Fellow ITA Professionals:
I’m pleased to introduce our June 2015 ITAIS
Newsletter. I know it’s been a few months since the TESOL
International Convention and English Language Expo, but it’s been very
present in my mind as I’ve put together this newsletter. One thing I
keep thinking about is how to continue the momentum of sharing ideas and
learning about the different programs and approaches other ITA trainers
are using. The articles for this newsletter all contribute to
continuing conversations that were started in Toronto.
We start off with a great introduction from our new chair, Liz
Tummons, who has written up a letter with the responses to the survey
handed out at our annual business meeting. If you were unable to attend
(or if you’ve forgotten), she asked everyone to answer the following
questions: What is valuable about being in the ITAIS? What would you
like to see change/happen in the ITAIS? If you didn’t get a chance to
respond to those questions in Toronto, feel free to add your comments on
our Listserv or in the comments section.
We also have three interesting articles meant to help generate
ideas for future collaborations and successful classroom practices.
Christopher Garth has written up a modified activity that he uses for
helping ITAs define terms, which he presented at a workshop for the
University of Michigan. Some of us will be familiar with this approach,
but for people new to the ITA field, it’s a chance to learn about a very
practical activity to use with your students. Elise Geither, one of our
new members-at-large, has started a project where she is undertaking a
literature review of publications on ITAs and assessment. As she’s just
started this project, she’s written up a brief summary of some of the
most apparent themes in current research but also where she hopes the
research can go in the future. Last, Patricia Pashby has written up an
interesting activity that she uses to help ITAs develop stronger skills
in classroom management while injecting humor into her class. By using
scenes from films, she gives students chances to assess teaching and
student participation as they go over some of the more challenging
situations they may encounter in the classroom.
I want to wrap up this letter with a call for submissions for
our October newsletter. The deadline for this newsletter will be
September 15, but I want to strongly encourage summer
submissions (I will be on leave for much of the fall). This is
a firm deadline! You know you’ll be too busy in September anyway, so
sending me articles in July or August is most likely easier. Here are
some suggestions for submissions:
- Reviews or summaries of ITA-related presentations or workshops you’ve attended, given, or plan to give
- Articles about classroom activities, innovative approaches, and creative lessons
- Reviews of resources useful to ITA trainers (books, software, films)
- Summaries of research (either completed or in progress) on
issues related to ITA training, assessment, or teaching
This is not an exhaustive list. If you have an idea for an
article, send me an email with your idea and we can see if it will work
for our next issue.
My best to all!
Sarah Emory
ITA-IS Newsletter Editor |