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Reflections of Student Understanding Travel journals are student-created "textbooks." Normal Park calls them travel journals because they chart the journey of students' learning. They are a great way for students to take ownership of their learning. Every student creates one, and every travel journal is unique to the student. Travel journals are a collection of the work students do for their science or social studies module. Teachers use travel journals on a daily basis; students create work and then add it to their journal throughout the quarter. Journals include writing and reflection pieces, graphic organizers, timelines, charts, drawings, diagrams, vocabulary, maps, pictures, and anything else that reflects students' learning and understanding of the module topic. Teachers also photocopy relevant articles and have students place those in their journals. During the course of one year, a student will create four journals for four different modules. Students take the journals home at the end of each quarter. Students love to show them off to their parents and keep them as a record of what they learned.

You need a portfolio for two reasons: to reflect well and look good. Reflection Selecting work to go into a portfolio is a metacognitive process that requires you to compare what you have actually accomplished with the desired end. I would like students to do this more frequently than the end of each grading period, and I plan to make portfolio updating at least a biweekly process. To this end, I've created a whole page within my newly revamped site template for this reflective process (hint: this should also be a gold mine for Assessment of Student Work "time lapse artifacts" for me to show my fitness as an educator). I want students to see their progress in stages.

See also poster of reflection comments: http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el201811_takeaways.pdf

Driving Question: How can student voice and choice enrich language learning? Recent articles in publications like The Atlantic and The Hill highlight what many describe as a dismal state of language learning in the United States. Both pieces speak to the largely ineffective outcomes of language study, since so few language learners achieve a meaningful level of proficiency, even after years of study. Contributing to the state of language discussion, a recent ACTFL study shows that fewer students are pursuing language study. What seems like a lack of serious commitment to improve outcomes in the U.S. also reflects a long-standing cultural attitude that language learning isn't a worthwhile endeavor.

The framework for building Global Competency in our WL courses. Developed through an extensive process of consultation, the Department has established its first-ever fully articulated international strategy for 2012-2016. The strategy is designed to simultaneously advance two strategic goals: strengthening U.S. education and advancing our nation's international priorities. The strategy reflects the value and necessity of: A world-class education for all students; Global competencies for all students; International benchmarking and applying lessons learned from other countries; and Education diplomacy and engagement with other countries.

Good reflection by Andrew Miller

At any given moment, the disciplines represent the most well-honed efforts of human beings to approach questions and concerns of importance in a systematic and reliable way. (Howard Gardner, The Disciplined Mind, p. 144)

What they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four and three, and two, and one. (Sandra Cisneros, "Eleven," from The House on Mango Street)