Upper School Spanish teacher Crystal Brim's article "The Learner -- Engaged and Empowered: How to Create an Authentic and Personal Language Learning Experience" is featured in the August issue of The Language Educator, published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (To read Brim's full article, please download the PDF by clicking the link underneath her photo.)
In her article, Brim shares techniques and resources she has used to create an authentic, personal learning experience for her students -- what she calls "a learning community based on meaning-bearing communication, demonstrated in skill-based performance."
"What is the first thing teachers can do to create a learning community of opportunities?" she writes. "They can dethrone themselves from the physical position of all-knowing transmitter and verifer of information."
According to Brim, the first step in shifting the implicit socialization of defined roles and tasks for the classroom is ensuring that the classroom space itself is conducive to creating community and collaboration. She talks about when she first came to Darlington and saw that her new classroom contained several long tables facing the front of the room, where a lectern stood in its central and authoritative place.
"Oh no, this won’t do, I said to myself. How could the students get up and regroup for conversation or activities incorporating Multiple Intelligences theory?" Brim writes. "I promptly moved those big heavy tables and queenly lectern to the hall, replacing them with individual desks to form what I call 'pods.' Twenty-first century learners are social networkers and learn well through constructive and collective activities. Groups of three form one pod where conversation can flow as one student must 'push in' to join the other two. ...With my class composed of conversation pods, I have the space to move among them and serve as a guide and mentor to their learning."
She goes on to share very specific methods and exercises she uses with her students at the start of each year to set the tone for the type of classroom environment she is seeking to create.
"In addition to reimaging the physical space, I know that I must establish and present a clear vision for our learning community concerning classroom management, student achievement, and my effectiveness as a guide and mentor," Brim writes. "In the first days of school, I have established an environment of opportunities: instructor as guide in the learning process and a skills-based, goal-oriented, individual learning experience for students. My objective for the rest of the year is to facilitate the exchange of ideas within our learning community.
"Meaning-bearing communication is essential to encourage the exchange of ideas and student motivation," she continues. "I see evidence of knowledge and skill retention when communication and assessment are centered on ideas relevant to my students’ own lives and connected to Common Core content. When something is relevant and means something to us, we have a better chance of remembering it."
Since her article was published, Brim has received emails from educators across the country who are looking to implement similar 21st Century teaching techniques into their classrooms. "I think it is neat that we educators at Darlington can connect with our colleagues across the country to help and collaborate with them," she said.
Brim has taught Spanish at Darlington since 2012. She holds a B.A. in Spanish Education from Campbell University and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Indiana University. She also holds a certificate from the University Honors Program in Foreign Languages in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and served as chairperson of the world languages and ESL department at The Ross School in East Hampton, N.Y.
