I don’t understand why people are so against it and so caught up in criticism of untargeted input. It reminds me of legacy methods teachers fighting with CI and TPRS teachers. Prior to this year, and prior to attending the workshop in Portland with Ben and Tina this summer, I had been wanting to implement CI and TPRS strategies in my classes for a long time, but I felt overwhelmed and lost and couldn’t wrap my head around it all. Originally, I was so happy to find and the iFLT page. I followed the iFLT Facebook group and learned a lot, got some ideas and explored blogs based on ideas that were being shared there. I went to a Blaine Ray training, I had tried TPRS in my classes, but I still felt overwhelmed and felt like I couldn’t dive in all the way and I didn’t really know how or where to start. It wasn’t until I learned about One Word Images and the Invisibles that I had the confidence to plow forward. I have seen amazing changes in my teaching and in my students and it has been SO EASY! I have been working with non-targeted input since mid September and I only see my students 4 times a week. They have had less than 2 of months of non targeted input. I had some school board members and our district assistant superintendent and director of curriculum and instruction, and my principal and VP visit 2 weeks ago. They were doing learning walks all over the district and were observing student engagement specifically and wanting to see what was happening around the district. I was stressed about the visit and what I was going to do, especially after being reminded 5 times by my principal that they were coming. The night before, I decided to stop stressing and just do what I normally do in a period. I was told by my admin that my class was the “Star of the District” in terms of their visit. They had visited the other high schools and were blown away that in mine they heard no English at all and were amazed at the students responses to all of my questions and they were impressed by their level of engagement. Again, I am a first year CI teacher, and have been working with this just 2 months. I had an observation today and yesterday in my pre-conference, my principal was asking me all kinds of questions because he was so intrigued by what he had seen us do in class. He wanted to know specifically how what I was doing in my classes was different than what they do in other classes. He also told me he had been asking students about how it was different. Then, after my observation, he was all smiles and had lots of positive things to say. I SO agree that TPRS is overwhelming. I was getting overwhelmed with my stories (the 7 level), so I scaled back. I got to the realization that I don’t have to be perfect right away, I can stumble and guess what….they won’t know the difference. Now, I have a skeleton, a framework that I can use as I am building my skills and getting more comfortable. I just rest easy in knowing that a day of me bumbling through a period of providing comprehensible input to my classes is still WAY better for them than teaching from a book (which I haven’t opened all year, by the way). I am a newbie but love the ease of and the freedom that comes with working with non targeted input. So…keep fighting the good fight, Ben, Tina, all of you…what you have shared with us is working! I appreciate this group and the CI liftoff group so much, I am so much happier and so much less stressed.So…keep fighting the good fight, Ben, Tina, all of you…what you have shared with us is working! I appreciate this group and the CI liftoff group so much, I am so much happier and so much less stressed. I don’t know how to convince others and I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that experiencing untargeted input at workshops it and trying it with support and help gave me the faith to move forward. It seems like it has been a leap of faith…not knowing how it would turn out and what my students will be able to to do at the end of the year…but I have faith in the process and trust that what I have seen so far in my students tells me that I am on the right track. For my own mental health, I’m no longer checking in on the iFLT page, as I am not learning much and it just seems like a big waste of time. Cheers.
