Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
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Redheaded Stepsister – 1
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7 thoughts on “Redheaded Stepsister – 1”
The issue is this- the pure novel brand of CI is super boring. The interesting stuff (i.e. the Invisibles and non-targeted) takes a dedicated type of teacher to embrace it.
I know teachers (mostly those who are sympathetic to CI but have not taken the plunge) who KNOW that if they would learn the Invisibles and go NT they would end up doing less work while being more effective- but they don’t want to put in the time to learn something new. Or they say things like “Greg, that stuff just fits your personality, I prefer to teach with units”
Or the new one which is floating around Twitter is that we are somehow doing kids damage by not teaching them culture in their first year of a language! (Answer to that is a novel which weaves in culture which you can buy from one of the mega companies!)
Teachers say they want structure but when I point to the Star Sequence even that is not “enough structure” for them. They want the novels because it can be done more like a textbook: with the teacher’s guides, quizzes, tests, etc that are ready made for you.
Or they will say that things that I do like keeping all of my stories in a class storybook for the students on Google Documents “seems like too much work”. It’s not! I have a system and spend max 10 minutes a day on it. These same teachers will spend hours grading on weekends.
That being said I do 1-2 novels a year. The reason? The population (especially of parents) that I teach very much like to see “rigor” and it looks like we are “doing something” other than “just telling stories”.
Damn this is well-written. Especially bursting with truth are the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs.
Great points from you both, Ben and Greg. I’d like to add that I see a HUGE emphasis on what I call “worksheety” CI, where someone makes a worksheet and either offers it for free or sells it on Teachers Pay Teachers, but since it’s not a grammar worksheet, teachers think it’s CI, or presenters represent it as such, and teachers who haven’t undergone training think they’re doing CI/TPRS….But the real CI/TPRS is what you do, Ben, (and Blaine, and probably everyone on this PLC) it’s the daily energy and language use and love and in-the-moment “isn’t this wonderful that we can all use this amazing language and have so much fun with it”….And that’s why Blaine always said after school, he could go play golf, because he didn’t have worksheets to grade, copy, or pay for. Your classes had that same feel, Ben. But for many, it’s hard and scary because it’s so unpredictable, but what great rewards!
For those who don’t know Dori, she is from Colorado Springs (I think, or Parker?) and has been on this blog space since the very beginning, and observed me when I was teaching middle school in SW Denver at the beginning of my TPRS dance way back in the early 2000s.
One thing about Dori is her support for me has never wavered, nor has her kindness. She gets my vision and to hear from you now Dori makes me feel very grateful and very happy. Much has changed, but we stand by our guns and hope for the best, and when we get such messages of support as your above it makes it all easier to bear, what has happened to the research.
I want to hear about your boys. How are they? They must be young men now!
I do want to say this: Your comment above is not just another comment. It rekindles my wavering hopes that someday we will get back to the real TPRS, the kind Blaine did, and it makes me feel less alone. Honestly, without our small group here and the periodic wisdom posted by people like Craig the Teacher from Heart and Unmatchable Alisa and The CI Guy Greg (who really really gets it!) and Matava the Script Writer and Laura the Angelic de Avila, I don’t know what I would do.
This is an amazing time. I was just thinking/knowing how the Bastions of Sadness (schools) are slated for a big redo. It’s time for the admins/ACTFL/textbook publishers, TPRS “experts”* – and all others in our profession who are so fricking FULL OF THEMSELVES – to play less of a role. Them and their workshits.
Yes, we’re on the fringe. Now. But when language teachers finally start to see through the eyes of their students, through the eyes of their hearts, when they realize that all we have to do is communicate via love, intuition and a strong mechanical system (the Star Sequence is an example), then we will see something.
It will be so grand! It will be grand and glorious. In the same way that we moved from instinct to intellect, we will soon move from intellect to intuition. We are doing so now, and it will affect everything. It won’t be like it was. It will be about love and happiness. Just in time, right?
Envision it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVAQl7qq-aI
So in the meantime, teachers….keep on teaching!
Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hD8d4Lpm_0
*there are no experts, there’s just us….
Yes. Workshits. Pardon my accent.
These serve as ‘evidence’ up the food chain – IMO that’s the driving reason why Ts use them.
Lots of New Age names for this – like ‘visible learning.’
‘Evidence’ that the Ss are engaging w/the content & earning their grade, which is ‘evidence’ that the T’s are earning their paycheck. It’s all about documentation.
If we were accountants, these workshits would be our ledgers:{
LOL.