Now, as soon as you have asked where and brought in another character, this image of the cat is real enough to invite a student to play the role of the cat, and you have a story. Remember that stories begin when an actor stands up and/or there is a problem. If it doesn’t naturally evolve into a story […]

Just for clarity for those interested, here is my updated version on jen’s original document, posted yet again. I do so because I used it to great success last week in my first week with students. Man, I have to say that it is so clear and simple, and the kids really get that it

When we create the image of a cat, just that and nothing more, with no plan, trusting in the moment (see “Skill #22 in TPRS in a Year!) the right brained kids in the class lean forward. The left brainers get a little nervous as they are brought out of their comfort zone in a

By requiring students to behave according to jGR, we reparent them, if that is needed, and with most kids it is. This is beneficial to a society in which bullying others and an inability to even look another person in the eyes and have a meaningful conversation with them has become the norm. We in America cannot

It just occurred to me that people may want to ask questions more formally and not just as a comment. Sorry that wasn’t clear before. The way to do that is simply send in your question to me at benslavic@yahoo.com and I will publish it as an article. Simple. Then it gets more attention and

I know it’s Saturday skip but just gotta say a few things. The beginning of the year is just so full of stuff happening. This post addresses seating charts again. In my traditional trained 3/4 class – 40 juniors and seniors – I allowed them to sit anywhere on the first day and by the third day

This article is aimed at those who crush children’s dreams, consciously or without being aware of it. I direct my comments at those who see bright and excited children enter their classooms in August and who, by October, have succeeded in turning those dreams back from ever becoming real. This article is not intended to

This was written in 2012 but since the topic came up here, I thought I’d share it again, for those still doing TPRS. The same basic principle applies to NTCI anyway: I am presenting in Las Vegas on this topic of transitioning from PQA into a story so I am republishing this article from 2007

Another question from a group member: Q. Is each “ring” doing just one movement, or are each of the three rings doing say up to three DIFFERENT motions at once? A. One person in one ring is doing one thing, like reading a book. Then you expand and get lots of questions, yes or no

Here’s another question from a group member: How early in the first level class do the stories begin? I am wondering how to begin ASKING stories with their limited vocabulary. My response is that it’s a great question. Depends on you. I do level one stories fairly early bc stories bring the best whack factor

Sorry about all the random posts but when group members have questions for the group that directly bears on a situation going on in their classrooms, I try to bump them to the front of the queue, which creates an overload on the postings here. However, it’s necessary bc many questions need immediate responses and it

I got this question from Chris Minkoff: Hi Ben, I’ve been following the blog and enjoying immensely. I’ve come across one item recently that has really gotten my attention, namely parallel novels. I see the last post being December of 2011, but I hope to start running my Spanish 3 students on parallel novels. I