Carly wrote here a few days ago to Celeste:
Your struggles are my struggles. Enjoy and appreciate those two classes where it is working, try things out on them, hone your skills on them and know that next year will be better because of it. Then do whatever it takes in the other 3 classes to save your job and your sanity.
I finally figured out this year that CI does not have to mean class discussion. It can mean the students sit silently and listen to me talk about something they may or may not care about and then silently answer T/F questions. It can mean students sit silently and translate a reading they may or may not care about as I read it to them line by line. It can mean students sit silently and watch me type up a story and when I want a detail I have them silently raise their hand and give me one word. It is still CI even when it isn’t super exciting character creation CI. I have been making them sit silently and do something CI for several minute stretches, then I give them a minute brain break to turn and talk about something with a partner. Then we do the silent CI again, then another brain break…and back and forth until the period is over. Is it a hilarious fun time? No. But is it delivering messages in language they can understand. Yup. It doesn’t feel soul crushing the way textbook work feels soul crushing. And the class that needed this the most in October can now engage in conversation in a more fun an fluid way.