2010-2011 Grant Recipients
Antonio Barbagallo
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Boston
November 18-21, 2010
Pedagogy Travel Grant
Project Proposal: ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), at its 2010 Convention which will take place in Boston, is programming several workshops that deal specifically with the teaching and learning of the languages that I teach, Spanish and Italian. These workshops are valuable tools for my teaching of languages at Stonehill. They will inform me and engage me, so that I may always be a better teacher.
What follows is a description of the ones I plan to attend:
1. "Getting Your Students from Novice to Intermediate to Advanced: What Does It Take?" and "Getting your Students from Advanced to Superior: What does it take?" (Nov. 18, all day)
This workshop provides an overview of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Rating Scale and description of the functions, contexts/content areas, discourse type and accuracy features appropriate to each level. Participants discuss the curricular implications of the proficiency scale and explore strategies and activities that enable students to cross proficiency level borders.
2. "Rigor and Critical Thinking in Every Spanish Classroom" (Nov. 19)
This session focuses on engaging student-centered activities that showcase how the foundations of rigor and critical thinking begin in first-year Spanish and develop sequentially through the advanced levels.
3. "Research on Language Development in Literature Classes" (Nov. 20; Parts I &2)
These sessions present principled discussion about language development in FL literature courses. Two different projects at two different universities, each investigating multiple upper-division literature and culture courses will be shared with the goal being to understand better complex relationships between language development and literature instruction.
4. "Vertical Curriculum for Teaching Italian based on 21st Century Skills" (Nov.20)
This session will showcase a comprehensive curriculum for the teaching of Italian as a second language from introductory to advanced stages. Because it was developed by teachers, the curriculum draws a path of successfor the Italian classroom, taking into account methodology, teaching materials, technology, and cognitive child development.
5. "When Italian Reading Comprehension Questions are Really Useful" (No. 21)
This session offers alternatives to teacher or textbook generated pre-reading questions and post-reading comprehension checks in Italian Classes. Participants will explore participatory forms of reading and evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative reading. Comprehension will be defined and experienced as inner elaboration, visual framing, and individual transformation of the original text.
Benefits: I am eager to learn and to share new ideas and methodologies. The workshops described above will aid me into possibly reshaping my teaching style. That is not to say that I will abandon my methods. On the contrary, I will continue to incorporate the old and whatever is useful and worthy of the "new". My openness to new or different ideas is what makes me a teacher of a "unique" style, and what makes my students appreciate my ways of teaching. I know that from what I will experience I will use and incorporate some things in my classes, and I know that most likely I will ignore other things for considering them not worthy.
Budget (detail how you will use the funds requested) Registration Fee: $155
Meals for four days: $100 (including tips)
Parking in Boston for 4 days: $100 (approximate)