I got this from someone new to our group and new to the Invisibles. My responses are in italics:
Hi Ben,
I really appreciate the Invisibles book. I read the whole thing in one evening! I also went back to your videos on YouTube. I was blown away by the Pringle Man video. While I’ve had some successes and progress with CI/SSR over the years, I have struggled with my being too contrived with targets/reps/heavy circling.
In my opinion we all have. It’s been a control issue with us. We see ourselves as in charge of a curriculum that we have to deliver*. That is not consistent with the research about how people learn languages. Everybody seems to be happy, though, or maybe not so much. I wasn’t happy with that stuff for 15 years but I acted like I was.
I see, too, that not confronting dominant or reluctant or heads-down students effectively at the beginning of the year is my biggest issue.
I agree. I want to make a video on Classroom Management for the beginning of the year. There are only a few things we can do now in the spring with kids like that – Friendly Visits and phone calls from the classroom to parents during class. They work now for the real jerks but are a bit heavy handed for the beginning of the year.
I also see what a distraction props, wigs and the lack of stools for actors have been for me.
I have observed classes in amazement as a kid fiddles with a stuffed animal or hat or something, enthralling the class, while the teacher goes right on teaching.
I also go so slowly in some classes that I’m losing my fast processing students and still not reaching the slower processing ones.
I think that this can be fixed with the right Invisibles program. I have seen it work only with the Invisibles because of the level of buy in we get from the fast AND slow processors with Invisibles stories. But it’s a big one, for sure.
Do you think that acknowledging to the students that I’m going too slow for some and too fast for others and that I am going to try some new strategies over the next few weeks and would like feedback to see if they are working better would be a good idea?
I wouldn’t because it makes them the judge of you and they are liable to lie. The fast processors need to be TOLD that they will still learn the language when you are teaching your class. If they can’t handle it you’ve got some great grammar worksheets that I am sure some of them would just love (for about 20 min. and then they want back into the group). Whenever we announce that we are going to “try something new” that is code for the fast processors to continue being jerks.
I’m hoping that for these last two months of schools, it is not too late to try circling with balls type strategies for my reluctant students.
They are reluctant for a big reason. There is no equity. Don’t go after them. Just let them sit and listen. This is consistent w the research, esp. Mason. You sound as if you are possibly trying too hard. You are only 1 person with 30 different people. How we allow that to be put on us I’ll never understand. The fact that we have fast processors and reluctant students and we have to bundle them together into a “class” is a reflection of the inability of the method in the past to bring the class together and is not certainly our fault nor is it a reflection that we are “not cut out for this kind of teaching” or that we need 500 more trainings. We need ways of keeping the class so interesting that they all stick together as a class. This is about equity. The TPRS people say we need more training in the same general TPRS techniques that we have been taught at workshops for almost twenty years now. We don’t. We need narrow and deep training in non-targeted instruction. There is a difference. That is my opinion. No apologies if it pisses people off. We all get to say what we think is best.
I have a couple of follow up questions if you have the time:
- Do you make readings from circling with balls/Matava questionnaire circling/special person interviews? I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never finished Matava interviews/circling with balls/special person interviews in the 4-6 weeks that are recommended…
That is no embarrassment whatsoever. There is no one way to do this. I never finished the circling with balls and questionnaires either. They are really, for me, a first of the year “hammer the rules” kind of thing. Yeah we can personalize and get to know the kids with those activities but that is not the only reason that I and Anne and Jody Noble, in that order, invented them. I never even get to all of the students in a year. If some kid comes up at the end of the year and says, “You never got to my card!” I say, “You never led me there!” You can make readings off of anything. Sounds like you are doing great to me. No rules, remember?
- I have block scheduling/90 minute classes. I’m not ready to start Invisibles, but I’m going to start with O.W.I./Story Listening and work my way up from there. This is exactly what Tina and I recommend. Do you think SSR/O.W.I., artist’s reveal, town meeting, story from O.W.I. is too much listening in one 90 minute class?
Not if you can keep the story down to under 35 minutes. You also need to throw in a quiz at the end. But that particular class sequence has been proven to bring a lot of life to the CI classroom lately. I want to stay in touch with you on how this goes, so please keep me posted or come to the PLC here and report in. That sequence is not publicized much and there is confusion about OWI/Invisibles. I am making a video to go with the Teacher’s Discover publication of the book due out soon. I thought it was going to some out in June but now it looks like early May or earlier. I like that sequence.
- It seems Story Listening would take a lot less time than O.W.I. and its subsequent story. I’d plan on doing other activities for the rest of class time…perhaps catch up on my Matava questionnaires?
You always have Anne’s questionnaires to go to anytime. But honestly I think that the sequence from the book that you describe above, when done right (we can iron out the details together by email or on the PLC since the devil is always in the details) but once you get the sequence down from SSR through the 90 minutes to their exit ticket quiz it is very often a very active, varied, and very often captivating 90 minute of class, and a very pleasant time with the kids.
Thanks from a well-intentioned but bumbling CI teacher.
I can tell you are most certainly not bumbling. I would suggest that you come to us in Portland since the above is one of the major focal points of that conference. Or get a two or three day (mainly East Coast) workshop in July or August.
P.S. My school is also turning into an IB school. I have yet to wrap my head around what that means for me as an aspiring CI teacher.
We can talk about that on the PLC as we go along. It’s better than AP at least. It doesn’t mean much, really, and nothing to be concerned about. I feel strongly that if you are able to get our NT program up and running in your program then by the time those 9th graders take the IB exam they will have no trouble totally kicking its ass.
*For more on this big topic see https://benslavic.com/blog/hit-list-of-8/