How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century - Guilderland ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

GUILDERLAND CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT MINUTES OF COMMITTEE MEETING NAME OF COMMITTEE: Foreign Language Early Start DATE OF MEETING: May 10, 2004 MEMBERS PRESENT: Nancy Andress, Cathy Beadnell, Martha Beck, Karen Covert-Jones, Amy Daley, Marian DeSantis, Debbie Drumm, Mary K. Weeks, Martha Kemp, Lynn Luffman, Al Martino, Wendy Meola, Jennifer Politano, Anna Russo, Stephanie Sakmar, Karen Shields, Dianne Walshhampton CHAIR: Al Martino and Nancy Andress RECORDER: Nancy Andress ITEMS DISCUSSED BY TOPIC: 1. Welcome, Introductions Nancy welcomed the group, introductions were made, and a brief history of FLES in the district was given. 2. Committee Goal Al Martino, Supervisor of Foreign Language, gave the committee goal: To investigate foreign language instruction at the elementary level and to make recommendations for the teaching of foreign language K-5 for the 2005-2006 school year. Committee Tasks: • review research base • examine school models of delivery/evaluation • visitations • planning/piloting • staffing, budget • Committee report to Superintendent of Schools with recommendations in December 2004 3. Vision of an Elementary Foreign Language Program The committee formed triads and did a placemat activity on their vision of a successful elementary foreign language program. Common elements were: • Start in kindergarten - level of enthusiasm • Cultural/Language - side by side respect • Choices - Languages - parents - how to present to them • Kindergarten immersion through play, activities • Scheduling • Which languages? Choose language representative of students in district • Begin in kindergarten, early childhood brain research • Cultural awareness - extend building wide (e.g. bilingual signs, activities) • Interactive program, hands-on • Important as Americans - global perspective, knowing languages • Benefits for students with English reading and writing • K-5 to start • Language/culture - connect to curriculum
• Conflicted - days of week • Start with Spanish, incorporate all three middle school and high school languages • Grade 5 - exposure to all three languages 4. What is FLES? Al presented 3 basic structures of FLES: 1. Thematic Units 2. Content-coordinated Units of Instruction 3. Content-coordinated Thematic Units of Instruction (this is the preferred method of FLES instruction) 5. Next Steps The committee was given a packet on the history and research done on FLES programs from Implementing Successful FLES Programs by Dr. Elaine Margarita. NEXT MEETING DATE: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 in the Guilderland Elementary Staff Room at 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. AGENDA: 1. Agenda Overview 2. Discussion of Reading 3. Models 4. Visitations in Fall 35
Page 2 and 3: Table of Contents FLES Committee Me
Page 4 and 5: Introduction This report results fr
Page 6 and 7: Guilderland FLES Philosophy Stateme
Page 8 and 9: programs achieve outcomes that are
Page 10 and 11: New Zealand French >12 Japanese, Ma
Page 12 and 13: Early in the year a presentation wi
Page 14 and 15: FLES Sections 2007-2008 Altamont Gr
Page 16 and 17: This is evident, for example, when
Page 18 and 19: FLES Research, Journal Articles, Pu
Page 20 and 21: Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006 18
Page 22 and 23: "put an enormous premium on creativ
Page 24 and 25: Dershimer's science class began a p
Page 26 and 27: APPENDIX A 24
Page 28 and 29: 4. Next Steps • The committee cam
Page 30 and 31: • We can update budget. • Video
Page 32 and 33: GUILDERLAND CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
Page 34 and 35: GUILDERLAND CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
Page 38: APPENDIX B 36

How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century - Guilderland ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?