Common Core- 10/24/14

According to ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), the common core standards fit nicely into the established foreign language standards already set forth by ACTFL. The ACTFL standards include the 5 C's: communication, cultures, connections, comparison and communities. ACTFL, the main governing body of foreign language education nationwide, published a document in reaction to the common core standards, that have been adopted by many states, in April 2012. This document seeks to make common core more applicable to the world language classroom and the world language teacher. The real question is how do they do this and is ACTFL successful in this endeavor?

The document begins by aligning the common core target areas with the ACTFL modes of communication and proficiency levels. Common core speaking and listening is fit into the interpersonal mode of communication, listening and reading aligned with the interpretative mode, speaking and writing aligned with the presentational mode and language is paired with the ACTFL proficiency levels. This graphic seeks to show where the common core standards can fit with tenets of the ACTFL foreign language teaching system.

The document then goes on to break down each section of reading, writing, listening and speaking according to the common core sections. The common core standards are then matched with the ACTFL standard or standards that mostly encompass what the common core standard expects. There are then suggestions of how to meet the common core standard at each proficiency level: novice, intermediate and advanced, in the foreign language classroom. 

  While I find ACTFL's attempt to link their standards with Common Core to be comprehensive, professional and well executed, the struggle begins when no new ACTFL standards were added to cover the vast categories provided by the Common Core for just language arts alone. Common Core standards were adapted by some states, such as Pennsylvania, and ACTFL did not account for these changes. I understand that to create a set of standards for each state would be too exhaustive and time consuming in a world where time is of the essence, however, ACTFL could have done a more complete job of adapting the standards to align with Common Core to keep foreign languages current in today's educational market. Perhaps ACTFL could create a guide that accounted for the major changes made by states and draft standards that adhered more closely to the Common Core Standards, that so foreign language teaching and learning would continue to grow with Mathematics and Language Arts. The disconnect between the ACTFL standards and the Common Core Standards sends the message that world language may not have a place within the Common Core. In an effort to establish foreign language as an important part of the educational system in creating global learners, more effort need to be made to include foreign language in the ever-changing educational world. 

Homework- Yes or No?- 10/10/14

Upon reading this article: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/The_Homework_Debate/  I was inspired to share my thoughts on the great homework debate. This article mainly focuses on a parental perspective of the homework debate, assuring that no studies have found a correlation between homework and higher student achievement. Johnanna Sorrentino, the writer of this article, maintains that homework is merely a stressor for families and does not actually teach self-discipline and time management in students, as previously thought. The author then goes on to say that if homework is given, it should be meaningful and make students more interested in the topic. The notion is also mentioned that schools should be set at a default "no homework policy". While I can certainly understand where parents are coming from in their hate for homework; from an educators standpoint, homework plays a key role in letting students and teachers accomplish more in their time during the school year, and correctly designed assignments enhance student learning and lead to the development of higher order thinking skills.

In the context of language education, homework serves to mainly practice grammatical points and drill grammar into the minds of students, in an almost monotonous sense, without context (a frame and theme for the practice) and without any student choice, thus dropping student interest in the assignment. In this regard, I find that the no homework policy would be a blessing for students  who despise grammar. However, how do we then reinforce topics that have been taught in class? If no homework is allowed, guided practice would have to be conducted in class, thus eating up valuable instruction time and time that could be used to further engage students.

This then leads to the notion that maybe the structure of homework, or what I have deemed here as "grammatical guided practice" needs to change. Instead of having sample sentences that students need to translate for homework, or having students fill in the correctly conjugated verb in the blank, perhaps students could, during class time, read a story about the topic of their choosing and write a response using the grammatical point in question.

Providing an alternative to grammar guided practice, the focus would then turn to projects that are assigned as homework. These projects function to increase student interest, get students to question and think at a higher and deeper level and are seemingly worth students' time at home, but with a no homework policy, once again these projects would have to be conducted during valuable class time. There is simply not enough time to accomplish all that is required of a class within only the time spent in school. This is where the real disconnect occurs. There are some assignment, in my opinion, that students will have to complete at home. Thus, this no homework policy will create a more rushed class period for teachers and students. Instead of adopting a completely homework free environment, I propose that we, as teachers give students less "busy work" and more assignments that promote student creativity and higher order thinking.