Back to Basics

I am reading "the Green Book" Fluency Through TPR Storytelling by Blaine Ray and Contee Seely. I picked it up again to begin researching in earnest. (My thesis topic has been approved!)

I am amazed by how much the basics have been escaping me. In my quest to get a story going, to grab the students' interest... I have been going way too fast for many of my slower processors.

The biggest thing I have not been doing is circling enough. But just behind that one is the idea that we should never introduce more than one new fact at a time. I introduce a fact, ask a question, then introduce another fact. I don't give anybody the time to savor the new idea, to truly acquire it.

So, whenever this blizzard ends, I'm going back to the classroom with a renewed sense of purpose. S-L-O-W.... I don't care how many times people say it, it always applies.

I think "slow" and I slow down my speech so students can hear my individual words. I point and pause at the board. But I don't go through the story slowly enough. I rush through as if the end of the story is the goal. As Blaine points out, it isn't the end, it's the journey.