Jennifer Goldszmidt wrote in a comment here today:
One of my Spanish 1 students from last year decided to take French 2 this year (he took French in middle school and now he’s in 10th grade)….The lesson today went pretty well.
I asked my former and now current student on the way out if he felt like he was OK in this class. I’m nervous for him because everyone else at least had French 1 last year and he didn’t. He told me, “I feel better in this class. I understand what’s going on in this class.”
Made my day.
This is actually profound. It speaks to the level of NON comprehension that the other teachers are putting on their students in that school. What that kid says might be overlooked by a lot of people. It reveals so much about not just Jennifer’s instruction but the method we are touting. When kids say things like that, who needs to test. I have always thought that testing is so unnecessary when with this approach we can just look them in the eye or ask them as Jennifer did how things feel to them in class. The research nerds would disagree, but my response to them would be to go take a long walk on a short plank.