Building Grassroots Constituencies to Promote PracticeTeacher 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 challengesApril- 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 Editor- Knowledge 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 discussionA. Argue for a grassroots constituency as viable professional

development

B. 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 grassrootsconstituency? 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?

gwinchristopher@gmail.com