Scott Benedict

This year, I found that one thing. It took me all these years and lots of books on reading, blogs, and discussions with experts on reading and FVR for it to finally become clear. What was that one thing? What is that magic pill? Let me tell you.

When you use tests, quizzes, projects, homework, and participation as grade-book indicators, you are unable to clearly see a student’s strengths and weaknesses.

There are so many different philosophies when it comes to grading and I’m not going to debate the merits of each today. Suffice it to say that for most, grades rarely have any true meaning. And for me, therein lies the problem. Proficiency-based grading can give grades the meaning they deserve.

Once you have gotten to know your students through the target language it’s time to transition to other aspects of comprehensible input.

Everyone wants to have a simple, full-proof plan that they can learn, adopt, and execute and have very obedient students that never act up, never are disrespectful, and are always happy, cooperative, and compliant.

At the end of last school year, I had the pleasure of reading another one of Ben Slavic's excellent books called A Natural Approach to Stories. Now building characters is a mainstay of my classroom