Mentoring, Leadership and Change
July 29 - August 6, 2003

This institute brought together participants of previous NFLRC institutes who have developed expertise in a) action research, b) elementary school foreign language education, c) technology, and/or d) thematic planning to synthesize their knowledge and skills in all four topic areas, to expand their perspectives on initiating and sustaining change, and to acquire research-based techniques for creating effective change through mentoring and leadership.

The goal of this institute was to assist those who have developed expertise in one topic area to refine their skills, to broaden their understanding to include other important components of K-12 foreign language education, to develop their leadership skills, and to enhance their ability to impact the practice of other foreign language educators through effective mentoring strategies.

Participants were informed of their acceptance for the institute by November 4, 2002, so that throughout the following spring, representatives from each of the four topic areas could work together at a distance in order to collaborate in planning a 3-hour workshop on their topic to be presented at the institute. The goal of this presentation was to help their colleagues understand the essence of the topic area and, as a community of leaders and learners, to explore how to effectively mentor others regarding that subject. For example, for the topic of Thematic Planning, participants in the 2003 institute who had demonstrated skill in thematic planning co-taught a half-day workshop on the subject. As a follow-up to the workshop, institute participants examined how the other three institute topics (action research, technology, early foreign language education) enriched and reinforced the thematic planning process. The thematic-planning group lead the other participants through the development of plans for mini-thematic units in order to verify the participants’ understanding and encouraged participants to craft guidelines indicating how they might help future mentees navigate the process of thematic planning. The group also proposed ways in which the profession could be made aware of the benefits of thematic planning for K-12 foreign language education. New and exciting initiatives related to curriculum authoring, collaboration, advocacy, leadership, and mentoring were developed as products of this institute.

2003 Institutes, Day-by-Day photos