Part Two: The Cycles of Instruction and Assessment Welcome to Part Two of this book! This section comprises the meat and potatoes, day-by-day, session-bysession guide to the school year. So far I’ve talked about the foundational ideas upon which I have based the upcoming section, in which we find the main content, the mojo, of this book. This part will lead you through 31 instructional sessions, four End-of-the-Year projects and celebrations, and three summative portfolio assessment sessions (in the Appendices), aligned to the three cycles in the “Foundations” instructional sequence. In these sessions, you will find the practical steps to make these ideas come to life in your classroom every day. In the first part of this book, I have given a brief overview of the Guided Oral Input strategies and some of the activities that extend and reinforce the language and content that you will present during the Guided Oral Input portion of the daily lesson framework. I will now present to you - in much, much greater depth how to implement those activities, one after the other, to build a year of instruction. The year is organized into three cycles that each last about six to eight weeks. Each cycle comprises five to seven weeks of instruction, followed by portfolio assessments that take about a week (two to three block classes or four to five shorter classes) that closely aligns to the instruction conducted during the preceding weeks. For example, in Cycle One, Description, your portfolio assessments will ask students to read and listen to descriptions, and write (and perhaps also speak) to give descriptions. In the following sessions, we will work through each cycle, and the selected instructional strategies that I have chosen for you, and then after the sessions on that cycle, you will find an assessment session in the Appendices that provides you with materials you could use or adapt for the portfolio for the cycle. I am so pleased to be able to share with you my recipe for a fun-filled, language-filled year, and help you ease your way into Stepping Stones, which is truly a groundbreaking approach to structuring a language course. I certainly hope that you enjoy using it as much as I have enjoyed developing and writing about it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the trust you have invested in me, and in my guidance this year. It’s now time to get the show on the road. Buckle up, and let’s go!
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