I remember once when I was sitting at my desk at the end of another long day in the trenches, thinking back, reflecting on the four decades and roughly 35,000 – I did the math – classes I have taught in my career.
I started looking around in my computer’s files and unexpectedly found a photograph that jumped to my attention. It is in the attachment below and was taken when I was teaching at Lincoln HS on Denver’s “West Side” where there are a lot of Latino schools.
The students in the photo (bottom of this page), being fluent in Spanish as 99% of the students in that school were, could process French with very little effort. I remember that they always brought plenty of good will to the class as well.
You may have some students like this. They never press you for a grade, They seem more intent on just enjoying class than playing us for a grade. In spite of their tough (sometimes almost unbelievably harsh) lives, they come to class and give and give and give when we build a story. They are such a blessing!
Dr. Krashen happened to be in Denver and came to my classroom that week with Dr. Beniko Mason and Diana Noonan, the DPS WL Coordinator:
I was nervous, but I knew that I couldn’t mess up as long as I did CI. Plus, when the kids saw a visitor there, they turned up their good will and looked like a bunch of French super stars!
I share this image because it captures a feeling that we should all strive to establish in our CI classrooms. There is heart in the photo attachment below. There is good will and a feeling of community in the classroom. We really didn’t care what we talked about – we just enjoyed spending time together.
The happiest times are not born of great academic successes. When our students are successful on tests, it doesn’t guarantee our happiness in our jobs. It’s the time spent with those kids.
Thank you, God, for showing me CI. Because of that, I was actually able to align with the research in my instruction and so reach kids. Thanks for turning me away from the textbook so long ago. I wouldn’t have made it.