Mary Beth is in Maine. Like many teachers, she has benefitted from all the hard organizational work done over the years by our own Skip Crosby. Here is her bio, and it is well worth the read:
I went to college right after high school, but then got kicked out after 1.5 years. I’m now in my 50s, and just earned my bachelors 5 years ago, and my teaching cert 4 years ago. At least I can speak from experience when I tell the students that you need to take your studies seriously! (It stinks going back when you have a family to take care of!!! AND….I could be making much more money NOW had I just finished 30 years ago!!!)
I went through teacher training in Social Studies (I told them during my program interview that I wanted to teach both SS and Spanish, but it was suggested that I do my certification program in Social Studies.) So, I did the year (courses and student teaching …one year = certification and 33 credits toward Masters) in Social Studies. At the end I went to study in Guadalajara for a month (and went to Guanajuato for a weekend to see what I had missed when I left college 20+ years ago! I got kicked out the middle of my Sophomore year — I was supposed to spend my junior year in Guanajuato! LOVED it! Called my husband and mother and told them to be thankful that I got kicked out of college; otherwise if I had gone to Guanajuato I never would have returned home!!! )
So, when I returned from Mexico in summer of 2008 I took the Praxis, got a half time teaching job, then took my FL methods course in Fall 2008 while teaching Spanish half time. I got hired full time the following year, but since I have been at this school we have not had a “curriculum”! And my methods course left a LOT to be desired!!! I kept trying to “learn” from different chat forums and my colleagues, but felt like I was spinning my wheels going around in circles. Then last March I received a brochure for Blaine Ray Workshops. And it sat on my desk (seriously!!) for the REST of the school year!
I had been so stressed out last year and the year before not knowing EXACTLY what I was doing (what’s the curriculum? where are we heading as a department? what are our goals? how should we get there? and then getting the answers of: this grammar topic, that grammar topic, this vocab list, that vocab list etc. etc.) so, I was standing at the front of the room lecturing on grammar, diagramming sentences, and giving out vocab lists to memorize….BORING!!!! and stressful! for me and the kids!
Then the day after finals last year my husband had a stroke. It was severe and he lost speech. As I watched him in the following days in speech therapy, I started to realize that I was teaching a language ALL WRONG. Then a week later when he was in Rehab, his roommate’s daughter-in-law came in and I discovered that she was a principal in a high school here in Maine. I had heard such WONDERFUL things about the FL dept at her school, and told her so and asked if I could please come and observe her Spanish teachers some time.
She then said, “ABSOLUTELY! We require 2 years of a foreign language, and kids used to fail all the time. But we are now using TPRS and our failure rates have dropped significantly.” (btw – it turns out that this is Skip’s school!!!) Well, then I remembered the brochure that had been on my desk for the past 3 months and decided to look into it — the Blaine Ray Workshop in Maine was going to be the following week in the city where my husband was in rehab!!! So I went. Now, it was during my husband’s first week in rehab – only 1.5 weeks after his major stroke – and I was SO very worried about him and what was going to happen to him and our lives and (you can all imagine!) – not too different from some of our students and the baggage that they have to carry into the classroom day in and day out. BUT…..I was so intrigued by Donna’s (Tatum-Johns) presentation, and I was ACQUIRING French, and guess what? I wasn’t thinking too much about Frank! and it hit me……”If I can put aside my worries about Frank for this full day of instruction in this method, and LAUGH, then my students should be able to forget their worries if only for those 70 minutes they are in MY classroom!”
And now here I am — loving this new method and the support that I am getting from everyone. I’m still floundering BIG time, but the process/method just *feels* right. I have kids who made it quite clear in September that they did NOT want to be in Spanish – they were only there because they need two years of a language for a 4-year school. I had one boy who spent the first 2 weeks with his head down drawing pot leaves – today he is the class artist! He drew me a big map of Central America (I am giving him a bye on the C.A. map quiz,) and he draws pics on the board each day that we usually use as a springboard for stories. BUT – he is a prime example of a TOUGH home life, that brings that “chip on his shoulder” into school everyday and gives it to other teachers. There is another boy in another class that treats me with total respect – he acts up, but when I tell him to “cool it” he does immediately and apologizes. (other teachers and administration don’t have that reaction from him!) I seriously owe these accomplishments to MY change in attitude, which I got from the whole attitude that surrounds the technique of TPRS…..loving the kids for who they ARE, not who I want them to BE; being patient with them; asking them to contribute to stories, thereby making them truly valued and a part of the process. ALL of it works! and by using this method I find it easy as hell to include ALL of the kids in the process even if they don’t want to be engaged. and by so doing, the only failures that I have are the ones who do not turn in the school-required projects AT ALL.
But, that is also part of life – in the real world, in a job, you will be required to have work to do by a deadline. I explained that to them the other day. Some just don’t care, and don’t do. the ones who do the assignment, even if it’s not great, still get a passing grade! (we have decided this as a dept – leaning toward standards; I told them the other day, “if I have nothing to grade, I can’t give a grade! do the math!) so, that’s the only reason why I have had failures this year.
SO, list members: Thank you for your wonderful insights that you have shared — you have helped me when I have felt discouraged (I am a lone wolf at my school – and although I am the oldest (age-wise) in the dept, I am the newest teacher (credential-wise)!! So, of course I tend to feel that I am not as knowledgeable as the others — but I am learning so much more from the TPRS teachers about EVERyTHING — just find it hard to convince my colleagues.)
I will shut up now! Thanks for listening!!!
btw: Hubby is MUCH better now! Talks all the time, and is actually vacuuming the house right now!! So, some good came out of it! haha.