Many of the teachers exploring comprehension based instruction today have to attempt to manage the grand transition from the way they themselves were taught languages in high school and college to working with comprehensible input in their classrooms and at the same time deal with the vibe of the dark lords (yes, there are great administrators who get it, but they are relatively few) who, incredibly, those dark lords find jobs in schools, slipping by the net of human goodness that is supposed to keep them away from our schools.
I don’t think that anyone would disagree that all of us are in a battle of good vs. evil right now. It’s the Tolkien Trilogy. It’s happening in our classrooms in dramatic fashion every day and anyone who thinks it’s business as usual is, in my view, missing the possibilities right now. We can so so much good these days with every failed or successful or average story just because of the intent we have behind it – to at least try! It’s a great time to be a CI teacher!
Should we be proactive to try to balance this dark vibe in our buildings or just run away? Of course we should try. There is the “shut the door and teach” philosophy and many of us do that and no blame, where we let the positive responses we get from our students speak for us and not wear ourselves out casting pearls before swine. But do we take it past our doorway? We must have and exercise our faith in goodness and each respond in our own way in our own building. Each building is different.
Both responses are good. We do have our Primers and our Administrator/Teacher/Parent Re-education category, of course, to save us time when having to defend what we do with people who don’t get it.
As long as we never give up. We can’t let the October Collapse get to us. October and March are the toughest times for any teacher.
How can teachers work in an atmosphere of distrust from uninformed parents, administrators and kids?
Related:
https://benslavic.com/blog/yearly-planning-5-october/