A repost from years ago from Bryce, who as usual helps us all build confidence in all aspects of our teaching with comprehensible input in his uniquely positive way. In addition, he reminds us about those “have not” kids who, in our CI classrooms, can be “have” kids, which is the entire point of what we do, right?
Ben,
I did some real good work at parent-teacher conferences the last few nights. The weather was pleasant, the sky was light and we had a good turn out in my little town. But my conferences often wound up being more like counseling than reporting on student performance. Families have so many problems now days: layoffs, homelessness, family breakups, single parents, inadequate housing, disconnected kids. I did a lot of listening to parents and then a few questions and more listening to kids. Here is the general template I tended to follow when talking directly to kids in the presence of their parents and it really worked well last night:
– What is working for you? What am I doing right in this class? (This gets them started on a good footing and helps to establish rapport)
– What could I do better? What do I need to work on? (This shows my openness and vulnerability, and also slyly sets them up for the next question)
– What could you be doing better? (I have already demonstrated my willingness to listen and change and they can now honorably do no less)
– What are you doing right? What do you like about the class? (We do not always get to this one, but I save it to end on a positive note, if need be.)
A couple of conferences got smacked out of the ball park. One boy stands out. He said his grade in my class of 82% was his highest grade and that Spanish was his favorite and best class. This kid is not an academic superstar, but he does have a unique ability to try and to dive into class stories and chats unabashedly. He has no inhibitions when it comes to acting or answering in Spanish. He is what Susie Gross would call a “sparkle student” and I can see how he could be real trouble in more stringent academic settings. He would have an F- in a traditional grammar based class. I told his parents that I predict that within 3 to 4 years he will be speaking Spanish better than most of his current classmates. His mom and dad were absolutely beaming. Their most academically unsuccessful progeny was brilliant and appreciated in this class. They asked him to speak some Spanish for them. I wanted the student to succeed and I did not want to put him on the spot so I offered to translate for him while he gave a quick summary of the latest novel we have been reading in class (Blaine Ray’s El Viaje Perdido). He used his own words and talked about the parts that he wanted to talk about as I gave my weight to his performance by translating when he stopped to think. He looked like a genius. First time all night. Maybe the first time ever. TPRS worked for that one. It was a good night.
God bless Blaine, Susie, Ben and so many others that keep teaching me how to get this stuff right.