From John Piazza:
Ben,
I just submitted a proposal for a Summer grant, in the hope of receiving funding for the many many hours I will be spending putting a CI curriculum in place. I tried to use official language that would appeal to administrators who share my priorities about equity in the classroom, but who know little about CI or language pedagogy in general. Feel free to share this with the PLC. Hopefully colleagues can use/adapt it to help fund their own Summer work.
Grant Proposal:
Requested grant funds will pay for time spent transitioning the [school name and language] curriculum to accommodate the needs and interests of a more diverse group of learners, while maintaining the high academic standards that are associated with rigorous Latin programs. The benefits of Latin (academic language, explicit study of grammar and vocabulary word roots, history and culture of the ancient Greek and Roman world) have often been rendered inaccessible to students of diverse backgrounds and learning styles because of antiquated and exclusive pedagogical methods.
By adapting and implementing curriculum in light of modern language acquisition strategies, teachers at [school name] will be able to bring the [language] program into closer alignment with WASC goals 1 and 4 in particular.
Specific materials and strategies include: A) creating classroom scripts and CM-based sentence frames which allow students to personalize the content of classroom reading and discussion while mastering vocabulary and grammatical structures commonly found in classical literature; B) adapting readings and assessments into multiple levels to keep all students on the “same page” with regard to content, while reading at an appropriate level of difficulty; C) selection of multimedia video clips which will support the active/interactive use of [language] in the classroom; D) development of classroom practices and routines which encourage further use of the target language AND build community.
Products:
The following materials will be made available to Latin teachers, and other language teachers who are interested in using and/or adapting them: Adapted readings, scripts, sentence frames, classroom posters, formative and summative assessments, rubrics, video clips, and web addresses of helpful resources. Latin teachers will also willing to share and/or demonstrate the use of these materials for colleagues.
p.s. for reference, here are my school’s accreditation goals:
WASC GOAL 1: Increase proficiency and performance of all students in academic language, while accelerating the proficiency and performance gains of African American, English Learner, and Latino students in academic language.
WASC GOAL 2: Increase proficiency and performance of all students in mathematics, while accelerating the proficiency and performance gains of African American, English Learner, and Latino students in mathematics.
WASC GOAL 3: Create a culture of high expectations for academic achievement.
WASC GOAL 4: Improve student engagement and achievement through innovative, standards based curriculum that addresses the range of students’ needs.
WASC GOAL 5: Increase access and utilization of social and emotional support for all students, with an emphasis on struggling students.