Local and affordable Professional Development in Nashville, TN.

The challenge
Attending a multiple-day workshop during the school year is not always the most efficient way to transform your teaching. You may collect breakthrough ideas, but you don’t have time to implement them to the fullest because you are so busy planning, teaching, grading, and adulting.

The solution
Attend a 2-hour workshop each month specifically designed to focus on one comprehension-based strategy at a time. Participants first experience a demo of the strategy, then debrief collaboratively on how to integrate it into their teaching, and finally practice the strategy together in a safe coaching circle. This specific sequence maximizes your chances of actually adopting the practice in your classroom.

September 28, 2019 – Compelling and comprehensible from Day One Being comprehensible does not have to mean being boring and repetitive! In this session, participants will practice techniques to use the target language from Day One, stay comprehensible, and keep their students engaged with input. This is a fundamental skill-building session. Register

November 16, 2019 – One Word Image: create with your students, in the target language In this highly interactive session, participants will learn how to develop class-created fictional characters with their Novice students, while building their descriptive language and literacy skills. One Word Image is a wonderful way to provide Novice students with language in context and prepares them for story telling and reading. Register

January 25, 2020 – Unleash the power of stories with Story Listening Telling interesting stories in a comprehensible way provides optimal input for students because you are naturally providing rich input at i+1, just like you do when you tell a story to a young child. This session will enable participants to select, adapt, and effectively deliver stories to their Novice and Intermediate students, leveraging Dr. Mason’s “Story Listening” method. Register

February 22, 2020 – Picture Talk and Movie Talk: engaging stories are all around Whether you want to introduce a cultural topic, narrate in the past, or just present a compelling story to your students, Picture Talk and Movie Talk are go-to techniques every teacher should (and will) master. These techniques are versatile and appropriate for all proficiency levels! Register

March 28, 2020 – Teachers as Librarians: guide your students to become independent readers You have stocked your classroom library with all kinds of interesting reading materials but you can’t just tell your students: “Now go and read!” This session offers concrete strategies to help your students browse, select, get hooked on books, and most importantly read independently in the target language. Register

April 25, 2020 – Backward design: design powerful input-based cultural units Whether you want to “upgrade” your textbook units, or start from scratch in designing rich input-based cultural units, this workshop will guide you step-by-step through this important ACTFL core practice. Note: this is a 3-hour workshop. Register

All workshops take place from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at the University School of Nashville. A certificate of attendance will be delivered at the end of each session.

Questions? Contact me!