K writes:
For all inquiring minds: I have good news and bad news. The cumulative test was today. It consisted of 100 or so vocabulary words,and conjugations of ER verbs, avoir, aller, and être. It didn’t go well. My teacher was walking around the room during the test and was surprised by the number of blanks on our papers. So, she stopped the test and we focused on our vocab signs and sounds from the list. I’m not sure if this is good or bad news. I told my teacher that what she did was getting some serious praise with my old teacher’s colleagues and that they had some workshops if she wanted to learn more. [ed. note: great! now she is going to think that was my idea because I think she knows me, because Susie has been to Jeffco so many times, and now she’s thinking that I’m trying to get her to a TPRS workshop. Thanks a lot guys. Who was it?] She said “While the other day was great, I don’t want to learn about a new method because she is more comfortable with this method and it works.” I am totally ok with this because whatever my teacher wants to do is the right thing for her and that’s great. I am not going to push. However…she could change her mind. She also said that she would come see the French stories at lunch sometime soon.
Good news: We had another story at lunch today. This 10th grader who I didn’t know before today was an actor. He said Je a souhaité frites tomberait du ciel. I wish french fries would fall from the sky. The phrase today was to wish . He was playing the part of a boy who wanted to date a girl who really liked French fries. Anyway, his teacher walks by and says that she has never heard him speak so well. She wanted to know who was organizing the stories, I raise my hand . She can’t believe it. This was a teacher who lead me to the special ed room on the first day of school. She wanted to know why he would speak well for me and not as well for her. Ha- personal victory for me!
I have made a lot of new friends over the past few days because of stories- which I really like. The boy who I raced with and never got an educational compliment has been there everyday. We didn’t even know each other before and now we are friends. All from 2 minutes in French class and me waiting for him afterwards. Imagine what the world would be like if people stopped for a short time to comfort others and get to know them. Anytime someone says something bad about themselves or how awful their day has been I make them tell me one good thing. It seems to work. So any time he says he sucks at school I make him tell me what he is good at and one good thing about school. Life is too short to be negative.
[ed. note: I am inclined to agree with K’s statement that the teacher should feel free to use whatever method works for her, but I can’t agree totally. My position is that a teacher should feel free to do that, but not at the expense of the kids….]