One Must Be Out of One’s Mind
If it is so important, then what are we going to do about this problem of how our classroom feels? Retain the status quo or be bold and make changes to what we are currently doing? Do we really want good classroom management or are we merely going to fret away another year wanting our kids to behave in our classes but not really doing anything concrete about it?
Why ask these questions? It is because, in my view, at least 70% or 80% of all classroom management problems are caused directly by bored and disengaged students.
Dr. Krashen has shown that when we force our students to think about the way the language is built (bad) instead of just freely focusing on the message (good), while listening with the whole brain and letting the power of the unconscious mind do the acquiring, we are basically wasting everyone’s time in the classroom – we are boring people.
One has to be out of one’s mind to acquire a language. Thinking about the language goes against the research and isolates students from one another. Feeling the language in happy communication (no thinking – everyone focused on the message) creates strong bonds between everyone in the classroom.
On these bonds the language can travel, literally floating on air, between the individuals in the classroom. The feeling of community thus created in the classroom becomes our number one defense against classroom management problems and boredom.
Thus, we conclude that it is by the help and society of others that we actually acquire the language, and not just by thinking about it how to build sentences.