Got this from a group member:
Hi Ben,
I wanted to report a rare occurrence for me. My principal came to observe my French one class. He loved the classroom structures, the student jobs and expectations. However, he picked two students “at random” to monitor during our invisibles story. One student was just eating crackers and was described as “in a trance.” To me this is good. Unfortunately, he noted basically zero engagement with this student and saw that this student had an A in the class. He had concerns about her not doing the gesture with me, not suggesting and this student did not have a sign to hold up. Again, zero engagement. He wants up to meet ALL students. I will meet with him soon.
In my class, I have them self-evaluate and I trust my students. These influence how I grade as well how they feel that they are doing. Additionally, I give credit/no credit for my free writes. In this way I respect their own SLA process. In contrast, the other student was engaged quietly by occasionally suggesting details and gesturing when I was gesturing.
Now, having to look at freewrites the two students demonstrate two different levels of proficiency. The student who was “not engaged” wrote a simple, barely comprehensible story about a fish eating a cat. While the other student had a much more comprehensible story. I am stuck here as to what to say. I can BS somethings about SLA to defend myself. I would like to hear from the PLC about this. For now, I’m thinking “The jig is up!”