TEACHER PROGRAM CURRICULUM GUIDE - STARTALK · startalk.umd.edu STARTALK Teacher Program Curriculum Guide 5 In this stage, programs create a learning plan, which unpacks the TELL

startalk.umd.edu STARTALK Teacher Program Curriculum Guide

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Last Update: May 2019

TEACHER PROGRAM CURRICULUM GUIDE

STARTALK provides teacher programs with a curriculum template, knowing that a common curriculum development process will facilitate the sharing of units, instructional strategies, resources and quality materials. The template is designed to capture best practices in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The template is meant to guide the discussions that will take place as instructors develop their curricula and plan quality programs.

This curriculum guide will help programs to

plan using backwards design,

establish achievable goals and outcomes,

decide how participants will demonstrate their learning,

plan how to integrate best practices in teacher development throughout the program, and

identify the materials and resources that will work best for meeting program goals.

Backward Planning and Template Structure The curriculum template for teacher programs has been created according to the backward design process for curriculum development. As you work through the guide, you will notice that the template is divided into three stages. Stage 1 asks programs to identify desired results. In this section, programs will identify the domains and sub-criteria statements from the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Framework that will guide the program. Stage 2 asks programs to identify the performance tasks that allow participants to provide evidence of their learning. Finally, stage 3 asks programs to plan learning experiences and identify the resources that support the TELL sub-criteria statements identified in stage 1. In this guide, each component of the curriculum template is explained in greater detail. A representative sample from a completed teacher curriculum is provided to model what a program might create within each component of the template.

STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3

What will participants be able to do with what they know by the end

of the program?

TELL Sub-Criteria Statements

Select TELL domains and criteria statements that identify learning goals

appropriate for participants’ needs for

the program.

How will participants demonstrate what they can do with what they know?

Assessment Tasks

Identify assessment opportunities that will

collect evidence of participants’ learning and showcase their

growth in the program.

What will prepare participants to

demonstrate what they can do with what they know?

Learning Plan

Develop learning targets and formative checks for

learning that create a progression of learning

that allows the participants to meet the learning goals in Stage 1.


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In this stage, programs will provide an overview for the program and use the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Framework to identify learning goals that will guide the curriculum.

Curriculum Overview In a paragraph, the overview describes the overall focus of the program and identifies the anticipated background of participants. The overview should answer the question ‘What will participants will be able to do as a result of this program? Combination programs need to also identify how participants will benefit by being connected to the student program.

E X A M P L E

Participants are current K-12 teachers, as well as individuals who are currently in teacher training programs. The teachers will be divided into two tracks: four to six lead teachers and eighteen to twenty new teachers. The four to six lead teachers will be individuals who were identified and vetted as possessing the ability to be a lead teacher due to their participation in a previous STARTALK program. As a result of this program, participants will be able to successfully complete a mini-teaching practicum in a local summer camp and implement core teaching practices aligned to the STARTALK principles into their own teaching environment. The focus for new participants will be on lesson plan design and use of the target language, while lead teachers will expand their existing knowledge of the same, as well as support and coach the new teachers, and be challenged to begin developing leadership skills necessary for becoming model teachers for others.

Learning Goals In this section, programs will use the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Framework domains and TELL sub-criteria statements to develop their program goals. The TELL Framework identifies characteristics of effective teachers in the context of a language learning environment. The TELL Framework has been correlated with well-known teacher effectiveness frameworks currently in use in the field (e.g., ACTFL/CAEP, INTASC, NBTS, The Framework for Teaching, and The Casual Teacher Evaluation Model).

The TELL Framework is organized around the following domains.

Environment: creating a safe and supportive learning environment to prepare for student learning

Planning: designing learning experiences to prepare for student learning

Learning Experience: facilitating meaningful learning experiences that advance student learning

Performance and Feedback: using assessment to show what learners can do with what they know

Learning Tools: capitalizing on a variety of resources to maximize student learning

Collaboration: collaborating with stakeholders to support student learning

Professionalism: continuing growth as a professional to support student learning

Each of these domains is further explained by a group of criteria that describe the characteristics and behaviors of an effective teacher. It is driven by an essential question a teacher must ask themselves as they grow their effectiveness. Programs begin by selecting appropriate domains from the TELL Framework based on the identified needs and experience levels of their participants. Depending on the experience level of the teachers as well as the number of contact hours the program provides in both face-to-face and online learning, programs then need to identify an appropriate number of supporting TELL sub-criteria statements that capture the major concepts or topics identified in the program overview.

STAGE 1

What will participants be able to do with what they know by the end of the program?


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In order to provide professional learning that is transformative for teachers, programs are strongly encouraged to select fewer statements to allow teachers to gain ownership of new knowledge and skills instead of providing a broad overview of many topics and limiting teachers’ ability to implement new knowledge and skills beyond the program. The following questions serve as a guide for selecting domains and criteria as learning goals for a program.

Do your TELL domains and sub-criteria statements capture your program goals? Do they serve to focus

the work that you will do with your participants?

Are your TELL sub-criteria statements achievable in the amount of time that you have available for the program?

Do your TELL sub-criteria statements reflect what are likely to be the primary needs of your

participants, given their teaching situations?

Do your TELL sub-criteria statements allow for differentiation as you attempt to meet the needs of teachers who may range from true beginners to those who have varying amounts of experience?

E X A M P L E

TELL Domains TELL Sub-Criteria Statements The criteria statements identified will be further unpacked in stage 3.

1. Planning

PL4.c: The teacher plans activities that enable students to meet the daily learning targets.

2. Planning

PL6.a: The teacher selects strategies to ensure language input is comprehensible.

3. Learning Experience

LE3.a: The teacher ensures that at least 90% of what is shared with students is in the target language.

4. Learning Experience

LE4.a: The teacher facilitates activities that allow students to interact with others and negotiate meaning for a real-world purpose.


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In this stage, programs will identify the performance assessments they will use to measure participants’ progress toward meeting the TELL criteria statements identified in stage 1. These formative assessments will allow programs and participants to collect evidence that showcases their growth and learning in the program. Each TELL Criteria Statements must have a corresponding assessment task.

Effective performance tasks in teacher programs:

allow participants to provide evidence that they have met the identified TELL sub-criteria;

are focused on the development of resources that teachers may use in an actual teaching environment;

address the different backgrounds and professional experiences that participants bring to a program;

provide opportunity for participants to apply their learning beyond the program;

ask participants to reflect on their learning and professional growth in the program;

provide feedback that motivates participants to continue their professional growth.

Performance Assessment Tasks

E X A M P L E

TELL Criteria Statements Identified in stage 1 of the curriculum outlining the overall program outcomes

Evidence & Brief Description Key tasks and products that allow participants to demonstrate they met the TELL sub-criteria statement.

PL4.c: The teacher plans activities that enable students to meet the daily learning targets.

Learning Plan — Participants will complete several learning plans that will guide their mini-teaching practicum of teaching four one-hour lessons in a neighborhood summer camp.

PL6.a: The teacher selects strategies to ensure language input is comprehensible.

Strategy Guide — Participants will create step-by-step outlines of sample activities to create a strategy guide of effective activities based on different modes of communication.

LE3.a: The teacher ensures that at least 90% of what is shared with students is in the target language.

Mini-Practicum Videos — Participants will successfully complete a mini-teaching practicum teaching four lessons in a neighborhood summer camp. Their lessons will be recorded to document the participants’ use of the target language.

LE4.a: The teacher facilitates activities that allow students to interact with others and negotiate meaning for a real-world purpose.

Mini-Practicum Videos — Participants will successfully complete a mini-teaching practicum of teaching four lessons in a neighborhood summer camp. Their lessons will be recorded to document the participants’ implementation of the activities they designed.

STAGE 2

How will participants demonstrate what they can do with what they know?


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In this stage, programs create a learning plan, which unpacks the TELL sub-criteria identified as learning goals in stage 1. Identify specific learning targets that will drive the daily learning experiences of the participants for each of the TELL sub-criteria. Learning targets should outline a progression of learning that will allow participants to meet the larger learning goal specified by the TELL sub-criteria. The check for learning allows participants to demonstrate that they have met each learning target. At the same time, the check for learning models the behaviors teachers are expected to implement in their own language classrooms.

Programs must develop learning targets and checks for learning for all learning experiences throughout the entire program, including any online or post-program experiences.

To ensure transfer of new learning from a STARTALK program into participants’ own teaching environments, programs are asked to consider how to create learning experiences that explore fewer topics but provide multiple opportunities to acquire and process new knowledge in order to apply and reflect on the development of new skills.

STAGE 3

TELL Sub-Criteria Statements

Learning Target

Check for Learning

What will prepare participants to demonstrate what they can do with what they know?

Indicators of effective teacher practice outling the

overaching goals of the program

A task/activity that allows participants to both deepen and assess their learning and demonstrate they have met

the learning target

ACQUIRE

PROCESS

APPLY

REFLECT

How will the program share new knowledge with participants?Participants will engage in a series of activities that ask them to identify, list, name, locate, find, recognize, state, or summarize key concepts they need to be exposed to and understand in order to exhibit the identified TELL sub-criteria.

How will the program allow participants to build personal understanding? Participants will engage in a series of activities that ask them to describe, explain, define, distinguish, compare, outline, categorize, or classify their understanding of key concepts in order to internalize new knowledge and match existing beliefs and understandings with the new information identified in the TELL sub-criteria.

How will the program allow participants to use new knowledge to develop skills?Participants will engage in a series of activities that ask them to demonstrate, design, present, implement, use, or perform in order to to transfer their theoretical understanding of key concepts into skills that coould transfer to the participants' own teaching environment.

How will the program ask participants to implement new knowledge & skills?Participants will engage in a series of activities that ask them to prioritize, internalize, reframe, modify, value, justify, or conclude in order to reflect on their new learning and plan for implementation of new skills into their own teaching environments.


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Learning Plan

E X A M P L E

TELL Criteria Statement (from stage 1): PL4.c: The teacher plans activities that enable students to meet the daily learning targets.

Performance Assessment (from stage 2):

Participants will complete several learning plans that will guide their mini-teaching practicum of teaching four one-hour lessons in a neighborhood summer camp.

Learning Target What program-specific can-do statements will lead participants to meet the identified TELL sub-criterion.

Check for Learning How will participants demonstrate and get feedback on meeting the program-specific can-do statements.

Acquiring: How will participants gain new knowledge and skills through input?

I can list a variety of classroom activities that would support students meeting the listed learning targets in a learning plan.

Participants will sequence the activities identified in STARTALK model learning plan to create a progression of learning that would allow students to meet the listed learning target.

Processing: How will participants build personal understanding of new knowledge and skills?

I can categorize classroom activities by modes of communication and connect them to the listed learning targets in a learning plan.

Participants will categorize activities from the STARTALK Classroom Activities collection and align them with a specific learning target from a STARTALK model learning plan.

Applying: How will participants use new knowledge and skills?

I can design a series of activities for a given learning target.

Participants will outline multiple activities (step-by-step) for a given learning target in preparation for their camp teaching experience.

Participants will practice at least one of their activities during a peer teaching opportunity with teacher participants of another language.

Reflecting: How will participants explore ways to use new knowledge and skills beyond the program?

I can modify the activities identified in my learning plans based on reflection and feedback in order to use them in my own teaching.

Participants will work with a lead teacher to revise their lesson plans based on feedback from the peer teaching opportunity and respond to a series of reflection questions to guide their revisions.

Resources Programs must identify the major resources that will be used to guide the learning for participants for each learning progression.

E X A M P L E

STARTALK model learning plans

STARTALK Classroom Activities collection

Google Doc Reflection Portfolio


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GLOSSARY

Frequently Used Terms in the Curriculum Development Process for Teacher Programs

Backward Design

Backward design provides a planning sequence for curriculum. Backward design consists of 3 stages. In stage 1 programs identify desired results. In stage 2, they determine acceptable evidence of learning. In stage 3, programs determine the learning experiences and resources. The teacher addresses the specifics of instructional planning after identifying the desired results and assessments.

Check for Learning

The check for learning allows participants to demonstrate that they have met each learning target while at the same time models the behaviors teachers are expected to implement in their language classrooms. Programs must include checks for learning for all learning experiences throughout the entire program including any online or post-program experiences.

Curriculum Template

The curriculum template is designed to capture best practices in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. It serves to guide the discussions that will take place as instructors plan quality programs. The common template design also facilitates the sharing of quality resources and instructional strategies.

Learning Plan

The learning plan for teacher programs unpacks the TELL Criteria identified in stage 1 into specific learning targets that will drive the daily learning experiences of the participants. Progress toward the learning target is assessed through a check for learning.

Learning Target

Learning targets are smaller indicators or descriptors of how participants incrementally move toward meeting the TELL sub-criteria statements selected in stage 1. Learning Targets are small enough that they can provide focus for a single day or part of a day. They describe a progression of learning from acquiring to processing, applying and reflecting on new knowledge and skills.

• Acquire: Similar to the input phase of language learning, these learning targets address what new knowledge and skills participants knowledge need to understand in order to exhibit the identified TELL sub-criteria.

• Process: In order to provide multiple opportunities for participants to develop ownership of the new knowledge and skills, these learning targets address how participants build personal understanding in order to internalize the new knowledge.

• Apply: Providing participants with a laboratory setting, these learning targets provide opportunities for participants to apply their theoretical understanding in order to practice the identified TELL sub-criteria.

• Reflect: Preparing participants to transfer new learning into their own teaching environments, these learning targets ask participants to reflect and plan for implementation beyond the program.

Performance Assessment Task


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Performance assessment tasks are tasks that collect evidence of participants’ learning and showcase their growth in the program. While these assessments are formative in nature and can happen at any point in the program, they should allow participants to demonstrate that they are prepared to transfer their learning into their own teaching environments. Each TELL sub-criteria must have a corresponding assessment task.

Stage 1

Stage 1 of the curriculum template asks program personnel to provide an overview of the program by selecting the TELL domains and sub-criteria that identify learning goals appropriate for participants’ needs. This collection of criteria statements will guide the curriculum and provide the overall focus and purpose for learning.

Stage 2

Stage 2 of the curriculum template asks program personnel to identify formative performance assessment tasks that collect evidence of participants’ learning and showcase their growth in the program. These tasks show that participants truly understand the key concepts investigated during the program and are prepared to transfer their learning into their own teaching environments.

Stage 3

Stage 3 of the curriculum template asks program personnel to unpack the TELL sub-criteria identified as learning goals in stage 1 in order to create a learning plan. Specific learning targets that will drive the daily learning experiences of the participants should indicate a progression of learning that will allow participant to meet the larger goal specified by the TELL sub-criteria.

Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Framework

The Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Framework identifies characteristics of effective teachers in the context of a language learning environment. The TELL Framework has been correlated with well-known teacher effectiveness frameworks currently in use in the field (e.g., ACTFL/CAEP, INTASC, NBTS, The Framework for Teaching, and The Casual Teacher Evaluation Model).

TELL Criteria Statements

TELL criteria statements describe the characteristics of effective teachers within each TELL domain. Designed to identify specific teacher behaviors, programs need to identify a set of TELL Criteria Statements in stage 1 of the curriculum development process. Those statements become of the overarching goals for participants. They are unpacked into smaller learning targets in stage 3.

TELL Domains

The TELL Framework is structured around seven TELL domains that group a set of TELL Criteria Statements which respond to an essential question any teacher must ask themselves. Programs are asked to identify the domains that provide focus for their curriculum and most likely are to contain the content that will meet the professional learning needs of participants.

Documents

TEACHER PROGRAM CURRICULUM GUIDE - STARTALK · startalk.umd.edu STARTALK Teacher Program Curriculum Guide 5 In this stage, programs create a learning plan, which unpacks the TELL