Hi Ben,
I have some exciting news and I am in need of some advice.
First, I went to my first workshop last week with Carol Gaab in New Jersey. My school was very supportive and paid for it (which is nearly unheard of). I was ecstatic to be among likeminded people. I feel like I learned a lot but unfortunately I have little to no time to process all of it. Thank god for the resource handbook given out at the workshop. It is jam packed with ideas and brings me back to what was taught in that whirlwind of a day! Also related to making progress, my department head is becoming a convert!!! She is fully convinced that TPRS is the link she has been missing for years! Over spring break we are planning to have our own mini-workshop just the four language teachers in our building. It’s exciting to have so much support for the method within the building. Now if I can get the district to deal with the discipline issues I would be able to teach with my good curriculum and methods.
I need advice on two things. First, our district is having a PD day in March where we are only looking at textbooks. Shoot me now…. Anyway, there are representatives from publishers coming to present. I have been in touch with Carol and we are most likely going to set up a webinar for the district. (fingers crossed things work out). Any advice going into this ordeal? I want to come armed with questions for the publishers such as “what research did you consult when writing this text?” Any other suggestions? I already know to come prepared to defend TPRS. I plan to ask Dr. Krashen on the listserv if he could help narrow down the best research to present to a group of skeptics. Yet I also wanted to come prepared to show that these traditional textbooks do not lead to fluency. Our district has a lot of issues with poverty, behavior and special needs. I am the only one in my school seeing some success with these groups. Now I just need the research to back up the fact that TPRS is the reason my students are succeeding.
Last, I need advice for my own classroom. I feel as if I have recently hit a wall. Today I was trying to do a group reading based on a story we acted out last week and I was losing everyone. I tried to think of any bailout moves that would help my situations and my conclusion was that my classroom was becoming polarized. I have about 15 who are doing well, understanding a lot, realizing they are learning and interested in the stories. Then I have about 5 who are huge behavior problems and it is because they are so behind! I gave the “good” kids the embedded reading we were going to do after the group reading and I took the other kids in a group and walked them through the story. One of these three boys is identified special needs but the other two are not, BUT they should be. I couldn’t keep their focus when they were sitting with me in such a small group!
My question is: how do I step back a little bit and regain their confidence yet still challenge them? Unfortunately, I have been telling fewer stories and doing more reading because of my own weakness with circling (always repetitive, not interesting). I am also feeling pressure to get my level 1’s to free write (I know it is way too early, but they have to do a post-test which involves writing). I also feel like my PQA is stale. I think it’s time to order your PQA book…I’ll have time to read it when summer gets here.
Sorry for the multiple subjects covered in this email (and the bad writing). I do not get to sit down and write often and thought I would cover all I could.
Thanks as always,
Lori B