Differentiation in the Language Classroom

Course Description

Language students come from a wide variety of backgrounds. As a result, students within a class have many different needs. This course explores many strategies that allow teachers to meet a wide variety of student needs, including an effective feedback loop, collaborative organization, understanding how students learn, creating more equitable assessments, giving students opportunities for choice, and creating scaffolded tasks to work towards proficiency. Teachers will come away with effective strategies and have designed activities and assessments that they can use immediately in their classes. 

This course would be a great way for both novice and experienced teachers to connect with other teachers, collaborate on activities, and reflect deeply on how and why they teach. There will be many opportunities for creating lessons and brainstorming activities. The lessons, assignments, discussion topics, and writing prompts of this course can easily be modified to fit any language class at the middle, secondary, or university level.  The course will rely heavily on the performance descriptors, sample performance indicators and sample progress indicators included in the revised he ACTFL Standards for Intercultural Competence.

Course Objectives 

By the end of this course, participants will have the opportunity to:

1. Gain a working knowledge of the revised ACTFL Standards for Intercultural Competence

2. Create personalized learning opportunities

3. Collaborate on effective technology for language teaching

4. Understand how to give students choice within their classroom experience

5. Develop strategies for creating an inclusive classroom practice 

6. Support students using scaffolding strategies

7. Connect and collaborate with other teachers

Required Texts  (must be purchased prior to course start date)

Adair-Hauck, Bonnie, et al. Implementing Integrated Performance Assessment. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2015.

Clementi, Donna, and Laura Terrill. The Keys to Planning for Learning: Effective Curriculum, Unit, and Lesson Design. Second Edition ed., ACTFL, 2020.

Course Delivery: 

Online weekly learning modules, collaborative discussion boards and instructor feedback.  This course is not self-paced. 

Students who matriculate into an Instructor-Facilitated course should adhere to the dates listed on the website. Final coursework should be submitted within one week after the course end date. Course extensions beyond one week are subject to a $50 fee.

About the Instructor

Maureen Lamb, Read more about Maureen here.

Click here to request a syllabus.