We Teach Languages Episode 148: The Role of the Teacher and the PD Facilitator with Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins

In episode 148, Stacey sits down with Maris Hawkins and Florencia Henshaw to dig into the role of the teacher in the language classroom and the facilitator in professional development. What is the teacher or leader supposed to do? How does the facilitator ensure learning happens? What is our job? Dig into these topics with Maris, Florencia, and Stacey, and then be part of the conversation by connecting with us over Twitter or Facebook.

Or listen on iTunes/the Apple podcast app, on the Google Podcast app, or on Stitcher!

Show Notes

We welcome feedback, resources, and diverse perspectives on this topic! To contribute to the conversation started here, leave us a voicemail or send a text message to (629)888-3398. Or you can follow us on Twitter @weteachlang or use this contact form to send us an email.

Florencia Henshaw has a PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she is now the Director of Advanced Spanish. Florencia has published and presented nationally and internationally on technology integration, heritage language instruction, and research-based pedagogical practices. To learn more about her work, visit the “Presentations & Publications” section of her website: https://go.illinois.edu/tltl. Florencia is also a certified ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview tester, an AP Spanish Language & Culture reader, an AAPPL rater, the author of two Spanish textbooks, an Editorial Board member of FLTMAG (https://fltmag.com/), and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. In 2018, she received the “Excellence in Language Instruction” Award within the School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics. You can reach her on Twitter (@Prof_F_Henshaw), by email (henshaw2@illinois.edu), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhenshaw/) or in one of her Facebook groups (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TechforLTL, or www.facebook.com/groups/spanishinhighered/) You can also hear more from Florencia in her previous WTL episode.

 Maris Hawkins is our News & Updates Coordinator. In that roles, she curates feedback from listeners on social media and keeps up with our past guests’ accomplishments so that we can publish them on our Facebook page or in the Midweek News & Updates that comes out every Wednesday. Maris is responsible for much of the content in the Midweek News & Updates Issues and on our Facebook page.

Maris is lower and middle school Spanish teacher at Capitol Hill Day School in Washington, DC. She has a BA in Spanish and art history and a MT in Teaching Foreign Language from the University of Virginia. She is interested in proficiency based foreign language teaching, and has taught Spanish at all levels from elementary school through high school. She has presented at VAIS Technology conference and has talked about arts integration in the classroom through the Kennedy’s Center VSA program. In addition, she has presented about technology tools to use in a proficiency based foreign language classroom at NECTFL and GWATFL. Maris is not just a podcast volunteer, she is also a past guest. Check out episode 31 or her Twitter feed to hear more about Maris’ classroom!

The discussion in this episode was a response to Florencia’s recent keynote for the 2021 MALT Colloquium entitled “Separating facts from fads: Research informed pedagogy to foster proficiency development.” You can watch the entire, excellent presentation here: https://app.vidgrid.com/view/LqiYanVr57G9/?sr=fZIp2k

If you want to cite this episode, our suggested APA reference is:

Johnson, S.M. (Interviewer/Producer). (2021, March 19). The Role of the Teacher and the PD Facilitator with Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins (No. 148) [Audio podcast episode]. https://weteachlang.com/2021/03/19/148/