Voltaire's final quote in Candide, "We must cultivate our garden" is a guiding metaphor for my teaching. Just as in gardening, in my classroom I strive to cultivate healthy diversity in discussions and activities, emphasize the practical application of lessons, and practice an ethics of care. Because I teach both literature and language courses, I have developed flexible teaching styles to accommodate different learning goals. My literature classes are designed for students to practice advance linguistic tasks like comparison, hypothetical narration, and flexibly producing and defending arguments. I always prioritize student practice, creativity, and exploration over lecture, rote memorization, or grammar explanations and use the ACTFL proficiency scale to target specific linguistic functions and track student progress. My primary goal in the classroom is to encourage robust student participation through a variety of activities including Socratic discussion, debates, in-class presentations, and workshops in close reading and writing. I also use a range of assignments including journaling, digital annotation, and creative responses with regular one-on-one feedback to make sure students are progressing. Because I always encourage interdisciplinary connections, I begin each of my lessons by looking at a relevant film clip, image, news article, or website to frame the major themes of the lesson and to establish relevant vocabulary. I hope to motivate students to apply the lessons they learn in class to their lives, whether it be starting a simple French conversation with a colleague, connecting a lesson from class to to another subject, or reflecting on how a poem or novel helps them better understand their own everyday experiences. |
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