jGR is a way of observing certain non-verbal observable behaviors in our students that align with the national standards, in particular the ACTFL Three Modes of Communication, and in particular among the three modes, the listening skill.
The term “observable non-verbal behaviors” was invented by Barbara Vallejos of Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver, Colorado and is essential to a full understanding of the term. jGR stands for “Jen’s Great Rubric” and was invented by Robert Harrell, myself and Jen Schongalla here on the PLC two years ago, as a result of ongoing discussion here about classroom management and holding children accountable, as well as making sure that our instruction aligns with national standards.
The rubric is essential to the establishment of civility in our classrooms in a world gone mad in which children in many schools lack the simple ability to bring to the class the basic behaviors of respect and attention without which our TPRS instruction cannot happen. Many of us in this group use jGR as a first line of action in bringing proper decorum to our classrooms.
There are three other tools besides JGR that we use as well:
1. The Classroom Rules (happens very often, every day, in the first two or three weeks and then rarely, if you did it right with the laser pointer and a big Greg Stout smile in the beginning weeks of the year.)
2. Ten Minute Deal (see the category) where we give quizzes more than once each class in order to drive the kid’s grade down real fast which prompts the confrontation and the parent contact, all of which must be done in the first month of the year and not put off. (With a class full of sloths just hanging there I would do this every day. It depends on the class and how much of their attention you want.)
3. Bad Boy #4, invented by Grant Boulanger, where you require students who don’t get it to move quickly into conversation with you and their parent via a daily filling out of a quick form of the jGR rubric invented by Grant after class each day.
Here is a link to the actual jGR rubric:
https://benslavic.com/blog/jens-great-rubric-jgr/
(Annick Chen designed a nice colored poster version of the rubric to post in classrooms. As we speak, I am working on making that poster available for download to PLC teachers, but it may take a few more months to get that done. Many at the national conferences saw how pretty it is.)
Here is a link to the jGR category on this site:
https://benslavic.com/blog/category/jgr/
This second link contains numerous crucial articles on the rubric, all of which attest to the power of different aspects of this unique tool to bring us the victory in classroom management.
Some people have wanted to call jGR a mere participation grade, but they seem to have stopped in their protests, and jGR has emerged as a bearer of the national standards in our classrooms. It is actually a weapon, and there is no hyperbole in the use of that term.
Many of us use jGR because we like classrooms with quiet and focused students in them. If you already have that going on in your class, then you don’t need to use jGR.