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Report from the Field – Louisa Walker
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16 thoughts on “Report from the Field – Louisa Walker”
All right!
Woo-hoo!!! Nice work 🙂
That just makes me want to cry with relief and joy! GOOD!!!
That is so freakin awesome!
Good news indeed.
And your Principal has lowered expectations for the grammar exams. You will be able to show real language success in others ways. In the long run though they will have a firmer grasp of the underlying grammar whether or not they know a mnemonic for all the uses of X.
This makes me think that possibly, just possibly, the spiney grip of the grammar grinches of the past century may be loosening. Just maybe.
Wonderful to hear about.
On Thursday of this week I will be attending my district’s World Languages Department Chair meeting. One of the topics of discussion is “Theoretical Student Boycott” with expected results listed as “What would we do without textbooks?” I have already been encouraged by the chairman for the meeting to speak up. My initial reaction was, “What would we do? You mean things like save enough money on textbooks that we could afford to send our teachers to training on how to teach a foreign language without a textbook?”
Oh, and your report is wonderful to read, Louisa. It’s great to hear about administrators who truly understand the idea of acquisition and colleagues who are open to the sea change that TCI/TPRS represents in our thinking.
Amen!
Louisa, thanks for sharing. That is awesome to hear. Where do you teach in Southern California? I teach in Whittier – just curious.
With the potential to reach 35,000 students, ¡Fantástico! Maybe next they’ll reduce your class sizes!
It only takes a spark…and you’ve lit it Louisa!! Bravo!!! Let us know if we can help in any way. Congratulations!
with love,
Laurie
Thanks everyone for all of the positive and supportive comments. I couldn’t wait to share the news with everyone! Robert, what an idea: save money on textbooks and spend it on teacher training. Maybe I will work on that whenever we get around to adopting texts again.
Sean, I love your comment about reducing my class sizes. Funny thing though, we are at an impasse in our contract negotiations and one of the major blocks is due to the district wanting to raise them even higher!! Can you imagine?!
David, I teach in Chula Vista. Are you planning to got to the CLTA conference in March?
Nathaniel, it shows that there is hope for some admin folks. She says she can’t wait to observe me! Lol! I will channel all of you when that happens.
Laurie, I will most definitely be reading everything here and on your blog for continued inspiration. I am working on being more like you with my students (or at least how I picture you are with yours)
Ben, keep up the good fight! We all still have a long way to go to change the tide!
I will be making some videos so you all can give me some pointers.
¡Gracias!
Good. We haven’t had videos in a while. Understandably so. We are reticent because we never get our best work on a video, it requires us to leave our ego at the door, and we never have time anyway because setting up the camera and all, getting releases, etc. is just so much work. I salute all who have put up video here in the past. It makes me think that break out coaching groups at conferences may be the best thing of all for learning this stuff. Videos are rough but all we have besides conferences and regional trainings.
This is so gratifying to hear , Louisa. I am thrilled for you. As for the icy grip of the grammarians, I just finished my midterms. The upper level Spanish kids are in open rebellion about the difficulty of the grammar on their exams – of course they are referred to as “the ones” who should have never been recommended for level 3, 4, or 5. Everyone else only reports the happy news of the few who get it. The rest make up stealth formulas that are written in disappearing ink to make the grades “come out” right. Me, I added a few points because I could see that a few structures were not solid but aside from that, I can really see who has been paying attention and who needs to do a better job of doing their 50%. What I REALLY see is what they can DO with the language. Life is good.