“Let me make sure I have fastened all of my seat belts.” Flashback to 2016ish, that is what I wish I would have told myself when I discovered what other teachers called TCI, now referred to as acquisition driven instruction. Little did I know that I was in for a long, thrilling, and extensive roller coaster ride. While the comparison might sound like such a cliche, to be honest and in my opinion, it is the most accurate comparison for such journey.
If you are always seeking adrenaline in every facet of your life, to you, this may not sound like an accurate comparison, but I consider myself a happy medium when it comes to adventure, so this is how I can best compare the journey:
1)First, you walk in to the theme park (for me it was a teaching Facebook page), and you contemplate the biggest attraction, what everyone is raving about. You, then, examine the roller coaster’s material, height, length, and people already on that crazy ride of acquisition driven instruction. You are not quite ready to get in line. You just stand on the sidelines and examine.
While CI teaching can be super exciting when you first run into it as an educator, it is important to remember that it is totally okay to pace yourself as you are analyzing the possibilities for you and your students through reading blogs, watching YouTube channels of countless demonstrations, listening to podcasts, and investing in conferences. Yes, you will experience major information overload. It is important to remind yourself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Even you, as a teacher, to get where you currently are in your journey has taken some time. Be thankful for a new teaching outlook and be patient with yourself. Becoming a great facilitator of comprehensible input based activities will take time, and that is okay. You must think realistically and know that is ride is worth getting on although you also know that it will be both thrilling and sometimes scary, but very much worth it. You tell yourself that…
2) …And now you have decided that you are ready to get in line. In the line, there are so many interesting people. You will find other riders like you who know next to nothing about this thriller roller coaster filled with surprises and special effects that will come out of nowhere. Also, while in line, you will find amazing daredevils who already know all of the secrets in order to make the best out of the experience. Heck, some of them even participated in developing the blueprint for this roller coaster. While in line, you study the people. You connect with what feels comfortable.
During the early stages in which you find yourself researching acquisition driven instruction activities and research, take a moment to reflect on the fact that you are amazingly brave for deciding to get in the line that will lead you to this ride. Engage in conversations with the people in the line, both the newbies and the master teachers. Talk to everyone, but don’t you dare fall into the trap of belittling yourself because you will see so much greatness and potential. At the 2018 IFLT conference in Cincinnati, Ohio (a must go conference for any teacher no matter where you find yourself in the CI journey), Carol Gaab reminded us that “Comparison is the thief of joy,” a quote credited to Theodore Roosevelt. Carol also mentioned that it is so easy to focus our attention on the amazingly talented master teachers, but is just as important to remember that they too started somewhere, and they did not get great overnight. The same will be for you.
As a matter of fact, your comprehensible input journey will be very similar to the language proficiency path our students go through. Just like our students will advance through the levels of proficiency depending on the hours they put in it, their affective filter being low at all times, and their willingness and desire to acquire the language; it will be very much similar to you how fast you can blossom as a CI teacher. Still, it is okay to pace yourself. Remember that we all have different responsibilities and are on different walks of life. Some teachers work two jobs. Some have husbands who may require more time than their own children. Some have children who have already left the nest. Some teachers are truly blessed with a lot of time to dive in. However, if that isn’t you right now, take baby steps. Stay in the line, and continue to move through the line very slowly.
As you progress to the line to actually get inside the seat of that roller coaster and as you talk to newbie and experienced teachers, you will more than likely find great ideas. They will share tons of information and perhaps lots of videos of their own experiences. You will feel that you may be able to start practicing these activities and actually start putting these ideas to work. Put your focus on one or two at a time, and build from there. Get really comfortable at one or two at a time. Then, continue to move on through the line.
3)Okay, you are finally at the gate to hop on to your seat. Did you buy the special pass to go through the shorter line? Now, do you really want to take the front seat? Are you ready for such adrenaline kick?
Shortly after getting the 411 from the other riders in the line, you will find out that there were special passes to help you skip the line, and you will feel like you already missed out on something good. I am referring to all of these amazing conferences and workshops. It seems like every month a different state has one with the most amazing presenters. You will just want to say “take my money,” but you must remind yourself that you have bills to pay and that you wish to continue to have a life besides teaching even though you are blessed with loving what you do. Not everyone has such blessing. My advice is that you choose one to three to attend per year and stick to it, and if you can get your school to pay for more, go to more, but don’t stress yourself out about it. Trust me, I know FOMO is real, but 1) no one has died from it, and 2) thanks to Twitter, FOMO is a little bit more manageable.
The reality is that PD can leave you broke if you let it. Sure, pursue it if you can. I highly encourage it. If you have tons of cash, dive all in, but if you live off a teacher’s salary or if you are like me when sometimes your job number two pays for your job number one’s workshops, make whatever you can and want happen. Whatever the case, the best news is that you can get and shape your own PD and TCI journey with $0 because the CI community is so giving. Don’t even get me started on that! There are tons of Facebook pages that have tons of free resources, ideas, videos, blogs, podcasts, you name it. The material is there ready for you, and it isn’t going away. So, even if you cannot afford not even one workshop per year, you can grow and become as awesome as any other great CI teacher by doing the research and by building your own PD. Now, that is amazing. I don’t know many communities like that.
4) You have sat on the roller coaster on the best available seat to you and you have secured your seat belt. You have taken off and are ready for more.
You have prepared yourself to do this, you have done the research, and you must have watched a million of videos before taking off. You are ready and you know it is going to be the most enjoyable ride of your teaching career. Why? Because it will change the way you relate to you students, and it will make you grow exponentially in natural ways you hadn’t yet envisioned. You will love it so much that you will search for teachers with like minds who may actually live nearby. Oh yes, there is power in numbers. You know the ride was amazing and you are ready to do it again. How can you enjoy it even more? You have to bring your friends to this crazy ride. It doesn’t matter if the friends don’t care for the ride, you will tell them about it, but the best friends to bring to the ride are the ones who are contemplating to get in line, or the ones, who just like you have already gone through it once or twice. You can enjoy this TCI journey even more with company and you can grow faster with company. Find your TCI power squad! Teach your heart out, inspire each other, and collaborate.
You can listen to my conversation with Ashley Uyaguari on this topic at her Inspired Proficiency Podcast.