This weekend, I had the good fortune of being sponsored by my principal to go to the Southern Conference on Language Teaching, SCOLT, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Merci beaucoup, Mr. Ruth!
In the interest of time, I decided to take all of my notes in a blog post, so that I could share them with you rather quickly. I'm not sure that I've done a great job polishing my notes, which are not comprehensive, but here they are. If you have any questions about anything I wrote, please do let me know. I went over my notes, but I didn't take too much time editing all of them...
FRIDAY
General Session:
Carmen Scoggins, SCOLT President 2019 - makes sure everyone (educators, WL admin...) is taking care of themselves.
Congratulations to the SCOLT 2019 Teacher of the Year, Lisa Worthington-Groce! Representing German and North Carolina.
Rebecca Aubrey, keynote speaker:
Who is the edu who had an impact on you first? Share with neighbor.
Love that she talks about a little male learner who left an impact on her. He was often off task and getting in to trouble. Rebecca showed the students a photo of a child who was not going to school because she could not. The powerful image inspired her young learner to contribute to class discussion, and then he lead an extensive learning project. What a rewarding experience for everyone involved!
Rebecca's mother didn’t recommend teaching. Can ya relate? Many of us might be able to do so...
A nice tribute to David Jahner who is retiring as exec dir of SCOLT. Many educators left him video messages of congratulations and more. Of course, my first and most important teacher mentor, Toni Theisen, hopes he has more time for his dog. She loves dogs, especially daschunds. :)
Beckie Raye Rankin's (MaFLA) session : “Empower students with words and a mirror”
She uses those down-time moments students need for reflecting, and it is powered by students.
Resources : www.padlet.com/bray_rebekah/reflectionscolt
My takeaway : This session made me think more intentionally about finding ways to encourage reflection. Also, I like the idea of using the down-time to reflect. When we were tasked to find resources on the topic to add to the Padlet, i found one that inspired me to model how I reflect AND model reflection with SketchNoting.
HOT SEAT session: Carmen Scoggins leading: What’s trending in the language classroom?
Theanswerpad- can project learners’ drawings; good for formative assessment
Tabcloud - a Google extension for holding on to sites rather than leaving the tabs open
Kahoot - One teacher shares how to stop kids from spamming names.
After picking a game, and before starting it, down drop and click ON 2-stepjoin so robots can’t join.
(Carmen isn't a big fan of Kahoot since she doesn't really assess students with multiple-choice questions. Amen, sister!)
GimKit - Carmen says it’s worth the price. Can take whole Quizlet set and import it. Can make it competitive or have students compete against themselves.
EdPuzzle - if you have blocks on YouTube, it won’t be blocked in your EdPuzzle.
Texting story.com — fun text messaging exchange.
Prank me not — allows you to fake tweet
Carmen stresses using games that model formative checks for proficiency.
Numeracy Skills session by Carol Owens:
Loved this session! Creative idea for a presentation AND important.
Skills to have in WL class: basic arithmetic, conversions, more/less/equal, number sense
AP topic ex: hyperinflation, value of work and money, meaning of money
Driving topic : travel miles or kilometers etc conversion
Number sense - knowing if it’s a speed or a route sign for ex
Gallons vs liters
Numeracy skills for surveys:
Survey strategies: percentages, graphing, graph interpretation, more/less/ equal
Interesting to note: re: the decimal point vs comma — depends on proximity & wanting to be like us in Spanish-speaking countries according to Carol and participants
Global citizenship: survey strategies, graph interpretation, critical numeracy
Grouping Students Intentionally, Easily, and Secretively (Fairly) by Benjamin Bradshaw
Plickers.com
This presenter chooses seating for his learners based on their ability as seen through multiple-choice questions he asks them. Grouping can be homogenous or heterogeneous.
Planning Instruction with the Brain in Mind by Greta Lundgaard
This was my favorite session on Friday. Thanks, Greta!
We did an exercise with rote memorization. Three lists of ten words. We had to put our pencils down. Had to memorize for 10 seconds each time. Then write all we remembered each time.
First list was jumbled letters in groups of 3. SLE NAS etc.
Second list was 3 letters but now words we know. SAT ANT OUT etc.
Third list had longer words like JACKET COAT ABOVE BELOW etc.
Last list was in order of a sentence THE CHILDREN WENT TO THE STORE TO BUY SOME CANDY.
Each time we counted how many groupings of letters or words, and reported to Greta as she asked for results.
The brain is wired to forget.
Make learning meaningful.
Rote memorization wears many disguises. At some point you have to take down the word wall.
The brain gets energized by social learning and inquiry learning.
Watch “Why Students Forget — and What You Can Do About It” by Youki Terafa for Edutopia. It’s on YouTube.
Learning in routine ways weakens recall.
Give practice tests often to reduce test stress.
In your rubrics, include a section for vocabulary learned in previous units. Learners need time and opportunity. Yasssssss!
Interleaving. Do it. Keep bringing back topics from older units. (I was JUST talking to my colleague about this very thing on the ride down to the conference. We need to do it with clothing as we don't do a unit specifically on clothing. I find that our learners do not know how to say "shoes" in French 3. Were they taught that expression? Yes, but only once in a unit on life on campus in the first semester of French.)
Ten Reasons to GO PRO-ficient. The SEAL of Biliteracy as a GAME Changer by Linda Egnatz
The SEAL can cover the world language requirement needed on transcripts to go to college. This can be helpful to ELL learners because they don’t always have time for a world language in high school due to the time needed for ELL classes each year.
In some states, the scores on the biliteracy assessment need to be advanced high. This varies from state to state along with the type of assessment tool used. Some of the tools to assess are the Advanced Placement exam, AAPPL, and the STAMP4.
Biliteracy Seal Benefits to World Language Programs:
Earn university minors early which frees up time for travel and study abroad experiences.
Motivation to move on the proficiency path.
External validation of the proficiency work learners do.
Build retention.
Double AP enrollment.
There may be washback on instruction happening.
The curriculum will likely become more proficiency driven, if not already.
Build administration awareness and support.
Build support from parents.
See growth in intrinsic motivation of students.
It can facilitate the building of bonds between learner and educator.
Be sure to show learners what the Seal can do for them.
SATURDAY
Intercultural Can-Do Statements: Investigate, Interact, and Reflect - Ruta Couet
(Just so you know, Ruta Couet retired recently from the SC State Department of Education. She has been a wonderful advocate for world language education over the years. We were so lucky to have her! I may be a little bias because I think of her as a dear friend, too. She is amazing, everyone! When she presents at a conference, I recommend you get there. Also, she was on the committee who developed these new Can-Dos for intercultural communication.)
The benchmark can-dos are there to consult for program or course targets. The indicators should be used for unit goals/IPAs. The examples of can-do statements are for lessons.
Benchmarks are too broad for unit goals.
Operative word for each proficiency level in the INVESTIGATE section:
Novice - identify
Intermediate - compare
Advanced - Describe
Superior - Analyze
Distinguished - Evaluate
Operative word for each proficiency level in the INTERACT section on LANGUAGE:
Novice - survival
Intermediate - functional
Advanced - Competent
Superior - complex
Distinguished - mediator
Operative word for each proficiency level in the INTERACT section on BEHAVIOR:
Novice - mimic
Intermediate - avoid blunders
Advanced - adjust
Superior - adhere to
Distinguished - accommodate
Examples:
Naturally Embedded Culture: Numbers
Healthy Eating - compare food pyramids and plates per country
Start unit design with the investigate and interact can-dos BEFORE breaking it down to the three modes. This will help you use can-dos that support the main objective.
Learn to Speak Student — Carmen Scoggins
(I'm going to have to write a side note about Carmen, too. She embodies the passionate lead learner we like to see in this world. Well, I could really go on an on about her because she impresses me greatly, but I have to get ready for the week. Just know that she is amazing. Go to her presentations. Learn from her when you can. That is all.)
Menti.com - free. Learners make a word cloud.
Carmen uses Snapchat to share needed supplies. ((Side note: I’ll be making one of those for that purpose this summer. I’m inspired to use it for school videos rather than just fun photos or video snaps for my circle of friends. Those snap filters need to be used. Hehe)
Snapshot - Carmen makes a landscape-style collage of bitmojis (of herself, of course! ha) that show what they will be doing that week. They see it on Mondays.
FlipGrid Mixtape - group of three who reflect in English on what they think about the learning they are doing in Spanish class.
Creating LGBTQ+ Affirming Classes w/Lang & Content:No One Walks Alone-Joseph Parodi-Brown
Presenter used gosoapbox for participant interactions during presentation. Free tool, but limited.
Less than 20% of students are taught positive representations of LGBTQ ppl, history, events.
Seven states ban LGBTQ curriculum. Four of them are SCOLT states.
Access points for LGBTQ info in the curriculum:
Ex: LGBTQ History Month - October
Issues where intersectionality may apply: DACA, military, migration
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That's it! Hope you find something useful in this post. Now I must go get my head in the game for the week ahead.
If you're still waiting on the spring break to arrive, may the days ahead go smoothly for you.
A la prochaine!
Cristy
