Conference Workshop/Extension Workshop
Responsibilities
- Publicize workshop and select participants
- Organize, conduct, and evaluate leadership seminars
- Ensure that participants make follow-up presentations
Conference Workshop/Extension Workshop (CW/EW)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Making Sense of Writing
Presenters: Laura Terrill, Indianapolis, IN
Why are students expected to write and what are they writing? Are they writing to practice language or writing to communicate with others to touch the world? Language teachers are increasingly finding that they must be prepared to teach students how to write in the second language classroom. It is important in this time of high stakes testing that language teachers are familiar with the work that is being done in other disciplines. Participants will have a chance to discuss the importance of the six traits of writing: ideas, fluency, organization, word choice, voice and conventions. The framework that is used will be adapted from Ruth Culham’s 6 +1 Trait Model. Emphasis will be placed on the writing process and teachers will engage in strategies that allow students to begin to express their own thinking as they write. Strategies for writing at different proficiency levels will be shared. Teachers will also examine best practices for scoring writing and will discuss ways that teachers can minimize the paperwork involved.
Participants apply in advance to attend this daylong workshop; the proposal form can be found here or on the CSCTFL website, www.csctfl.org under Conference Workshop/Extension Workshop. Each year approximately twenty-five participants are selected to attend the Conference Workshop (CW) on Thursday during the annual meeting of Central States. Here they receive information and materials about recent trends in foreign language teaching. Participants are then asked to conduct a similar Extension Workshop (EW) in their local area in order to bring the Conference and its new and evolving ideas to a greater number of teachers.
The CW is the training session during which participants learn to conduct their own workshops. Participants receive a set of materials from each of the presenters, giving them the content information that they can copy for their own EWs. They also receive guidelines and ideas for organizing, publicizing, and presenting a workshop. The emphasis in the CW is on the practical application of the new ideas for the classroom. At the end of the six-hour CW, participants are ready to conduct one or more EWs for foreign language educators in their own states. They can adjust the format, time frame, and material selection for their needs.
The ultimate goal of the CW/EW Program is to improve the quality of foreign language instruction by providing up-to-date information to teachers unable to attend the Central States Conference. The CW/EW program offers participants the opportunity to learn how to organize and present a workshop, to meet other foreign language educators throughout the CSCTFL region, to strengthen ties with teachers in their local area, and to serve as resource people in their foreign language community. Once participants have attended the CW training, presented their own EW(s), and filed a brief report, they will receive a small honorarium to help cover expenses. The Extension Workshop is open only to those whose proposals have been submitted and accepted, so apply early. Once accepted, the participant must register for the conference and pay a nominal workshop fee which will be fully refunded when the report is filed. Participation in the CW/EW will not replace previous registration in another conference workshop. Questions should be directed to Mary Goodwin, CSCTFL CW/EW coordinator at mgoodwin@bex.net.
Coordinators: Mary Goodwin, Chair, Linda Egnatz, Carol Eiber, and Lynne Overesch-Maister