So it has barely been two full (4-day) weeks, and as I have already mentioned, I am completely focused on the rules and routines with my first year students. I am literally not conscious of any content-based learning goals such as structures, vocab, grammar etc. Any Latin that gets covered in my class is purely […]
We now have two more jobs. These people work on reading days, when the text from the story is projected up during W/Th reading/embedded reading classes. So the way it works is the Laser Metronome Person has the laser pointer and keeps the beat on the words we are reading. Then the Reader Leader, the superstar
The district person who observed my class yesterday, a Spanish teacher of 30 years, approached me after my class and asked what my focus (content, etc. whatever) for the lesson was. I told her that the three structures in the Matava story “Let’s Start!” were my focus, and, indeed, those three expressions form the basis
There is embedded reading. I would add to that embedded stories. How? If the story rocked on M/Tu, and I don’t feel like going to a reading of it on Wednesday, I just spend the entire class on Wednesday reviewing in loose fashion the story, making sure that I use one of the target structures
People think it’s about stories. It’s about reading. The stories only set up the Wednesday reading and the Thursday embedded reading. The reading is the big deal. That’s also why I tossed the FVR for SSR of novels which culminates in a Friday test on the material read during the first ten minutes of each
Pop Up Grammar is pretty much bogus and only 4%ers care about it. I haven’t done it for years. But there is Pop Up English. That is when I say to an actor, for example, “Hey, you just walked through a door.” Using Pop Up English helps glue the story together. I go from 99%
Jen we have to exercise care if we are a long wolf or even if we are not. Susan Gross once told me that in her opinion 99 of every 100 people who claim to “do TPRS” don’t do it anywhere nearly properly. And for that reason they turn others against TPRS and we cannot blame
Anyway, Jen, you’re in a better position than you think and so don’t worry so much about your lone wolf status. I really do feel that the document Ardythe sent us is huge. Many of us didn’t even know about it, but the 21st Century Skills Map which is DESIGNED IN COOPERATION WITH THE NATION’S WORLD
Why on earth didn’t I do jGR before? It’s like a left jab boxing glove on the kids’ unruliness. Loving wallops that MAKE THEM SHOW UP FOR CLASS. Amazing. jGR has significantly made my teaching better. We’re in week four and we have the same excellent focus that we had in week one. Unexcused absences and tardies
Here’s a riff you may want to add in when your actors are doing dialogue. Ask the class (Professeur 2 breaks all class stalemates on answers) if the policeman or whomever said it or yelled it or whispered it. The whispering is really very effective. Don’t have them just say something, have them yell it
As per Nathan Black, the Sound Effects Guru is the kid with a Smartphone and scrolls through the different sound effects available on that app. It is often hilarious to be in the middle of a sentence and be interrupted by a sound that perfectly describes what just happened in the previous sentence. Often I ask for applause – all
I have to add this Anne Matava story to my list of favorites in terms of basically kicking ass: Let’s Start! were just about to eat Let’s start! started to The Smith family were just about to eat. Dad said, “Let’s start!” They started eating, and there was a knock on the door. Britney Spears came
