So let us ask a question about being judged. What if we didn’t feel judged when an observer came into our classroom? What if we could see through the false power – I believe it is false – that the observer thinks they have over us? Their power is only the power that we give them. Our job […]
When people come into our classrooms to “observe” us what are they really doing? I think that they are judging us. They should call their creepy actions what they are – judging. Announced or unannounced, it is still judging. Sure, they say that they are there to help us, but that is a surface truth. The deeper truth, in my
Chris Roberts recently made a comment here that reflects what we all think and feel when being observed: …the assistant principal came in and observed the entire period of Spanish 1. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know he was going to be coming in, so it wasn’t necessarily a “fun” lesson…. First of all, look
Liam reports: Ben, I went to iFLT over the summer, which was really, really good. But, honestly, reading Stepping Stones was perhaps twice as impactful. Most of the info was not new for me, but to read all of it, in one place, systematically laid out, was dynamite. I can see reading it every summer
It’s truly odd that the very people who claim to be the elite in education, the IB people, have their heads most wedged when it comes to best practices and current research in foreign language education. This is from our group member Joe. It’s nothing new for many of us, but that doesn’t make it any
Carol Hill is chill and is in New Jersey. Carol and I are cut from the same mold and she has supported me in many moments when I was unsure of myself. She conveys to others in our group the message that we can do it and she usually finds some article in the research
Teacher of the Month – September 2013 – Carol Hill Read More »
This is a repost from last year: Jen said: …I really feel lost…. Now this comment from Jen was about a few kids but I mistakenly read it as across the board in her classes and this prompted an outpouring of concern in me and others and I made about four responses to her original comment.
We come to input based instruction with unnecessary trepidation. We think that it is too difficult, but it is not. We merely make it difficult by bringing older models of instruction to this new model, mixing them. It is not necessary. We must lose the notion that that we have to teach certain things, to
There should be no struggle in our work. It should be as effortless as normal conversation, which is such a natural thing and can be so fine when both parties agree not to try to overpower each other. Nor should we struggle for the humor and laughter that everyone associates, mistakenly, with TPRS. As we
Another report from a teacher who is new to comprehension based instruction, Inger Moran: For the past three years, I have been teaching French, usually split between two or three schools while attending graduate courses at night to finish my M.Ed.. I’ve struggled with using the textbook series and my own style. I never could
Even if you don’t teach Latin, watch this from David: Hi everyone, I’m sure you all are busy, but if anyone has time to take a look, here’s a private video of a retell of a story and making of a second location. I wrote this script and it was a fun one that I
I got some questions from a group member who starts an evening adult class this week. Thought I’d share my responses. For those unfamiliar with some of the terms used in the discussion below, please go to the regular site here and click on resources/workshop handouts. Q. Do you think starting with cards on day
