John Piazza continues:
If the school has a mission statement, we look over that ahead of time, and then point out a specific example of how what we do aligns with that mission statement. Chances are, that mission statement will be a list of priorities that can be most efficiently realized with CI based strategies. Describe these in detail, no need to say “CI.”
Discipline? We take a compassionate and preventative approach (central to what we do), and we have noticed that when students feel safe and listened to and respected by us and the class, they are less likely to want to disrupt things. If a student continues to cause disruption, we temporarily move them to a desk by themselves, and give them independent work to focus on, which gives them a break, and keeps everyone productive, making the best use of class time, not allowing such interruptions to throw the class off.
Demo lesson? No problem. We just keep our focus on the students. We get to know their names, cover a few structures, ask yes/no questions or simple answers based on the current material, especially if they are reading a story. If not a story, we see if we can piece exercise sentences or structures into a funny story. Ww spend a few seconds talking about grammar, just to show that we know our stuff, but only for a few seconds. We circle slowly and look into their eyes. We know that the observers aren’t looking to see how much we cover (quantity), but are looking for the QUALITY of our interactions with the students. We find a student who looks like he/she has a hard time in the class, or socially in general, we make him/her our barometer student. The observers will notice that this student who who has a reputation for not responding or engaging, is all of a sudden brightening up and smiling during our demo, They have never seen this student respond like this. We help that student shine, and they for the first time realize that they can enjoy and succeed in something in school. This may not have occurred to the student for many years. We even include the observers in our activity and a joke. We finish with a quick true/false quiz, and we make it super-easy, and include ridiculous statements that are obviously false. Students laugh out loud during this quiz, and everyone aces it, even the observers, and no one in the room has ever had so much fun taking a quiz. The observers realize that this is a special experience, and that they cannot afford NOT to have us at their school. They will offer us the job immediately after, or as soon as possible.
Another lesson I learned from this process, is that even the most secure-seeming job could be taken away from us, and so it is very important to continue to cultivate professional contacts, online and in person. More than a few times over the past few years, because of the demands of my present job and family, I felt pressure to stay away from conferences, local meetings, online resources, and other activities that took me away from my immediate obligations. When I found out that I wouldn’t have a job next year, those contacts I had cultivated and maintained, that network of teachers, colleagues, and administrators made all the difference, both in terms of finding another opening, and in getting the emotional support I needed in order to continue.
I am really happy to see quite a few of the PLC members succeeding in their interviews and demo lessons. But I am not surprised. If schools and administrators are not completely dysfunctional, they cannot help but see the value of what we are doing. I am thankful to be a part of a group which takes this qualitative human component of language teaching seriously. It has enriched our lives, careers, and the daily experiences of our students.
John