This report from Bob was written mid-week last week. I should post reports from the field sooner, I think, so that they are more current. I can just bump them up in the queue.
My experience here mid-week seems to be a good place and set of circumstances to report simply because I would be grateful to hear something like this.
We are in our 6th week of school and, as I say, it’s a run-away train, but I’m aboard.
The last two days, I have just been exhausted. Not sure why, except that getting up early enough to be on my feet and coherent at 7:30 AM takes its toll on me. Yesterday and today I had planned one word image kinds of work to do with my Latin 1’s and 2’s. Yesterday, while it was just okay in some classes, it just didn’t work in others. So, in addition to being exhausted and not feeling well, I went home feeling really deflated. I didn’t feel like I had done well by my students that day, and I had no prospects for doing any better today.
I woke up again this morning not feeling well and exhausted. I was dreading school, and I hate feeling that way. Yesterday, I had spent my time before school writing out various directions that the one word images might have gone. As I said, what I did was just okay in some classes and not okay in others. This morning, I decided that trying to write out possible directions was a mistake. I am more confident in my ability to speak Latin and take on any direction that it needs to go than writing a script necessitates. So, I decided to give that up and just come to work and try to be with my students and these 4 new words in a “one word image” session. I have one more class, and it will go however it will go, but so far today, each class has been very different, and they have gone very well. We’ve had lots of fun, and I am clear that the kids know the words we were working, that they used our classroom culture to get what they needed from me. And, I used that same classroom culture to make sure that I could do what I needed to do for them.
A couple of observations:
1. The obvious. I have to tend to my sleeping and “doing” a little better. It’s only the 6th week. 30 more to go, and I cannot be this exhausted that long.
2. I decided to re-read Ben’s description of one word image work again, and somehow the whole attempt at writing out scripted possibilities really interfered with taking a word, preferably a noun, and simply explorig it for all it’s worth with a class. That’s all I did today, and it was just so powerful.
3. Taking some cues from the current discussion going on with John, David and Ben on the PLC, I decided this morning that I would stop teaching whenever I found someone not observing our classroom rules. When a head went down, I said gently but firmly to the student (after inquiring as to whether he was sick): “Andy, I will stop teaching every time you put your head down or lean on your hand.” I only had to say it once. I was prepared to stop every time. I didn’t have to any more. The class took care of Andy. Every time he even looked like he was going down, they snapped him back up. It was wonderful. I made two of those students at the end of the class the “test” for whether we were ready to move on. I asked them a series of questions about our discussion–all in Latin. They got them right, perfectly, and the class applauded. Exactly what they needed–some peer scolding when they tried to sleep and some peer applause because, damn it, staying awake makes a huge difference in what you can do!
4. I conclude from yesterday and today that my worst day teaching in a CI classroom is better than my best days before. So, I’m going to have what I consider to be crappy days. And that’s okay. And, they don’t need to matter to me so much. Teaching this way is working for everyone in the room. That’s what matters. And, when I have days that make me dance and sing and laugh with my kids, I can enjoy the high of that, too.
That’s it. Last class for this Wednesday about to walk in.
Bob