Are you considering transitioning your world language program from a traditional one to an oral-proficiency based one? In this blog post, I will share the basic steps that we, the University School of Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have taken to make such a shift in the last few years in our PK-12 World Language department. Shifting to an Oral Proficiency-based program First, since we knew the shift to an oral-proficiency program would not be an easy one, we hired a consultant to guide us through the process. If you can prioritize this in your budget, I highly recommend it. Department members may have more confidence in the process when an expert and outside consultant leads rather than a department chair who may have no particular expertise in developing an oral-proficiency based program. With the help of our consultant, we became familiar with the basic terminology of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. For example, we began to learn what defines Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced level speakers. Even though we were familiar with this terminology, it wasn’t until we were all deferring to an expert that we began to understand more fully what they meant […]
I think the biggest benefit of blogging for teachers is that it increases their ability to be reflective and articulate about their practice. Stray thoughts and half-awarenesses get fleshed out into full-fledged epiphanies as teachers figure out how to talk with their colleagues about what they do in the classroom. Back in April, I ended a blog post with four target areas for growth in my practice, one of them being Interpersonal Mode at the Intermediate level: “My Level 1 classes have a lively and robust environment that makes room for well-supported and scaffolded conversational interactions. But in each subsequent level, I prioritize the interpersonal mode less and less, even as students are working towards pushing their proficiency ever further. I need to take a hard look at my unit themes and objectives, and consider how I can make more space for interpersonal communication — the heart of why most people want to learn another language.” Interpersonal communication comes naturally to a first-year language course. The early Novice curriculum is teeming with questions: first memorized ones (“What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from?”), then open-ended ones (“What do you like to do in your free time? […]
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, […]
What can the biblical creation story teach us about unit and lesson planning? A lot! The Book of Genesis explains that God began with “tohu va’vohu” (sometimes translated from the Hebrew as “unformed and void”) and then differentiated the world into heaven and earth. From there, the Divine went on to separate light from darkness, water from dry land, and so on. Three years ago, when I began to transition from a textbook-based curriculum to thematic units designed for proficiency in my French 8 course, I quickly found myself mired in what’s known in modern French as le tohu-bohu, or disorder and confusion. Anyone who knows me will tell you that this is NOT my happy place! I spent weeks and weeks over summer vacation hashing out the bare bones of my units, and every night of the school year trying to figure out how to break down those unit plans into daily lessons. As a mere mortal, I did not know how to separate light from darkness, nor water from dry land. I would get lost trying to figure out, for example, what exactly Day 23 of a 35-day unit should look like. Or Day 13. Or Day 33. […]
Planning
How does your planning of learning experiences prepare students’ Path to Proficiency?
Are you considering transitioning your world language program from a traditional one to an oral-proficiency based one? In this blog post, I will share the basic steps that we, the University School of Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have taken to make such a shift in the last few years in our PK-12 World Language department. Shifting to an Oral Proficiency-based program First, since we knew the shift to an oral-proficiency program would not be an easy one, we hired a consultant to guide us through the process. If you can prioritize this in your budget, I highly recommend it. Department members may have more confidence in the process when an expert and outside consultant leads rather than a department chair who may have no particular expertise in developing an oral-proficiency based program. With the help of our consultant, we became familiar with the basic terminology of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. For example, we began to learn what defines Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced level speakers. Even though we were familiar with this terminology, it wasn’t until we were all deferring to an expert that we began to understand more fully what they meant […]
I think the biggest benefit of blogging for teachers is that it increases their ability to be reflective and articulate about their practice. Stray thoughts and half-awarenesses get fleshed out into full-fledged epiphanies as teachers figure out how to talk with their colleagues about what they do in the classroom. Back in April, I ended a blog post with four target areas for growth in my practice, one of them being Interpersonal Mode at the Intermediate level: “My Level 1 classes have a lively and robust environment that makes room for well-supported and scaffolded conversational interactions. But in each subsequent level, I prioritize the interpersonal mode less and less, even as students are working towards pushing their proficiency ever further. I need to take a hard look at my unit themes and objectives, and consider how I can make more space for interpersonal communication — the heart of why most people want to learn another language.” Interpersonal communication comes naturally to a first-year language course. The early Novice curriculum is teeming with questions: first memorized ones (“What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from?”), then open-ended ones (“What do you like to do in your free time? […]
What can the biblical creation story teach us about unit and lesson planning? A lot! The Book of Genesis explains that God began with “tohu va’vohu” (sometimes translated from the Hebrew as “unformed and void”) and then differentiated the world into heaven and earth. From there, the Divine went on to separate light from darkness, water from dry land, and so on. Three years ago, when I began to transition from a textbook-based curriculum to thematic units designed for proficiency in my French 8 course, I quickly found myself mired in what’s known in modern French as le tohu-bohu, or disorder and confusion. Anyone who knows me will tell you that this is NOT my happy place! I spent weeks and weeks over summer vacation hashing out the bare bones of my units, and every night of the school year trying to figure out how to break down those unit plans into daily lessons. As a mere mortal, I did not know how to separate light from darkness, nor water from dry land. I would get lost trying to figure out, for example, what exactly Day 23 of a 35-day unit should look like. Or Day 13. Or Day 33. […]
The thing about embarking down the Path to Proficiency is that there isn’t just one single path you have to take. When I first began my journey towards proficiency, I found myself often looking to others further along the trek than me and asking them for directions. I knew that I couldn’t implement everything I was hearing and learning about in my conversations with more experienced teachers… so, where should I begin? What do I have to master first? “Just give me the Secret Proficiency Roadmap already, and I swear I’ll follow it exactly!” Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the Secret Roadmap didn’t exist. Naturally, this makes perfect sense: every educator’s path is going to be different, based on their past experiences and learning, where they’re teaching and who they’re teaching with, and what their natural strengths and weaknesses are. Nevertheless, I keenly remember the frustration at feeling totally lost several times during those first few years — and I’ve seen other new travelers struggle with it, too. So while I can’t tell anyone else what course their route will ultimately take, I can certainly share the story of my peaks and valleys on the Path to Proficiency […]
Yes. I’ll admit it. I’m a nerd. A big one. I’ll own it. Grammar really gets me going. Word origin, homophones, rhetorical devices and literary analysis excite me. Old AP fill-ins were a challenging game I played against myself. The Académie Française has nothing on me! (You French teachers know what I mean!) I won’t ask for a show of hands (no need to embarrass anyone) but I would hazard a guess that many of you are like me. We love words and how they sound and all their subtle definition and connotation. We can spot a grammar error a mile away. So it’s no wonder that sometimes the path to proficiency causes me to break out into a sweat when I realize the language functions needed for this unit don’t incorporate all the rules of say, the imperfect subjunctive. In my enthusiasm, I want to teach (torture?) my students with all of the tiny grammar rules of every single one. Because they’ll love it as much as I do—right? Wrong! Anyone who’s been teaching any amount of time knows that the majority of kids out there could care less about the past participle agreement with preceding direct objects or the […]
Learning Experience
How do you facilitate meaningful learning experiences for students on the Path to Proficiency?
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 […]
One of my biggest challenges as a teacher is to relinquish the floor. I am not proud of it, but being aware of it has helped me find ways to cope with the allure of being the sage on stage. As I work with language learners who are increasingly proficient, I’ve realized they need more opportunities for authentic production, with opportunities for reflection and self-correction. In a very real way, this is a #humblebrag, since our students get so linguistically advanced because I am lucky to be part of an incredible team of linguists/teachers who get them going early. By the time they get to me, they are NOT in the mood to do a family tree, tell me about their daily routine, or discuss their childhood while illustrating correct usage of imperfect vs. preterite. What’s a simple profe to do? Turn them into the teachers! That’s what! I teach a class of intermediate high to advanced-mid language learners, who have been loved and supported through their monosyllabic stages all the way to their complex multi-clause sentences in the subjunctive mood -pluscuamperfecto. Often, one of the biggest challenges I have is to find a meaningful balance to develop all areas […]
When I started to teach towards proficiency, I knew what the end product was, but I was not always clear how to get there. What would I do each day in class? However, once I started asking students more and more proficiency questions on my assessments, I would start to notice the gaps in their learning and understanding that needed to be filled. I realized that for interpretive reading, my students missed some key literacy skills. Many times, they would overlook basic text structures that would allow them to understand the text or their description of the theme was vague. Luckily, I combined some of my previous activities and I stole borrowed some ideas from our sixth grade English teacher! These ideas can really support novices as they interpret a variety of authentic texts. One of my favorite pre-reading strategies is having students brainstorm all of the words they can think of in the target language around one topic. Ever since I have read John Medina’s Brain Rules, I like to have students brainstorm and recycle vocabulary as much as I can to help students remember it. I allow students to take one minute to write down as many words as they […]
Ah, yes, technology. Coming fresh out of a fabulous #SCOLT17 in Orlando, there were lots of technology ideas that floated around in sessions and conversations. These are great, because we do, indeed, live in the Information Age, a time where we can find nearly any piece of information at our fingertips. Therefore, we should definitely be using them with our students, and, even better, design learning opportunities with the technology in the hands of our students (not just us). Yet, school and how we ‘do‘ school largely hasn’t changed. We still require a certain number of hours, days, and credit hours, and students sit in front of adults all day largely sitting-and-getting, playing the game. We offer professional development sessions for teachers on how to get your students “up and moving” because what learning and learning in classrooms ‘look like’ has been ingrained into us to not include that, necessarily. Don’t believe me? Do a Google image search ‘students learning’ or ‘effective classroom’ or ‘good class’. Seriously – search that now. All done? All those fresh, scrubbed, smiling faces; don’t they look like our classrooms every day? Fed, prepared, excited, motivated. Ah yes, our students. Some days, absolutely. Other days? Not so much. […]
Performance & Feedback
How do you and your students use performance & feedback on the Path to Proficiency?
OK. I’m just going to say it. I hate grading. When I was a kid and helped my mom grade it seemed like so much fun. Then I became a teacher and it seemed like the punishment for a job well-done. I think it’s because I’ve always felt like this was the area where I am least prepared. Don’t misunderstand, I know my subject content. I can talk about grammar and vocabulary and word choice and syntax. I love all those things and I know the rules backwards and forwards. Imperfect subjunctive is exciting to a language nerd like me. And of course, my education courses in college talked about positive, negative and constructive feedback. Teacher training boiled down to the basics: “good job” and “that’s interesting, but perhaps next time you could try it this way (insert correct answer)” were acceptable. “That’s stupid” and “Wrong!” were obviously to be avoided. Quizzes and tests were marked for correctness, distributed back to students and the next lesson/unit begun. But I don’t think I really understood what effective feedback looked like and just how valuable it could be. Then a few things happened that radically changed my whole practice and perspective regarding […]
… as in, a self-assessment, on proficiency. Ask yourself: “What exactly do I know about the levels and what they look like? Can I explain it to students, and/or parents? Can I hear, read, and observe examples and then rate them?” For me, a lot of work went into the paradigm shift that is proficiency-based teaching, and the next step was educating myself on the ‘when’ and ‘how’. I knew that before I could teach it I had to know it backward and forward. Teaching it, in turn, reinforced it, and I continue to learn and see it more holistically every day. Then, at TELL Collab 2015 (left), I made it my E.P.I.C. teacher goal to “make proficiency levels and performance routine, accessible, and empowering for my students.” My 2016 goal (right) was then to not just do it but then do it more frequently. But first, I had to figure out what the heck to do and where to start. Back in 2015, I explored and studied these resources from Shelby County Schools in Memphis. There are proficiency explanations in parent- and student-friendly language as well as curriculum examples and much more. Click around, there’s a LOT and it’s refreshing that they share graciously […]
Well, we’ve arrived. My husband and I are now thick in the stage of life where nearly each of our friends have one child and most have more than one. In the age of social media, we get to see these children grow up, which is pretty cool – I think of social media pictures and updates as a constant holiday card, always there when you’re ready for it. Technology can be an amazing thing! And, of course, in said pictures are activities: karate, music, soccer, basketball, math team, anime club, and much more. I can’t help but notice, more often than not, however, so many participation trophies, medals, and ribbons. Sigh. I hate even typing that. I am a millenial, and while my mind says, “We aren’t all special snowflakes, people!” my heart whispers, “But you are different, you can be anything…” That’s all well and great for character and confidence, and my parents made keeping our egos in check a main priority in a number of common-sense, now-comical ways. Society, however, didn’t. Society, and most of the input those of us under 35 received from the time of conception was that by golly we showed up and did our best and […]
Summer is here in Memphis and it is arriving quickly for the rest of you, even if it doesn’t feel that it is. So this is the time of the year that we work long hours grading final exams and doing more math than many of us care to do normally in order to get grades submitted on time. So my question to you is this, what do your grades communicate? Do your grades paint a picture of the language your students have developed this year? Do they communicate how well they followed directions? Perhaps this is something that you haven’t thought about. As an administrator and working with many principals I can tell you it is an important distinction. Now or as school closes is the time to reflect over the year and the messages we send on the permanent records of our students to advocate for or against language learning. I say it like a broken record, every day in our classrooms we send messages to kids about who they are as language learners. Grades, send the biggest, loudest message. So what do they say? Let me share two interesting situations I experienced this school year to get […]
This post is not shiny or flashy with great pictures of my kids engaged and working on creative, fun, or culturally relevant tasks. This is a reflection on a week that ended with crying and an unhealthy amount of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. This was my week of EPIC failure, and I feel that you should know when it falls apart for me as much as when things are clicking along on this proficiency path. Sometimes, for any number of reasons, we don’t do what we know we should do, and our kids fail. This is what happened in my class this week. Someone once said, “no student has ever died from bad world language instruction”, which I’m sure is true although I haven’t fact-checked that statement, so I would like you to come with me and reflect on the results of my recent experience with my own “bad world language instruction.” Let me set the scene for you…I am giving a Benchmark exam: the summative assessment of the whole unit. The listening passage plays, the speaker is speaking, and my children are staring at their tests with expressions ranging from slight confusion to horrified awareness that they […]
Professionalism
How does your continued growth as a professional support you on the Path to Proficiency?
Are you considering transitioning your world language program from a traditional one to an oral-proficiency based one? In this blog post, I will share the basic steps that we, the University School of Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have taken to make such a shift in the last few years in our PK-12 World Language department. Shifting to an Oral Proficiency-based program First, since we knew the shift to an oral-proficiency program would not be an easy one, we hired a consultant to guide us through the process. If you can prioritize this in your budget, I highly recommend it. Department members may have more confidence in the process when an expert and outside consultant leads rather than a department chair who may have no particular expertise in developing an oral-proficiency based program. With the help of our consultant, we became familiar with the basic terminology of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. For example, we began to learn what defines Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced level speakers. Even though we were familiar with this terminology, it wasn’t until we were all deferring to an expert that we began to understand more fully what they meant […]
Spring is upon us, and teachers everywhere lament how difficult it is to keep students engaged as they are getting ready for state assessments and AP exams. It is also difficult for us teachers to stay engaged with new lessons and innovative ways to keep students engaged because we have been burning the candle at both ends for so long, and we see how our students are being drilled in other classes. What do we do when we have just hit the wall? Yes, Spring Break is coming up, but what do we do between now and Spring Break? Or how do we structure our lessons for the last marking period between the return from Spring Break and the end of the school year? In my last post I wrote about focusing on the right things in the class. But, how can we determine what are the right things to focus on when our students seem to swing between climbing the walls and slumped over their desks? Some teachers might even be thinking about the next school year already, declaring this year a wash. How can you keep your spirits up for the rest of the year without writing it completely off? […]
Recently, I had coffee with a colleague from another elementary school to talk shop. She’s pretty new to the school where she’s the only Spanish teacher, teaches preschool through 8th grade, and is being asked to create a curriculum. To say that she is concerned and feeling a high level of stress, is an obvious understatement. I listened supportively as she unfolded her struggle to find the time and resources to create thematic units while figuring out what to do with the children in the meantime. My friend is a good teacher, and of course, is looking to attend training and build a network of colleagues who can support her efforts. All things that take time. Our coffee was an effort to get information and advice on where to head next, and I answered her questions, suggesting some nice, inexpensive materials to use while she works on developing her own curriculum and set reasonable goals for the class time allotted her program. I ended our conversation by simply saying, “Remember, at the end of the day, if you speak Spanish, the children are interested and understand and maybe use some themselves, that’s what it’s all about.” As I walked away, […]
Here are some of the blog posts that I “loved” this week. A year of Growth This practical post by Spanish elementary school teacher, Jennifer Kennedy, may be one of my favorites of the new year so far. Reflecting on her own growth as a teacher, Jennifer gives three recommendations that any teacher can follow to help them become a better teacher. What a great model of reflective practice! “We are happy when we are growing.” Read Jennifer’s post –> The Global Goals French and Spanish teacher, Lynn Johnston, shares a great resource that has inspired her in this original post and a follow-up post to think how she can move from just a standard topical approach to language learning to larger thematic and a truly real life focus. Move from vocabulary to service learning. And do all of that with her novice-level language learners in mind. The authentic resource link she shares is gold! Read Lynn’s post –> Blogs to watch 2017 If you can’t get enough of world language teacher blogs like me, you’ll like Spanish educator, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell’s annual list of blogs. I always like finding new ones and who knows, whose post will end up in […]
What a busy week in the blogging world. There were so many great posts from educators that it made it really tough to pick the ones that really made me think, smile, or wonder. Hope you’ll find them helpful in your own journey. Using Proficiency Levels With Students? I NOW Get Why! (Or “You Don’t Play Video Games Just to Play Do You?”) Inspired by the work of teachers in both Jefferson County (KY) and Shelby County (TN), I’ve been talking about the importance of getting learners involved in understanding proficiency. Japanese teacher, Colleen Lee-Hayes make a pretty powerful argument for inviting her students onto the Path to Proficiency instead of just “asking them to play the video game over and over but I have failed to validate this but giving them a ‘new level’ to achieve.” Read Colleen’s post –> Student-Teacher Relationships Are Everything We have all taken the class. We have all sat through the professional development and yet it’s easy to forget. Educator, James Ford, provides a very blunt reminder that the “relational part of teaching may very well be its most underrated aspect. It simply does not get the respect it deserves.” And I really really want […]
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.
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.
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-Elect 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.
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.
Paul Jennemann
Paul Jennemann is a high school Spanish teacher who loves to have fun and strives to infuse lessons with authentic resources in his classroom. He has served on the curriculum revision team and has facilitated district-wide professional development with Shelby County Schools (TN) in addition to being a department leader. 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.
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.