My #csctfl16 experience

The Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages has come and gone! It was my first time going to Central States, and I have to say, it was a blast! Unfortunately I ended up having to head home early on Saturday because I came down with what I think is the flu (currently on day 3 of fever, blech!) and I missed a lot of sessions I was super excited to attend :(. Major bummer! BUT, the ones I did get to attend were amazing. There’s always next year to make up for what I missed this year :).

I learned a lot during the two-ish days I was at the conference, and something I always look to do at conferences is to add more resources to my arsenal, particularly when it comes to different ways to deliver CI to students. Nelly Hughes’ “Comprehensible Input the Easy Way” gave me a ton of new ideas for providing students’ with input and Cynthia Hitz offered great ways to breathe life into reading in the TL. I can’t wait to try out some of these strategies!

Amy presented on liberating yourself from the vocabulary list – something I’ve been wanting to do but wasn’t sure where to start. While it’s going to take some adjusting to implement, I’m excited about the possibilities.

Laura Terrill’s session on the Keys to Planning was the one that had the most A-HA! moments for me and it made me want to run out right away and buy her book. Laura and I agreed that we’re going to do a book study this summer for the Keys to Planning for Learning – anyone else in?!

This conference had many highlights, not the least of which was getting to meet some of the teachers that have inspired and challenged me on this journey to become a more proficiency-based teacher. I still have so far to go that sometimes it can feel overwhelming, but attending professional development like this gets me closer and closer to my end goal. Teaching really is a craft – one that takes years to develop, and even then requires near-constant tweaking to maintain and improve.

My biggest takeaway from CSCTFL16 is that I need to be way more intentional in my planning than I currently am. My day-to-day activities are good, sometimes great, even, but my units lack depth and most of all, they lack concrete direction. I think in my quest to do less, I’ve pared down too much. I need real can-do statements. I need essential questions. Most of all, I need to determine what real language functions will go with each unit, as opposed to saying, “Well, I guess I could introduce X grammar point here, it would probably fit…” It means I will have my work cut out for me this summer, for sure, but I think it will absolutely be worth it. I also need to commit to using storytelling more regularly and more purposefully in my practice!

Thank you to everyone I had the pleasure of meeting at CSCTFL! I learned so much, and I am already looking forward to next year!