Every now and then we get challenged by misguided and misinformed parents. They are often mean-spirited as well, especially when they feel that their child is not happy in our class. Their children are usually heavily robotic memorizers with not much in their social skills bank accounts. It must be our fault! Why don’t we […]

Example 3: This third example is from James’ teacher – who wishes to remain anonymous – who locked horns with a parent simply because he uses best practices in WL instruction. Are there any CI teachers who have NOT had to deal with confrontations like this? James’ mother starts off her email to the teacher

Please find below an extensive discussion about grading when using either the Middle School Square or the High School Star. You’ll need coffee, since this may be the single longest blog post I’ve shared, and I’ve been sharing these posts since 2004.  This information is the result of 40 years of intense personal introspection and

I’m working with a teacher who has been using Circling, which is the old way that some TPRS and CI teachers still use to get reps on words.  The problem is that – although teachers who still use Circling get plenty of reps on individual words – they are at the same time hampering the

Q. You’ve called QL3 and QL4 – where and with whom – the “power questions”. Can you elaborate? A. Many years ago while watching Susan Gross teach us about storytelling in many workshops, I just noticed it. I noticed that a story would “take off” when those questions were asked. It took some careful observing,

In my previous post on classroom management I said that the two things that I’ve concluded about this vastly ignored topic are to (1) use the StarChart™ well in all its detail to KEEP THEM ENGAGED and (2) understand narcissistic behavior the moment it comes up in all its various dark forms in our students

There are 3 secrets to classroom management in my view: 1. Teach an interesting class to keep them engaged. 2. Grow a spine for the vampires. 3. Never let a vampire make a single inappropriate comment, ever, without confronting it on the spot. I could go off on this topic. I have a book on

I know a teacher who thinks that casual conversation in the classroom is ok. He thinks that his students are his friends and they all have fun during class, going back and forth in witty repartee from English to French (he is a French teacher).  The classes often roll by in pleasant interaction, but every

Have my readers understood what the purpose of my previous three posts on CM has been? If not, I will repeat: 1. CM is a function of good teaching that keeps the kids engaged in class so that they can’t act out. That – as I stated in the previous posts in this series –

If you have ever had to endure a child whose inappropriate comments were always just below the radar, read this post. It’s a conversation with a colleague: Talking to you about your classroom management problems has in no small way activated some deep PTSD stress that I have experienced years ago in my career.  Those

Let’s fix this thing once and for all about CM and just say it flat out because it is true: CM is not separate from our instruction in the language. Our instruction in the language IS our CM. To repeat, our instruction in the language IS our CM, or 95% of it. The other 5%

Teaching using CI should have a compassionate element to it. That is, we should remember how damaged some of our students are and we should try to teach in a way that includes them. Or we could ignore how damaged they are and leave them alone.  The research on which CI is based reveals a