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Building Grassroots Constituencies to Promote Practice. Teacher collaboration across districts to support instruction in world languages classrooms. Why build a network?. Teachers in SJ region need support at the local level, in their classrooms to improve practice - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Building Grassroots Constituencies to Promote PracticeTeacher collaboration across districts to support instruction in world languages classrooms
Why build a network? Teachers in SJ region need support at the local level, in their
classrooms to improve practice Most administrators evaluate without specific world language
pedagogical background Local networks build support capacity and create sense of
immediate connection
But – aren’t there already good support systems in place?
- - - we will approach this question in the first activity
Quick overview of the SJWLI South Jersey World Language Institute The confluence of three important streams
growing corps of former teacher prep students county-wide professional day state language organization work in region
Quick history of SJWLI 2004 pondered idea of networking 2007 proposed model 2008 hosted first full-day professional development for
county at own school site 2009 extended network to university site 2010 invited expert speaker 2011 full complement in place 2012 extended to other county
Structure of organization Anyone may participate No hierarchy No dues structure No funding Grassroots in the truest sense Name is misleading
Things that made structure work My own school district willing to host My work at university made connection easy Support from state language organization Other dedicated teachers stepped up quickly Small geographic region Current and significant themes for workshops
Challenges from beginning No funding No permanent home, fixed address All volunteer, busy teachers Attracting wider circle Clear rationale among many p.d choices Gatherings too infrequent Communication
Achievements Participants return regularly Various teachers have shared on wiki Network recognized as resource by administration Collegiality among participants Expert presenters add value to programming
2012 a year of special challengesApril- Mead Fellowship: a great chance to strengthen the constituency- focus of year
May- short workshop, poorly attended
July- Rutgers course canceled
November- count-wide day canceled
November- NJEA Convention canceled
December- FLENJ board votes no to special webinars to replace canceled events
…..but new opportunities emerge Building network, extending to new county
hosting new group of out-of-county teachers in lieu of county-wide professional development day
Introduced them to the framework of SJWLI Shared current best practices models- teachers left invigorated
Individual participants sharing new lessons from work done at SLWLI events the previous two years
More opportunities…….. Collaboration with University of Pennsylvania CIBER/Lauder
Instiute in cooperation with Penn Language Center and the Wharton School of Business
January 26, 2013 Philadelphia Pa Chance to extend network into wider region Well-attended, great sessions – a breath of fresh air after
challenging year
21st Century Literacies for the World Language Classroom
Financial Literacy for Teachers: Diana Drake, Managing Editor- Knowledge at Wharton, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Common Core and World Languages: Lynn Fulton, Delaware Dept of Education
AP Curriculum: Christina Frei, University of Pennsylvania Tech workshop: Eleni Miltsakaki, University of Pennsylvania
Tech workshop Role of inquiry-based activities in teaching world languages Webquests: structured inquiry-based activities using web
resources Practical guidelines to create webquests Hands-on training to create and use webquests
……..moving forward Relaunch the county-wide day Expand the connection with U Penn Reach out to language resource centers Extend SJWLI into more counties Encourage participation at NJEA Build more depth in wiki
Ok….let’s get into a discussionA. Argue for a grassroots constituency as viable professional
development
B. Argue against a grassroots constituency as viable professional development
Arguments for and against Local connections Access, easy meeting Knowledge of issues Live collaboration Feeling of collegiality
cannot help with district issues
webinars meet needs state language professional
development opps Best practices available in
media 2.0
How can we build a grassrootsconstituency? Let’s brainstorm a list
If YOU were to start a network, with which issues would you start?
SJWLI themes Update on new standards Integrated performance assessment Spiraling curriculum across the levels Voice thread Establishing elementary curriculum Input as key in instruction Using wikis and blogs
Would it possible to link networks? Shall we discuss connecting already existing organizations
across the wider NECTFL region? What possibilities can exist? What role can each of us play?