This post is from 2015: We have talked so much about SLOW over the years, but I think we all still go too fast. We always go too fast. Our classes then split under this burden. What is too fast? There are some posts from the recent years here that support 130 words per minute […]

Starting stories with a general idea about a problem and no targets is a great way of getting a robust and healthy plot line going. The reason I say that is that I have carefully studied how Joe Neilson (the unrecognized co-founder of TPRS along with Blaine Ray) used to start his stories. I’ve interviewed

Leaving Vampspooder and returning now to our progressively expanding new book on classroom management: A Fly in the Ointment As the proficiency movement and comprehension-based instruction have moved steadily forward, one glaring problem has arisen: classroom management has become more and more of a problem as each new teacher who has embraced comprehension-based instruction has

The Big CI Book electronic copy goes up in early July from $49.95 to $89.95  A Natural Approach to the Year (ANATTY/Year One) electronic copy goes up rom $77 to $99.95.  I have no control over these increases – I have to do what Teacher’s Discovery does by contract. However, there is a narrow window where you can still get them at the

I got a response from Jack and would like to share it here: I have to say I feel honoured to be talking to you again. Before I started my short but meaningful journey at AES, I considered myself quite shy and would never have been seen as somebody that stands out! You really brought

To finish our three-part series on Vampspooder the fat little spider, here is the book in which he is discussed – A Natural Approach to Stories. Look on page 74:

This is my response to Jack: Well Jack you inspired me as well. During my whole career I noticed how (mostly) boys with a sense of humor, super bright kids like you who had spirit, suffered in schools. For example, that science teacher who shamed you that day in early spring by sending you to

Today I got an email from one of my students in that sixth grade class in New Delhi whose energy helped lead to the Invisibles concept discussed here so frequently over recent years: Hello Mr. Slavic!  It’s in my best hopes that you do remember me and this isn’t too much of a surprise, and

A Brilliant Step Forward Prior to Blaine Ray’s application in the form of TPRS in the 1990’s of Dr. Stephen Krashen’s groundbreaking research, foreign languages classes at all levels from the elementary to the university level were mostly taught from the textbook. But Krashen’s research has shown that people don’t acquire languages by focusing on

Our new book on CM is starting up its engines: The General Plan This book consists of three parts. In the first part we take an in-depth look at key points and strategies made in previous books I’ve written. The first part of the book, then, recapitulates, defines and illustrates the external strategies found in

Here is a possible title for this new book on classroom management: A Natural Approach to Management in the Comprehensible Input Classroom (NATMAN) Below is the beginning of the book. Each succeeding post labeled “Classroom Management” with a number attached to it will represent the next entry in the book. Of course, the final product

Everything published here scrolls out and eventually gets lost in the past, unless we are good with the search bar. In order to prevent the loss of these upcoming articles on classroom management, I’m going to write them up in the form of a book. We’ll build the book post by post – each new