The administrators at my school were all replaced three years ago and I have been working to explain C.I. based teaching to them with frequent visits in the halls, invitations to come observe and forwarded emails.  I recently was observed by our assistant principal and her comments below give me hope that she is getting it.  I have been concerned about how my TPRS teaching would be evaluated with the new rubrics for teachers we have here in Colorado. I am sharing this not to boast, but to give hope and some strategies for those that are under skeptical scrutiny.
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It so happened that we were doing the same activity on both days (separated by about 3 weeks) that I was observed.  This gave her some perspective and she seems to have understood what I was trying to accomplish with the students–engagement at such a level that they forgot we were speaking in Spanish.
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The activity was “La Persona Especial”, sort of PQA on steroids, or hyper Circling with Balls.  Where I interview students and keep asking questions until we find out something interesting, unique and memorable about each kid. We keep digging until we strike gold. Yesterday, the students asked (finally!) if they could interview me. The assistant principal walked in during that part of the activity.   Here is her first observation 3 weeks ago, followed by the one yesterday:
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Hi Mr. Hedstrom,
Thanks for allowing me into your room today! I’m glad I got to see the “special person” approach in action today. They sure seem to remember the unique characteristics of their fellow classmates! I think the sense of community it builds is very important to the classroom environment. I have also witnessed today and in the past the fact that students are assigned “tasks” to be in charge of in your room which I believe builds accountability and ownership in the class. I will document these concepts on your rubric and thanks again!
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Hi Mr. Hedstrom,
Thanks for allowing me to sit in for a few minutes today! I seriously thought it was a Spanish II class by the amount of language they seemed to be understanding judging by their reaction to certain things you said. As I indicated when we spoke briefly, you were speaking faster, not repeating as much, and using more words than in my previous visits which tells me they are picking up the language!
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I liked the writing piece that you directed them to start at the end of class. I feel, although I am not an expert by any means with foreign language, that all pieces are important….listening, speaking, reading and writing. I would be interested to hear your thoughts the speaking part…I don’t often hear the students speak a lot in class. I’m guessing it can be a bit of a confidence thing when they are not totally comfortable with the language in the initial stages of learning??
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I thought it was a great idea to have them interview you and get to know you as well as they know their classmates! Thanks again!