SCOLT K-12 WLTOY Information
2013 SCOLT World Languages Teacher of the Year Guidelines
ABOUT THE AWARD:
The award for the National Language Teacher of the Year is intended to elevate the status and the public profile of the language profession at the state, regional, and national levels by creating opportunities to recognize accomplished members of our profession. First and foremost, this process is designed to involve all of our state, regional, and national organizations in promoting the language teaching profession. Second, it is intended to create as many media opportunities as possible to increase the visibility and importance of language learning with the media, policymakers, and the general public. The award also recognizes best practices and excellence in the teaching and learning of foreign languages.
PROCESS OF APPLICATION:
The National Language Teacher of the Year process begins at the state level with the state language organizations selecting a top candidate each year whose application is then submitted to the regional level. The finalist for each of the five regions then competes at the national level. The process outlined below at each level is designed to facilitate the development of the portfolio used in the evaluation process by requiring certain items at each level of competition leading toward the complete portfolio required at the national level. This process is intended to incrementally add the required elements of the portfolio at each level to encourage broad participation while having sufficient evidence from candidates of their teaching accomplishments and ability to represent the language profession. ACTFL will supply the forms and samples needed so that candidates understand what is required at each level. In addition, there is a detailed explanation of the portfolio items on the ACTFL website at www.actfl.org.
SPECIFICS FOR SCOLT:
Each state may submit ONE candidate with endorsement from the state organization. State organizations may submit a candidate to only one regional organization.
- All nominees are requested to send a “head” photo for inclusion in the conference program to Lynne McClendon at scoltdj@gmail.com no later than January 20, 2012.
- SCOLT has waived the registration fee for the state nominee participating in the selection process at the 2013 conference and will pay $100 toward transportation/accommodation costs.
SUBMISSION OF MATERIALS TO SCOLT:
State nominees must submit a portfolio to be received no later than January 20, 2013. Candidates are requested to submit their portfolios via email to Juan Carlos Morales: jcmorales@gmail.com
Contact Juan Morales about how to send a large file.
Juan Carlos Morales,
SCOLT WLTOY Director
For all submissions, you will receive confirmation via e-mail immediately upon receipt.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
The following checklist contains all requirements for the application:
____ The first page must be the Nomination Cover Page, available at www.actfl.org, completed by an officer of the state language association.
____ One letter of recommendation from a professional colleague
____ One letter of recommendation from a supervisor
____ One letter of recommendation from a current or former parent or student
____ A curriculum vitae of no more than five (5) pages
____ A five-hundred-word (500) first-person statement on the value of learning language and culture
____ Examples of student work (up to five individual examples, one page and one sided-only) that reflect the goals of the National Standards of Foreign Language Learning.
____ Elective commentary (not to exceed 5 pages) that describes how the selected student work samples are representative of the following. For these samples, submit written work only. Please have appropriate releases for student work.
(a) The connection between the student work and how you address the national standards in your classroom;
(b) The connection between student work samples and how you use and promote target language communication in the classroom;
(c) How the student work samples demonstrate differentiation of instruction and/or assessment to meet the needs of all learners;
(d) How the chosen samples demonstrate how you integrate culture into instruction and/or assessment;
(e) The type of feedback provided to students on this work.
____ A completed commitment form which is a statement of willingness to participate in all required activities associated with the award including:
(a) A commitment to attend the SCOLT conference for a personal interview (the state association may provide reimbursement of some expenses)
(b) If selected as SCOLT World Languages Teacher of the Year, consent and commitment statement to be nominated by SCOLT as the ACTFL National Foreign Language Teacher of the Year.
(c) If selected as SCOLT World Languages Teacher of the Year, prepare a statement of commitment to attend the ACTFL Annual Conference. Hotel, registration, and transportation are paid for by ACTFL and,
(d) Willingness to serve as a spokesperson for the profession, based on availability.
NOTE: Candidates will NOT be required to submit a video or DVD to SCOLT, but upon selection by SCOLT, the candidate will need to submit a video teaching segment to ACTFL. The entire portfolio (when submitted to ACTFL) must not exceed 50 pages. We assume that for the regional submissions, it should be between 25-30 pages. You may complete the rest of the pages if you are chosen as the SCOLT World Languages Teacher of the Year.
PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW:
All portfolios will be carefully reviewed by the selection committee, who will conduct interviews at the SCOLT Conference. This year, state nominees will be interviewed at the 2011 SCOLT conference in Birmingham on Thursday, April 11th. Because the ACTFL TOY is not only a great teacher, but also a spokesperson for our profession, the interview is an essential part of the selection process.
As part of the interview, the candidates will
- answer 4-5 questions from the selection committee with a 2-3 minute response. The questions may cover such topics as: culture/standards in the classroom, professional involvement, value of language learning, challenges and successes in world language teaching
- give the first 2 minutes of a ten minute mock speech or mock press conference to a civic group on an issue of your choice regarding current interest in national foreign language policy.
AFTER THE INTERVIEW:
The 2013 SCOLT World Languages Teacher of the Year selection will be named during the conference in Birmingham (April 11th-13th). SCOLT's World Languages Teacher of the Year will go on to represent our region at the ACTFL Conference in Orlando, Florida (November 22-24, 2013). ACTFL covers all conference related costs for the regional nominees.
For additional guidelines and coversheet, see the Teacher of the Year link on www.actfl.org
Note to all State World Languages Organizations in the SCOLT Region…
We realize that not all state language teachers of the year want to go through the selection process at the SCOLT Conference to contend for the ACTFL national award. SCOLT is happy to recognize each state's nominee (picture) in the conference program even if the candidate is not participating in the selection process at the SCOLT conference. Please alert Juan Carlos if your candidate will not participate in the conference selection process.
If you need further help or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact Juan Carlos (JC) Morales at jcmorales@gmail.com or call me at (305) 926-8851.
