Without proficiency targets, teaching often becomes “covering material.” Current thinking informs us that when realistic proficiency targets are set for language courses, students are more likely to reach those targets and have a feeling that they can actually DO something with the language rather than just knowing rules about the language. Important to understand is that reaching proficiency targets is contingent upon intentional planning to get there. A look at the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can Do Statements will show how they can help teachers plan for and reach specific levels of proficiency and capture the student’s interest and commitment for learning at the same time.
The Backward Design concept has been providing teachers solid guidance on curriculum and instructional planning for several decades, and this common-sense approach still holds great promise for today’s language teachers. Through an examination of the backward design concept itself and through various curriculum templates, including those from ACTFL, participants will explore the use of these tools for their own purposes and within their own institutional settings.
In learning a new a skill, the proof of learning it is being able to use it. So, the measure of a language student’s success is being able to use the language for meaningful communication. Within that mindset, the “assessment” component of learning becomes the most critical part--it’s where the student finds out if he can do it. This session will focus on the critical need for language assessment to do just that--to provide students ways to demonstrate what they can do with the language they have learned through listening, speaking, reading and writing and within the context of the three modes of communication. The emphasis is demonstration of what students can do, not simply the demonstration of knowledge.
These sessions are guided by a facilitator who supports attendees in working collaboratively to use material from earlier sessions in designing material for their school.
