Program

What you’ll see at COMPREHENDED!

Check out the Sessions

Gender and Sexuality in the Language Classroom

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

We, as teachers, work our hardest to make complex topics and language comprehensible to our students. For some teachers, the present discourse about genders and sexualities is brand new and - incomprehensible! In this presentation, definitions, clarifications, and suggestions will be provided for creating an inclusive classroom environment for all students. Ideas will be applicable from daily interactions to bigger picture curricular decisions.

Write and Discuss 101

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

Write and Discuss is a powerful literacy activity that transforms any class discussion or experience into a level-appropriate text that you can reuse again and again. So how do you do it? This presentation will show the basic steps for engaging in a Write and Discuss, offer pro tips to make it go more smoothly, and suggest follow up activities that allow you to use the text you co-create to boost your students’ literacy and proficiency.

The ACTFL Proficiency Levels in Your CI Classroom

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez

How are the ACTFL Proficiency (Sub-)Levels different from one another, and how can I apply my knowledge of them to my teaching in the classroom? Learn how to differentiate proficiency sublevels in student writing and speaking, and use CI techniques to boost students up the proficiency ladder.

Talking It Up: Using the Comprehensible Novel to Support Output

Jennifer Degenhardt & Theresa Marrama

We all want our students to speak using the TL, right? Give them engaging content at their level and they will! In this session, authors Theresa Marrama and Jennifer Degenhardt will talk about how to take advantage of all that CI novels have to offer, from FVR to the class naovel. Participants will walk away with concrete activities for classroom use, but more importantly with an understanding of how reading in the WL classroom can open their eyes and their mouths!

Classroom Jobs: Building Community and Gaining Back Your Time

John Sifert

World language teachers are pulled in a thousand different directions by duties, committees, paperwork and just about everything BESIDES actual teaching. Classroom jobs can help you regain some of that missing time, AND help build community in your classroom.

Teachers Empowering Teachers

Lynne Hendrick

Teachers are the experts in the room when we are discussing classroom instruction. How can we support, collaborate, and empower each other? In this session, we will look at Edcamp as a model for teacher-to-teacher training and collaboration. How do you plan an Edcamp? How do you fund an Edcamp? And what do you do at an Edcamp? We will answer these questions and see how we can create free, regional training and professional development while we empower each teacher to be an expert in the room.

Reading Beyond Comprehension Questions

Lynne Hendrick

What can reading become in our classroom? Do students read simply to answer questions or is there a bigger purpose? Together we will explore new ways to show comprehension and a bigger reason to read with our students!

Fostering Community through Language Acquisition

Michele Whaley

In a world that sometimes feels a bit disconnected, how can teachers encourage a cohesive learning community? Join this session to consider key ingredients that help students connect while nurturing language acquisition.

CI Techniques that Will Blow Your Mind!

Scott Benedict

This session is designed for educators eager to break away from traditional methods, featuring creative and dynamic CI strategies. You'll learn how to captivate your students with innovative storytelling and immersive conversation exercises, transforming your classroom into an engaging and lively learning environment. Perfect for teachers seeking fresh, effective ways to spark student enthusiasm and participation in language learning.

Using Generative AI for CI

Maureen Lamb

This presentation will show many ways that teachers can use Generative AI to support CI in the classroom. This will include creating images, creating dialogues in the target language, creating video summaries, creating comprehensible texts in the target language, and more! Some of the Generative AI tools we will explore include Chat GPT, Super Chat, Diffit, Eightify, Dall-E, and more! Teachers will come away with concrete examples of how to use AI to support Comprehensible Input.

Canva and CI: A Perfect Match

Maureen Lamb

This session will explore how teachers can use the free (to educators and students) features in Canva to enhance their CI activities and create more student engagements. We will look at features for creating posters, fliers, storybooks, game boards, menus, brochures, comics, graphic novels, and more! We will also look at the Magic Write AI feature and how it can support and help generate AI activities and prompts, and we will discover how the Magic Media features can generate custom images and videos to support CI activities, projects, and assessments. Participants will come away with ideas and activities that they can use right away in their classes.

Differentiation and CI: Supporting All Learners

Maureen Lamb

This session will explore how teachers can use differentiation strategies to make CI accessible to all students. We will look at strategies beginning with novice language learning and look at differentiated strategies CI engagement and assessments through intermediate and advanced learning strategies. Differentiation will include tiered readings, activity levels and choices, and assessment choice and tiers. Participants will come away with templates and ideas to create their own differentiated CI activities and assessments in the classroom right away.

ClassDojo: Making Classroom Management Fun!

Scott Benedict

Learn how ClassDojo can transform your teaching experience by engaging students with rewards, customizable ClassDojo monsters, and parent interaction features. ClassDojo not only simplifies management but also adds fun to everyday classroom activities with its unique features like timers, random student pickers, and instant feedback sounds. Whether you're a seasoned teacher or new to the profession, this webinar will provide you with the tools to make classroom management enjoyable and effective for both you and your students. Join us to take your classroom management to the next level with ClassDojo. Transform your teaching experience with fun, efficiency, and enhanced student engagement.

Crafting Dynamic Rubrics and Transforming Assessment!

Scott Benedict

This session delves into the transparent, time-saving qualities of rubrics as a teaching tool, distinguishing between analytical and holistic types. Learn the art of creating rubrics, starting from a "proficient" level and scaling to "advanced" and "basic," while understanding the difference between limited and no evidence of learning.

We'll also cover rubrics for listening and reading, defining expectations at various proficiency levels, and for writing and speaking, focusing on the "Three C's": Comprehensibility, Complexity, and Control.

Taking Your Grading to the Next Level!

Scott Benedict

Hello! The 80s called and they want their grading back!

Time to bring your grading to the 21st Century!

Long gone are the times of product-based and norm-based grading.

Students deserve better and there's nothing better than proficiency-based grading.

Learn to use standards as the basis for your grade book so that you can take better action on your grades.

The Immediate Immersion Way: Why Comprehensible Input Works

Scott Benedict

In this session, we will talk about the basics of language acquisition and how these apply to comprehension-based instruction.

The Immediate Immersion Way: Conversations

Scott Benedict

In this session, we will talk about the first pillar of The Immediate Immersion Way— Conversations. We will focus on building student relationships, what to talk about, how to engage students, and how to assess conversations.

The Immediate Immersion Way: Ask-a-Story

Scott Benedict

In this session, we will talk about the second pillar of The Immediate Immersion Way— Asking a Story. We will focus on how to create a character with your students as well as co-creating a compelling plot.

The Immediate Immersion Way: Reading

Scott Benedict

In this session, we will talk about the third pillar of The Immediate Immersion Way— Reading. We will focus on the different types of reading: silent, extended, embedded, and novels and how to read with students for maximum acquisition.

The Immediate Immersion Way: Activities

Scott Benedict

In this session, we will talk about a variety of other activities that you can implement in your comprehension-based classroom to fill your class period and to break up the routine. Things we will talk about include songs, picture talk, movie talk, and some games.

The Immediate Immersion Way: Plan a Lesson

Scott Benedict

In this final session of our Beginning CI series, we will talk about how to put it all together and create an effective comprehension-based lesson plan from the beginning to assessment.

Sessions will be updated once confirmed.