0.7-Course primary documents to explore
To view all of the content on this page, make sure you click on each of the links that appear below in succession. In other words, once you have read the current page, continue to the next section by clicking the second link, followed by the third link. Notice that each section is numbered using capital letters to indicate the order in which you should read them, “A — B — C — D.”
1) The STARTALK Student Program Learning Plan Template
There are many approaches to lesson planning. There is no single “correct” way to plan a lesson, since there are so many variables that impact how any lesson is delivered. With this essential truth in mind, we have chosen to use a lesson design that was developed by STARTALK called the Student Program Learning Plan. We explore the components of this template later in the course. For now, please download a copy for yourself and take 5-10 minutes to read through it so that you can begin to develop some familiarity with it. As you read throughout, take note of those aspects that are already familiar to you. Also, take some time to reflect on how designing an online, synchronous lesson might look using this template.
You can access this template from the Course Resources section under the heading “Primary Course Documents.”
2) The STARTALK Learning Plan Guide
This guide provides a framework a framework for thinking about the elements essential to foreign language lesson plans and guidelines for developing plans that reflect theory and practice in language education today. This document will obviously require a little more time to read, but it provides important context for the planning we must do as world language educators.
You can also access this Guide from the Course Resources section under the heading “Primary Course Documents.”
To continue
Continue to part B) Explore the TELL Project Learning Experience Domain
The Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Project (Links to an external site.), an initiative of AdvanceLearning, is a collection of products and processes that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of world language teachers. TELL, which emanates from an understanding that student achievement is influenced more by an effective teacher than any other factor, attempts to synthesize work from the general education arena regarding those things that effective teachers do and make that information specific to the work of language teachers. The heart of the TELL Project is the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Framework, which is supported by a variety of tools and resources.
In this course, we will focus on two of the domains of the TELL Framework: Planning and Learning Experiences.
The Planning domain criteria we are focusing on in this program addresses the following questions:
- How can I set daily performance objectives that are focused on proficiency targets and are based on meaningful contexts?
- How can I plan activities that enable students to meet the daily performance objectives.
In the Learning Experiences domain, we are focusing on these questions:
- How can I share user-friendly performance objectives with my students?
- How can I embed and intentionally reference the performance objectives throughout the lesson?
- How can I ensure that at least 90% of what I say and/or materials I share with my students are in the target language?
- How can I minimize my use of English by carefully and deliberately determining when and if I use English in the classroom?
The above questions provide a framework for the learning we will be engaging in during this course. As we explore these questions, we will hone our understanding of backwards design as a guiding principle in lesson, unit and course design. We will also examine the components of successful comprehensible input, with special emphasis on strategies that enable us to remain in the target language rather than attempting to provide instruction in English.
Now, take some time to download and review the Planning and Learning Experience Domain Criteria documents from Course Resources
To continue
Continue to part C) Review the World Readiness Standards and the Can-Do Statements.
1) The ACTFL World Readiness Standards
The World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages define the central role of world languages in the learning career of every student. The five goal areas of the Standards establish an inextricable link between communication and culture, which is applied in making connections and comparisons and in using this competence to be part of local and global communities.
The World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages create a roadmap to guide learners to develop competence to communicate effectively and interact with cultural competence to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.
Download and review a copy of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages from the ACTFL Resources section of Course Resources.
2) The STARTALK Lesson Can-Do Statements
Based on the ACTFL-NCSSFL Can-Do Statements (Links to an external site.), which serve as performance indicators for language learners, the STARTALK Lesson Can-Do Statements are smaller indicators or descriptors of how learners incrementally move toward selected Program Can-Do statements. These indicators or descriptors are derived by pulling apart the language, content, and cultural context of the Program Can-Do statements and using them to focus your learning plan. These Lesson Can-Do statements are small enough that they can be the focus of single learning episodes. Learners can show that they can accomplish these Lesson Can-Dos in the check for learning at the end of each learning episode.Download and review a copy of the STARTALK Lesson Can-Do Statements from the Primary Course Documents section of Course Resources.
To continue
Once you’ve downloaded and reviewed these documents, continue to the Part D) Review the Professional Growth Plan TemplateProfessional Development without follow-up is “malpractice.”
Far too often, professional development opportunities introduce us to new knowledge, skills, and dispositions, but fail to re-engage us at a later time in ways that check our progress towards integration of these newfound knowledge, skills, and dispositions. To avoid this common pitfall of professional development, we have build into this course activities that will support your integration of what you learn beyond this course. One tool you will use to document your professional growth plans is the TELL Professional Growth Plan Template.
As with all other resources in this section, please download and review a copy of this template now. You don’t have to do anything with it just yet, but it is important for you to keep in mind that we will end this course with a web conference that will help you develop your own professional goals related to the TELL Criteria we have addressed throughout the course.Download and review a copy of the TELL Professional Growth Plan Template from the Primary Course Documents section of Course Resources. For your convenience, you can also access the template here. (Links to an external site.)
To continue
Your final task of this week is an opportunity for you to help store into long-term memory some of the important concepts you’ve learned in this module. You will do so by completing a short, multiple choice Check for Understanding. Don’t panic and don’t re-read the entire module. The goal of this final activity is not to achieve a high score, but rather to use the opportunity to strengthen your long-term memory of key topics. When you are ready, click the “Next” button to continue to 0.8 Check for Understanding.