A Challenge to You (a CI teacher!)
I'm going to share a little bit of my heart with you all in this post. My teacher heart has this crazy passion fire burning in it, and I want to challenge those of you who teach language using comprehensible input.
Obviously, this is going to differ from state to state, but I will speak from my experience as a Wisconsin teacher.
In my methods classes, we read about Krashen and his research, but we did not spend time discussing or practicing how to use that in our language classrooms. Therefore, I had graduated college and started teaching using the same methods that I was taught. I LOVED my Spanish classes and assumed that all students would find success the way I had. Wrong.
So I started looking for more resources on how to teach certain things because my students weren't getting it. I knew I needed to make a change. I stumbled upon The Comprehensible Classroom by Martina Bex and from there started swirling down the rabbit hole of ALL OF THE COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT. I was overwhelmed but excited! I decided to go to a CI conference. I went to CI Midwest in Sept. of 2017 and my life was forever changed.
I've been OBSESSED with learning more and more to be the best teacher I can and have completely transformed how I teach. This past fall, I decided to go to Wisconsin's language teacher conference, and I was SHOCKED at the lack of sessions that touched on using comprehensible input and teaching for proficiency. DOESN'T OUR STATE KNOW THERE'S A REVOLUTION TAKING PLACE?!
After a lot of reflection, I decided that although I am aware of the major overhaul of language teaching taking place, tons of people still have yet to hear about it or buy in to it. That's where you and I come in. I know that I'm not a CI expert yet, but I sure do know enough to start helping other teachers get their journeys started. I have a renewed passion for my job, and my students have a renewed passion for my class. It's a win-win. How could I NOT share that with others?! I've decided to stop looking at conferences just for ways that I can gain knowledge and improve my skill. I'm now looking for opportunities to give to others. Does the idea of speaking at a conference make me sick to my stomach? YEP. Does the worry of wondering what people will think of my presentations make me want to hide under my covers? SURE DOES. Does the potential benefit of helping at least one other teacher outweigh all of that? HECK YES.
Here's my challenge: Do you use comprehensible input in your classroom? Do you feel like you are capable of of helping guide other teachers in even one area you use? It could be stories, OWIs, questioning, assessments, calendar talk, free reading, stations, Textivate, Sr. Wooly, free writes, etc... If you have even ONE area you think you could help someone in... why not submit a session proposal for your local (or statewide, or regional, or national) language conference and help a sister (or brother) out?!
Now that we know better, we must do better!
P.S. I submitted proposals for Mitten CI, ACTFL, and WAFLT (WI). I have heard back from Mitten CI and I will be presenting on how to use CI and develop proficiency even while using your textbook (taking place in April). I would love to have you cheer me on if you are attending the conference. For info about Mitten CI, check out their website. I'll let ya know when I hear back about ACTFL and WAFLT. 😀
Obviously, this is going to differ from state to state, but I will speak from my experience as a Wisconsin teacher.
In my methods classes, we read about Krashen and his research, but we did not spend time discussing or practicing how to use that in our language classrooms. Therefore, I had graduated college and started teaching using the same methods that I was taught. I LOVED my Spanish classes and assumed that all students would find success the way I had. Wrong.
So I started looking for more resources on how to teach certain things because my students weren't getting it. I knew I needed to make a change. I stumbled upon The Comprehensible Classroom by Martina Bex and from there started swirling down the rabbit hole of ALL OF THE COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT. I was overwhelmed but excited! I decided to go to a CI conference. I went to CI Midwest in Sept. of 2017 and my life was forever changed.
I've been OBSESSED with learning more and more to be the best teacher I can and have completely transformed how I teach. This past fall, I decided to go to Wisconsin's language teacher conference, and I was SHOCKED at the lack of sessions that touched on using comprehensible input and teaching for proficiency. DOESN'T OUR STATE KNOW THERE'S A REVOLUTION TAKING PLACE?!
After a lot of reflection, I decided that although I am aware of the major overhaul of language teaching taking place, tons of people still have yet to hear about it or buy in to it. That's where you and I come in. I know that I'm not a CI expert yet, but I sure do know enough to start helping other teachers get their journeys started. I have a renewed passion for my job, and my students have a renewed passion for my class. It's a win-win. How could I NOT share that with others?! I've decided to stop looking at conferences just for ways that I can gain knowledge and improve my skill. I'm now looking for opportunities to give to others. Does the idea of speaking at a conference make me sick to my stomach? YEP. Does the worry of wondering what people will think of my presentations make me want to hide under my covers? SURE DOES. Does the potential benefit of helping at least one other teacher outweigh all of that? HECK YES.
Here's my challenge: Do you use comprehensible input in your classroom? Do you feel like you are capable of of helping guide other teachers in even one area you use? It could be stories, OWIs, questioning, assessments, calendar talk, free reading, stations, Textivate, Sr. Wooly, free writes, etc... If you have even ONE area you think you could help someone in... why not submit a session proposal for your local (or statewide, or regional, or national) language conference and help a sister (or brother) out?!
Now that we know better, we must do better!
P.S. I submitted proposals for Mitten CI, ACTFL, and WAFLT (WI). I have heard back from Mitten CI and I will be presenting on how to use CI and develop proficiency even while using your textbook (taking place in April). I would love to have you cheer me on if you are attending the conference. For info about Mitten CI, check out their website. I'll let ya know when I hear back about ACTFL and WAFLT. 😀
Yes! Yes! Yes! Amen!
ReplyDeleteIn Nevada we’ve got a small but mighty movement. We’re going to make T-shirts for our CI PLC so that at our State conference, people will take note!! (I submitted 2 proposals too... but we’ll see if they accept them. There is some strong CI opposition out here!)
I love that you are going to make shirts!! We can do this...one teacher at a time!!
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