Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Sixth Graders
Share:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Ben Slavic
Get The Latest Updates
Subscribe to Our Mailing List
No spam, notifications only about new products, updates.
Related Posts
CI and the Research (cont.)
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
Research Question
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
We Have the Research
To view this content, you must be a member of Ben’s Patreon at $10 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to
4 thoughts on “Sixth Graders”
Sometimes I wish I taught middle school ever since I started with TPRS and especially now that I’m doing doing stories based on OWI and Invisibles. I’ve only done one OWI so far and those all went fantastic in each of my five high school classes. The actual stories were ok-but it wasn’t an extremely high level of interest/engagement as I was hoping for in all classes…except for one. Of course, the engagement is higher than I’ve ever had before compared to traditional teaching so I will certainly continue.
A couple years back with original TPRS, I let the kids give most of the answers and that particular year, we just had homerun stories all the time and we rarely ever stayed with the original script I had. I think it was the type of kids I had-all very outgoing. The invisibles would have worked wonderfully with them.
This year, after watching Tina’s videos and talking with her, I got the message that kids are pretty content with simply LISTENING to the stories with invisibles instead of offering many answers. Again, that went very well in one class. The other classes were still fine, though. We finished the story and each story was cute but I didn’t see the enthusiasm and intense engagement I was expecting or, at least, wanting to see.
Personally, I think I need to find a balance between telling most of the story and having them coming up with many answers. I don’t think that there is an answer for me and it probably will depend from class to class as well. I personally need a script in my hand for me to feel comfortable but I certainly don’t mind using the kid’s ideas as well. I just get nervous that once I accept an idea much different with what I had in mind that I have to pretty much depend on the kids for the rest of the story because I’m not good with coming up with good ideas on the spot. This would be fine if I had kids yelling out answers all the time but, in high school, they’re much more relaxed and don’t yell out a bunch of answers. It’s much more calm. They don’t argue over whether the melon was green or blue. Sometimes I wish I had the problem that they were all yelling out a bunch of answers because they cared SO much that I had to remind them that it’s only a story!! (Once in a while it does happen to my more outgoing classes, but not consistently).
I’m not sure if anyone has any suggestions, but I’m open to hear your thoughts.
Thank you!!
Keri, I am in the same place as you with this. My high schoolers are quiet and willing to listen when I don’t give them much opportunity for input, but they don’t “own” the story and the spark is not there. I agree completely that we need to feel our way through this, that it will depend on the class, on the day, and even on the script. My scripts are loaded with blanks but I fill them in myself sometimes, just going on intuition. Other times we abandon the script altogether and go rogue, again, because it seems like the right thing to do at the moment. Then, of course, there is way more English than there would have been otherwise.
What I am learning from the movement and innovation in the community is this: each of us is a teaching artist. All of these activities are art supplies, but in the end we must develop and trust our intuition above all else. We must consciously develop the ability to respond with wisdom and love in the moment to the situation unfolding before us in our classrooms.
The wisdom I think we can find here. There is plenty of it. The love is within us, hard for me to access sometimes when a particularly difficult group is trying my patience, but without it my work as a teacher means nothing.
Amen. If we can’t care for our students,they may as well replace us with robots.
I must chime in that these strategies (OWI /Invisibles) are perfect for young kids. They provide a class made visual prompt, the concrete image from which to elicit more language- and they are so playful and fun. I have used these strategies now in grades 1-4 Spanish and 3-7 Hebrew. Solid gold across the board, with the extra icing for the older/more literate kids – all the reading.