As we continue to grow together as teachers, I am heartened by our continued focus not just on best practices in comprehension based instruction but also on classroom discipline. We have made such great strides on that here over the past year in particular. More and more, I see that the focus on discipline must go hand in […]

Here is a variation on basic sentence frames, using the same prompts of I went to  I saw  I received  I ate  I played  that were suggested by Robert in the first of this series of articles suggesting a good way to start back in after a vacation: After collecting the first batch of writing responses, which

I think that the power of Robert’s idea of sentence frames (see previous two articles here on that topic) is significant, especially to use after a vacation. I didn’t think it would be when I started them on Tuesday, but it is as elegant a form of CI as I have seen, and is highly

Group member James Hosler has given me permission to share this email with the group. It warms the heart to read stuff like this: Ben, I have noticed a lot of anxiety on our end lately about administrators and snotty kids. But it’s always good to get reminders of how good TPRS and CI really are,

This is from John Piazza and thank you John: Guys, This article sheds some light on the challenges facing a unique subset of our students who are from low socio-economic backgrounds–the 4%ers who end up getting full rides in fancy colleges–or into 4 year colleges at all. It tells a fascinating narrative of three super-motivated

There is a very fine thread going through this bigger thread about writing and connected in particular to the thread about Sentence Frames. It’s a subtle point we need to not let go by in our general discussion about writing. The topic is how to process the writing. I spied this only because of what Robert

Someone not in the PLC has asked me this question. I don’t know how to begin to anwer it: Hi Ben, I’m really enjoying your book so far – it’s been amazingly helpful in organizing my class for TPRS style learning. I’m teaching an ESL class to newcomer middle schoolers who are in mainstream classes

We are in a kind of fellowship, as per: Frodo:  I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the

Here is a handout I give to observing teachers when they visit. I think it is not too complex for new teachers and it helps them as they use it to follow along throught the class. Ben’s punch list of things to think about in a TCI class – pls. look for these things as the class

We have another Lori in the group and she has written a nice bio for us. Thank you and welcome, Lori. Those who still haven’t submitted a bio, maybe you can use Lori’s as a model and get them in. Many have yet to do so – make it a New Year’s resolution! Hi Ben,

What we do is a mental and emotional exercise in realizing that our worth does not and never has and never will come from teenagers who, for the most part, don’t value our work at all. They don’t. And yet we spend years trying to get them to not only value our work, but us

Here is another idea for a writing class, to add to free writes, aWB, bWT, and the other things we discussed in that thread last November about writing. It’s just an idea I had and I haven’t tried it yet but I am going to tomorrow. It’s with a second year class. I wouldn’t do it with