Q. The word is out that Tina has something better than jGR/mGR and the other (already great) assessment rubrics that originated on this site and that align CI so well with the ACTFL Three Modes of Communication. This is very big news. Udo asked when that new document (actually two of them, one is a CI Scope and Sequence and one is a CI assessment rubric that kind of supplants jGR. My answer to Udo’s question is below.
A. Udo those docs are still being formulated, getting ready to be trotted out at our summer workshops. I think that once we get through the summer we will have time to settle in and straighten them all out for formal publication sometime in the fall. Last summer Tina and I started out in San Francisco and then after doing some summer workshops on the West Coast we had learned a ton about the Invisibles from the teachers we worked with, and so I am certain that it will be the same way this year. I personally cannot wait to put a big sharp scythe to the head of the witch that has bothered us for so long (since it all started) of always being challenged by ignorant people in our buildings on the topic of how CI aligns with the curriculum, how it meets Scope and Sequence demands and how it aligns with their own very limited assessment methods. Those folks need a big academic punch in the face and I believe Tina is the one to do it on those topics. She is a one woman wrecking crew on stupidity in this profession, and there is a lot of it out there right now. I am happy how this summer we in CI Liftoff will be doing things that won’t be happening in the other national conferences: the new assessment piece, the brand new curriculum alignment piece by Tina and the big one in general, non-targeted instruction, not to mention the equity piece there in Portland. I’d say that we’ll have this all up and running on the teachable.com Bite Size Book pages for CI Liftoff by October. We need the input of the teachers we will be working with this summer to get it all straight. (We cannot possible release a new document in such a difficult area without talking to teachers first!) We also are cranking out Bite Size Books on lots of topics right now so it is a heavy work schedule as we move into June. I wouldn’t have it any way. But I’m taking my boys to a Rockies game today vs. Seattle. Thought I’d throw that in.