I have decided on a new way of doing trainings. Feedback from the group is requested. I have been leaning in this direction for some time.
Schools with whom Ben works are asked to do the following:
1) The entire group being trained must be on board with CI, united in a common goal.
2) The process:
a. The first year is spent in study groups with three of Ben’s books on the Invisibles: A Natural Approach to Stories (ANATS), the Invisibles, and the Supplements to the Invisibles. (A Natural Approach to the Year – ANATTY – must be put on hold because it just contains too much detailed information and, at 500+ pages, is best set aside for later. It is 100% based on the Invisibles anyway.)
b. Study questions are generated by the group during the first-year reading period and communication with Ben is ongoing. Individual teachers may choose to test out in their classroom, during that first year of reading and discussing, certain concepts and strategies and then report back to the group.
c. At the end of the first year of preparation, Ben arrives in April or May for, preferably, a two-day training to get things in motion for the next year. With the preparatory work already done, the training will include heavy modeling and coaching/standing on one’s feet.
d. In the following year the team fully implements the Star Sequence Curriculum as a department.
e. As during the first year, in the second year the team also stays in touch with Ben in a video conferencing format as often as they feel is necessary until they are ready to begin working with other schools in their area.
3) Ben’s fees are what the school can afford – sliding scale concept.
4) It is asked – as part of this overall process – that consideration be given to dropping the language requirement in the school. I acknowledge that that is a district decision, but I think it’s a good idea. The idea here is that a highly trained faculty using the ideas found in the Invisibles will draw students in even though the class is not a requirement. That is to say, when a superior product is offered, the students will sign up for it in droves, being drawn to it as a four year elective. This will boost the program in a way not possible when students are forced to be there. (When students are forced to be in a certain class, they make it bad for those kids who want to be there and learn the language.)
5) Students who process more slowly will be able to take four years of the language because they will be given the option of repeating a year for credit. For example, a level 2 slow processor who really enjoys the class but simply doesn’t process as fast as the other students can repeat level 2 for a level 3 yearly credit. This is a new way of looking at how school language credits are awarded – it fits with how people learn languages according to the research. Exposure (time) to the language is the key factor, not how much the students “achieve”. Thus, when a program is geared to what the child can achieve compared to their own abilities and not to the abilities of others, it will explode with students staying in the program for all four years, because they feel so confident and successful.