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Report from the Field – Craig West
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9 thoughts on “Report from the Field – Craig West”
I like the screening students comment. Some would be critical, saying everyone can do CI. No they can’t, if the classroom balance is off. That class you described would be impossible to teach. Let’s stop the lovefest about how “everybody can learn” using CI. Yes, they absolutely can, but when they start doing mixes of kids like that one, and, as Craig says, the primary aim of the school is to get kids through and out, then the statement is no longer true.
Thanks Ben, I appreciate that validation.
If the class demands the book, is incapable of soaring more than one inch above the ground, even though it is not their fault and they have been trained in the arts of snarky classroom behavior, then give them the book, is what I say. I wish I had gone back to the book more over the years. I was in the habit of taking a big serving of snark and asking for more. That’s what over-enthusiasm can do. Not any more. They serve me snark, I serve them snark back.
Last year I taught a 90 minute block of spanish. Well I rarely taught because it the curriculum and exams were all online! I would mainly monitor and meet with students about goal setting. I would remind them of their grades. I would just grade their writing and their speaking exercises. I was given free reign to delete assignments etc… There was just too many students 42-45. These students came from all over the district and some were native speakers. The main point was to earn the credits. I turned down their full time offer for middle school French and Spanish in a “traditional” classroom instead of online. I kinda miss my snarkiness like grading while in class and spending all my free time with my family and on ben’s blog.
Let me add my voice to the chorus of encouragement for Craig to throw the book at them. We have to survive this somehow. More often than I care to admit, I have to choose my survival over pure TCI.
When we do throw the book at them, we have to be able to feel deeply that doing so is in the best interests of all involved in that particular situation. It is hard for some of us to do that.
We think, “Well, I have found this way of teaching and it rocks the house so I have to do it all the time because it is undoubtedly the best use of instructional minutes.” That is not true. The best use of instructional minutes is what leads to our best mental health, not to our best teaching.
Because when we start to break down under the unspoken admonition from everywhere around us to use stories, we won’t be worth anything to anybody. This is a grueling profession, and, as Anne says, “We have to survive this somehow.” This is so deeply true, except when it pertains to that group of teachers who think that they can be all things to all people. Gag moi.
Dude, Craig, I’m so sorry. If you don’t have that critical mass of novice students in the class then TCI is not going to work. I’ve been there. Going to the book might turn out to be a headache for you though. If it does, do a bunch of independent projects and tell admin you’re focusing on cultural studies. Again, I’m so sorry. Hopefully your other classes are better.
Look at the bright side, Craig. If we didn’t have these gigs, we’d have to go out and get a real job.
Exactly!! Today we’ve started what will be a 2 week cultural project.