Thanks to Dick Detwiler in Philadelphia we had a great experience. Each city seems to have its own kind of feel, in terms of the people. We both loved being back in the south – there is a real genteel feeling in this part of the country – kindness is real and so is the July heat! Charlotte was great and we have excellent footage – if we can ever sort it out – of all aspects of our presentation: Card Talk, OWI, Invisibles stories, Cycles of Instruction, Story Listening, WCTG, Dictee, etc.
Tina and I are both noticing, with each new city (we are in Atlanta now and the teachers here are just wonderful, all very classy and kind to us for which we are grateful) how strong the Invisibles are. They are a true shift in thinking at every level. The phrase that keeps popping into my mind is “golden rails” to a story. It’s just guaranteed. I can say that after sixteen years now of struggle with TPRS, all I had to do was drop all the baggage (see https://benslavic.com/blog/hit-list-of-8/) and put in the Invisibles formula of working from (two sorts of) images, the jobs (wow!) and the seven level questioning sequence. It’s like magic, and it’s foolproof, and I certainly felt like a fool with TPRS.*
Read my intention well – it is becoming a source of confusion and rudeness from those who misinterpret my words: I am only saying that I felt like a fool with TPRS. I get to say that. I am not saying that those who are expert and comfortable with TPRS are fools. Why would I say that? Anyway, this is a time of icebergs falling off of ice shelfs in this world of intense change.
1 thought on “Report from the Field – Ben Slavic”
I’m so happy for you Ben. That you are evolving even more with your vision at the helm of of your ship. What is the future for us CI teachers? That is the big question I ask myself. For we are only limited by our imagination.