Let the Labors Begin.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Greetings interns,

Summer is behind us now with the school year well into its fall sessions.  Yes, the warm weather lingers, reminding us that autumn has yet to arrive, but other indicators tell us a different story.  Friday night football on our high school campuses is in full swing.  And here on the hill, the chant resounds:  Go Razorbacks!

For teachers and students, football is not the only traditional fall herald. Teaching and learning begin in earnest after the Labor Day break.  You’ve gone through the in-service days that precede the official start of classes.  You’ve had a chance to observe your master teachers as they set the tone and pace for the year’s classroom management and curriculum.  You’ve been introduced to the culture and context of your first rotation, including your tentative efforts at designing and delivering instruction.  Over the next few weeks, the pace will increase, and eventually you will be the sole instructor for several classroom lessons.

This semester’s methods class will focus on assessment.  You will design four assessments for each of the skills:  reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  You will look for student improvement in these areas along with their growth in cultural knowledge.  The major assignment is the Teacher Candidate Work Sample, a unit plan to show your expertise at planning and implementing instruction and assessing learning.

Another major focus of the semester is your own professional development.  On October 5 we will attend the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association District III Fall Conference.  You will accrue six hours of professional development solely in Foreign Language, a rare opportunity for language teachers.  Ricky and I will be presenting “Part Deux” of our CCSS workshop from the summer (see Common Core and Foreign Languages: Not So Uncommon on Planet Gnosis). You will also have a one-hour session in the target languages.  You will write a professional development report to support your growth as an emerging professional.

The other assignments include three EDOKs and three E-flections.  Your EDOKs should relate to your action research topic, which gives you the opportunity to add them to your bibliography for the research class.  The E-flections provide an opportunity to seek connections between practice and theory.

All in all, a busy and rewarding semester is now unfolding.  It is designed for an optimal learning experience.  I hope you enjoy the journey.

 
Dr. Bowles

Freddie A. Bowles
Assistant Professor of Foreign Language Education
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
College of Education and Health Professions
Peabody Hall 312
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Office: 479-575-3035
fbowles@uark.edu

MAT 2012-2013 Cohort
Fall Semester, 2012

Teacher Candidate Work Sample Instructions  include an extensive overview of the project with specific advice for completing each section. We've provided a link to the document.
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TCWS Tasks, Prompts, and Rubrics  is a valuable guide for the creation of your foreign language teacher candidate work sample. We've provided a link to the document.
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Rubric for Professional Report  describes the purpose, directions, due date on Chalk and Wire, and contents of report. We've provided a link to the document.
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E-flection Assignment  describes the goal and objective of the assignment. It also provides the rubric. We've provided a link to the document.
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EDOK Project Descriptor, Example, and Rubric  provides all you need to know about the Expert Distiller of Knowledge project. We've provided a link to the document.
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The Daily Lesson Plan Template  is a "Teacher Guide" for planning and teaching a lesson, then reflecting on its effectiveness. We've provided a link to the document in Word format. To download the document, right click the brain and go to "Save link as..."
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Different languages — I mean the actual vocabularies, the idioms — have worked out certain mechanisms of communication and registration. No one language is complete. A master may be continually expanding his own tongue, rendering it fit to bear some charge hitherto borne only by some other alien tongue, but the process does not stop with any one man. While Proust is learning Henry James, preparatory to breaking through certain French paste-board partitions, the whole American speech is churning and chugging, and every other tongue doing likewise.
     — Ezra Pound, "How to Read," 1929