The following language educators met on January 28 at Brewer High School:
Paula Tarr- Brewer High School ;Anette Ruppel Rodrigues-UMO and Bangor Adult Ed; Crystal Jackins- John Bapst; Lynda Millar- Mount Desert Schools; Leslee Fiveland- Bucksport Middle Schoo; LeeAnn Small- SAD#23; Janice Clain- Hermon High School
Attendees shared their experiences with assessment and showed examples of rubrics they have developed or adapted.
Leslee Fiveland has developed a rubric for grading class participation, designed to place responsibility on the student for his/ her participation in groups discussions and activities. The rubric defines the standards for participation and uses positive terminology. The rubric allows for student self-evaluation as well as teacher evaluation. Teachers who would like a copy of the rubric should contact Leslee ( lfiveland@bucksportschools.com).
Leslee also distributed copies of a Learning Log, designed to give students a tool to report on projects, and a Peer Presentation Response form, which keeps students on task and listening as others present projects in class.
Lynda Millar presented the rubric she developed to assess student writing and oral presentations. She also explained her technique for having students record their presentations using Sound Studio files on Mac laptops. Students may record their work and send it to the teacher's drop box on the server. Teachers who would like more information may contactLynda ( lmillar@u98.k12.me.us ).
Crystal Jackins gave examples of rubrics available on the web. Her task this year is to develop rubrics to assess mastery of the Glencoe series textbooks (Bienvenue).
Paula Tarr points out that the Holt Reinhart series (Ven conmigo / Allez! viens) has grading rubrics for each activity. Paula Tarr explained her own grading system that has simplified the calculation of grades. All work carries a point value; points are accumulated based on units of 100. Each student has a grading sheet divided into blocks of 100 points. At the end of the quarter, the 100 unit blocks are averaged. Form more information, contact Paula (ptarr@breweredu.org ).
Because the governor has proposed extending the laptop initiative to next year's ninth graders, members of the collaborative who work mainly at the high school level would like to know how middle school instructors have adapted class activities to incorporate the new technology. The next collaborative meeting will be a sharing session on the use of laptops in modern language classes.
The next meeting is set for Wednesday, February 25 at 3:30 at Brewer High School. Teachers who have had experience using laptops in classes are invited to attend and share their ideas with the group.
Submitted by Janice Clain
Informational note: River City Movie Theater in Bangor will present "Lost in LaMancha" on Wed., Feb. 11 at 7:30. This is a documentary about filming the adventures of Don Quixote in Spain. It is presented mostly in English, with some segments in Spanish. For further information, check www.rivercity.com
The following language instructors met at Brewer High School on February 25:
Anita Tassel- Bangor Montessori; LeeAnn Small- SAD 23 K-5; Carolyn Horth- Dedham Schools; Leslee Fiveland- Bucksport Middle School; Paula Tarr- Brewer High School; Andrea Nicoletta- Caravel Middle School; Lynda Millar- Bar Harbor; Jane Fenno-Vaux- Northeast Harbor; Claudette O'Connell- Brewer High School; Janice Clain- Hermon High School
The topic for the session was incorporating laptops into the curriculum.
All the middle school teachers gave examples of strategies for instruction and assessment that they have developed. These ranged from simple word processing to imovie and webquest projects. All participants emphasized the need for training, time to research sources and develop techniques, and on site technical assistance. They also urged high school instructors to visit with middle school staff if / when the laptop initiative is expanded to the high school.
Carolyn Horth showed examples of projects prepared by her students, including "Mon Livre", a computer generated writing assessment and a Power Point presentation on a visit to an art exhibition.
Lynda Millar presented a webquest project centered on the Carnaval de Quebec. She and other instructors noted interactive websites which include games, activities and maps, enabling cross-curriculum lessons.
LeeAnn Small showed a simple and inexpensive "jump drive", available at Walmart, and a useful tool for backing up information accumulated on the laptops.
All the presenters acknowledged the changes in their teaching strategies and in student motivation as a result of the use of laptops. All urged that teachers work with instructors in other disciplines to develop cross-curricula lessons, and that teachers give a variety of options for instructing and assessing student work, to avoid boredom.
The next meeting of the Penobscot Foreign Language Collaborative is set for Wed., April 7, at 3:30 pm at Brewer High School. As the result of a suggestion by Paula Tarr, the topic for that meeting will be "Curriculum from K to AP- vertical teaming." High School instructors will bring examples of AP and other national tests to share with teachers of other levels.
For further information, contact Janice Clain (Hermon High School - 848-3365) or Paula Tarr (Brewer High School- 989-4140).
Penobscot Foreign Language Collaborative held its first meeting for the 2004-2005 academic year on Sept. 22, at Brewer High School. Those in attendance were:
Anita Tassel - Bangor Montessori School; Paula Martel Tarr- Brewer High School
Gisela Hoecherl-Alden - Univ. of Maine; Claudette O'Connell - Brewer High School
Fred Ravan- Brewer High School; Susan McCullum- Brewer Middle School
Norm Fineman- Holbrook School; Leslee Fiveland - Bucksport Middle School
Janice Clain- Hermon High School; Carolyn Horth- Dedham School
Members shared general information regarding the dates of fall professional conferences, the language tables held at Borders in Bangor (French 1st and 3rd Wed., 5:30, German; 2nd and 4th Wed., 6:000, Spanish 1st Thurs., 6:00) and continuing work on LAS in Modern and Classical languages. There was considerable discussion on the proposed tax cap proposal and it's impact on modern languages programs if implemented. The local uniserve director for MEA will speak about the proposed plan and its consequences on Sept 29 at 3:15 in the library at Brewer High School. All teachers are encouraged to write letters to the editor to local newspapers explaining the effects on education if the plan passes.
The group in attendance discussed scheduling of future collaborative meetings. For the past two or three years, meetings have been held on Wed. Several regular attendees have conflicts with that scheduling, but after considerable discussion, the group found that other alternatives to that day also raised problems for the host teachers. Tentative dates for this school year were set, and it is hoped that some who were not able to attend this meeting will be able to attend meetings later in the year.
The issue of refreshments was discussed. The FLAME board recently agreed to provide financial support for all collaboratives. Janice Clain will contact FLAME president, Laurie Littlefield, and request funding. For future meetings, Paula Tarr will continue to arrange for light refreshments, and gratefully accepts individual offers of contributions.
Carolyn Horth spoke of her participation on the panel that reviewed the Praxis II, which is an alternative pathway to certification for language instructors. She reported that there is no oral component to the test. The
language teachers in attendance expressed concern for the certification standards set by the state, and which do not seem to take into account the special skills needed to effectively teach a language. She will also present her observations in more detail at the October meeting.
The following are the topics and dates selected for the year:
Oct. 27- Curriculum alignment- process and product (teachers will share their experiences and format for recording ML&C curriculum to the Maine Learning Results)
Dec. 1- How to write homework assignments around web sites (Gisela Hoecherl-Alden will share her experiences with this topic)
Jan. 26 (tent.)- the latest on local assessment (Don Reutershan has been invited to speak about the progress in this area)
Mar. 23- Technology show and tell (Swap meet- strategies and products using technology)
mid May- Social meeting
All meetings this year, other than the social meeting, will take place at 3:30 at Brewer High School. For further information, contact Janice Clain at Hermon High School, 848-3365 or Janice_Clain@hermon.net.
Penobscot Foreign Language Collaborative
Meeting, Oct. 27, 2004
The following language educators attended a meeting of the PenobscotForeign Language Collaborative at Brewer High School on October 27.
Karen Lavoie - Etna Dixmont Schools Claudette O'Connell - Brewer HighSchool
Anita Tassel- Bangor Montessori Susan McCallum- Brewer Middle School
Judith Hotchkiss - George Stevens Ac. Paula Martel Tarr - Brewer HighSchool
Leslee Fiveland- Bucksport Middle Fred Raven- Brewer High School
Carolyn Horth - Dedham Schools Janice Clain- Hermon High School
Carolyn Horth shared examples of the Praxis II Content Knowledge exams inFrench and Spanish, and spoke of her experiences working with a panel oflanguage educators who reviewed these exams last summer. Beginning in August 2005 these exams will be required of language teachers, and the state certification board will determine the standards for acceptable performance.
Claudette O'Connell shared the written curriculum for the department of Modern Languages at Brewer High School. The document contains the statement of purpose, general goals, instructional strategies, a listing of the types of assessments used, and a listing of the courses offered. For each course, performance indicators, under the headings of the Maine Learning Results content standards, are listed. Also listed are connections to other content areas (Content Standard F). Claudette and her department were able to use in-service time to work together to produce this thorough document. The next step will be to state the links to the performance indicators listed on the Learning Results. Teachers in other schools may wish to contact the language department at Brewer for advice on how to format their written curricula to match the Maine Learning Results.
Anita Tassel, who lives part time in France, observed that language instructors should consider giving more emphasis in their culture lessons to the role of the European community. The political, social and economic influence of the European Union is growing internationally, and should be incorporated into discussions under the heading of Cultural Products, Practices and Perspectives and Cross-cultural Connections.
Listed below is the schedule for meetings of the Penobscot Foreign Language Collaborative.
Dec. 1- How to write homework assignments around web sites (Gisela Hoecherl-Alden will share her experiences with this topic)
Jan. 26 (tent.)- the latest on local assessment (Don Reutershan has been invited to speak about the progress in this area)
Mar. 23- Technology show and tell (Swap meet- strategies and products using technology)
mid May- Social meeting
All meetings this year, other than the social meeting, will take place at 3:30 at Brewer High School. For further information, contact Janice Clain at Hermon High School, 848-3365 or Janice_Clain@hermon.net.
The Penobscot Foreign Language Collaborative met on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at Brewer High School. In attendance were the following language educators:
Nancy Sparacio- Lawrence Junior High Paula Martel Tarr- Brewer High
Gisela Hoecherl-Alden- UMO Karen Lavoie- Etna Dixmont School
LeeAnne Small- Hermon Middle School Claudette O'Connell- Brewer High
Lynda Millar-Conners-Emerson Elem (Bar Harbor) Fred Ravan- Brewer High
Janice Clain- Hermon High
Several members in attendance shared experiences with and gave examples of activities and assessments for several Internet web sites.Gisela Hoecherl- Alden distributed a packet of resources and suggestions. She particularly recommended http://www.ikea.com. for illustrations of furniture, with labels in the appropriate language, and http://swissworld.org, for a wealth of information. She also shared a collection of video commercial clips which could be adapted to several different language activities. For further information, contact Gisela directly
(Giseal_Hoecherl-Alden@umit.umaine.edu)http://www.behindthename.com/ and
LeeAnne Small shared lessons and assessments that she created using
http://www.familychronicle.com/index.html and several web sites and activities for a project on Martinique. For more information, contact LeeAnne (lsmall@hermon.net)
Lynda Millar demonstrated the effectiveness of the web site her school uses. She lists homework, and has links to student work and to sites she uses to enhance instruction. Check the web site for the Conners-Emerson school or contact Lynda directly (lmillar@u98.k12.me.us)
Everyone agreed that it takes a great deal of time to find the perfect web site, then construct the lesson, create supporting materials and devise assessments, but the value of these materials and activities is immeasurable. Middle School instructors, whose students all have laptops, certainly have an advantage. They have also had to spend countless hours preparing lessons centered on the internet, and their experiences can greatly benefit instructors at other levels.
The next meeting of the Penobscot Foreign Language Collaborative will take place on January 26. Don Reutershan, from the state Department of Education, will present the latest on local assessment development and implementation. The meeting will be held at Brewer High School at 3:30 pm.
For further information, contact Janice Clain, Hermon High School (207-848-3283 or Janice_Clain@hermon.net).
