Transcript Document
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
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 challenges
April- 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 EditorKnowledge 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 discussion
A.
B.
Argue for a grassroots constituency as viable professional
development
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 grassroots
constituency?
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?
[email protected]