Course planning
VIF Global
This year I am participating in a pilot program through VIF, an organization which is working to build a digital curriculum for Spanish 1 learners. I will be using this curriculum across grades 6-9, as well as participating in their year long professional development. This is bound to be another exciting year of learning.
Read more about VIF here...
Read more about VIF here...
Understanding by Design (Ubd)
I have been thinking a lot lately about Understanding by Design, a teaching philosophy that was pioneered by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. My summary is that we want students to master content, and show what they know and how they can apply that knowledge. For example, I am less concerned with how well my students can memorize a list of 100 vocabulary words, but more concerned with how they can use the vocabulary that they know to communicate.
Want to know more? Check this out..._
Want to know more? Check this out..._
Standards based assessment
As I think about lesson planning/curriculum mapping, etc. using this backward approach, I am necessarily forced to reconsider many of my assumptions about grading systems. Standards based assessment in the World Languages classroom is a great partner to UbD because it provides a template for how I can measure my students' mastery (and in language we often call this proficiency) of a particular topic.
Here is a great explanation...
Here is a great explanation...