This is a compilation of three emails that I got from Diane. If you are a middle school teacher trying to implement comprehension based instruction in your classroom, it is worth the long read:
Email #1:
Hi Ben,
Can you post something about my situation on the blog? I really feel a need for wisdom and power to work through a difficult class: my 7th graders. I am frustrated.
I teach sections of 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. All of those classes “get it” except for the 7th graders. The other classes are going quite well, kids are enjoying themselves, they can handle stories and acting, and I’m seeing gains in their comprehension (and emerging output) compared to years past. They are creative and fun. When a child or two goes outside expected jGR behavior (which usually means talking in English off-task), I can remind them (with a hand held up with the number of the behavior in my version of jGR) and they either get back on, or I send them out of the room next time with a workbook section to do for a few minutes. So things are going well with the others.
The 7th grade class, though, has been a minor hell. They were not a great class last year (pre-TPRS) either, but it’s worse now that I’m expecting them to respond communicatively. Here are the problems:
– Poor listening. I have to repeat things (not just language input: directions, information) multiple times – not just Chinese, it’s an English problem, too. They are not good at hearing and attending to oral communication. Almost as if half the class has severe, undiagnosed ADD/ADHD.
– Talking over others, me and classmates. Enough that I expect I lose about 5-10 minutes of class time per DAY as I wait or deal with sending kids out of the room.
– Poor level of response to circling questions. I do not have this problem with any other class, so I tend to think it’s the 7th graders more than it is me at this point. I get 2-3 respondents and a lot of silence most days. I have directly talked about this with them multiple times. I have slowed down, pointed and paused. We have students translate questions I’m asking to clarify at times. Still a low response rate after that. So sometimes there are comprehension problems, but I also think they are not willing to do the rigorous work of listening with the intent to understand.
– Bad attitudes. I hear that some of my 7th grade students are talking about how boring Chinese is. (Because I won’t let them run over my plans for CI input during class, perhaps? Because I won’t let them draw the attention of the room to themselves? Because I actually expect them to listen, think, and respond throughout class? Hmm. I can say that the textbook exercises I was doing with them last year weren’t more fun – but they got away with more off-task English conversations then. Hmm.)
There are kids in there who want to learn but they are (mostly) quiet by personality. The loud personalities are ones who have the bad attitudes, habitually talk over, don’t listen well, etc. I have 3 kids really living up to jGR expectations right now. The others know their grades are lower and they seem bothered by that, but not enough to change their attitudes.
I consider doing what I did with my 8th graders last month which really helped that class. I showed them a couple minutes of a DPS teacher (Mike Mallaney) and how his class was going. We talked about what the kids were and were not doing. They were listening, watching the action, answering together in the target language, and actors were calm with a little bit of ham. It seems to have helped the 8th graders because I’ve never had to deal with general silence or general pandemonium since then. They seem to have got it & they know how to play the game. I really want my 7th graders to get it. I don’t like this level of stress and frustration!
Thank you.
Diane
Email #2:
Further update:
I talked with this class all period today instead of trying to do any content. It begun with my saying that I am not willing for their class to continue as it was yesterday. They began raising their hands (wow, and hardly talking over each other – or at least they’d stop if asked). I showed them the ACTFL 90% guide and why I was doing what I have been doing in their class. They at least heard me say that becoming fluent in a language means getting lots of input: listening and written input.
Their complaints: – Some of them hate jGR. One “loses hope” because of it. I mentioned they could change their behavior. – Some of them hate stories. – They had a variety of other complaints, but mainly were “more variety in class” and “more competition and games” (which I told them why I took away – they weren’t listening to directions, shouted and talked over each other, and made life unpleasant for me. They think that is having fun.) – They don’t like to answer comprehension check questions. They think I repeat too much. But they won’t answer. – They want to make up their own skits and write more, and make videos of their output. (Often, their writing has been dropped from my plans b/c they had such deplorable engagement in class that everything took too long. No responses, crabby responses, etc.)
A couple of their minor points I think I can accommodate, but some of them want to do book exercises in class instead of stories. That’s where I begin to think no compromise can be made. At least the tone of the class period was much less adversarial from them than yesterday. I can at least say I listened to them. They did agree that the workbook homework sucked!
I’m still not sure where to go with this group.
Email #3:
Hi Ben,
I have done some praying and processing, by typing, about my mostly-lousy 7th graders. I now feel talking with them on Friday was good. I found posts about Robert’s way of dealing with uncooperative kids with the silent, calm thing and I know I could not come close to pulling that off. I am too frustrated and the kids are too vocal. I got to know specifically what their beef is and why they are constantly fighting me in class. Mostly for bad reasons, but a few I can address. So anyway, the weekend has given me a couple days to consider how to begin again with them on Monday. I typed up a big document which I probably will only refer to a little bit in class Monday, but it gives me the fortitude to face them again. It includes what I’ll allow from their complaints, some info on how research shows it is through lots of input we acquire language, not through early output, and what they need to accept and enjoy about how class will be. These kids whined and complained the first quarter of last year, too, when I was not always teaching with CI as the goal. I am getting ready to hold the line, write to their parents, and call them on their bad attitude (that is, continue to drop their jGR grade if they won’t change). It really does feel like a war with them but I am determined to win. I actually began to feel cheerful about that this afternoon and the stress is lower. Anyway, publish my “Report from the Field” or not – whatever you think. I don’t feel as desperate as I did a couple days ago though.
