Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Readings Based on Stories Are Better
Share:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Ben Slavic
Get The Latest Updates
Subscribe to Our Mailing List
No spam, notifications only about new products, updates.
Related Posts
CI and the Research (cont.)
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Research Question
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
We Have the Research
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
14 thoughts on “Readings Based on Stories Are Better”
It has worked really well this year in my level 1 classes has been owi then story asking with 5 level story a la Tina. Then we read together as a class with few of the ROA. I tried to do a whole block with ROA activities but it becomes too forced and kids get squirrelly. So we go on with another owi and so on. We occasionally break with WCTG. That one is special for all students. We have only done freewrites with subs this year. The end result is huge because I am focusing on developing the community and the relationship with my kids throughout the whole year. I didn’t do this last year and when my secons year students came to me they were not up for listening. So I had to connect. Pedagogically this meant more oral stories less reading and more special interview type of activities. I have added a password and rejoinders.
Today I received a thank you letter from one pf my more quiet students. She thanked me for the brain breaks and for understanding how hard it was to learn a language. I’m in a good place and preparing to come out to my high school feeder.
I’m so determined to figure out how to do successful CI in my elementary classroom. The good thing is I have 22 classes a week- preK – 5th – so lots of kids to practice with. And kids are resilient so they put up with me saying.. um..actually, we’re going to try this today even though I said the opposite yesterday. All this to say, the one thing that is consistent is what Ben says about them loving to tell THEIR story. In my classes I started w/a drawing of one of their characters, a Play Station remote control. Based on Tina’s 5 level story, we worked through who, where and the problem. I tried having one student be the artist but little kids can’t draw fast enough to keep up with the story and everyone wants to draw so in the next class I gave everyone a piece of paper and retold the story as created the previous class. They had to draw it in steps and then everyone had to draw their own ending/resolution to the problem. The pictures are so adorable.. wish I could share them here but I don’t think I know how. I’m thinking that what I’ll do now is show them the 4 or 5 best ones (w/diff. endings) and we’ll get to retell the story as many times. The incredible thing is that totally without trying to do this I got all high freq words: wants, goes, has, is. I’m going to write up the story and have the kids read it/answer questions and then act it out. I have another version that has dialogue which includes the passwords. This is all coming together! So excited. And SO beyond glad to have something to think about that is not related to national politics, which still makes me want to throw up.
Try sending me at benslavic@yahoo.com some of those images. I will try to put them up here. Mindee your voice will add to the elementary CI presence here. That is a good thing.
Note: I originally had 7 questioning levels with the Invisibles plan, Tina has been using five lately, and now I am wondering if 6 isn’t the best. We will work this out.
Can you tell me what your 6 levels are?
I just put With Whom (4) after Where (3) before the Problem (5). But I need to talk to Tina about it. It’s still in development. One thing we are not doing is (Blaine’s) Failure to Resolve and then Resolution in the old location 2 and 3 plan, since it drags the story out so much. It’s good for reps, but not for interest (because the focus of the teacher is in getting reps on targets to teach the words in some curriculum which is not what Tina and I want to do). I feel the untargeted plan with the Invisibles and with Beniko’s Storylistening allows for much higher interest. I am also thrilled that you have been able to learn this so fast with the five steps that Tina uses because everybody online is keeping to the idea that TPRS is so hard to do and yet you have obviously gotten to a fairly accomplished level in a short amount of time without even having been to a conference, which proves the point that Tina and I are trying to make with the Invisibles, that as long as you have those (5 or 6 or 7 as yet) questioning levels. with the jobs, with the images then new people can learn this way of teaching and all the drama and need for the self-proclaimed experts will no longer be necessary. What you have done without a conference is a strong statement in favor of non-targeted stories.
Yeah, honestly I was struggling with the targeted stories because I felt like I had to memorize them in order for them to come out naturally. Not natural is not good. The kids lose you in a second. Even the best stories seemed forced. And I teach so many classes that I was getting confused w/ which story I was doing with each class. Actually even when I did the same story, there were extensions for diff. levels and it was stressing me out trying to remember which ones had the extension and which didn’t. This way, I have the notes from the story writer and the previous class. I go into class w/those notes and since the story was unfinished I just decided to use the notes to retell the story and let each kid draw it out and make up their own ending. They didn’t need language bec they’re drawing. Some of the drawings I had NO idea what they were trying to tell me but 4 or 5 were clear. So I picked some of the clearest stories and put them on the doc. camera and will retell that way. I also use the artist job w/good stud. artist drawing on chart paper behind the easel and we use that big one to review. (Apologies if I’m repeating myself here.. I think I posted something similar on a FB pg.)
“I was struggling with the targeted stories because I felt like I had to memorize them in order for them to come out naturally. Not natural is not good. The kids lose you in a second. Even the best stories seemed forced. And I teach so many classes that I was getting confused w/ which story I was doing with each class.”
Mindee this is good news. Ben and I are working to make CI easier and less stressful, as Beniko Mason has also been doing for thirty years, following Krashen’s theory so closely. Too many teachers have been struggling to handle all the moving parts in TPRS that we really believe that simplicity is key. I feel like we are on a mission and hearing this kind of comment makes me realize that simplifying CI is very much needed. You have never even been to a training and yet the Invisibles system is bringing you and your kids ease and happiness. So good to hear!
Yes, and while I was just cutting up green beans, I was thinking about having my kids draw the story and I realized that the story I wrote up for the kids to act out.. and which includes short dialogue, can be part of the drawing… sort of a dictation included in the drawing. Ie, There is a cat. She has a long tail. She says “My name is Victoria”. Kids draw a cat with a long tail and a speech bubble w/ Me llamo Victoria…
Would you collect those and correct spelling? Or do as a class or not even bother? Just consider it furthering the CI?
…would you collect those and correct spelling?…
I would not. When they read they unconsciously organize things so that they spell better over time by reading more. Writing practice has little to do with providing gains in writing.
I just had some green beans too. Salade niçoise!
This is the reading I’m going to use with the Pencil & Cat story:
1. There is a pencil. Her name is Bobita. She’s happy. She is 7 years old.
2. There is poke-cat. The poke-cat’s name is Pearson. Pearson is brown and has a long tail. Pearson is very nice (one of our passwords).
3. There is a problem. Bobita likes Pearson and wants Pearson as a pet but Pearson does not want to be Bobita’s pet. Bobita doesn’t have a poke-ball. She needs a poke-ball to get Pearson. Bobita is sad and cries (a word we’ve been tpr-ing). (this is pokemon stuff that I’m learning from the kids.. makes no sense to me!)
4. Bobita gets a poke-ball. Bobita throws the poke-ball at Pearson, and like magic (cognate), Pearson is very happy. Pearson y Bobita hug.
Here is the same story I’m going to use to act out w/dialogue and I will write the spoken word in big speech bubbles like I saw Jason Fritze (spelling I hope is correct!) do on one of his videos.
1. There is a pencil. The Pencil says: “Hello, my name is Bobita. I am happy and I am 7 years old.”
2. There is a poke-cat. He is brown and he has a long tail. The poke-cat says “Hi. My name is Pearson.” Pearson is very nice. Bobita wants to have Pearson as a pet. She says: “I like Pearson.”
3. There is a problem. Pearson doesn’t want to be Bobita’s pet. Bobita needs a poke-ball to be able to get Pearson. She says: “Necesito una poke-pelota.” Bobita is sad and cries.
4. Bobita gets the poke-ball. Bobita throws the ball at Pearson, and like magic, Pearson says “Oh my (password already taught), Bobita, I love you, Bobita.” Pearson and Bobita hug.
Is there any advantage to doing two versions of the story.. one as simple narrative; the other as dialogue? I’m thinking really we only need the one with dialogue.
…I’m thinking really we only need the one with dialogue….
Then that is what you should do. There are no rules. Both are good options.
When you do dialogue, like acting coaches do, you may want to let them say their lines reflecting different emotions – angry, sad, happy, to the left, to the right, while standing on one leg, etc. They love that stuff.
Mindee, I am very excited to see another elementary school TPRS teacher here. I teach grades 2- 6, and have been doing targeted stories mixed with novels for 3 years. I have been viewing Tina’s videos doing OWI, and am going to venture forth right after Thanksgiving break into Invisibles for my first time. Please continue to share your experiences, as I will be very interested to learn what works best at the elementary level.
I agree that the littles take forever to draw, and having them all do it while you retell is brilliant!
I am truly amazed at the creativity of these little ones.. actually, not amazed at their creativity so much but that they can illustrate their creativity so well. It’s a beautiful thing. I’m going to send Ben a few more pictures to see if he can post here for you to see.