I got this question: How do you get participation grades when you allow students to speak only when they feel like it? A. I am not looking for speech and I don’t give participation grades. I evaluate them on their interaction with me in terms of ACTFL’s Interpersonal Mode of Communication, which is very different […]
Ben, I am finally in a perfect position to retrain myself and be the Spanish teacher I always wanted to be but never was. I taught Spanish full time to begin my teaching career. I love Spanish. I wanted to share that with kids and I so badly wanted them to learn. I was given
When Marianne Van Klaveren adopted the star sequence as her curriculum about a year ago, she made, and I shared here, the drawing below which displayed at a glance all the activities she could do on a trip around the star. This made me very happy, because one of the main goals and one of
A Spatial Curriculum In the past, language instruction has largely involved isolating parts of language (grammar or working from word lists) and then breaking everything down into pieces and analyzing it. This is a left-brain dominant process requiring thinking. It is a process that involves planning and memorizing and testing and filling in blanks and
I believe that sometimes rain can be like a blessing. It’s just something I’ve noticed over the years. This morning in Denver this (link below) is my view from my computer – not rain but big snow flakes. By the way, that’s what air looks like when the cottonwood trees release their pollen at this
In my view spring is about reading, writing and the few authentic CI games like the word chunk team game, and most importantly book making, which can eat up as many as six or even seven weeks while you put your feet up on the desk and enjoy watching them work. Maybe walking around faking
We must all acknowledge the limitations presented by books about teaching using CI. We must do more videos and live demonstrations as Sean and Alisa and Greg do in the Chicagoland TCI Group and also how they go right into weekend trainings and videotape them as much as they can as well. We all need
A Curriculum Based on Images The Star Sequence There is an interchange between the pilot/narrator and the Little Prince in Chapter 2 of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. When he first meets the Little Prince, the pilot says: Narrator: Mais…qu’est-ce que tu fais là?/What are you doing there? Narrator: Et il me répéta alors, tout doucement,
This is from Greg: If you want something to really get you to the end of the school year try http://www.gimkit.comYou can import from Quizlet. Kids are addicted to it.
I don’t know how to do unique headers. I want to have about 12 unique headers for the various chapters in my new book but it’s too weird. Anyone know anyone who can help? I’ll pay whatever they want. What I can’t handle is watching one more YouTube video in an effort to figure it
I was just trying to think of the most valuable aspect of the Invisibles and the Star Sequence, the single aspect that sets it apart from everything else I have ever done with comprehensible input instruction. After much reflection, I think it’s expressed here: With the Invisibles the students are not asked personalized questions, which
