
Volume 41 Number 3
In this issue: Trends in Teacher Evaluation and Standardized Testing and the Art of Teaching In Pursuit of Motivational Strategies that Enhance Independent Learning Reframing Peer Review in the ESL Writing Classroom I Feel, Therefore I am: Exercising the Emotional Brain Teaching Tip: Five Easy Kinesthetic Activities for Adults Teaching Tip: Is Technology a Help or a Hindrance? Convention Proposals and Registration Open February 28 - March 1, 2014 Celebrate the 40th anniversary of our state-wide convention! Also, we're looking for all of you past ITBE Presidents and Convention Chairs. read more... Elementary Poetry and K-12 Writing Contests 2013-2014 10^th Anniversary This is a great opportunity for your students to let their creativity shine, communicate powerfully in the English language, and express the importance of their own culture/cultural experiences. Sponsoring teachers will receive free membership to ITBE for one year and a letter of recognition will be sent to their principals. read more... Poetry Contest Winning Entries, 2013 See the winning entries of the 2013 Elementary Poetry Contest, sponsored by the ITBE Elementary Education Special Interest Group. read more... ITBE Members in the News Shirley DeMichele's (College of Lake County) presentation from this past ITBE convention, has been selected as a Best of Affiliates session at the TESOL 2014 International Convention and English Language Expo. read more... *Write for The Link!* Submission deadline for the next issue is December 31. We're looking for feature articles, teaching tips, and book/material reviews. See our submission guidelines for more information, or contact the editor, Heather Torrie, at news@itbe.org.	Trends in Teacher Evaluation and Standardized Testing and the Art of Teaching Debbie Sternecky Would it be logical to evaluate an artist by the efficiency with which she organizes her studio or by how connected she is to the art community? Most definitely not. There is a parallel to the art world when trying to quantify teaching effectiveness. Evaluation systems which claim to measure teacher effectiveness in a non-biased way are being thrust upon educators at an increasing rate. read more... In Pursuit of Motivational Strategies that Enhance Independent Learning Michael E. Canning, Cheri Pierson, Ryan Schultz Drawing from a personal account that highlights the learning environment and strategies used by his teachers to enhance his motivation toward becoming proficient in Hebrew, we provide a working definition of motivation in language learning, recommend questions to determine our students’ motivations, and describe three effective motivational teaching strategies. read more... Reframing Peer Review in the ESL Writing Classroom Jessica Madsen In a process-oriented writing course, peer review, an activity in which students read and evaluate each other’s writing, is a valuable tool for improving literacy skills and critical thinking. Ideally, students benefit not only from receiving feedback on their papers, but perhaps even more so from reviewing their classmates’ writing. read more... I Feel, Therefore I am: Exercising the Emotional Brain Patrick T. Randolph This article is the third in a multi-article series based on “What Every Teacher Needs to Know About the Brain,” a presentation given at the 2013 ITBE Convention in Lisle, IL. read more... Teaching Tip: Five Easy Kinesthetic Activities for Adults Theresa Bries Twenty to thirty percent of the learners in my high intermediate-advanced class self-identified their strongest learning style as kinesthetic. However, activities that engage adult bodies and brains require consideration of age appropriateness and student willingness to participate. read more... Teaching Tip: Is Technology a Help or a Hindrance? Barb Gomez Are we really advancing our children in the classroom with the use of tablets, the Internet and “the Cloud?” Is the use of the “tablet” or the iPad a help or a hindrance? Is there adequate training for our teachers prior to using them in the classroom? read more...
ITBE Link - Fall 2013 - Volume 41 Number 3