We have two Jens here, one Jen and one jen. The first is Jen Sparano in NJ and the other is jen schongalla in New Hampshire. Just to be clear on that. Jen posts less than jen but both have been members of our community for years and years. Now, we just got this comment […]
With unruly students, we can work with one other colleague within our department, or our entire department can work together, to function as baby sitters for those kids who just bring the vibe in the room down. We haven’t talked about it in a long time and I am thrilled that Sean remembered it and suggested
It might be interesting for some group members here to read something John wrote here on the PLC five years ago in 2011 on the topic of using CI instruction in the Latin classroom: https://benslavic.com/blog/john-piazza-on-latin/
The Annoying Orange technique is a tool that under the right circumstances can be very effective with distant or passively aggressive kids. Here’s how it works: I sense, as I am trying to reach the kids, distance between me and some kid in the room that day. I don’t want to have to deal with it,
Creating Engagement via the Annoying Orange Technique Read More »
Here is the Latin text John referred to in the previous post. Given as a reading after nine days of only the Circling with Balls activity to start the year, I would venture to state that for a first year class to be comfortably reading texts like the one below in only their second week, something
Hi Ben – I am so excited to be able to tell you that I am breaking through. For the first time in two years, I can begin to relax and be comfortable with who I am in front of my students. I am not feeling constantly judged and scrutinized. You know how trying that
I got called by a member of our PLC a “grandstander” for promoting the Invisibles. And Diana Noonan chewed me out in a comment here a few months ago over my position re: testing, which position more reflects what Claire Ensor is saying, for those who have been reading the blog consistently over recent months and who, like me,
Our newest member Mindee could use some feedback: Hi – I am an Elementary FLES (Spanish) teacher and am a recent convert to TPRS. Totally sold, through and through. Love this blog. I have to do a Smart Goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) as required by the State of Va. and every year
I had written here and on FB a few months ago against making the kids read those awful novels in level 1. My post wasn’t well received. Lots of people thought my position to be preposterous, and they made their positions quite clear. Some CI teachers even proudly like to say how many novels their
Teach the Novels in Level 1? Not in my CI Classroom. Read More »
Does anyone who was at the Lake Elsinore workshop last month remember which teacher mentioned Earl Stevick in relationship to the point about images (and thus the Invisibles) being more effective than mere words? She shared a line Stevick had said, all the way back in the sixties, that “imagination supports memory, and memory supports learning [what
We want good group dynamics in our stories, but wanting is not enough, and a sense of neediness on the teacher’s part actually makes the group dynamics shakier. Good group dynamics happen when the teacher allows the students to just be who they are in the classroom. Then the teacher will see something. Creating an
No comprehensible input class – especially one organized around unscripted, authentic communication – can succeed unless the students and the teacher are trained from the beginning of the year in the art of negotiating meaning. In the same way that we don’t allow students to pick the character, if we are using the Invisibles/emergent targets
