Some More Thoughts on i + 1: The “Just a Little Bit” Hypothesis

5 thoughts on “Some More Thoughts on i + 1: The “Just a Little Bit” Hypothesis”

1. Annemarie Orth

   October 23, 2013 at 7:55 pm

   Ben, I’m so glad you brought up i + 1 because I was just trying to explain this hypothesis on another blog for a class I’m taking on ELL Evaluation and Assessment. For me the struggle isn’t in the materials, it is in the difference in level of the students in my class. I’m reading a book with my 8th graders right now-Agentes Secretos- that is not challenging to them at all BUT they can actually read it quietly and on their own and understand it. When we actually discuss the book and PQA it, I feed their need for newer vocabulary and structures since they’ve acquired just about every word in the book. And then there are my 5 new 8th graders that have had ZERO Spanish and are put into my class because they’ve come from another school district. I’ve decided to throw up my hands here and just assess them differently because I can’t hold them accountable for what I’m teaching the rest of the students and I can’t stop and translate everything I say in class because they haven’t had me for the past 2 years…or should I?

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2. Ben Slavic

   October 23, 2013 at 8:17 pm

   It would not be fair to the newcomers to assess them as you do the others. They WILL catch up IF you can get them trained up in how to do a CI class after two years of the old way. Tell them to just listen, listen listen, and sometime in the spring they will start wanting to be assessed with the rest of the kids. But I suggest you wait for them to tell you when they are ready. That’s just my take on this, anyway.

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3. Diane N.

   October 23, 2013 at 8:21 pm

   Thank you for understanding the prep work is high for Chinese CI teachers, Ben.

   I have certainly overshot and initially provided much too challenging content for a class. It’s a constant process of informal assessment, I think. What I am finding challenging with my beginning levels (more than with the upper levels) is to find i+1 that works well enough for superstars and barometers alike. At those beginning stages, their differences seem most pronounced to me. That makes sense to me if the process is indeed similar to first language acquisition. It’s also a reason that the two super-motivated kids I am tutoring really get the best i+1 situation. It has been a blast with them this fall.

   Actually I overshot very recently with my 5th graders, and I realized it and adapted mid-class. Next class, I started them again, telling them that I was aiming for i+1 (explained that meant just a bit of new with stuff they already knew) but I’d missed and given about i+25 (not really, but that’s how it looked on some faces when they saw it). I apologized and asked if they had noticed that I was not trying to give them too much new at once. There were some yesses in the class. They needed more guidance through something to read in characters and I’d given it to them as an independent task first. Going back with more intermediate steps done together went very well.

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   1. Teri

      October 24, 2013 at 10:31 am

      Diane,

      I think you have one of the secrets of success right there. You are bringing your students into their learning and making them a part of the process rather than passive fixtures in the classroom. The more we can talk to our students about what this whole acquisition process is all about, the better they will do.

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4. Bob Patrick

   October 24, 2013 at 8:04 am

   Thanks for this. I brought this discussion into the graduate class last night. Very helpful. We still struggle with focusing on mostly what they know plus a little more sprinkled in. That’s a helpful image.

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