I got this from John today:
Ben,
My Latin Best Practices list is currently being flooded with discussions of strategies for effective group work–it’s as if many of them have just discovered this phenomenon of “student centered collaborative learning” that you hear a lot of in credential programs–which generally don’t distinguish language techniques from those used in other subjects. I chimed in that I have become wary of the old practice of having students read a script in groups because they often just go through the motions and in the first year are not in a position to help each other. Also, that giving students comprehensible input in the beginning might need to be more (gasp!) teacher centered. No response.
I remember there being a discussion (perhaps from Drew?) of reconciling CI with very structured collaborative learning and technological requirements. Could you re-post this link, and/or suggest where collaboration/output might have a place in a mostly-CI curriculum?
John
I responded:
That discussion here was in May and June and centered around the singular challenge that Lori F. is facing this fall, that of delivering CI in a school building where collaborative work and technology form the central focus of the curriculum.
We were going to follow her trek this year through this obviously difficult forest, since CI, as you imply John, must be delivered in a teacher focused classroom and there is nothing wrong and everything right about that, especially at earlier levels.
Here is the link to the discussion with Lori:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/05/13/lori-fiechter/