Jeff Easthon totally gets it and, like so many others right about now, is therefore experiencing pressure from within his building. When you get it and start implementing it in your classroom you become a target. He’s not alone. I think it’s the time of year when traditional teachers see our CI kids having fun so they naturally start wanting to sling mud and show who the alpha gorillas are in the cages. Maybe it comes with the end of summer and the end of the pedagogical fireworks that come with the workshops, which inspire teachers who possess the courage to change. It seems as if the more new energy that warrior teachers bring into their buildings after their summer trainings, the bigger is the reaction to want to shut them down in the name of the old ways. And the beat goes on and on and on, it seems. Anyway, there are little places where the sun actually breaks through and that happened with our Jeff in Illinois, who yesterday received this email from some happy customer parents in his Spanish program:
Hi Mr. Easthon! We just wanted to take a minute to tell you how much our daughter Alyssa is enjoying your class! She took private Spanish for a few years and has learned more in your class in 4 weeks than she did over those years. We have discussed your class and your methods quite a bit as she is super excited about your approach and it’s efficacy. As parents, we are thrilled to have these conversations with our child! She seems to be happy and engaged! Thank you for that!
Please keep doing what you’re doing and know that we truly appreciate everything you do for our daughter!
Thank you,
etc,