FLAVA 2011 --PLEASE join our group panel on Friday, October 6, 3-3:50pm in the Midlothian Room of the Koger Center Holiday Inn, Midlothian VA.  It is a dialog among new teachers and their teacher trainers about what's working, what needs tweaking, and best practices pre- and in-service to keep VA's language teachers the crème de la crème!  WE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL GUEST JOINING US!! COME FIND OUT WHICH NATIONALLY KNOWN TEACHER ED SCHOLAR IS COMING!!

THE BIG ONE!!!  October 7 & 8, the Koger Center, Richmond VA.

Yes, it is our centennial : FLAVA turns 100 this year and starts the next 100.  The FLAVA Board and the Conference Committee are going all out to make this the most memorable FLAVA conference ever.  If you would like to participate in the events, the brochure will be linked here soon.  Still, don't hesitate to contact Linda Szwabowski , Norah Jones or Kathryn Murphy-Judy to  pitch ideas or just to pitch in.  100 years proves that it is the FLAVA membership that makes us the nation's first language association.

The Foreign Language Teacher Education and Development WIKI

Virginia has great strength in world language education.  Still, language educators face similar issues locally, nationally and internationally.  Those of us who are preparing future teachers and providing continuing education to professionals in the field benefit from sharing our knowledge and resources and communicating about the current and future state of our field.  We spread the wealth by sharing this information with current and future teachers.  This wiki, then, is designed as a Virginia forum to:

• facilitate communication among VA FL teacher trainers

• stay informed about Virginia world language news and changes

• make visible a statewide, up-to-date snapshot of programs and offerings

• list resources available to Virginia teachers and teacher educators

• share knowledge, resources, information

• collaborate horizontally (inter-institutionally) and vertically (K-Ph.D.), locally, regionally, statewide

• have ready access to VA DOE, NCATE, INTASC standards and changes as they impact us

• stay abreast of technological and pedagogical movements and affordances

• learn how to use a wiki for teaching and administering

• other as we deem important.

In these dire economic times, it is critical that we facilitate collaborations and resource sharing.  Let us model here best practices in teacher preparation and professional development for the 21st Century.

A wiki is only as good as the input and participation of its members.  The official members of this wiki who may post and edit are the post-secondary teacher trainers; however, the wiki is open for viewing to all pre-service and in-service teachers.

If a Ning or other communication resources (setting up social bookmarking or twittering, for example) is needed, let us create them.