As the first six weeks comes to an end, I've been doing a lot of reflecting. I'm really excited and proud that I'm making such a huge positive change this year with using TPRS. I can't believe how much confidence my first years have. But I'm also doing some serious reflection on how to teach my third years because they seem to be lacking confidence.
It's as if I've yanked the rug out from beneath some of my students in third year. I asked them for feedback the other day (1 thing they enjoy, 1 concern) about my class. EVERYONE had something they enjoyed and not everyone had a concern. That was a good reinforcement for me. However, looking at the concerns, I noticed that many students were worried that they weren't learning nor being challenged. This was a MAJOR red flag for me.
So I've been reading and re-reading their feedback and formulating my response to their concerns. I want them to know that they're in great hands and that I won't let them down by "not teaching" them anything. I've given them a list of vocabulary for the semester, a comprehensive grammar review sheet, and a verb synopsis for us to complete. The students with concerns about "not learning" felt that we need to spend more time conjugating verbs and focusing on the endings.
This has lead me to question how I am teaching. I've explored the idea of if we should do more of that. I've also explored why we're not doing more of that. I keep coming up at the same place. They don't realize they're learning because it makes more sense this year: 1) there's context to what they're learning, 2) I try to make them always feel confident and smart, so they're not focusing on how stupid they feel for not knowing something, 3) we're constantly reviewing and getting exposed to new things which evens it out.
So, I've really started to take this reflection piece and put it to work. I just hope that I can prove to them that they are learning. I know they are. I check in with them 100s of times an hour.
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