Here is a belated (Sept. 6) report from the field from Carly, with apologies:
Hi Ben!
In NY we just finished our first two days of school with the kids. This was the first time I started the year with CI and CWB, so I wanted to report back on how it went…Loved it! It felt so good to do something REAL right from the beginning. Inspired by the posts on addressing negative behaviors every time and right away, I focused on pointing out rules as issues came up, and giving gentle and loving reminders of the rules with a big and maybe slightly cheeky smile. So much better than reading through a “contract” and blah blah blahing them about expectations.
After 2 days of CWB my 7th graders know qui and joue au foot, and not much else, but….when I had them do the questionnaire on day 2, a handful of them wrote those words in French right in the middle of their English answers. They already want to use the language!
This is my first time using the questionnaires and I am so excited. In one class, I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not, but MANY kids wrote something about dragons, either wanting to have the job of dragon tamer, or the unusual thing they have is a dragon or dragon eggs, or they are scared of dragons…this feels like it has the makings of a good story or even a “realm”, as I just read about in “TPRS in a Year”…any suggestions on how to approach this?
Carly