STANDARD 5 – Application of Content The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.
Name of Artifact: Plan a 10 day adventure to Costa Rica. TESOL/INTASC Standards Addressed: Standard 5.a., 5.b., 5.c., 5.d., 5.f., 5. l., 5.o., 5.,s. Rationale: The first artifact I chose to represent my ability in application of content is a project I created collaboratively with two other Spanish teachers during my year of teaching Spanish in the fall-spring of 2013-2014. I was teaching Spanish 2 in the spring of 2014 when I was enrolled in FL 665 Sociocultural and Sociolinguistic Perspectives in Language. I chose to use this artifact for Standard 5 because the students were working collaboratively on a problem solving project while engaged in creativity. Educators usually used the “take apart and simplify” approach (Campbell, Cignetti, Melenyzer, Nettles, & Wyman, 2013) as the textbook, How to develop a professional portfolio, explains. Complex understandings were taught by simplification and lessons were simplified then taught by building to more complex understandings. However, in project based learning the student develops higher level thinking and creativity. Near the end of the semester I allowed the students to do a web based project activity. This is a presentational product. The students would plan an excursion to a country. The handout is a model of Costa Rica but different groups of students each had a different country to work on. In the groups assigned a color the students had to work on accommodations, excursions, and a fact based historical perspective of a Spanish speaking country. They had a certain number of days to complete the project on the library’s computers and everyone watcher each groups presentation. We watched the other classes’ presentations also. I learned about task-based instruction to develop oral and written presentational skills. The task involves a general situation and then a series of tasks that specify vocabulary, grammar and language needed to complete the task. The interpersonal made is also used when the students interact with one another to perform this task. Students communicate with each other in the tasks to negotiate meaning and most importantly the focus is the learners’ use of the language not the instructor’s (Lee, 1995, p. 440) (Shrum & Gilsan, 2011). I learned that cooperative learning produces higher achievement and increases retention (Johnson & Johnson, 1987). I want to attempt more task-based, cooperative learning. The teacher should be more of a facilitator and tutor than a note-giver and an imparter of knowledge. Technology is more common and accessible and the students are eager to make it part of their learning experience. I felt that students exceeded my expectations and everyone was interested to learn about a variety of countries. I really thought about my “dumb” poster projects of the past and how this method exceeded the “make a poster of a country” in the past.
References Campbell, D.M. (Ed.), Cignetti, P., Melenyzer, B.J., Nettles, D., & Wyman, R. M. (2013). 6th ed. How to develop a professional portfolio: A manual for teachers. Pearson.
Name of Artifact: Conversational Analysis Activities Course: TSL 643- Discourse/Conversation Analysis for Teachers TESOL/INTASC Standards Addressed: Standard 5.a., 5b., 5d., 5e., 5j., 5m., 5o., 5s. Rationale: The second artifact I chose to show my ability to apply content was the pedagogical materials I created as part of the final project for TSL 643-Discourse/Conversation Analysis for Teachers. I focused on an aspect of conversation for the project and tape recorded actual conversations for evaluation. The course required me to learn about conversations and the principles of conversation and social patterns in conversation. The activities I created show my ability to inspire the creative thinking processes and any ability to guide learners in analyzing a complex issue while applying content to real world issues. The application to my final discourse analysis project is closely tied to the project. For the project we were to tape record conversations, transcribe the conversations and analyze the data using the terminology for conversational analysis. In addition to the paper/project I developed five activities to be able to use the analysis and apply it to the classroom. I am using the activities for the artifact for standard five. In writing the activities I tried to use activities that would be used by the students and comply with the four strands of language learning through meaning-focused input; meaning focused output; learning thought attention to language features; and developing fluency. One of the features I learned in language learning is “pushed output.” Learners get the knowledge to speak when they are “pushed” to speak (Activities II, IV). Also encouragement of negotiation helps comprehension in language learning. To negotiate meaning of direct training of speaking strategies is useful (Activity I). I used explicit form-focused attention for the concepts of directness and indirectness (Activities III, V). Students need focus on the form also in learning language, and they need to negotiate meaning complete the task. I also provided an awareness-raising activity for Activity V, in which students decide whether a statement is direct or indirect. The experience of the collection of conversation and developing activities that are based on the elements of analysis to the project was challenging but a valuable experience. Teaching conversation and the aspect of conversation is a difficult but necessary task for ESL/EFL teachers.
References
Wong, J. & Waring, H.Z. (2010). Conversation analysis and second language pedagogy: A guidefor ESL/EFL teachers. Routledge. New York and London.
Nation, I.S.P. & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. Routledge. New York.