I noticed a lot of things today about teaching using comprehensible input:
I noticed again today (Monday is PQA day for me) how getting enough reps is just such a challenge, especially if I go slowly enough for the kids to understand, especially with the rather challenging structures we are doing in Jim Tripp’s Halloween story script.
I also noticed how jGR steps up so big along with the Classroom rules and Three and Done.
I noticed how important good will is in this whole deal. Without cheerfulness the whole thing falls apart. I started the PQA on the structures in the usual way, telling the kids what the structures mean and then doing signing and gesturing and then starting the PQA. A few things I noticed about the PQA that I wanted to share are how important wait time is, as per a previous article posted here tonite.
Another thing I noticed today was how PQA only works when we talk about certain kids, whether they want to be talked about or not. We just lightheartedly say stuff like:
“Class, David wants to be Cinderalla for Halloween!”
And then we just circle the heck out of that, mercilessly. Once they realize that they are trapped, they usually play along. Here is a link to that topic, which I posted here as a comment earlier tonight:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2012/10/29/lame-students/
I also noticed today how important it is to avoid going out of bounds. I was extremely aware today of how even one new word can upset the apple cart for my students. Not that I didn’t introduce any new words – I don’t see how we can do this work without it. (There’s the Staying in Bounds thread again.)
It’s so weird. Each time I practice (and yes jen it is very much like a yoga practice) the skills of SLOW (with wait time, staying in bounds and checking for understanding, and the emotional skill of staying cheerful and speaking in a lighthearted way) I am amazed at how, each time I do it, I get to deeper and deeper levels with it. It really is an onion in that way!
