CSCTFL 2016 - A few days away

Program cover - CSCTFL 2016

It is only a few days until CSCTFL16!  Last year during CSCTFL15, I read tweets from teachers at the sessions, saw photos of attendees as they strengthened friendships and met new colleagues for the first time, and read blog posts describing the huge benefits of attending this regional conference. With each tweet, photo, or blog post that I read, my disappointment and regret of not attending the conference in Minneapolis grew. 
 
Then I read that in 2016 CSCTFL was going to take place in Columbus, Ohio.  I immediately put it on my wish list of conferences to attend and I set to work to write two session proposals. Imagine how excited I was to receive a congratulatory email stating that my proposals were accepted!

So many (great) sessions, so little time
Click HERE to access the lengthy list of incredible sessions available for the 3-day conference. How can that many great sessions be offered over such a short period of time???

When the conference schedule was first published, (months ago), I read through the l-o-n-g list of sessions and made a schedule of priority sessions to attend. (Click here to see my tentative list of priority sessions. I'm sure I'll be adding a few more possibilities on the 6-hour drive to Columbus.)  

Click here for a list of sessions on Grant Boulanger's blog, offered by the #langchat moderators.

If there is a downfall to this year's conference, it is that there are several sessions that I REALLY would like to attend but they occur at the same time, or they occur when I am presenting. My game plan: Divide and conquer. Basically, I am hoping to find friends that are also torn about which sessions to attend, then we'll attend different sessions and regroup to share the insights from the sessions we attended. 

Two sessions I know for sure that I will attend:
As luck would have it, both times I am presenting there are other sessions I wish I could attend. Since I haven't figured out the whole cloning aspect, I going to have to rely on tweets and blogs to friends to share what is happening in those sessions.

A short description of the two sessions that I will be presenting are:

1. On Friday from 5:00-6:00, my colleague, Krista Kovalchick, a French and Latin teacher that teaches next door to be a Palmyra Area High School, and I will be presenting on "Breathe Life into Reading to Increase Student Engagement and Comprehension".  Reading is a powerful tool in the WL classroom and our presentation includes various examples on how to increase student engagement with fun and interactive reading activities. We included several videos from our classrooms so you can see the level of student engagement during those activties.

2. The following day, Saturday, from 9:30-10:30, I am flying solo on my second presentation entitled, "Integrating Apps and Tech Tools into a 90%+ TL Classroom". The emphasis is on using apps and websites that provide ADDED VALUE to a WL classroom. I enjoy experimenting with technology and new and improved apps, but the bottom line is if the app or tech steals time from the class instead of providing ADDED VALUE, it doesn't pass the test for my classroom.   

If you are planning to attend CSCTFL this week, Krista and I would be honored to share with you what is happening in our classrooms, as well as learn from YOU what is successful in your classroom.
 

I don't think it is too early to say THANK YOU to the organizers and those that are working behind the scenes to make this three-day professional development opportunity a reality. I repeat: I am looking forward to attending many informative sessions and learning from outstanding world language teachers in the Central State Conference area and beyond!