Arkansas Language Teachers
Meet to Further Their Knowledge
Of Common Core State Standards.

Connect and Align   6-7-12

WORKSHOP REPORT
Springdale, Arkansas

Fifty foreign language teachers from across Arkansas gathered at Har-Ber High School in Springdale on June 5 for a professional development workshop on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Sponsored by District III of the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association, the workshop provided six Professional Development hours for teachers and future teachers in English as a Second Language (ESL), French , German, and Spanish.

Dr. Freddie A. Bowles, Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (CIED) at the University of Arkansas, and Mr. Stephen R. Adamson, Ph. D. student in CIED at the university, spent the day working with participants to enhance their background knowledge regarding the CCSS and how the standards connect and align with the national and state standards for learning foreign languages. Participants also spent part of the workshop developing an advocacy plan to present to parents, administrators, and community members designed to maintain and increase language programs in their districts.

Reading, Writing,
Speaking, Listening

The workshop, "Foreign Language and Common Core, Not So Uncommon," focused mostly on the English Language Arts and Literacy standards for grades 6-12, which consist of anchor standards for reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language — common skills guiding instruction in every foreign language classroom — but also included a brief lesson on how to incorporate the CCSS for math.

Participants discussed how the CCSS standards connect and compare to the Arkansas frameworks and the ACTFL Standards for Language Learning (SFLL). Dr. Bowles and Mr. Adamson incorporated learning strategies using the CCSS standards to demonstrate how participants could implement them in their own classrooms.

The morning sessions included an overview of the CCSS and why they were created, how the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages aligns the CCSS with the SFLL, and the importance of how language learning supports the common core standards.

The afternoon sessions were devoted to mapping the common core standards to curricula and then working toward a practical understanding of how the standards enhance language learning.

Common Core & World Languages
Workshop PowerPoint  (.pptx)

Fact or Fiction
Workshop PowerPoint (.pptx)

Participants Work on Advocacy Ideas

Active Listening is a Common Core Concept

Collaboration + Technology = Common Core

Happy Smiles for a Morning Session

Analyzing Common Core Can Be a Serious Business

Connecting Core Standards to Foreign Language Instruction

Embedding Technology in Instructional Strategies

Ricky and Freddie at the Close of a Successful Day

Special
Methods
of Instruction

Capstone

Multicultural
Issues

Classroom
Management
Concepts

Language
Development
for Educators

Classroom
Learning
Theory

Essays and Reports
by Dr. Bowles

The Association
of Teacher Educators

American Council
on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages

National Council
of Less Commonly
Taught Languages

American Association
of Teachers of French

American Association
of Teachers of German

American Association
of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese

Photo of the Week

LitTunes

Multicultural
Education
Resource Center

University of Arkansas
Curriculum and Instruction

Ron Fritze

Planet IEP

Teachers of English
to Speakers
of Other Languages

Planet Deutsch

Teaching People
of Other Cultures

Theory of Instruction

C O R N D A N C E R