Before introducing the keynote speaker, Marty thanked Robert Baerent, outgoing Treasurer, Monica Sasscer, Exhibits Chair, and Carol Bass, Program Chair, and the members of the Board for their work in making this year and this convention a success. The keynote speaker was Tom Welch, formerly of the Kentucky Department of Education and member of the Task Force that developed National Standards in Foreign Language Education. He is a French teacher who served on the Kentucky educational reform board before serving on the National Standards Task Force. Presently a high school principal, Mr. Welch still teaches a class as a matter of principle and insists that his assistant principals do so also. At his school an independent study in foreign languages is available for students who have already completed two years of the language and are continuing it for at least a third year.
Assessment is by portfolio.
It is the end result that is assessed. According to Mr. Welch, networking is important for foreign language teachers. The connections with Crestar Bank are exciting for their possibilities. He advised that we take the essence of our past practices to fertilize our new endeavors. Curriculum adoption used to be writing the table of contents of the textbook one was using.