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Report from the Field – Diane Neubauer
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5 thoughts on “Report from the Field – Diane Neubauer”
“The ones who didn’t want to play the game lag behind them.”
I’ve got one student who especially comes to mind in that category, who now that we are reading is constantly having to look up words because of a lack of true acquisition during first semester.
… I can sense a difference, especially for the kids who bought into CI right away last school year. The ones who didn’t want to play the game lag behind them….
I think that so many of us try to get most or even all of our students to be better at the language. But the Zen part is that many kids don’t really want to learn. So we must not give away our gold, anymore than a basketball coach should not try too hard to coach a kid who doesn’t want to play. Can we really make kids learn? This report from you Diane and that sentence above is important. In saying it, you prove something about motivation. You also illustrate the real value of jGR, as a kind of crowbar against unmoveable, boring kids, so that we need not lose our energy to them. Yes, we teach the entire class, but no, we don’t stretch ourselves out to be depleted by the unmotivated ones. Yes, we tolerate them and grade them, but no, we don’t let them suck the energy out of us as we work, subtly, with the half of the class in whom we find joy.
I’ve been enjoying these kids in classes this week, too. They came back highly motivated (and still excitable and chatty) but ready to play. One boy whose parents didn’t let him go on the trip (not financially, that would have been overcome!) looked at me and the class funny on the first day back. He could tell the dynamic was somewhat new, and that even some formerly argumentative kids were really on board. Too bad he missed getting to find out firsthand that I’m actually pretty fun and that we’re all on the same side.
I’m really having a great school year, though. This second year all-CI is so much smoother and more comfortable feeling than last year. I have built in more variety and can think better on my feet. I have re-planned curriculum for my 4 levels and am beginning to implement those plans already. I’m now entirely off of textbook content and relying on a high-frequency vocab list created by a few Chinese CI teachers, basic readers and a very engaging movie as my curriculum for all 4 years. It’s been very exciting and I feel blessed. I am thankful to have the freedom to make changes like this!
Great to hear, Diane. I would really like to see a video of you teaching. Please do consider posting one for us sometime soon.
That’s motivating, Sean, thanks for the compliment. I tried to video my 5th graders doing something like a kindergarten reading day, and I turned on the camera — but didn’t hit record. Ack! I’ll try again sometime in April.