Spotlights

Spotlight topics:

Culture - Adriana Ramirez
Can We Really Teach Culture?

Can we truly teach culture, or is it time to transform how we approach it? This Spotlight dives into the heart of interculturality, offering strategies to inspire meaningful change in teaching practices. From selecting impactful resources to fostering anti-racist and culturally respectful classrooms, participants will explore actionable ways to assess and embrace inclusivity in every lesson.

• Day 1: Interculturality vs. Multiculturality
  In this session, we will explore the differences between interculturality and multiculturality, delving into their meanings and implications for our teaching practices. Participants will gain insights into embracing an intercultural approach in their classrooms, starting with the thoughtful selection of books and resources.
• Day 2: Culture as Transformation
  Building on the foundation of the first session, this workshop examines how to shift from traditional approaches to culture toward transformative, culturally respectful, and anti-racist practices. Together, we'll explore how teaching culture can inspire deeper understanding and meaningful change.
• Day 3: Assessing Through Interculturality
  In the final session, we will connect previous learnings to assessment strategies. Participants will discover how to center interculturality in their assessment practices, ensuring that evaluation reflects the values of inclusivity and cultural understanding.

Literacy - Mira Canion
The Power of Purposeful Reading

Unlock the power of purposeful reading with strategies that motivate, engage, and deepen comprehension. In this Spotlight, explore how to inspire trust, build connections, and foster critical thinking by guiding students through the "why," "what," and "how" of reading. Join us to discover practical tools that transform pre-reading, reading, and post-reading activities into meaningful learning experiences.

• Day 1: Why am I reading? Motivate. Prepare. Engage.
  An often overlooked, core skill for teachers is that of noticing what sparks excitement in students. This observation skill can build trust and connection with students. When positive relationships are established, teachers are better poised to set a purpose for reading with pre-reading activities: selecting appropriate texts, building students' background knowledge, and increasing their active vocabulary.
• Day 2: What am I reading? Comprehend. Interact. Connect.
  Teachers can increase their learners' access to the text through visualization: dramatizations, peer interactions, and illustrations. Meaning-based activities and strategies that help readers monitor their comprehension are also crucial to a teacher's toolbox.
• Day 3: How am I reading? Compare. Reflect. React.
  Teachers can facilitate deeper thinking about the text and use assessments to inform about their next instructional steps. Literacy work stations, choice boards, and authentic resources can help learners reflect about how the text has changed their perspectives.

Storyasking - Justin Slocum Bailey
Mastering the Art of Storytelling

Bring your storytelling skills to life in this hands-on spotlight designed to build confidence and creativity. We'll dive into the techniques, planning, and follow-up strategies that make storyasking a powerful tool for language acquisition. Whether you're just starting or looking to refine advanced skills, this journey will empower you to captivate your students and inspire learning through story.

• Day 1: Introduction to Storyasking
  In this initial session, we'll experience a round of storyasking before breaking down the exact steps and core techniques of storyasking. You'll get to practice these techniques in small chunks to start getting comfortable with them!
• Day 2: Storyasking Success: Preparation, Planning, and Setting the Stage
  We'll learn and practice how to set yourself and students up for success during storyasking: how to prepare your story script, your overall lesson plan, and yourself, and how to set the stage and establish norms for students.
• Day 3:Mastering Storyasking: Practice, Strategy, and Advanced Techniques
  We'll put it all together with the opportunity for you to practice storyasking in a supportive setting. We'll also explore how to get the most out of storyasking through strategic follow-up tasks, and touch on more advanced skills such as storyasking without a script and flowing from PQA or PictureTalk directly into storyasking.

ESL - Alexis Gross
CI in the ESL Classroom

How to help students Listen, Read, Write and Speak in English in a supportive, caring and comprehensible environment.

• Day 1: Support Structures and Classroom Culture
  In this session, we will explore how to adapt CI structures that support students in acquiring vocabulary and sentence structures with confidence in both sheltered ESL classrooms and content-area classrooms.
• Day 2 - Reading and Writing
  Next, we will discuss various techniques to support students in reading and writing challenging academic texts when they are at beginning and intermediate levels of comprehension. We will also look at ways to target your instruction in order to help students move up a level on their state exams.
• Day 3 - Listening and Speaking
  Finally, we will explore how to give students the opportunity to practice their listening and speaking skills with each other in academic settings by creating engaging and meaningful classroom interactions.

Assessment - AnneMarie Chase Assessment Made Simple: Inspiring Growth, Not Stress

Take the stress out of assessment and put the focus on growth! This interactive, three-part workshop series is designed for language teachers who want to inspire confidence, track progress, and support acquisition—without endless grading or high-pressure tests.

• Day 1: Foundations of Low-Stress Assessment: Purpose, Expectations, and Proficiency
  Explore the purpose of assessment, the characteristics of effective, low stress assessments and ACTFL's proficiency descriptors to aid in setting realistic expectations for each level.
• Day 2: Fueling Acquisition: Assessing Listening and Reading with Comprehensible Input
  Learn to assess listening and reading while providing rich, comprehensible input to fuel acquisition.
• Day 3: Empowering Learners: Practical Strategies for Speaking and Writing Assessments
  Discover practical strategies for assessing speaking and writing, while keeping feedback manageable, affective filters low and motivating learners by making acquisition visible.

Choose a Spotlight and join our presenters as they illuminate these important topics!