Department of German

1. Class Participation (25%). This category reflects how students work to develop their foundational knowledge regarding foreign language teaching practices, engage the material in a thoughtful and informed manner, reflect on their own development as teachers, and contribute to a productive class and departmental dialogue.

2. Journals (35%). Journal writing is central to the course goal of integrating content knowledge with reflective teaching practice. On the one hand, the fact that students are not yet teaching is a decided advantage as they learn to think of themselves as teachers without the immediate demands and pressures of the classroom. On the other hand, such non-engagement might make some of the discussions appear to be hypothetical and remote. By linking readings, class observations, journal writing, and initial experience with creating pedagogical materials, the course attempts to turn this situation into an advantage for learning to be a teacher. Please note the following due dates:

September 7, Journal #1: Approaching communicative language teaching and learning
September 23, Journal # 2: Developing a teaching philosophy (stage 1)
October 7, Journal #3: Constructing events and experiences in speaking
October 21, Journal #4: Text, discourse, genre, task
November 4, Journal # 5: Integrating text-based tasks
November 18, Journal #6: Advanced FL development: Between fixedness and learner choice.
December 2, Journal #7: Developing a teaching philosophy (final version)

The topics for journals 3-6 correspond to and expand on the focus of classroom observations for that time period.

3. Instructional vignettes (15%). Tied to readings and discussion in the seminar as well as classroom observation in the different curricular levels of the GUGD curriculum students will work out four highly focused instructional vignettes. These are drafts of instructional plans for various acquisitional foci (e.g., text-based acquisition of vocabulary and grammar; reading tasks; writing tasks). Further instructions will be provided during the semester. 

October 5:       Developing a speaking task
October 19:     Fostering reading comprehension as part of language learning
November 9:    Developing a writing task
November 16:  Creating a semantic field

4. Semester project (25%). This final project has two components: a 15-minute, in-class presentation conducted the week of November 29, and the final written version, to be submitted by December 13. The project should focus on an acquisitional issue at a specific curricular location in the department. With the Curriculum Coordinator acting as consultant, students develop an extended lesson plan located within the chosen course that addresses the chosen issue. 

August 24, 2004