EVIDENCE #1: Multi-disciplinary Unit with French, art, history and geography.

#1a: Teaching observation notes & Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) introduction

DESCRIPTION: Presented here is a French & Arts Unit overview. I created it during a teacher observation I did in May, 2018 with French teacher, Michael Bradbury at Edmunds Middle School. The first document is lesson planning notes in preparation for leading a lesson. Next is the unit overview. I follow that with typed notes I took during several class observations. In the analysis I will discuss the unit's content pertaining to the arts, geography and history of diverse francophone cultures.

ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: I favor an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and have long combined French language learning with culture, the arts, history, literature, and more. As discussed in the teaching standard section, during my long-term substitute French position, my lessons involved the historic Congo Square, in New Orleans; French presidential elections; instructional grammar activities with content about "Les Lions," the Cameroonian soccer team; and use of two films,The African Doctor and The Long Long Holiday. I have a deep interest in the humanities and as reflected in my transcripts and life experiences, welcome opportunities to learn about our world and share that passion with my students.

The evidence utilized here resulted from a teaching observation/mini-internship I arranged with Michael Bradbury in May, 2018 at Edmunds Middle School in Burlington, Vermont. The opportunity to learn from a licensed French teacher as I furthered my understanding of diverse teaching approaches, second language learning standards and classroom technology, among other things proved very informative.

As background, my mentor teacher, Sarah Wright, while I was the French teacher at Edmunds Middle School in 2017, suggested it would be useful to observe and work with other French teachers in tangent with the Peer Review licensure process. Thus, I reached out to several French teachers in the area and arranged this internship as well as one with Michelle Steele, a phenomenal High School French teacher at Middlebury High School.

For this unit of art and French, which responds to the requirements of this knowledge standard, I reference diverse contemporary artists from France and Africa. Through art making, story-telling and artist presentations, this unit aims to deepen learners' understanding of the francophone world historically, culturally and geographically while exploring the work from diverse francophone regions. I taught one class from the unit and received helpful feedback from Monsieur Bradbury such as making the learning targets clearer and having more structured directions around the art activity portion. I learned about an interesting teaching methodology while interning with Monsieur Bradbury, Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) which he introduced to me.

Thus, in sum, I observed a number of his classes, we discussed pedagogy, proficiency focused rubrics, classroom routines, learner expectations and more. I had the opportunity to teach several classes as well. In observing his teaching, it struck me that he did not make any corrections, which is a tenent of TPRS. However, I have over the past year, and through teaching with Michelle Steele at Middlebury High School, seen how elements of TPRS can be used in ways along with other strategies to improve learner outcomes. Nonetheless, I am curious to learn more about how TPRS addresses phonetics and pronunciation as this is big part of gaining verbal proficiency in my view. A wonderful article written by educator, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell, entitled, TPRS Strategies I Don't Put in My Toolbox, states, "Learning language the second time around has one huge difference that has to impact how students approach the learning: metacognitive awareness. That is, they know how to think about their language. They can think, wait, I did that wrong, what was that again? why was that word there?" contrasting a core TPRS principle which is that a teacher can replicate the circumstances for learning a second language that we all had in learning our first.

In sum, this methodology focuses on language as a tool for communication with speakers of the language throughout one’s life: in schools, in the community, and abroad while making room for mistakes throughout the learning process and little to no correction. Proficiency can be gauged according to students' levels and degree of meeting the standard. It is understood that input is adjusted according to students' levels For example, the "input" provided by the teacher would be limited for novice students. The teacher aims to create a relaxed, stress free learning environment where corrections are subtle, if at all. In essence, the way I learned French, with grammar learning at the forefront and verb conjugations to memorize appears to be becoming obsolete. Central to this methodology is an important second-language learning concept: "comprehensible input." According to linguist and professor, Dr. Stephen Krashen, who introduced this theory in 1981, "comprehensible input is language input that can be understood by listeners despite them not understanding all the words and structures in it. It is described as one level above that of the learners if it can only just be understood." Krashen asserts that "giving learners this kind of input helps them acquire language naturally, rather than learn it consciously," in an article on the BBC's Teaching website called Comprehensible Input.

This evidence illustrates my knowledge of a foundation in the arts, history, geography, economics, and literature of the target cultures because the lesson focuses on artists from diverse francophone regions as a lens through which to learn about those regions. In order to improve in this area, I would like to learn more about TPRS incorporation of francophone content areas and continue to partake in taking in diverse French film, literature and cultural events.