{"id":672,"date":"2015-06-28T11:15:26","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T15:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=672"},"modified":"2015-06-28T11:25:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-28T15:25:21","slug":"thoughts-on-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=672","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Themes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thinker\"<\/a>As I continue to reflect on curriculum planning, I\u2019ve done a lot of thinking about the role of thematic units in proficiency-based instruction.\u00a0 Although most of us seem to have designed our curriculum around themes, this organizational structure is not specific to proficiency-based methodologies.\u00a0 Most of the textbooks I have used during my 27-year career have been divided into chapters, each of which addressed a different theme.\u00a0 The difference, of course, was that themes were used to introduce a specific set of prescribed vocabulary and structures.\u00a0 Rather than providing a context for students to increase their ability to use the language to express their own needs, interests, and connections to other curricular content, most of these textbooks provided non-contextualized exercises designed to increase accuracy on the structures and vocabulary that were presented.<\/p>\n

In a proficiency-based classroom, where the focus is on what the students can do with the language, our lessons might not actually need to be organized around specific themes.\u00a0 We could simply create a series of lessons based on various high-interest authentic written or recorded resource that were rich in cultural content and appropriate to the proficiency of our students. If we then created interpretive, interpersonal and presentational learning tasks based on these resources (and aligned with the level-appropriate Can-Do Statements), I think our students would probably show the same growth in proficiency as they do in a theme-based curriculum.<\/p>\n

I imagine, however, that most of us (myself included) will continue to develop our curricula around a series of thematic units for several reasons. The main reason is that we need an organization structure that breaks big ideas (unit themes) into smaller parts (lessons) in order to meet our planning and assessment needs. Because I use the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can Do Statements to guide my instruction, I need to know at the beginning of the year that I will be addressing each of the statements that correspond to the targeted proficiency level one or more times throughout the course of instruction.\u00a0 In addition, my administration, students and parents expect to see some type of course outline at the beginning of the year.\u00a0 While I think it is vital that these stakeholders understand that the overarching goal of each course is to meet proficiency goals, it is also valuable to share the thematic content of the course.\u00a0 Students are excited to see what they\u2019ll be learning and look forward to the units that most appeal to their own individual interests.<\/p>\n

Thematic units also enable us to meet our schools\u2019 expectations in terms of student evaluation.\u00a0 By organizing a series of lessons around a common theme, there is a natural point at which the summative Integrated Performance Assessment is administered.\u00a0 The tasks which are assigned in each lesson allow us an opportunity to provide students with feedback and to accumulate formative assessment data to guide our ensuing instruction, so that our students will be successful on the summative tasks.<\/p>\n

So, if we are to choose overarching themes to organize our curricula, what themes will we use? As I was revising my curricula for next year, I considered the following questions in evaluating possible themes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Is this theme appropriate to the targeted proficiency level of the course?<\/li>\n
  2. Can I find authentic resources based on this theme that are appropriate to the proficiency level of the students?<\/li>\n
  3. Will this theme be interesting to the students\u2014Is it something they like to talk about, would need to talk about in the target culture, and\/or a topic that is relevant to other courses?<\/li>\n
  4. Will this theme introduce the students to new aspects of Francophone culture?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here\u2019s the process I used to choose my themes for each course and some reflection on each one.<\/p>\n

    French 1<\/u><\/p>\n

    Since my goal for my French I\u2019s is that they achieve the Novice Mid level, I first looked at these NCSSFL-ACTFL Novice Mid Can-Do Benchmarks (http:\/\/www.actfl.org\/publications\/guidelines-and-manuals\/ncssfl-actfl-can-do-statements<\/a> ):<\/p>\n