An Update from your Professional Development Committee

Alexis Blum, OFLA Professional Development Chair
Spanish Teacher, Wapakoneta High School

Welcome back, OFLA! I hope your school year is off to a great start. OFLA has been busy planning some great professional development opportunities for you this year. We are excited to share the following collaborative cohorts: 

Engage and Elevate: Building Resilient Learning Environments 

In this monthly webinar series, we will meet to discuss, plan, and collaborate with teachers all over Ohio on the challenges and triumphs of teaching today. These meetings, held virtually, will cover a range of topics, including (but not limited to) engagement in the classroom, addressing student needs, chronic absenteeism, cultural differences in the classroom, and more. This cohort will develop a plan of topics to fit the needs of the group; topics will be discussed and decided as the year progresses. All meetings will be virtual. Conversation and collaboration is encouraged for these meetups.

Leadership Academy

Our Leadership Academy is open to all world language educators who are seeking leadership training, who have found themselves in a new leadership role, or who are wanting to learn more about educational leadership. Our monthly meetings will focus on pillars of leadership and advocacy for world language education. Are you new to a leadership role in your district? Mentoring a new world language teacher? New to a department chair role? This is the right place for you! All meetings will be virtual, except for the first meeting and the last meeting. The first meeting took place at the Fall Mini Conference on October 5th, and the last meeting will take place in April at our annual Spring Conference. 

In addition to these cohorts, we are excited to share that we will be providing workshops throughout the year on the following topics: 
History and Culture 
AI Technology in the Classroom 
Games and Engagement 
Assessment in the World Language Classroom 

Last, but not least, please plan now to join us for our Spring Conference! Held at the beautiful Columbus State Community College, we will have a wide variety of sessions and workshops to meet your professional development needs. We’ll see you in April! 

Look for information on these webinars soon! Information about these webinars will be posted throughout the year, three weeks prior to the event date. If you have any questions, please contact me at profdev@ofla-online.org 

Have a happy and healthy fall!