CI System – 2

I say with certainty after almost two years of writing and talking with Tina and writing a book with her on the topic that in CI we – Tina and I – need something less amorphous than TPRS. The Three Steps of TPRS nailed down a process – the Three Steps – that nailed down how

CI System – 2 Read More »

CI System – 1

Tina and I have a system for classroom management. I hope I’m not being rude, but so many teachers try things that “might work” and they tinker and tinker and the years go by and they hate their jobs because they don’t have a dedicated and defined easy to implement and follow SYSTEM. They even

CI System – 1 Read More »

Dr. Eric Thomas

There are, over the past ten years, 6,834 posts here and 51,625 comments on this PLC. This one is by far the single most important of all of them: Sometimes things come into our daily routines that blow our minds. It happens so rarely. But on my PLC today Greg Schwab shared a link that

Dr. Eric Thomas Read More »

Double Quizzes

This is a repost from a few years ago: In one of my classes a boy named Fernando seems to enjoy writing at least two quizzes per class. It’s his way of getting back at the slackers. It’s like the two of us our conspiring to hold the other kids accountable, because we both know

Double Quizzes Read More »

New Zealand

This morning Margarita Pérez García in NZ sent me this email. It’s something of a celebration that that the Invisibles have made it down there to join the Hobbits: Hey Ben – The invisibles not only work but are contagious! A colleague (who is leaving NZ and will be back soon in Spain) came last

New Zealand Read More »

Welcome Letter

I send out a kind of blurb letter that I send to new members of the PLC as they join us here, and decided to share it here with experienced members of the group: Hey ______ – welcome to the PLC! Please explore some of the cut and paste articles that are on the “Primers”

Welcome Letter Read More »

Smile

Q. I can’t get my kids to really listen to each other. They are always blurting over each other. A. You have to use the Classroom Rules with a smile. Every time. Each and every time there is blurting or talking over, simply take a deep breath, walk calmly and slowly over to the Classroom

Smile Read More »

Sammy Davis, Jr.

In the video below we see Sammy Davis, Jr. tell the guy with the cigar in no uncertain terms to put it out. He did so at the very moment he became aware of it. Do we do this in class when our kids talk? In the very moment it begins, do we stop it?

Sammy Davis, Jr. Read More »

One That Got Away

We were talking recently about teachers who just walk away from the profession for their mental health, citing that situation in Utah where Paul left and Amy fights on. Brian Olive – only those who were reading here five years ago or so will remember – was a TPRS/CI rising star in those days but

One That Got Away Read More »

Dark Story

Here is a question that some of us may encounter from time to time: Hi Ben, First of all, thanks for the Invisibles. They do work and all the support in writing, in the FB page and via Tina’s videos make possible that other teachers (like me) learn how to use them. So my question

Dark Story Read More »