Secondary DLI Materials Use Self-Reflection Tool

CARLA has developed a self-reflection tool as a resource to help you understand yourself as a user of secondary DLI curriculum materials. 

Secondary dual language immersion (DLI) teachers need to be constantly planning for—and reading materials for—both content and language, and this tool will guide you in considering your own skills and areas of growth for finding that balance. This tool is also beneficial to instructional coaches or program coordinators to use in professional learning communities or coaching cycles with secondary DLI teachers. 

This self-reflection tool is grounded in the theory that there is a participatory relationship between teachers and materials during the planning and teaching process (Remillard, 2011). For example, when a teacher picks up and reads a curriculum or instructional material, they do so with a specific attitude, either conscious or subconscious, that influences and focuses their attention. In addition, materials can provide teachers with certain cues–like bolded text or notes in the margin–that indicate what might be most important when teaching a given lesson. 

Using this self-reflection tool while you explore a material for classroom use will help you notice and reflect on your own instructional priorities, especially in relation to content and language integration. You will also be guided to critically consider whether or not the material supports you in teaching language, and what additional supports you might need to be comfortable and effective at integrating language within content instruction. 

Download a copy of the tool 

Licensing

The self-reflection tool has a CC-BY-NC-SA license, meaning that you can use, copy, adapt, and share it as long as you give appropriate attribution, share it using the same or similar license, and don’t use it for commercial purposes. This flexibility in the licensing of the tool allows you to personalize the self-reflection tool to meet your needs or those of your colleagues. 

Bibliography

Remillard, J. T. (2011). Modes of engagement: Understanding teachers’ transactions with mathematics curriculum resources. In G. Gueudet, B. Pepin, & L. Trouche (Eds.), From text to “lived” resources (pp. 105–122). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1966-8_6