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Teaching Standard 7.1
Teaching Standard 7.1
EVIDENCE # 1: Selection, creation, sequence of activities regarding unit on "La Francophonie."
Included here African continent game, film, song about the town, written student summative assessments.
Left: I created a game to highlight the vast number of countries in Africa, and to underline those that spoke French. Content standards were addressed by linking cross-curricular subjects such as geography and cultural figures, using an authentic film in the target language.
Right: The original poster of film I selected shown here and discussed with class. The African Doctor was at at first called, Bienvenu a Marly-Gomont, the name of the village where it took place.
Song: Music video Marly-Gomont, by Kamini who wrote the film The African Doctor.
Here are several examples of 7th grade students' film summaries
DESCRIPTION: This evidence is from a unit I did for my 7th grade French students at Edmunds Middle School in Burlington, Vermont in May 2017. Learners participated in several instructional activities and had opportunities to show their learning according to Vermont and National Core Learning Standards for this unit on "La francophonie." I selected input, sequenced activities and created opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning.
Content Standards addressed include: Curiosity, Cooperation and Challenge—Approach to Learning: Vermont Standards 1.11, 1.18, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.10; National Standard 5.2, related to NNL7-8:8, Grades 7-8
Responding constructively as members of a partnership, group and audience. Vermont Department of Education (Non-Native Language Grade Expectations) NNL22
NNL7-8:9 Students employ appropriate social strategies in language learning by • Using peers and advanced or native speakers to practice and validate language use. • Cooperating in a group or partnership to maintain an environment of safety, confidence, mutual esteem, and support.
ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: This lesson allowed my students the opportunity to consider francophone culture globally while learning about the African continent overall in terms of geography, social studies and a number of global citizenry areas. In terms of sequencing, it was important for learners to first have a grasp of the big picture of French and "francophonie" in the world, thus geography provided that as a lens of understanding. I created The African Continent challenge as a way for students to engage playfully and in small groups with classmates to learn the names of countries. They could also learn the names of capitals for a bonus. For a triple bonus, they could name cultural figures from a place and what they did.
I offered them a number of options to complete this learning task. They could use technology, art, music, writing, or another approach to show this. They were to consult authentic resources on-line to name the countries, capitals and cultural figures. With my 7th graders, novice French learners, communication in the target language took place mostly with our welcome song and exercises/movements we did at the beginning of each class and for written assessments. Students practiced greetings in French and at this novice level I allowed them to write their summative descriptions in English.
Each team had two classes to complete this task and had to manage their time and determine how much they could get done. Then the student groups presented their findings to the class. The groups had to cooperate, make a plan work within an environment of safety, confidence, mutual esteem, and support. I find group learning tends to lower behavioral challenges when they exist and empowers students to have a growth mindset. Cooperative learning and grouping strategies, has from my teaching experiences, increased student participation.
We culminated with the watching of an authentic film based on a true story and created by someone of francophone African background. Before watching The African Doctor, we engaged in a discussion around their thoughts about race, education, values and prejudice. We challenged ideas about the importance of fitting in and being like everyone else. We also linked this back to the history of the spread of French into the African continent. We discussed key concepts, students engaged in turn and talks with another student, and group discussions supported them to solidify their thinking before writing their paragraphs.
According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, an educator, author and speaker, known for her work with techniques of differentiation in education, in Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching, "teachers can meet the needs of the wide range of abilities found in most classrooms through effective instructional grouping strategies". For small group discussion of the film and its main themes, I intentionally grouped the students with those at different levels of students. This class consisted of a quarter of English Language Learners, so this was a useful strategy to help all reach their potential and learn from each other.
The film, based on a true story, tells the story of a family from Zaire that moves to a small town in rural France. The film focuses on the family's reactions to their new home as well as those of the residents of the small town. The families children, as well as those of the village figure prominently in the film and provide a comprehensible window for students to relate to the subject matter. Their paragraphs showed understanding of how living among those of other cultures can avoid ethnocentrism and pave the way for more accepting and tolerant citizens, while also bringing up challenges such as racism and prejudice. These activities cultivated their geographical knowledge, deepened their cultural competency and provided opportunities for connection as some of my students experienced situations mirrored by the characters in the film.
Students engaged in discussions around the barriers to acceptance and what led to the creation of this film. The summaries written focused on the main themes of the film. We circled back to the themes with the Music video Marly-Gomont, by Kamini who wrote the film The African Doctor and is the young son of the Zairian family. This interpretive mode of communication, in alignment with Common Core Standards for World Languages, promotes critical thinking, global awareness and makes cross curricular connections.
These instructional activities met each of the Vermont and National Core Learning Standards above by providing opportunities for cooperation, promoting curiosity and challenging learners to reflect on content verbally and in writing. Learners also responded constructively as members of a partnership, participating in the African continent challenge, and employed appropriate social strategies through discussion with the class and a partner creating an environment of safety, confidence, mutual esteem and support.
This demonstrates my mastery of selecting, creating and sequencing learning experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals based on content standards and cross-disciplinary skills, as I started with a general lesson on francophone African countries that engaged students to research and gather information which was then very relevant to the film we watched, the issues it addressed, and the paragraphs they had to write.
To continue and improve my work in this area, I would like to work more with colleagues to support learners in reaching learning objectives based on content standards and cross-disciplinary skills for French and other subjects. I would also like to incorporate use of the World-Readiness Standards For Learning Languages from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), just adopted by Vermont and used below as evidence #2 for this teaching standard.
EVIDENCE #2: Unit Plan on theme, "The Home" and accompanying learning tasks, resources, exit ticket.
Vermont adopts new foreign language teaching standards - January 2019
Standards Based Unit Plan "La Masion" - ACTFL House-packet de Mme S_CommLearnGoals
Performative learning task with vocabulary - each part of the home was allotted it's own poster board I had set up in advance of class.
Learners were divided into teams for collaborative work
This part of the class was devoted to starting their projects. See examples above I shared with the class, written description (I made at suggestion of Mme Steele), and start of fabulous learner projects below.
DESCRIPTION: Please find here a unit plan for a level I high school French class aligned with the ACTFL standards. Included as well is a link with information about them, recent news of their adoption by Vermont, and the ACTFL "Can do" statements. Also, there are a number of examples of learners' work throughout the class and resources I shared. This was for a high school class at Middlebury High School during my winter teaching internship with Madame Steele.
I utilized the ACTFL standards as I selected, created, and sequenced learning experiences and performance tasks that supported learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals based on content standards and cross-disciplinary skills for this lesson and the entire unit plan.
The lesson sequence started with the outline for the class including introductions, expectations/goals, learning objectives up on the screen, then a slideshow regarding homes in francophone Africa and "la francophonie." Following the slide show there was a few minutes for reflection as I passed out note cards for learners to jot down their impressions. Learners then shared thoughts before we moved on to the communicative learning goals/vocabulary packet provided by Madame Steele. The lesson included group work, getting up and moving around, and the start of a final project to be carried out throughout the unit. I administered this extit ticket activity at the end of class for valuable feedback for the next class. See these "Exit- Tickets," under Teaching Standard #6: Assessment.
ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: During my school teaching experiences I have been exposed to a variety of standards for French language acquisition. The National Common Core Standards, the Grade Expectations for Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities, the World-Readiness Standards For Learning Languages from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the International Baccalaureate Standards. While interning with French teacher, Michelle Steele this winter at Middlebury High School, I observed that she combined a variety of standards however, was focused on the International Baccalaureate Standards as her school is transitioning to an International Baccalaureate School.
Below are the ACTFL standards and based on these I created this unit plan on the them of "The Home."
1.1 - Interpersonal Communication, 1.2 - Interpretive Communication, 1.3 - Presentational Communication
2.1 - Relating Cultural Practices to Perspectives, 2.2 - Relating Cultural Products to Perspectives
3.1 - Making Connections, 3.2 - Acquiring Information & Diverse Perspectives
4.1 - Language Comparisons, 4.2 - Cultural Comparisons
5.1 - School & Global Communities, 5.2 - Lifelong Learning
The sequencing of the learning and performance tasks for this class flowed smoothly. Madame Steele was very positive about how I introduced the content and I am including her recommendation letter here which references the art, movement, team work used as a performative learning task.
This lessons shows my mastery of this standard for the sequencing and performance tasks I created for learners in the visual based vocabulary learning, multiple instructional activities of varying types such as a slideshow, self reflection, collaborative work and then independent work on the start of a creative project to show their French language and conceptual learning and engage their critical thinking skills. The ACTFL standards addressed in this first lesson of the unit plan include, 1.1 - Interpersonal Communication, 1.2 - Interpretive Communication, 2.2 - Relating Cultural Products to Perspectives, 3.2 - Acquiring Information & Diverse Perspectives, 4.2 - Cultural Comparisons, 5.1 - School & Global Communities, 5.2 - Lifelong Learning.
I plan to continue learning more about the use of the ACTFL standards to help learners reach rigorous curriculum goals through peer teachers, workshops and classroom implementation.
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