“For decades, technology has been shown to effectively enhance teaching and learning practice particularly in the foreign language discipline.”
M. Rafael Salaberry
World language educators have long been on the front lines of education innovation. Language classes have been interdisciplinary for decades, and authentic assessment naturally derives from a content area where the focus is communication. The accessibility of resources on the Internet has improved teachers’ and students’ ability to incorporate authentic materials. Expanding the learning experience beyond the walls of the classroom through blended learning opportunities is a logical next step in providing learners access to authentic communication and learning experiences.
The School District in which I work has developed an online and hybrid program in many academic departments. Within the World Language Department we have hybrid offerings in German where students attend class two or three days a week and work independently the rest of the week. My proposal letter offers a brief description of my immediate goal of implementing an in-class blended learning design structure within my traditional classroom. Because world language is a skill-based content area, some students are able to communicate quickly and effectively using new grammar structures and vocabulary. Other students need more support. By using blended learning within my classroom, I will be able to meet the pacing needs of all students.
The last twenty years have witness numerous studies on the benefits of blended and online learning. As my literature review explains, blended learning program that are well conceived and well planned can help students to develop skills that they use in other high school courses as well as in their post secondary studies and professional work lives.
There will be three tiers to my in-class blended learning initiative implementation plan. The first year, the focus will be developing a personalized learning experience for each student. The goal of learning another language is communication. Therefore, all learning activities will work toward helping students to improve their reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills in order to more effectively communicate in authentic situations. Student will develop individual goals based upon past performance. In the second and third years, students will implement all of the components of C.O.V.A through their use of ePortfolios and peer review. The second and third tiers will be dependent upon the success of the in-class blended learning experience, so it will be important to have student, parent, and administrative support throughout this process.
Reference
Salaberry, M. R. (2001). The use of technology for second language learning and teaching: A retrospective. The Modern Language Journal, 85(1), 39-56.
Growing my Classroom 