CoBaLTT Professional Development Program
The purpose of the CoBaLTT professional development program was to
provide year-long intensive professional development for world language
and immersion teachers on content-based instruction (CBI) and the
use of technology to support CBI in the classroom. Teachers received
graduate credit for their participation in CoBaLTT from the College
of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.
CoBaLTT was designed to help teachers:
- understand the theoretical principles that underlie content-based
curriculum development, teaching strategies, and performance-based
assessment, and see how these principles fit with national
standards.
- understand and internalize the theoretical principles
so that they guide curriculum development and instructional practices.
- build
skills in using technology to create content-based tasks and
activities, and be able to ascertain when and how to best
use technology in their classes.
- understand how performance-based assessment needs
to align with curriculum and instruction;
- learn ways of developing
formative and summative assessments for classroom use that align
with CBI.
- develop skills linking their curriculum and assessment
materials with classroom practice and with national standards.
- gain
hands-on, practical experience utilizing technology to develop
and design tasks that incorporate authentic materials and promote
meaningful communicative interaction in the classroom with CBI.
Each year, from 1999 through 2004, a cohort of language teachers
began the program with a week-long summer institute at the University
of Minnesota. This institute enabled participants to understand
the theoretical principles that link national standards with CBI curriculum
development and CBI teaching strategies, and helped teachers develop
practical skills in creating curriculum with these principles in
mind.
Participants were also exposed to effective uses of technology
to enhance their teaching, motivate their students, and enrich classroom
instruction.
The outline that follows provides an example of the topics included
in the summer institute. In any particular year, the topics might
have changed somewhat depending on the needs and experience of
the participants.
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An Introduction to CBI
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National Standards and CBI
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An Introduction to the CoBaLTT Unit Template
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National Technology Standards
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Curriculum Development for CBI
Developing Objectives for CBI lessons
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Finding and Organizing Web Resources to Support CBI
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Teaching Strategies for CBI
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Making Web-Based Activities
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More Teaching Strategies for CBI and Formative Assessment
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PowerPoint Jeopardy or Making a WebQuest
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Pulling It All Together: Aligning Objectives, Lesson
Activities, and Assessment
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Language Uses of Common Software Applications
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After the week-long
summer institute, participants returned during the academic year
for three 2-day workshops, one
in fall, one in winter, and one in spring. These workshops built on the content
introduced in the summer institute and provided additional professional development,
including new technology applications and information on developing assessments
for CBI. Throughout the program participants made use of the online instructional
modules developed to support the face-to-face instruction.
During the program,
participants worked to create content-based units utilizing an
online template while receiving ongoing feedback and guidance from
CoBaLTT
staff. Staff offered additional feedback via the template between workshops and
at “open-lab” Saturdays made available to participants between scheduled
workshops. Completed units selected by CoBaLTT staff are available to other language
teachers on the CoBaLTT website.
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