Hal Boland
-to establish a strong German Club and a new chapter of the Delta Epsilon Phi
here at my new high school
-to establish a GAPP exchange with the Städtische Gesamtschule in Soest and actively pursue our school's participation during all activities
-to create a positive attitude amongst my new colleagues in the foreign language department while becoming a strong advocate for the study of
multiple foreign languages for our students
-to establish strong ties across the curriculum by offering my expertise in the field of German music, language and history to my colleagues
- to expose my community to the joy of things German through flags, foods, German friends, colleagues and anything else I can imagine
-to create a business partnership with the Rehau, Inc offices here in my town with my German classes and eventually with the entire school
-to maintain my professional ties with my former Fairfax County colleagues through their monthly meetings
-to strengthen my professional ties with my new Loudoun County colleagues through their monthly meetings
-to maintain my AATG/Maryland-DC-Northern Virginia affiliation while also establishing a strong presence in the AATG/Virginia Chapter
-to continue my participation in the VOGS (Virginia Organization of German Students) annual spring weekend convention
-to establish and create a strong presence at the Samstagsschule/Deutsche Schule Washington during this my initial teaching year of the Sprachdiplom
class, and to create a bridge between the high school German classes and this wonderful experience for our students here in the DC area
-to meet with the principal at my Middle School feeder in order to establish a German program at the 7th and 8th grade levels there (meeting in two days,
wish me luck!!)
-to maintain my professional ties with new colleagues met through the AP-Readings in San Antonio, the TraiNDaF program established by the AATG, and
the Goethe-Institut summer seminar in Augsburg
-to continue offering my services for AP workshops to colleagues in the area
-to continue praising the benefits of a "target language only" classroom atmosphere to all foreign language colleagues at ALL schools
-to continue and further exploit my affiliation with the Goethe-Institut/Washington through its excellent seminar offerings
-to further advance the benefits of the Internet within the classroom
-to continue enriching and challenging my students' attitudes to foreign language study through authentic materials such as Deutsche Welle TV and
Nachrichtenmagazine such as Focus
-to expand my musical repertoire in the classroom in order to keep abreast of the current teenage trends in the German speaking world through personal
contacts overseas
-to continue attending ACTFL conferences in order to reestablish collegial connections and remain aware of current trends in our profession
-to offer my services to the elementary feeder school for possible exploratory classes
-to offer AATG National German Exams to ALL students in my classes
-to continue to pursue 2 Congress-Bundestag student applicants each year
-to continue to pursue 2 student applicants for the Virginia Governor's School three week summer German intensive language program
-to pursue mentoring possible new colleagues into our profession by discussing the benefits of our field
-to pursue open discussion regarding the benefits of AATG-membership
Cynthia Appl
-Disseminated information both verbally and in writing about internship opportunities in German-speaking countries to faculty colleagues in Math, Engineering, Business and the Sciences. Many of these colleagues seem very interested especially in the CDS programs, and may encourage their students to take German, in order to be able to participate in one of these experiences later in their college careers.
-Relocated to a larger office and reorganized materials to prepare for the additional paperwork required by being department chair.
-Continued reading on the subject of Leadership in preparation for new position as department chair.
-Organized a pre-semester departmental retreat for all foreign language and English faculty, at which we created a list of departmental goals for the coming year.
-To be completed during the 2003-2004 academic year:
-To disseminate the advocacy materials and information gleaned from the Washington conference to colleagues throughout Kansas.
-To process all the information, impressions and materials I brought back from the Jewish Life in Berlin Seminar. I hope to create class-room ready units for various levels, as well as a Powerpoint presentation to present next fall at a university-wide forum and possibly in future years as a program for the KATG German Immersion Weekend.
-To work with my department to find ways in which the former foreign language and English departments can integrate and mutually support one another to enhance visibility and increase enrollments. (Find creative ways of collaboration.)
-To work with the committee that organizes our fall faculty workshop to encourage them to choose internationalization of the curriculum as the focus of this workshop, and to use this venue as an opportunity to promote the study of foreign language. To possibly use this as a springboard for proposing that the Baker foreign language requirement be extended to include B.S. students.
Haley Crittenden
German Program
1. I changed jobs this year and am teaching at a new high school and middle school. My main goal is to continue to build the German program. My predecessor started German at the middle school 2 years ago, which has helped to increase enrollment. The potential for German at my schools is making me dream big. Since I am the only German teacher in both schools, I see my role as teacher and as good will ambassador. I will strive to be a team player with my colleagues and administration and an inspiration to my students. Now that I have an easier commute home, I will be able to stay for after school events and get to know the kids outside of the classroom.
IB School
2. My high school recently became an IB school, and my goal is to learn how to teach the IB curriculum and conduct the IB test. The IB coordinator informed me that I will be sent for IB training however, it may not happen this year. Luckily, I have a network of German colleagues in my county, who will receive IB training this year and will share information with me. We discussed working together to develop an IB curriculum for our school district.
TPRS
3. I have found my niche with TPRS and will continue to learn how to make this method work for me. I saw how my students at my old school developed fluency through TPRS and I want to continue with TPRS at my new school. Through the TPRS list-serve, I am connected to a national network of enthusiastic teachers, from which I continue to learn. My long term goal is to become a TPRS trainer and I will start locally and hope to work up to national presentations. I co-presented a TPRS workshop at my county this fall. I want to learn how to better articulate the theories behind TPRS to my colleagues and parents.
German Reading Program
4. I attended the TPRS National Conference this summer, and I heard Stephen Krashen speak about brain research and the benefits of reading for language development. I am committed to incorporating a German Reading Program in my classes. I wrote a grant last spring from my district to purchase German children's and young adult books for my classroom library. This year I have instituted a Free Voluntary Reading period in my long block classes. I plan to write an education grant for the Washington Post and hope to obtain more funding, so that I can expand my library and purchase class sets of easy readers. My German Reading Program will support the IB curriculum of using authentic texts.
AATG MD/NOVA/DC Board
5. I will continue to be active on the AATG NOVA/MD/ DC Board. I'm on the planning committee for the winter workshop, which will be on "Reading Young Adult Literature in the German Classroom". This workshop will be open to all German secondary teachers and college professors.
NOVTOG (Northern Virginia Teachers of German)
6. I will continue to be active with my district's German teacher organization. We meet monthly and exchange ideas and teaching materials. I help to mentor new teachers to my district. This group also helps to motivate and inspire me. I helped recruit new German teachers to my district and hope to continue with this activity as the need arises.
German Club
7. I plan to support the existing German Club at my school and have some ideas for activities for this year. We will undertake a winter fundraiser to pay for transportation to the Spring German Student's convention. Other local outings will include lunch at a German Deli and a visit to the White House Christmas tree. I also plan to have my club do something nice for the faculty or school.
GAPP Exchange
8. I will initiate a GAPP exchange program at my new school in the year 2003-2004. I had a GAPP exchange at my old school and want to continue this worthwhile program. However, I need a year to settle into my new school and lay the foundation for an exchange program. I plan to do more to get my colleagues involved with the GAPP exchange.
Caroyln Ostermann-Healey
1. Continue to be an active board member of the AATG MD/NoVa/DC chapter. At the moment I am helping to plan the Reading Workshop scheduled for February 2003. We chose a presenter from the AATG List of Professional Development Consultants, to which I was introduced at the TraiNDaF meeting in April.
2. Serve on the local AATG working group studying issues of communication between high school and college teachers and trying to increase collaboration between these institutions. We will present our findings at the Northeast Conference in April.
3. Attend the upcoming AATG Goethe Institut Immersion Weekend entitled "Die Musik der Wise Guys im
Deutschunterricht."
4. Attend IB (International Baccalaureate) training in Winnipeg, Canada in November. I am teaching IB German, Level 1 for the first time.
5. Work with small group of German teachers writing reviews of teaching materials for the AP Central web site. This is part of a partnership between College Board and
AATG.
6. Teach Fairfax County Academy Class in fall 2003 on "Theater im Unterricht" for teachers of any foreign language (topic of the summer seminar I attended in Germany). The academy offers recertification points and college credit to students. I will also offer an in-service workshop for German teachers on this topic.
7. Incorporate methods I learned at the Trainer Netzwerk Seminar I attended in June 2002 in the class mentioned above. The seminar focused on methodology for teaching other teachers.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES (Robinson Secondary, German Saturday School, Deutsche Schule at Middlebury)
1. Encourage and inspire the student teacher currently working with me. I am trying to model good teaching methods for her and help her improve her own teaching.
2. Work with two colleagues to finalize the Program of Study for German for the county. This document will stipulate the curriculum for all German teachers (Level 1-4) in Fairfax County.
3. Continue to take part in the National German Exam with my students.
4. Continue to advise German Club and the German Honor Society (Delta Phi Epsilon) at Robinson Secondary School.
5. Continue to encourage students to take part in German activities outside of the classroom, e.g. Waldsee German camp, Congress-Bundestag program, Governor¹s School, Spring weekend convention for German students, etc.
6. Plan and chaperone my students in my first school trip to Germany and Austria in spring 2003.
7. Return to Middlebury in 2003 for the eighth summer of teaching. This coming summer I will coordinate the three instructors of the 200-Level.
8. Continue to teach at the German Language Courses ("Samstagsschule" of the German School-Washington). My long-term goal is to prepare my students of the past three years for the Sprachdiplom Prüfung when they are old enough.
9. Most importantly, focus on the classes I teach at Robinson Secondary School. I want to recruit new students and retain the ones I have. I am trying to teach to the best of my ability, and help my students improve their German and enjoy class.
Britta Kallin
GEORGIA TECH:
-Continue to work with the German Club at Georgia Tech as Faculty Advisor.
-Continue to work with the German Floor at Georgia Tech's Language Dorm in organizing events related to
German-speaking countries.
-Continue to serve as a committee member on the Committee for International Internship Programs at Georgia Tech.
-Help five of my students getting paid internships in Germany.
-Continue to support study abroad summer programs such as our two-month LBAT program (Languages for Business and Technologies).
-Explore opportunities of teaching across the curriculum. The School of Modern Languages at Georgia Tech received a grant from the Department of Education to support teaching classes in cooperation with the School of International Affairs. In these classes International Affairs are taught in German.
-Design new culture and literature classes that meet students' interest and needs. Continue to use popular music and film to get students interested in German.
-Mentor students who are majoring in our joint major of International Affairs and Modern Languages and who are members of the Women, Science and Technology Learning Center at Georgia Tech.
GOETHE-INSTITUTE:
-Continue to be a member of Friends of Goethe, a non-profit organization that supports the Goethe-Institute in Atlanta.
-Continue close relationships with the Goethe-Institute Atlanta in taking students to events organized by the institute.
GREATER ATLANTA AREA:
-Continue to work with colleagues from other universities and colleges in the Greater Atlanta area. Possibly visiting other campuses and German classes with my students (Emory, Georgia State, Agnes Scott College, University of Georgia).
-Invite colleagues from other universities and colleges to give lectures for our German Club.
GEORGIA AND BEYOND:
-Attend the State German Convention weekend in the spring of 2003 where high school students participate in activities such as grammar games, poetry recitation, baking etc.
-Keep in touch with the AATG-GA officers and offer help for future meetings.
-Attend national meetings of professional organizations, present papers and organize panels at the "Women in German" annual conference in Arizona, "South Atlantic Modern Languages Association" in Baltimore, the "AATG" annual conference in Salt Lake City, and the "International Brecht Symposium" in Berlin next summer.
Christie Ott
After attending the TraiNDaF leadership training seminar and the LMS 2.4 Seminar at the Goethe Institut - Inter Nationes in Frankfurt, Germany in July, I have made the following professional goals for myself this year.
1. I have been working on establishing a web site that details the information that we learned and discussed at our first conference in April. I am currently on updating the site with new information from the other participants about their summer seminars and working out a problem loading the information. I plan to have this finished within a couple of weeks.
2. Along with fellow TraiNDaF participants Mark Banazek, Gregory Wolf, and Deborah Lund, I will be making a presentation at the annual Foreign Language Association of Missouri meeting on October 19, 2002 at the Lake of the Ozarks.
3. I plan on including the project that my group and I completed at our seminar in Frankfurt. I have also shared this project with my colleagues though out my school district, the other TraiNDaF participants and with the teachers who attend our workshop at the FLAM conference.
4. I have shared the Hot Potatoes program that I learned in Germany with the other foreign language teachers in my school and have agreed to help them learn to use it.
5. Along with the other German teachers in my district, we have organized a monthly “Stammtisch” so that we can share ideas and provide support to each other. During the September meeting, we discussed ideas to help 2 teachers who are hosting visitors from Germany this month.
6. As soon as my students who are seniors start making decisions about where they plan attend college or university next year, I plan to write the German departments in an effort to get these students to continue studying German and to get them placed in the correct class.
7. I am trying to establish a more active German club at Eureka High School and I am trying to get my students more involved in the German community in St. Louis. Planned activities so far include taking students in the upper level classes to the University of Missouri - St. Louis to attend a concert given by the Wise Guys, offering organized tutoring sessions, attending local German festivals and attending German movies (Bella Martha), visiting 5th and 6th grade classes at local elementary and middle schools.
8. With the help of our Partners in Education specialist, I am also working on inviting people who speak and use German to come speak to my students. I am looking for local sports figures, college professors, and business people.
9. The Foreign Language Department at my school has decided to try to invent and administer a standardized writing assessment. We plan to grade this assessment together in an effort to ensure that we are preparing our students to meet Missouri and national Foreign Language standards. This will be the focus of our Staff Development time during this school year.
10. I plan on submitting articles in each of the Eureka High School Wildcat Link newsletters this year to highlight the achievements and activities of German students at EHS.
11. I will continue to serve on the German Curriculum Committee in the Rockwood School District. We rewrote our curriculum 2 years ago and will review and revise the program this year. One of our goals for this year is to look at the program in our middle schools. Two years ago we implemented a two-year level 1 program throughout the district. Unfortunately, we have seen a decrease in the enrollment in all of the languages in the middle schools since this time.
12. I will attend the ACTFL conference this fall and hope to attend the Central States conference in the spring.
Jamin Lynch
Personal Involvement: School and Professional Community:
-Continue to host and lead Congress-Bundestag interviews in February at Independence for the San Francisco Bay Area.
-Continue as a Technology Trainer and Leader at Independence - Including training PPP, Rosetta Stone Language Software, IBM Learning Village and Micrograde
-Continue to take part in the local chapter's Immersion Tag in Spring
-Continue to develop my curriculum, specifically focusing on long-term planning, multiple intelligences, differentiating the curriculum, and TPRS.
-Continue to stay connected with and develop relationships with my Traindaf Class.
-Finish NBPTS in the event that I didn't pass one or more evaluation areas.
-Join FLASCC's board of officers (Foreign Language Association of Santa Clara County)
-Join the local AATG board.
-Attend professional development workshops such as BAFLP @ Stanford (Bay Area Foreign Language Project) to continue pedagogic development and promote FL.
-Execute a successful GAPP exchange to Herford, Germany in Summer 2003.
Student Retention, Activities and Recruitment
-Continue to advise and promote my school's German Club, and develop more structure and expertise in this area.
-Continue to take part in the National German Test, Delta Epsilon Phi, and in encouraging students to apply for the Congress-Bundestag program.
Retention:
-Retain all students by using GAPP as 'jumping off point' for our students going to Germany by encouraging them to improve, expand and contiinue their German studies. Also, for the students who cannot afford to go, by encouraging them to host Germans and take the Germans out for fun activities when the Germans visit us.
-Retain all students taking German by holding tutoring sessions Tuesdays and Fridays before and after school, placing grades online, and building strong relationships with students' parents when possible
-Retain all students taking German through building strong one-on-one relationships, creating warm, safe and exciting classroom environments, and making German the favorite class for as many students as possible.
-Recruit from our feeder middle schools via current Freshmen taking German, visiting classrooms (if possible), and promoting from 'top down' through the middle school district offices.
-Recruit from existing student population at Independence via word of mouth, networking, and public events such as Oktoberfest and Wienerschnitzelfest.
-Recruit soccer players into German with coordination from my school's soccer coach for the Goethe Institut's Soccer Bridge.
Patricia Calkins
Activities completed this year:
1) I attended the Central States Conference
2) I participated in TraiNDaF activities
3) I participated in the summer seminar in Germany
4) I created the Iowa AATG email list
5) I hosted the Iowa AATG spring meeting at my college
6) I hosted German students from the local high school at my college
7) I participated in a Goethe-Institut Chicago introduction to the Midwest Trainers Netzwerk and coordinated electronic discussion by Iowa teachers interested in joining the program
8) I helped a graduating senior find an internship in Germany (through CDS International)
Activities started which are either ongoing or permanent in nature:
1) I created and will maintain Iowa AATG website (http://www.simpson.edu/~calkins/aatg)
2) I joined the Goethe-Institut's Midwest Netzwerk
3) I will participate in Netzwerk training in Chicago at the end of September
4) I will present a session at the meeting on the Iowa World Language Association in October. Session topic: Teaching the Berlin Wall in the 'Berlin Republic'
5) I will distribute collected German advocacy materials to Iowa German teachers
6) I am working with German teachers from the area to bring the Central Iowa German Bowl to my campus this spring
7) I am working towards setting up an exchange program of students and professors between my college and the University of Lueneburg
8) I am negotiating with the management department to recruit incoming business students into a German and Management program. I am calling foreign languages a "leadership skill", which seems to be appealing to the business people.
Plans of upcoming activities through Summer 2004 (I'm a bit limited here since I will be out of the country):
1) I will accompany 12 students to Germany from January 8 to May 16
2) I will host the Central Iowa German Bowl at my college (actually hosted by my German Assistant, an English teacher from Austria, because I am in Germany)
3) My students will correspond with German classes from 11 different high schools in Iowa, sending them postcards and answering questions about every of the 15 different German cities we visit
4) I will continue expanding my website about daily life in Berlin at the beginning of the 19th century (http://www.simpson.edu/~calkins/berlin)
5) I will propose another session for next year's IWLA conference (and will present something every year from now on)
6) I will help two of my graduating seniors find internships in Germany (through CDS International)