Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Report from the Field – Bob Patrick – 1
Share:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Ben Slavic
Get The Latest Updates
Subscribe to Our Mailing List
No spam, notifications only about new products, updates.
Related Posts
CI and the Research (cont.)
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Research Question
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
We Have the Research
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
6 thoughts on “Report from the Field – Bob Patrick – 1”
And that guy (Christopher McCandless) graduated from Emory so that hit that kid double hard I bet. I think we are just community servants, is what we are. We do so much more that nobody ever notices. We are certainly not mere delivers-of-instructioanal-services, that’s for sure.
Having CI certainly reduces the chance that we are perceived by the kids as boring. They could care less about methodologies. They only notice two things – whether their teacher cares about them or not. I wish I had all the years back when I thought I could fool them by acting the role of a “good teacher”. They sure didn’t go for that. I had to show the interest in them, is what it was. But I didn’t know how then.
Oh well, only a quarter century of teaching to get that one. Nice one, God. Oh well, I guess He knows what He is doing. It could have been never that I heard about Susan Gross and Krashen. I can’t imagine that, though. Ugh. Makes my head hurt thinking about it.
One comment on the greetings. I have written aggressively against the teaching of greetings to start the year here:
https://benslavic.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=10792&action=edit
What Bob is doing, however, is not what I mean. Bob is using simple sounds repeated a ton. To repeat, repeated a ton. We can do that with anything, including greetings. The nightmare I was referring to was when teachers DON’T get enough reps on greetings and then expect the kids to get, say after a week of repeats, which are not nearly enough, the difference between how are you and what is your name which in French are very similar sounds. You know what I mean. We can teach anything as long as we get a thousand times more reps than we think are necessary for the kids.
One thing on the greetings issue–I chose that because I knew it was something we had done, repeatedly, last year (and not the first day or even week of school last year), and I did it after we had just done a little old TPR. This allowed me to combine the two–greeting a student and then give a command to a student to greet another student and then repeat back to me what took place between them. There was one cool moment in one class where the kid (to be honest, last year’s less light–and he knows it–came in the door this year and told me that he was going to have a better year this year–I love that). Anyway, he had asked the girl next to him how she was, and she told him she was fine. He turned to me to report how she was doing and forgot what she had said. Without a blink, he simply turned and asked her again. It was simple, but it was pure, unself-conscious communication. I did a somersault and made everyone applaud for him. It was a golden moment.
You know, sometimes I mourn over the years I “wasted” getting here (a place where get to keep working on this because I am not even close to done). It occurs to me in better moments that those years were simply required, for me. And look at this marvelous company I get to keep now! Thanks to you all for having a group like this to report back to from Atlanta, Day 1!
I suppose that I should look upon my 24 years without comprehensible input right there next to you in South Carolina teaching AP French in that same light. I’m working on it. I know that it is true that no efforts are ever wasted, but man was I tested during those years. I suppose that they also drive my passion in this work.
I suspect that having Caroline right there with you in the building in this work is a great boon – both Latin teachers on the same page and look at the results in terms of enrollments and customer satisfaction.
Would that we could all experience that same unity of purpose in aligning with a colleague in the same building in implementing the most up-to-date research in our classrooms. I would guess that most of us do not have that blessing. I do, and give daily thanks for Annick Chen across the hallway from me every day.
After reading Bob’s entry, I can’t wait to get back to school!
Bob, this was EXACTLY what I needed to hear today. I started teacher workdays today and all the forms and schedules and information came at me in one overwhelming wave. But i teach because of those “trust moments”…because of the difference I can make. Thanks for taking the time out of your already exhausting day to share with us.
Bob, so encouraging to hear and thanks for sharing! I can tell that you are reaping a harvest of seeds sown long before, in creating a place with your students where CI and real connections among people are valued and cared for. Like Chill said, it makes me feel excited to get back to school too!