This brings us to the data piece. If we are to make our students actually want to be in our classrooms, we must also lower our desire to constantly collect data on them. Why? Because collecting data on students judges them. The idea that collecting data on our students “better informs our teaching” is a sentence that is false. When we lower our desire to collect data on our students, then we will learn something as language teachers. God must help us do this. There is no way we are going to be able to do this on our own.
What is the best way to do make our students really want to be in our classrooms, then, so that they can feel as if they are a truly valued part of a group, and not feel as if they are constantly being judged and don’t measure up? In my opinion, we can best accomplish these things by doing lots of Story Listening with them.