Checklist -anchor
Application/Examples - anchor
Note. Printed with permission from National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, (World Languages Other Than English Standards, 2000), www.nbpts.org. All rights reserved.
Checklist
Preparing for student learning
___a. Knowledge of students
___b. Fairness
___c. Knowledge of language
___d. Knowledge of culture
___e. Knowledge of language acquisition
Advancing student learning
___f. Multiple paths to learning
___g. Articulation of curriculum and instruction
___h. Learning environment
___i. Instructional resources
___j. Assessment
Supporting student learning
___k. Reflection and professional growth
___l. Schools, families, and communities
___m. Professional community
___n. Advocacy for foreign language education
Applications/Examples
Preparing for student learning
___a. Knowledge of students
Teachers use their knowledge of child and adolescent development in designing and providing appropriate instruction to their students. They recognize and make professional accommodations for variations in students' age levels; cognitive, physical, and motor development; gender; multiple intelligences; and learning styles.
Teachers are aware that personalizing foreign language experiences is helpful to students. In addition, they recognize that providing learning experiences in the affective domain by encouraging open-ended personal expression is a valuable way of enhancing students' cognitive ability, cultural understanding, and linguistic proficiency.
Teachers constantly monitor and adjust to students' needs, allowing for individual learners' differences while keeping in focus the continuum of language learning.
Teachers learn as much as possible about the background of their students and use this information to shape instructional decisions. They are particularly sensitive to such cultural, family, and personal distinctions and promote respect for others by modeling respect for the differences among students.
___b. Fairness
Teachers conscientiously model the kind of behavior they expect from their students, as fairness and respect for individuals are key to their instructional practice. By valuing all members of the learning community, teachers model and promote the expectation that their students will treat each other equitably and with dignity.
Teachers value diversity and promote respect for others by modeling appreciation for the richness of cultural and ethnic groups. Teachers help to increase students' understanding of the diverse nature of their own and other countries and encourage them to respect and appreciate the products, practices, and perspectives of other cultures and ethnic groups.
Teachers believe in the ability of all students to learn foreign languages. In their instructional decisions, teachers address the exceptional needs of students whose development falls outside the range typical for their age group, or who--for a variety of reasons--have difficulty learning. In striving to accommodate students with exceptional needs, teachers seek help, as appropriate, from the students' families and from specialists and support services.
Teachers design instruction appropriate to the needs and abilities of their exceptional needs students, while promoting high standards and providing meaningful classroom experiences in foreign language instruction.
___c. Knowledge of language
Teachers demonstrate a high degree of proficiency in the languages they teach.
Teachers exhibit a sound knowledge of the linguistic system of the languages they teach. In addition, they demonstrate a deep understanding of the communicative functions of language and of the ways language varies depending on the context and use of communication.
Teachers maintain their knowledge of the changing linguistic and cultural norms of the languages they teach and incorporate this knowledge into their instructional decisions. Their teaching strategies and selection of course materials, content, and tasks reflect an awareness of current trends in the development of the target language.
___d. Knowledge of culture
In addition to experience with the target language, teachers acquaint students with the cultural richness of the languages studied. Throughout a sequence of language learning, teachers provide opportunities to help shape students' understanding of how culture and language interact.
Teachers enable students to learn about contemporary societies and their past and to interact with target cultures through a variety of means. Educators provide a mosaic of authentic materials and resources dealing with target cultures that includes literary as well as nonliterary sources such as artifacts and guest speakers.
Teachers exhibit familiarity with the daily life and heritage of the target language cultures and are acquainted with such aspects of culture as current events, history, literature, performing and visual arts, intellectual movements, beliefs and values, and geography.
___e. Knowledge of language acquisition
Teachers apply their knowledge of the processes by which second languages are acquired to construct classroom environments in which effective and purposeful language learning occurs.
Teachers draw from varied approaches to design appropriate strategies that respond to students' learning styles and meet the needs of individual learners as well as the demands of curricular goals.
Advancing student learning
___f. Multiple paths to learning
Teachers are passionate and enthusiastic about their field. Students perceive through their teacher's example that foreign language learning is an important academic subject as well as a source of enjoyment and gratification.
Using a variety of instructional approaches within an articulated sequence of instruction, teachers set high expectations for all students and prompt them to reach more accomplished levels of performance.
Teachers facilitate learning by recognizing and responding to learners' varied needs, interests, abilities, developmental levels, and backgrounds.
Teachers provide students with numerous and challenging ways to enter into learning experiences that will engage them actively in decision-making processes that initiate individual learning and facilitate independence. At all levels of instruction, teachers involve students in the highest level of thinking: discovery, critique, analysis, synthesis, and creation.
Teachers know that foreign language instruction cannot occur in isolation from other academic work or from real-life experiences. Thus, they help students discover and explore connections across the curriculum and to their own lives.
Teachers draw from across the curriculum, incorporating concepts from science, technology, literature, social studies, mathematics, and the arts to enrich language learning and also to expand students' knowledge in other areas.
___g. Articulation of curriculum and instruction
Teachers know the structures and functions of the languages that are introduced, enhanced, and reviewed at each level of curriculum. They also know how to ensure that students progress through this process of building communicative and cultural competence, which is key to successful language use.
Educators actively seek knowledge about students' prior language experiences and solicit information about the curriculum to follow. They use this knowledge to design course content, plan instruction, and assess and place students.
Through such activities as curriculum projects, mentoring, peer observation, videotaped lessons, student portfolios, and demonstrations, teachers inform colleagues of students' progress and see themselves as part of a learning continuum and learning community.
___h. Learning environment
Teachers create classrooms in which all students take pride in their growing language proficiency and in their explorations of the new language. They establish stimulating and supportive learning environments that welcome students' efforts and encourage them to meet the highest expectations.
Educators set the highest goals for all students, at all developmental levels, and communicate these expectations to their students, confident that the learners will meet them when goals are set appropriately and the conditions for learning foster significant achievement.
Teachers effectively manage resources, including instructional time. They establish orderly and workable learning routines that maximize student time on task. Students know what is expected of them and feel confident and willing to participate.
Teachers utilize the physical setting of their classrooms as an effective tool of instruction. Student access to technology plays an important role in the physical learning environment.
Students are engaged in using the target language in a variety of interactive tasks. Teachers incorporate cooperative learning experiences effectively.
Teachers establish classroom cultures of trust and mutual respect that support and encourage students to take risks. Students in such classrooms feel positive that they can be successful in their learning experiences.
__i. Instructional resources
Teachers enrich and deepen the array of resources available to them by looking beyond textbooks to consider how they might employ a wide variety of source materials to benefit students. Within their instructional repertoire, teachers evaluate and choose from among a variety of appropriate materials and resources; they then monitor the instructional effectiveness of each.
Teachers expand their base of instructional resources by using technology to support sound teaching practices and to offer students opportunities to explore important ideas, concepts, and theories.
Technological advances make target languages and cultures from around the world available to individual classrooms. As much as possible, teachers tailor the use of such technology to students' interests.
___j. Assessment
Teachers assess students to gain perspective on their ability to apply knowledge to real situations and make connections among various forms of knowledge. They also assess students in order to give them clear and meaningful feedback to use to improve their abilities.
Educators understand the advantages and limitations of a wide range of assessment methods and strategies and choose among them in order to gauge student progress. They give students opportunities to succeed in a variety of tasks that allow learners to demonstrate growth and progress in ways that traditional assessment might not. Every student assessment derives from the goals and directions of the instructional program.
In making assessment meaningful, teachers often seek student involvement in designing methods of assessment. Educators know that developing their students' ability to assess their own progress is important to fostering their growth as independent, reflective learners.
Teachers use assessment results to provide specific information to students, parents, other foreign language educators, and school officials about the learners' progress and performance.
Supporting student learning
___k. Reflection and professional growth
Effective reflection reinforces a teacher's creativity, stimulates personal growth, contributes to content knowledge and classroom skill, and enhances professionalism. Every classroom experience provides an opportunity for reflection and improvement.
Teachers continually work to increase the depth and breadth of their knowledge of content, of the cognitive development of their students, and of current practices in foreign language instruction.
Teachers stay abreast of relevant technological advancements and are familiar with how technology assists in instructional planning, record keeping, and a variety of other tasks.
___l. Schools, families, and communities
Teachers are integral members of their learning communities who contribute purposefully to the professional culture in their schools. They share the responsibility with their teaching colleagues to improve the instructional program of the school and foster the success of all students.
Teachers participate actively in the development of interdisciplinary lessons or programs of instruction.
Educators understand that active, involved, and informed families create a network that supports vital, effective language programs. They can use family and community resources to assist instruction or lead special activities.
Teachers recognize that families have experiences and insights that can enrich the quality of education for students.
As experts in culture, teachers sponsor or participate in a variety of community activities such as performances, film festivals, or lectures that promote and foster cultural tolerance, acceptance, and recognition and that provide opportunities for firsthand immersion into target languages and cultures.
___m. Professional community
Teachers function as members of a professional teaching and learning community. They contribute to the quality of their peers' practice and benefit from their collaboration with colleagues, administrators, university faculty, and other members of the foreign language profession.
Teachers might work with another teacher on a lesson plan, share materials and expertise with their peers, observe and coach other teachers in their role as mentors or master teachers, or they might analyze and develop curriculum for their department.
Teachers seek opportunities to collaborate with colleagues at many levels of instruction and at various educational institutions to strengthen and enhance a coherently articulated program of K-12 foreign language instruction.
___n. Advocacy for foreign language education
As advocates for effective foreign language instruction for all students, teachers strive to broaden the knowledge base of those who study foreign languages and cultures, emphasizing the importance of foreign languages as a central part of the academic curriculum.
Teachers foster constructive relationships with colleagues, school administrators, local governing boards, and state- and national-level policymakers.
Educators help students and their parents to appreciate both the immediate and the long-term applications of foreign language learning.