Ben Slavic

As I plan the War Room sessions, I realize that the idea of people coming and going or only attending partial sessions is just not going to work. There is too much specialized information to impart in these sessions and the pedagogical houses we are building must have a firm group-created foundation. So I am […]

Perhaps we can get some people some roommates at the summer conferences. If you need a roommate or have a room already that you’d like to share at either iFLT or NTPRS, let me know at benslavic@yahoo.com and I will post it here. First, Kristen Duncan in Alberta is looking for a roommate at NTPRS.

This is a repost, but in my view an important one as we begin the year: If you are new to all this, before you get too nervous about the changes that you wish to implement next year, I offer one important idea to hold on to – just take an expression and work with it

I just got this from a PLC member and I know I’m taking a break from the blog but this is important so please comment back on it if you have some thoughts: Hi Ben – I’m feeling anxious about [pursuing comprehension based teaching], especially since I recently helped fill out a purchase order for

Before long we will have hundreds of Primer articles (for new people and administrators) on that hardlink at the top of this page. That is because every time Robert Harrell writes something I think it should be included as a Primer article. Robert has a way of cutting through old ideas neatly and quickly, like

Referring to the Can Do discussion started by Michele’s response to the “This Is What We Are Faced With” post, in one succinct paragraph, Eric Herman has written something very important and really brilliant, in my opinion. In one paragraph, he has written a book: The one thing we don’t want to do is abandon

In the ongoing discussion about Brigitte having been required by parents (who went to a superintendent about this) to move directly to teaching AP German alongside a traditional teacher, Robert responded (thank you Robert, we can only imagine how busy you are): Thanks for your patience, everyone. I would like to respond to some of

A few blog members who are also parents only speak to their young kids in the TL. We have one in DPS whose four months old son only hears French from mom. And Keri Colwell, a new addition to our PLC, only speaks Italian to her two children. Here is what Keri told me about

Most in the group know that Portland State University now grants online graduate credit for reading this blog. This announcement, by the way, caused a bit of kvetching over on the moretprs list, as some thought it not academic enough. No comment. That conversation occurred a few weeks ago so if you want to read

Rancho Cucamonga High School in Southern California is looking for a 100% Spanish teacher. The position will close on Monday at 4:00 pm. Please direct inquiries to Drew Hiben at hibenat@gmail.com.

The iFLT Denver War Room is now full. More details will be coming up on a possible Chicago War Room as I continue to talk to Sean Lawler and Lisa Reyes, who organizes NTPRS. Details of the Denver War Room: 1. One need not work if one doesn’t want to. One can just observe. 2.

What does it mean when we say we focus on meaning in our comprehension based instruction? And how does that question impact our work with verbs as described in the previous eight articles here on using Look and Discuss to teach verbs? In my opinion, the term “focusing on meaning” means focusing on a big