Proficiency Academy

MAFLA Proficiency Academy, 2023

Registration will be open in February!

SAVE THE DATES! PLAN NOW!

MAFLA Proficiency Academy will be back at Westfield State University
June 26-29, 2023

MaFLA Proficiency Academy, 2023

Foundations of Proficiency
Rebecca Blouwolff

We are excited to announce that Massachusetts native, Rebecca Blouwolff, will be taking over our Foundations strand. With over 20 years of experience as a French teacher at Wellesley Middle School, Rebecca transformed her teaching practice by making the switch to Proficiency, leading her to be named the 2020 National Language Teacher of the Year. She is a six-time attendee and two-time facilitator of the Academy. With concrete examples and clear steps forward, she loves to break down teaching principles with curious colleagues. Rebecca will deepen your understanding of the ACTFL Proficiency levels, show you how to set proficiency targets for your program or course, help you design engaging and authentic performance assessments and rubrics, and guide you in writing units and lessons using the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements. In addition to Rebecca’s high-quality workshops, you will join a smaller break-out group during the Academy led by facilitators experienced in teaching for proficiency. Hands-on and interactive, the Academy will leave you invigorated and prepared with concrete materials to use in your classroom and program. If you have not attended Proficiency Academy before (regardless of your background experience as a teacher), be sure to sign up for this strand. Come join the Proficiency movement!

Rebecca Blouwolff was born and raised in the Pioneer Valley, where she studied French with an exuberant, immersion-style teacher. She has taught French at Wellesley Middle School in MA since 1998, but fell in love with middle schoolers while serving as a Fulbright teaching scholar at a collège in Saint-Omer, France. Rebecca is a six-time attendee of Proficiency Academy and a two-time facilitator. She earned a B.A. magna cum laude at Brown University, and an M.Ed. at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, 2019 MaFLA and NECTFL Teacher of the Year, and 2020 ACTFL Language Teacher of Year.

Principles of Proficiency: Bringing Your Curriculum to Life in the Language Classroom: Designing Learning Experiences Focused on Growth
Leslie Grahn

Guided by the 2021 Massachusetts World Languages Framework Guided by the 2021 Massachusetts World Languages Framework and their program curriculum, participants will select a focus unit and throughout the academy, they will align and enhance that unit. Using DESE World Languages resources, their efforts will culminate in the design of lesson sequences for the unit that reflect the insights, strategies, and skills they gained.ve gained.

Leslie Grahn has twenty-seven years of language teaching experience at the middle and high school levels and twelve years of experience at the central office level, most recently as Coordinator of World Languages for the Howard County Public School System in Maryland. Leslie has been a course instructor on foreign language teaching methods and differentiated instruction, has led both curriculum and assessment development teams, and is a frequent presenter at state, regional, and national conferences, specializing in best practices. She curates and creates resources to support language teaching and learning and shares them through her website (www.grahnforlang.com) and on Pinterest (grahnforlang). She has experience in teacher and leadership development and leads training on instructional coaching, mentoring, leadership, and communication skills. Leslie is the co-author of The Keys to Strategies for Language Instruction and has served on the boards of NECTFL, NADSFL and ACTFL.

Due to the advanced nature of this strand, only returning attendees will be allowed to register. Anyone who has not previously attended Proficiency Academy should register for the Foundations strand.

Pricing

YOU MUST BE A MAFLA MEMBER TO ATTEND SO KEEP YOUR MEMBERSHIP UP TO DATE.

Please contact the MAFLA Programming Coordinator and Proficiency Academy Director, Catherine Ritz, at maflacatherine@gmail.com with questions.

MAFLA accepts POs for this event. School systems must be pre-approved before authorization can be granted. In order to receive authorization to use a Purchase Order you (or your department chair, administrator, central office) must submit the form in the link below. PLEASE NOTE: All POs must include the full name of each individual included, the Strand in which that participant will be registered, housing, if included, and graduate credits, if included.