preparing students for success in our interconnected world, Amanda has been in the field of education for fifteen years, having worked as a teacher, department coordinator, and teacher trainer. She is returning to teaching after staying home with her son, and is excited to implement her professional learning from her time away from the classroom.
Betsy Taylor
Betsy Taylor is a high school French teacher in Franklin, TN. She holds a B.A. in French from UT-Knoxville, Un Diplôme de Langue et de Culture from the University of Angers, France, and an M.S. in Secondary Teaching with an emphasis in World Language from UT-Knoxville. Over the past 19 years, she has taught all levels of French, 1-AP/IB, often participated in local and state curriculum writing, and regularly presents at the local, state and regional levels. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and is an active leader in TFLTA, where she has served as President and Conference Secretary, and was recently named the 2016 TFLTA Teacher of the Year. She is a passionate Francophile dedicated to spreading the joy of language and culture to her students and providing them with quality proficiency based learning. In her spare time she attempts to teach her cat, Gigi, French and serves on the board of the Scottish Society of Middle Tennessee.
Christi Gilliland
Christi Gilliland has served as Williamson County School’s World Language Curriculum Specialist since 2012. Prior to that she taught Spanish to grades K-12 for a decade. She is committed to helping teachers grow professionally in order to create better language learning experiences for students. She strongly believes that any PD should reach the students’ desks. She was happy to represent NADSFL as an ACTFL Leadership Initiative for Learning Languages (LILL) fellow. The monthly NADSFL Café webinar sessions materialized as a direct result of her work with LILL. These sessions bring together experts in the field of World Language education to help leaders across the country learn more about current best practices. Currently, she is working hard to help her district transition to proficiency-based instruction and curriculum. As a good Southerner should, many areas of her life are often guided by the question, “What would Dolly Parton do?”
Colleen Lee-Hayes
Colleen Lee-Hayes teaches Japanese in a public high school in Coquitlam (Vancouver) BC Canada. At age 17 she told her educator parents that she’d never be a teacher...and look where she is now! Her classroom is her laboratory and her teaching is a ‘hybrid’ of methodologies as she seeks to find what resonates with her students. Colleen tells her classes that her goal as a teacher is to help them develop the skills (& courage) to use their language in the ‘real world’. She blogs regularly and credits her involvement with the #langchat PLN for the evolution of her teaching. Colleen holds Bachelor degrees in Asian Studies/Japanese & Education and an MBA in Finance & Marketing. She has been a moderator with #langchat since 2013 and has presented locally/provincially in Canada as well at ACTFL.
Holly Morse
I have been teaching Spanish for the past forty years at all levels from elementary to college with the longest tenure at the University School of Milwaukee Independent School for the past 33 years. I have had the great privilege of co-leading our PK-12 World Language Department in a conversion from a traditional grammar-based program to an oral proficiency-based program with the help of Greg Duncan. I received my ACTFL oral proficiency certificate in October of this past year and just returned from spending a week at the Singapore American School observing the most phenomenal elementary school language program that I have ever seen. I am an AP teacher and reader. For 18 years I have lead a summer service trip to Panama to work with malnourished children.
Jaime Basham
Jaime Basham is a high school Spanish teacher who enthusiastically incorporates humor and authentic realia in her classes. She has served on the revision committee for the Wyoming World Language Standards and has revised curriculum in Campbell County School District #1. Jaime holds an undergraduate degree in Spanish Secondary Education and is currently in pursuit of her masters in Curriculum & Instruction. She is a member of ACTFL, PNCFL, and the President of WFLTA. In the summers, when she isn't leading student groups abroad, she enjoys backpacking and fishing in the majestic mountains of Wyoming. She also enjoys playing disc golf, cooking, playing board games, and spending time with her husband and two cats.
John Cadena
John Cadena teaches Japanese at the high school level for the North East Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. In addition to presenting at local, state, and national conferences on World Language teaching, he serves as a member of the Rubric Development Committee and New Teacher Training team for North East ISD World Languages. John regularly collaborates with other World Language teachers online, and has been a moderator for the #langchat discussion group since February 2015. An avid reader of teacher blogs and Twitter feeds, John strongly advocates for educators taking their professional development into their own hands and building a professional learning network that models reflection and growth.
Juan Carlos Morales
Nicaraguan-born, Miami-raised, confused for Cuban world language teacher and enthusiast always up for the challenge of adding more.
Lisa Werner
Lisa Werner is both high school German teacher and Department Chair of an inspiring group of World Language Teachers at Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Montana. Her formal teaching career began in Wyoming, continued in Ohio and brought her back home to Montana in 2004. She holds an undergraduate degree in German from the University of Montana, a M.A. in German Language from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is certified in both German and ESL. Lisa is a member of the AATG, MALT, and ACTFL. She looks forward to spending June either leading students on travel/homestay adventures to Austria and Germany or participating in the AP Reading for the AP German Language and Culture Exam, after which she bask in the beauty of the Montana summer with her husband, Joel.
Maris Hawkins
Maris is a Middle School and Upper School Spanish teacher at an independent school. She earned her Bachelor's of Arts in Spanish and Art History in addition to her Master's in Teaching from the University of Virginia. Maris also loves collecting various authentic resources to use in her class. In addition, she has presented on how to incorporate technology into a proficiency based classroom at various conferences. She lives in Maryland with her husband and son, and she enjoys exploring the area around DC.
Matt Coss
Matt Coss (“Mateo” or 高正远 to some) is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Second Language Acquisition & Application at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also working as a member of the STARTALK division of the National Foreign Language Center at UMD. Previously, Matt worked as a Spanish teacher and freelance translator during a gap year after receiving his B.A. in Hispanic Linguistics and Chinese with a minor in Entrepreneurship from UNC Chapel Hill. What he lacks in age, he makes up for in teaching experience—despite only being 23 years old, Matt has been a Spanish teacher since the age of 16 and a Chinese teacher since the age of 19. Through a series of fortunate events that are much too long to relate here, Matt grew up bilingual (English & Spanish) and started learning Mandarin at age 11 (currently Superior on OPI/ACTFL scale). Matt has taught a broad range of learners in both Spanish and Chinese, from novice 3 rd graders to medical school students to retired adults and beyond. For Matt, language learning and teaching have been lifelong companions so far, and it is his dream to continue learning, teaching and growing on the Path…
Meredith White
Meredith White is a high school Spanish teacher and golf coach in metro Atlanta, GA. She is a Georgia transplant and earned her B.A. (Spanish), B.S. (Foreign Language Education), and M.Ed. (Foreign Language Education) from the University of Georgia. Currently, she is working toward her Ph.D.(Foreign Language Education) from, you guessed it, the University of Georgia. Over the past ten years, she has taught in private, public, and charter, urban, suburban, and/or rural settings. Her focus on novice learners works to ingrain proficiency, authentic resources, genuine tasks, student-centered thematic units, student-guided lessons, and making language-learning enjoyable. Addicted to collaboration and professional development, you can typically find her road-tripping to state, regional, and national workshops, both attending and presenting.
Michele Aoki
Dr. Michele Anciaux Aoki, International Education Administrator for Seattle Public Schools, is responsible for developing and supporting the ten international schools in the district and their K-12 Dual Language Immersion programs in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, as well as supporting all World Language teachers throughout the district. She is Co-Director of the Confucius Institute of the State of Washington, a partnership among the University of Washington, Seattle Public Schools, the Governor’s Office, and Hanban in China. From 2008 to 2014, Michele served as World Languages and International Education Program Supervisor at the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). While there she worked with the State Board of Education and Washington State School Directors Association to develop and implement a model policy and procedure for Competency-Based Credits to award high school credits to students with demonstrated language proficiency. She was instrumental in introducing the Seal of Biliteracy in Washington State. Since 2011, Michele has partnered with the University of Washington on their Russian and Portuguese STARTALK Teacher and Student Programs. Michele has a Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics and taught Russian language and English as a Second Language at the University of Washington for a number of years…
Paul Jennemann
Paul Jennemann is the coordinator of an elementary school dual language immersion magnet program, has served on the curriculum revision team, and has facilitated district-wide professional development with Shelby County Schools (TN). Paul holds undergraduate degrees in Spanish and French and a graduate degree in Spanish with a focus on language acquisition and pedagogy. Paul lives in Memphis, Tennessee, with his wife and two sons, where they love to go to the park, go to the zoo, and cook together.
Rebecca Blouwolff
Rebecca Blouwolff has been a French teacher at Wellesley Middle School in Massachusetts since 1998. Her practice was forever changed by attending a 2014 workshop with Laura Terrill, co-author of ACTFL's The Keys to Planning for Learning. Since then, she has abandoned her previous hobbies in order to rewrite her curriculum, blog about thematic units, participate in #langchat, and provide professional development to colleagues in the Boston area. She holds a B.A. from Brown University and Ed.M. from Harvard's Graduate School of Education, served as a Fulbright Teaching Fellow in France, and is a candidate to become a National Board Certified Teacher.
Rosalyn Rhodes
Rosalyn Rhodes is currently a Spanish teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina. She holds a Bachelors in Spanish from UNC-Greensboro and a Masters in Teaching K-12 Foreign Language from UNC-Charlotte. She has traveled and led student groups in Nicaragua, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. In her thirteen years of teaching, Ms. Rhodes has taught every grade level K-12, and has worked in both public and independent schools. In her professional career in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, she served as the WL New Teacher Coordinator and WL Master Teacher, writes curriculum, and presented a variety of professional development workshops. A member of both ACTFL and FLANC, her 2014 and 2016 FLANC presentations earned top 10 status, and Ms. Rhodes was named the 2015 FLANC Teacher of the Year. She loves teaching Novice learners and states that her goal with her students is to “open their eyes to new people and new places, and to equip them with the language skills necessary for their own cultural journey.”
Saint Andrew's School
Saint Andrew’s School, in Boca Raton, Florida, is a PreK-12 day and boarding college preparatory school with 1,275 students from over 40 countries. Three of the school's language department teacher are sharing their reflections: Carolina Seiden, P.hD., is a passionate linguist, curious teacher, and adoring beagle mom. She is perpetually flawed and fortunate to have forgiving friends and colleagues. Currently, she is working as a language teacher and support staff for teachers’ use of technology in learning. Stephanie Shepherd is a second career language teacher. Her former life as an orchestral musician ignited her passion for learning languages, traveling, and living in different countries. She tries to pass on the torch to her middle school students. Elena Giudice considers herself fortunate to have lived and worked in international schools in France, Puerto Rico, USA, The Bahamas, and Malta. Her studies in Intercultural Communications influenced her personal and professional growth in such positive ways that she strives to reach her students not only in their language growth but in the development of their social-emotional and cultural intelligence skills. Elena is currently Chair of the World Languages and Cultures Department at Saint Andrew’s School.
Sharon Deering
Sharon has recently retired as Instructional Specialist for Languages Other than English in Arlington Independent School District, Arlington, TX. In that capacity she oversaw the writing and implementation of curriculum for 32 courses in five languages. She was also instrumental in the establishment of two Fine Arts Dual Languages Academies, as well as FLES programs in Chinese and Portuguese. She has directed five successful STARTALK programs in Arlington. Sharon has served as President of the Texas Foreign Language Association and continues to be active in the profession in her role as a collaborator on the TELL project and as a consultant to various school districts.
Thomas Sauer
Thomas Sauer is the Director of Design and Communication for AdvanceLearning and an independent consultant. He previously held positions as world language specialist in the Fayette County Public Schools and Jefferson County Public Schools for almost ten years and taught German at the University of Kentucky, Georgetown College and Kentucky Educational Television. He has directed a variety of state and federal grants, most recently as program director and consultant for several successful STARTALK programs. Thomas has served as President of the Kentucky World Language Association as well as on the Board of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages and the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Named the 2011 Pearson/NADSFL Supervisor of the Year and a 2010 Global Visionary by the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana, Thomas is passionate about helping educators making the shift from teaching to learning.
Tim Eagan
Tim has been a teacher of French and Spanish for 28 years and has been an instructional leader since 2006. He's served on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association since 2008 and as president for 2017. He holds a B.A. in French and Spanish, and an M.A. in critical & creative thinking with a focus on second language acquisition and curriculum development. He's particularly interested in effective program design and instructional practices.
Timothy Chavez
Timothy is a third-year Spanish teacher in the Andover Public Schools. He holds a BA in Spanish and Secondary Education from Worcester State University. He has seen the power of proficiency in both his teaching and his own learning. Although he is new to the profession, teaching for proficiency is all he knows, so he feels blessed to have started his career so recently.
Valerie Shull
Valerie Shull teaches Spanish for elementary and middle school children at Rogers Park Montessori School, where she's been on staff for twenty years. During her time at RPMS she’s worked with children age four to fourteen. The rubber hits the road in her proficiency-focused program during her school’s annual 8th grade travel/homestay trip to Costa Rica, which is recognized by ACTFL’s Global Engagement Initiative. Valerie is passionate about working toward language proficiency with children, improving her own practice and supporting teachers in their journey. She is a regular conference presenter on the topic of language proficiency in the early years and is a member of NNELL, AATSP, and ACTFL, where she currently serves on the Global Engagement Committee. Valerie works and lives in Chicago with her daughter, a young global-citizen-in-training.