The Keys to Strategies for Language Instruction - Paperback

by Leslie Grahn (Author), David McAlpine (Author)

The fourth in the series, this book underscores the importance of the teacher in the learning equation. With an emphasis on the need for instructors to possess a wide variety of strategies, substantial time is devoted to modeling the kind of thinking that skillful instructors employ to decide how learning can best be facilitated. Each chapter includes the opportunity for readers to analyze sample challenging scenarios and think about different ways of addressing them. With a focus on strategies backed by the most current research, this book gives educators powerful ideas to make language instruction meaningful and purposeful.

Author Biography

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. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in French and Education and a Master's degree in Administration and Supervision from Loyola University. Grahn has been a course instructor on foreign language teaching methods and differentiated instruction and frequent presenter at state, regional, and national conferences, specializing in best practices, specifically hands-on, interactive strategies, and facilitates workshops on the topics of student engagement, formative assessment, rigor, and differentiated instruction. Dave McAlpine is Emeritus, Professor of Spanish and Second Language Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He taught Spanish for twelve years at Morning side College (IA) and for 10 years in middle and high schools in Nebraska. McAlpine serves as President of the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association, as Board Chair of the CSCTFL regional, was elected to the ACTFL Board of Directors, chaired the 2010 ACTFL Convention, and served as ACTFL President in 2012. Active in ACTFL for over thirty years, he served on the Foreign Language Annals Editorial Board, chaired several ACTFL Awards committees, and was active in the ACTFL/CAEP process. He served on the writing teams for the 2010 National Board Standards for World Languages and the 2010 Praxis II World Languages Exams. He co-chaired the writing ream for the revised ACTFL/CAEP Program Standards for Teacher Education 2013. He holds a BAL in Spanish from Wayne State College (NE), an MA in Spanish from the Universidad Internacional, Mexico, and a doctorate in Second Language Education from the University of South Dakota.