Our Steven Ordiano in CA joins a long list over the years of teachers here who over the years have had to respond to administrators who – despite good intentions – cannot seem to understand the actual nature of comprehensible input instruction. Steven is not the first nor will he be the last to be asked to fit a square peg into a round hole.
However, this story has a silver lining as Steven describes below, and, as usual, Robert Harrell plays a part in it. It seems that even without his knowing it, in this case, Robert le Chevalier de l’Ouest can be seen swooping in on horseback to bring the dragons to the attention of his sword, the mighty pen, or as it is in this century, the mighty keyboard.
Still, such meetings cause unnecessary stress, especially when the teacher is alone in their building or district, and now it seems to be happening yet again, although the results of this inquisition may be, due to Steven’s quick thinking, very positive.
The song has the same melody – all Steven is trying to do is apply current research in language instruction into his classroom and yet has been met with an administrative road block that is not based on actual research, that is based on the textbook model and units, neither of which have any basis in research.
For those who might find themselves in a similar situation as this one that Steven experienced just yesterday, do know that the Primers section of the hard link bar above contains much good hard research based information (including the Robert Harrell articles mentioned below), and in other categories here such as:
https://benslavic.com/blog/category/when-attacked/
Here is the current version of the same old beat up song from Steven this time, with a happy twist in the words based on serendipity:
Hi Ben,
Today, Friday, I had my meeting with my BTSA supervisor.
She had some criticism regarding my instructional methods.
In a nutshell she wanted more structure. She wanted me to have “units” designed so I can design backwards. She was also adamant of using the textbook as a resource.
Here is the report:
After talking about some paperwork about differentiation and student groups and engaging students, my supervisor asks me about unit design.
I was not prepared for those questions. I get a printed sheet of the Super Seven verbs but I appeared so half-hazard and nervous. I ended up explaining that I based my lessons around three or four key structures that are involved around a story.
It was not good enough.
One of her main criticisms was that it seemed that I was teaching like the English Language Arts “whole language method” which she said failed. I have heard it only mentioned once in my credential program. I know nothing of it.
She was on the offensive. I realize that she can’t help it but I was stuck like a deer staring at headlights.
Then an interruption came from the next door teacher. My supervisor steps out to watch the next class. I scramble for my SLA/TCI/TPRS literature that I printed before hand in case of situations like these. I also attached some literature in an email sent to her immediately.
When she came back, I kept cool and mentioned that I was a part of this PLC. I also mentioned that you, Ben are getting amazing results at the national level from the strategies you are using. I asserted myself as a professional to her.
She kept quiet and listened. She sees that I emailed her attached with a scope and sequence reader from Harrell.
While she skims it, she says that it is “good stuff” and thanks me for it. Was it genuine? I’m not sure.
Certainly she was caught off guard. I mentioned that I could give her more academic texts on SLA. I told her that it would be beneficial for improving vocabulary for her LSAT test that she plans on taking– yeah I know, lawyers.
She referred back to what the district has on “lesson plans” for foreign language. That is, only one poorly written “warm-up” based on the book we have “Allez-Viens”. It is pure output.
To me this is a victory because I felt I redeemed myself instead of shutting up and smiling while a supervisor schools me on “how things should be done”. However, I still need to keep my arms ready for the next meeting because before she left she mentioned using the textbook as a resource.
My thoughts about the experience are being documented on my blog — sans the specifics of my experience.
Here is my blog: http://yestoinput.blogspot.com/