PROFESSIONAL development

A REFLECTION BY TVS TEACHER IBIZA AGUIRRE

As a member of The Village School faculty, I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in Professional Development programs, made possible through gifts to The Village Fund. These experiences opened the door to priceless ideas and fascinating perspectives that have expanded my skill set and offered educational pathways for me to share with my enthusiastic students.

One of my most cherished experiences was attending the American Council Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Language in Washington, D.C. I participated in multiple sessions, one of the most helpful being “Project Based Language Learning.” This teaching method works successfully by incorporating engaging, driving questions, and scaffolding to align with multiple phases of units, a style we have adopted at TVS.

2021-2022 HIGHLIGHTS IN PROFESSIONAL

Reading

Another appealing technique was “Movie Talk,” an input tool developed by Dr. Ashley Hastings whereby students became engaged by listening to language in a short video or clip. These videos are quite compelling to students! Each video is followed by activities to support and further develop language acquisition.

For five years, I have had the privilege to do what I love and what I feel passionate about, and participating in Professional Development Programs only serves to support that passion. For faculty and staff, the advantages of continual learning, whether math, English, or the latest foreign language strategies, enables us to become wiser in the classroom, better able to engage students in an environment that empowers, excites, and inspires.

Development At Tvs

Workshops led by the Florida Council of Independent Schools for the entire faculty.

Intensive training from Newline on maximizing the use of our classroom touchscreens and smart boards.