If you scroll down to the bottom of the categories list, you will see both the “When Attacked” and the “When Observed” categories. These two were created to help teachers who are (a) undergoing any kind of scrutiny in their buildings (usually it’s from colleagues or parents who don’t understand how people acquire languages), and (b) when they have to talk to an admin (most don’t get Krashen either). It is a sad but nevertheless true fact that CI teachers have always had to carry two yokes around their necks in this work – mastering how to do CI but also defending why they do it. No easy task!
So take advantage of these two categories whenever a parent or someone (a) tries to tell someone over your head in the district or in your building how to teach, and/or (b) when you have to do a formal observation as part of your job description.
Below is a message sent by Danielle Palmiotto to her principal before their recent pre-observation meeting about Danielle’s job performance. It was an excellent move, since, as in sports, the “best defense is a good offense” (i.e. you can’t be backed into a corner if you come out swinging). This is how to start off the process of a formal observation:
Danielle wrote:
Dear Pat,
It is important to me that you understand how I teach. Since COVID I have become aware that what worked before COVID isn’t working anymore in the new online setting, so I have had to put my attention on what can work best online.
I have always been interested in teaching in greater alignment with the research, and have studied the work of Dr. Stephen Krashen and his comprehensible input hypothesis, but with COVID I’ve come to the conclusion that worksheets don’t work online.
I have been part of a group, a team of language professionals, since May 2020. Since May, our online group has spent 12 weeks, 2-4 hours Mondays – Wednesdays learning how to apply Krashen to our teaching, with our main focus being on how to implement not only Krashen’s work in our language instruction but also how to teach according to the national standard of Communication.
According to ACTFL, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and my national parent organization, the Communication Standard and the three modes of communication; (interpretive, interpersonal and presentational) should drive any WL curriculum, and not a textbook. Not once is the study of grammar even mentioned in the standards, and it is my position that a child should learn to understand and read a language before working on how it is written. .
Therefore, I can honestly say that what is best for the kids is to be “free” to focus on the message as per Stephen Krashen. Do people who still believe that learning a language can be done by memorization of verb forms? I can and do teach to the test, give chapter / unit tests, targeted vocabulary quizzes, grammar quizzes but only because I am expected to. Doing those things is no longer in alignment with the standards or according to the research.
Then why do teachers still do what they were doing in the 1950s? In my opinion it’s because Krashen, Chomsky, Beniko Mason, and all the other great language researchers didn’t start compiling their work until the 1970s. Also, they still teach using the memorization model (vs. the communication model – even though it’s the standard). The memorization model worked in pre-COVID, physical classroom, but not online.
Thanks for reading this Pat.
Her principal replied (this one has a background in English and so knows Krashen), a point in favor of Danielle and a strong start for her as the process begins. I might add that the “word in the hallways” is that Danielle is too “loosey-goosey” in her instruction and has caused her to suffer as a result, but she has stuck by her Krashen guns in spite of self-righteous verb-conjugating colleagues, parent, and even a few students, if anyone can relate:
Pat replied:
Hi Danielle,I completely agree. When we observe how babies and toddlers learn the language – it is not about memorizing verb conjugations. Perfect grammar will come…Thanks for taking the time to write and share your philosophy….
(I might add that whenever you are under attack in even the slightest way by well-meaning colleagues who don’t understand what you are trying to do with CI in your classroom, know that you are right and if the shade they throw at you were truly brought into the sunlight, their positions would melt and you will have made progress on behalf of your students. It’s hard, but it brings change, or I should say reform, the buzz word in education for the past five to ten years. Here Danielle shows her strength and courage, and I am so happy to have been working with her since last May in the first ever Zoom class on my latest books. Very proud of you, Danielle!)