Professional Development
We train teachers on how to create their own standards-based curriculum units centered on folk literature or a culture topic. We model teaching strategies, activities, and backward planned unit design. We pre-select stories in French and Spanish to jump start teachers on creating their own units. We work with teachers in large groups, by language group and answer individual questions. When teachers finish a day-long workshop they have sketched out their own unit including assessments aligned to the performance objectives.
Creating your own literature-based thematic units
Priscilla Russel and Paris Granville work with teachers in French and Spanish to create performance objectives and assessments. Participants view student performances and receive generic rubrics for evaluating interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational performances. They also receive an assessment ladder with hundreds of ideas for their own performance assessment. The presenters model learning experiences in Spanish and French that help students achieve the performance targets. They also receive a checklist to help them choose authentic literature for their classes.
Culture-based Thematic Units
Paris Granville guides attendees to create performance-based curriculum where the culture is woven through the instruction to provide an authentic context for communication. Participants view student performances and receive generic rubrics for evaluating interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational performances. They also receive an assessment ladder with hundreds of ideas for their own culture-based performance assessment. The presenters model learning experiences in Spanish and French that help students achieve the performance targets. Finally, the presenter shares tips on creating a real world simulation for students to use their newly acquired language and culture with native and heritage speakers from the community.
Interpersonal Communication for Novice and Intermediate Learners
Teachers often tell us that they have difficulty creating, managing, and assessing interpersonal tasks for novice and intermediate learners. This presentation offers several quick ideas for using templates to generate student-centered interpersonal tasks. We also offer rubrics based on the ACTFL Performance Guidelines for assessing novice and intermediate students. We demonstrate who you can scaffold student success when communicating in impromptu situations.
Please contact Paris Granville for more information at 866-203-7448 x202
