An important repost at this time of year: I keep thinking about what Krista said about the 5-7 extrovert kids: ..shy students who are brave enough to volunteer a suggestion but then don’t have their suggestion chosen, are, in my experience, quite reluctant to ever volunteer again. The stories then revolve around the 5-7 most talkative […]
Sean reports from Chicago: Hey wonderful people on Ben’s PLC! The hardest part of our jobs, I think many will agree, is validating our instructional approach to our administrators. Here is a little exchange I had this week with my principal, the only person in the building that asks me about students speaking more. My
As I look back, I can identify three segments to my career as a language teacher. Below, I rate each one in terms of the personal fulfillment and misery they each brought me: 1. 1977-2000 – Traditional AP French Language and Literature instructor in three South Carolina high schools. Level of Fulfillment: 0/10 Misery Level:
I wrote this in 2015 after visiting a TPRS classroom in Denver Public Schools: It’s been 24 hours since I left Julie’s classroom and during that time I have, even in sleep, been besieged by the word ruido and a bunch of other Spanish words. The din is happening. It happens in the target country
The tough teenage years don’t have to be so tough. They can be easier. What happens is that when kids move into middle school and even before, they are met with most teachers asking them to start memorizing stuff. Does this even make them “teachers” in the real sense of the word? I think not.
I often felt, at the big summer workshops, that I couldn’t possibly remember all the stuff they were teaching me. It really was overwhelming. But now I realize it wasn’t me. They were giving me too many rules and things I had to follow, like circling and targeting. I’m glad it worked for them, but
Many CI teachers don’t/can’t apply what Krashen has shown to be true that language acquisition is an unconscious process. The teaching gene in them is too dominant. They think they have to teach. But they don’t. All they have to do is communicate, which is far different than teaching. Here is my point again: …many
It’s not good the way we collect papers from students. I don’t even collect free writes. They go in composition books kept in the room. If I have time, I look at them. What teacher has time? I only read some of the free writes. I guess that makes me a bad teacher. They need
Hello, I am a first year teacher at the high school level and I love the ideas you present in your book A Natural Approach to the Year. I am wondering if you have developed anything or have any suggestions on where to look for examples of how this is used in upper level courses.
Some in the group may want to check this new version of the old jGR and current Interpersonal Skills Rubric. In keeping with our way of working together here as a group, we never assume that there is only one way to do something. Ron Wilbur explains what he did and why in creating a
Here is a 2009 article by John Bordeaux about personalized learning. The last few paragraphs are particularly powerful: Let’s imagine a conversation at the close of the 19th century. You and a team of designers are considering elements of the internal combustion engine that will, if successful, trigger a revolution in personal transportation and change
Personalized Learning Is A Central Design Principle In Education Read More »
I wrote a book – PQA in a Wink! – that addresses classroom management in TPRS. That was back in 2008, ten years ago. I was reading the conclusion to that book recently and thought I would share it here, since it reflects the same core attitude toward this work that can be found in
