Permit me to say this: we make a serious error when we push the CI on a class that has significant elements of resistance in it. We cannot ignore negative vibes coming from us from kids because we are convinced that CI is the best way to teach them. Maybe it isn’t. If they are […]
In the past here, we have talked only about winning the CI battle, and taking the CI straight to the class, and to everyone else in the building, ramming it at them like a strong ground game in football. However, I am not sure if we have ever sufficiently discussed in these pages how doing
We sometimes speed down the CI highway without noticing the warning signs posted by the side of the road. What warning signs? They are signs warning us to slow down because the culture of the school doesn’t want CI instruction. Teachers in the room next to us teaching give us warning, either verbally or through
That thread on when to write prompted Chris (Roberts/Ohio) to ask a few questions but the annoying security rule thing blocked my answers so I am posting my response to him here so just ignore it. And Chris by the way I wanted to add that I do believe in writing in the first two
In DPS each fall we have to declare two “Student Growth Objectives”. Our administrator reads them and if approved, and if the April exit tests show that we met our goal, we get money. The thinking at the district level is that this kind of financial incentive will cause our scores to go up. In
I think of working for money as necessary but not a very exciting pursuit, necessary to keep things moving around on the planet, but certainly not worth all the attention we give to it. Choosing a career in money, seeking to work just to make money, would be to choose a career that ultimately isn’t
We had a thread here recently about talking to the kids about why we teach this way. I remember saying that I personally prefer to avoid lengthy discussions about the theory of CI. Rather, this from Melissa today is a great example of something we should tell them. I’ll put it in the Beginning the
We water the garden of writing with big buckets of listening. We plant the garden of writing in soil that has been richly composted with plenty of reading. The writing plants grow slowly at first, but if they are left alone (i.e. little to no error correction, focus on concepts of errors, not specific errors), they emerge to be
The Garden Of Writing Needs Plenty of Water and Good Soil Read More »
A repost: Each year, when I plant my flower garden, I first prepare the soil. I turn it over and pour into it the tons of the training I have received from my teacher, Susan. The soil thus tilled just keeps getting more and more rich and fertile. Each year, I look forward to planting the soil.
Robert has a nice addition to the articles here on RT: RT in the language classroom is … a way to get more reps and help students see the text as a movie in their heads (a mark of a good reader). Here are some things to remember: 1. RT is an occasional activity –
Erica McCurry sent this today with my response below: Hey Ben – Today would have been a perfect day for my principal to observe but alas, he did not come AGAIN. This has been going on for 3 weeks now. He just came and told me that now he will be observing me Friday. I
wants to cut down a Christmas tree nothing happens (In this story, a student plays the tree.) Mattie goes into the forest. She wants to cut down a big Christmas tree. She takes a little ax. She hits the tree 54 times but nothing happens. She calls Lumberjacks R Us. Fonzie, a big bruising lumberjack,
