Silence in the CI classroom doesn’t mean disengagement, apathy, or failure—it often means processing, and today we’re unpacking what that really looks like.

Before you panic, take the CI Proficiency Quiz and see where you land at https://imim.us/ciquiz.

In this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we talk about quiet students, trusting input over output, subtle comprehension checks, and why participation doesn’t have to be loud to be real—with plenty of teacher honesty and sarcasm included.

Need practical support? The CI Survival Kit has your back with ready-to-use resources at https://imim.us/kit.

#comprehensibleinput, #languageteaching, #worldlanguageteachers, #CIclassroom, #quietstudents, #teacherpodcast, #languageacquisition, #proficiencybased, #teacherlife, #CIteaching

Hosts:

1. Scott Benedict - https://www.instagram.com/immediateimmersion
2. Stephanie Carbonneau

Resources & Links:

1. Assessment Academy: https://imim.us/academy
2. CI Survival Kit: https://imim.us/kit

Join the Conversation:

Got thoughts or your own story? Share it in the comments or tag us @ImmediateImmersion!

Watch & Subscribe:

👉 Watch LIVE or replay on YouTube: https://imim.us/live

👉 Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://imim.us/podcastlinks

👉 Never miss an episode: https://imim.us/comprehendthis

Connect with Scott:

Host: Scott Benedict — Immediate Immersion

🌐 https://immediateimmersion.com

📧 Scott@immediateimmersion.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/immediateimmersion

Instagram: https://instagram.com/immediateimmersion

Facebook: https://facebook.com/immediateimmersion

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@immediateimmersion

Hello and welcome to

Comprehend this this morning.

I hope everybody has had a great holiday

season and a good start to the new year.

Today we've got some things we're going

to talk about the CI and the quiet kid.

Are they even getting it?

I know you know that kid the one who

never speaks, never

volunteers, never reacts.

And every day you're like, are they

learning or are they astral projecting?

Today we're talking about that quiet kids

and CI class, the

processors, the observers,

the students who give us absolutely

nothing until suddenly

they give us everything.

I'm joined by Stephanie Carboneau and

we're unpacking why silence

doesn't mean disengagement.

How to stop panicking when there's zero

output and what real participation looks

like beyond talking

just to prove you're alive.

If you've ever stared at a silent student

and thought, please blink if you

understand this episode is for you.

And I just want to say that unfortunately

Jackie couldn't join us this morning.

She got a last minute illness.

So we wish her all the best and hopefully

we'll see her back soon.

And we'll be right back

after these short videos.

Pop quiz. Are your assessments align with

what you're actually teaching?

No? Cool. Let's fix that.

The Assessment Academy is 10 pre-recorded

lessons that help you ditch the scantrons

and actually assess what matters.

Like proficiency, performance, and

whether your students are

still breathing by Friday.

Watch on your time as many times as you

want for a whole year.

And no, there's not a single lesson about

bubble sheets or

grading 72 essays at 11 p.m.

You're welcome.

Head over to mm.us slash academy and

start assessing like

you actually mean it.

Welcome to comprehend this real talk for

real language teachers.

No drills, no dry theory, just honest

stories, practical ideas, and a reminder

you're not alone in the CI trenches.

Let's dive in.

Hello and welcome back everybody.

We're joined with Stephanie this morning.

Good morning, Stephanie.

How are you doing today?

Good.

Been a great vacation.

Awesome.

Awesome. I know I've

been having two weeks.

I'm regretting going back.

I got to go back on Tuesday.

At least I get one more day.

Tuesday?

Yeah. Yeah.

Because they let us have a travel day.

We do that with Easter break too.

They get us one extra day so that we can

they have that travel day.

I'm not complaining at all.

Not complaining.

So Stephanie, it's your

first time with us this time.

So why don't you go ahead and let us know

a little bit about yourself.

I'm a middle school teacher in southern

Maine, just an hour north of Boston.

I've been teaching for 28 years and I've

only taught middle school.

Mostly deskless classroom.

Really embracing the ADI strategies.

I got my master's in teaching languages

which really pushed me to look at

teaching languages differently.

And I sought that master's because what I

learned or how I learned

just wasn't working anymore.

Or I couldn't see working.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Awesome.

And when did you start

with CI ADI instruction?

How long are you doing that?

A year out of undergrad, I knew I had no

idea how to teach languages.

So I looked for a

program or a master's program.

I was teaching in

Massachusetts at the time.

And you had to get your master's within

five years of teaching.

And I only found two

programs at that time.

And I just jumped in and took a couple

courses with them and then

went right into the program.

Now the program is completely online.

But at that time I had to spend my

summers in Mississippi

where it's really hot.

Yeah.

Compared to here in New England.

Big difference.

And still at that time

it was there in theory.

But people or teachers were still

teaching the way they had been taught.

And I searched and searched and searched

and just started following different

people and combining the

ideas that I've learned with them.

I went to I think it was IFLT.

Just prior to COVID and really got a lot

of good information and training there.

And then COVID hit.

And I've just kept pushing through and

it's just how I do things now.

Awesome.

Awesome.

I'm a little bit similar

in it but different path.

I didn't go for the Masters.

California didn't require that.

So when I started

teaching I started teaching late.

I started teaching when I was 30.

So that's when I went to my first year of

teaching was when I was 30.

Right after 9 11 is

when I started teaching.

And that first semester like you said I

taught the way that I

was taught languages.

Not realizing that I was a special breed

of person who could learn that way

because I took French German

and Spanish in high school.

I stopped French because I

got in trouble in college.

They told me if I didn't take my general

ed requirements they were going to kick

me out because you know language classes

were so hard to come by.

They come by every once every five years

in the upper levels.

No they're not they don't come out.

They're not taught every semester.

So I was grabbing those up when I could.

And so taking French German and Spanish

all three at college was taking up most

of my general ed time in there.

And I dropped one.

So I took my last French class was intro

to French lit way back when in 1990.

I mean 1990.

Yeah 1992 around there.

So it's been a long time.

So that first semester

that's what I did and I sucked.

It was horrible.

I was bored.

I was bored and if I was

bored then the kids were bored.

And so I saw something during winter

break that year that first year.

So at the end of 2001 I started looking

for something else and I found the only

thing that was available

back then was Blaine Ray's TPRS.

That's what I found.

And I gobbled everything up.

I had no training.

I gobbled everything

up over winter break.

And when second

semester started I ran with it.

I did it horribly.

But as Blaine Ray says doing TPRS

horribly is usually better.

You get better results than doing

traditional really well.

So my kids were actually speaking.

And in fact I had the problem where I

couldn't get my kids to shut up during

this during a speaking quiz.

They were trying to get that

A. I taught mostly Asian kids.

It was an Asian school mostly

predominantly Asian.

And so they were talking for like seven,

eight, nine minutes trying

to get that A plus grade.

And I'm like I already gave you that A

cross grade about 30 seconds in.

You know you don't need it anymore.

And I never thought about it.

It didn't dawn on me just to set a dang

timer to cut them off.

Because it took me forever.

But that big change from not having

anybody talk to having that happen was

that TPRS at the time.

And I've been doing CI ever since.

So similar pathway where we found out

what we didn't know

how to teach languages.

And we need to find something else.

You found it in a master's program.

I found it doing online research.

And actually I regret I didn't realize

when I was the way that California

credentialing does it.

You go and get your bachelor's first.

And then you go to teaching school.

And then you're only about three classes

away from getting a

master's in education afterwards.

I didn't know that didn't realize that

and didn't realize

the value of a master's.

My sister teaches in Michigan.

And Michigan is the same rule as

Massachusetts where you had to have your

master's within five years.

But she had to start from scratch because

in Michigan you get your teaching

credential along with your bachelor's.

So she started from

scratch to start brand new.

So different ways different approaches.

But I never ended up getting my master's

because my school districts never.

It was like a thousand

dollars a year additional salary.

And it really wasn't worth the cost.

The thirty thousand dollar out cost to

get an extra thousand dollars that would

take me thirty years to

get my money back from.

So I never really

pursued that that avenue.

But there are some great programs now.

I mean I did mine through Southern Miss

and it's all online now.

But there's Idioma Education Consulting

and they have an online master's program

and it's actually very reasonable.

I think it's like less than fifteen

thousand dollars to do it.

And their courses I'm doing some of their

courses now because I've hit that level

of pay where I can only go horizontally.

I've hit the ceiling. So I'm trying to

get thirty more credits so

that I can move that way.

But I think a lot of us came out of

school and teaching programs not with a

focus on how to teach languages.

That's for sure.

I didn't have one course in my undergrad

program about teaching languages.

It was about teaching

but not teaching languages.

Yeah. Mine was similar.

The core classes they had the methods

class. They had the

English methods class.

The math methods class.

But for everybody who wasn't one of the

four cores or PE they lumped us all

together into one method class.

So I was in there with art and business

and you know keyboarding

and all those other classes.

And it didn't help any of us because we

all were very specialized.

You know what works in a business class

is not going to work in an art class is

not going to work in a language class.

But they didn't have the differentiation.

And so I got a lot of good ideas for

overall teaching but not good ideas that

actually applied to what I

was doing in the classroom.

So yeah.

And of course we took psychology courses

you know about about learners but there

was no second language acquisition course

which once you take a course like that

it's it's mind blowing like what have we

been doing all these years because it's

totally not what we should be doing.

So you know we get that

second hand in California.

We have a you have to get a second

language learner addition to your permit.

Everybody every teacher has

to get that in California.

And I didn't even study for

it because it's all crashing.

So it's three tests

and it's all crashing.

So I already knew

everything about crashing.

You know I knew all about second language

acquisition and his theories and his

hypotheses and all that stuff.

So I didn't have to study for it where a

lot of other teachers did.

And so that's the only way that people

are getting that second language

acquisition theory in is through that.

You know the English is a second language

addition that we all have

to have on our credentials.

So it is different.

It's interesting how we all get there.

But I'm glad that we do get to that ADI

CI instruction because I think the kids

really benefit from that much more so

than traditional drill and kill type.

So let's go ahead and

get into the topic today.

And that is that CI and that quiet kid.

You know you're wondering if they get it.

I always tell my kids we start the

semester with new kids.

So I've got new kids coming on Tuesday.

And so I'll give them the speech like I

give my kids every time

I start a new semester.

I never know if you understand because

this is what you look like

when you don't understand.

And this is what you look

like when you do understand.

And it's so true.

They don't give you any indication.

You wondering what's going

on behind those eyeballs.

Is it clicking in there.

And it's a big deal.

We need to find a way in there.

Are they processing or

are they being apathetic.

So what do you what's your views on that.

Well it took me a long time

to not take it personally.

Teaching is who I am.

I put a lot into it.

And so you know taking it personally when

there's no reaction was a big hurdle.

So once I've gotten past that it's taken

a lot to really hone in on that silent

kid because the loud kids kind of drown

out that silent kid and

that silent kid can be missed.

And that's what they want.

They want to be to be missed.

So I've really worked on

doing the whole teach to the eyes.

Right.

I mean they tell you

to teach to the eyes.

And if you are interacting with a student

look them in the eye.

And it's very clear if if they're

avoiding your eyes they

don't know what's going on.

If they're looking at you and giving

slight nods then you know something's

happening in that in there.

They're just quiet about

how they're going to do it.

And I just started doing different things

within the class that gave them a voice

not necessarily a voice physically but a

way to show me that they were in fact

with me understanding

processing learning the language.

And so yeah I don't know if you want me

to talk about some of those

things that I've been doing.

Yeah we will.

We'll get to that.

Let's just get started here.

I will say that I'm like you.

I don't take it personally but I was

worried originally at those silent kids

that I didn't I needed to find a way

whether they understood or not so that I

know if I'm doing my job right because

that feedback to me is letting me know if

they're understanding I'm doing my job.

If they're not understanding then I'm not

and I need to do something else because

doing the same thing over and over again

isn't going to change

you know that thing.

And then I was told this story from a

friend and it put a lot into perspective

for me so that I didn't

worry about it as much.

But the story goes and I can't remember

which country it is I'm going to mess up

the country but I'm going to just use

Finland as my example because I knew it

was one of those upper

Scandinavian countries.

This family moved there from the United

States they were American.

Nobody spoke the native language there

but they were moving there for a job and

they had two kids a couple of years apart

but they were young kids they were like

you know under the five mark.

And they went to Finland and the parents

learned the language and then they

decided they were going to raise their

kids bilingually and so one of the

parents was only going to speak to them

and finish and the other one was only

going to speak to them in English.

And that's how they were going to to

maneuver that bilingual thing which a lot

of families struggle with how to get that

bilingual that whatever that word is to

teach their kids to stay bilingual.

Well the boy followed along perfectly

spoke with mom or whichever one which one

adult with in English and one adult in

Finnish and kept them

both going no problems.

But the girl could understand English but

refused to speak English.

She would only answer back and finish and

so this went on for many years and when

the kids were likes you know in the late

elementary early middle school years they

were going back to United

States for a family reunion.

And the parents said oh the boy has no

problem he's not going to have any issues

you know he speaks English not a problem

but the girl we've never heard her speak

English and how she can speak with

grandma because none of

the family speaks Finnish.

And she'll understand but how is she

going to be able to communicate and they

were just like really worried about it.

So that's like our silent kids.

She's they're not speaking they're only

using the common language of the

classroom not the second language.

So they went back to the United States

they did their family reunion and the

girl was speaking with grandma in fluent

English with no accent.

And the parents had never heard her speak

English before so they were really

astonished and Bill Van Patten said this

is what was going on in that is and it's

the same thing that goes on in our

classrooms as well is the girl did not

have a need to use

the English in Finland.

There is no absolute need she didn't have

to like figure out how to say something

in English to be able to go to the

bathroom or find where the bathroom is

she did she had no need for that.

And when she had the need to use English

the English came out and it's the same

thing in our classrooms

where they know we speak English.

So they'll resort to English because it's

easier and there's no actual need to

speak the second language in the

classroom for them there's no I mean if

they don't know how to say can I go to

the bathroom in French or in German or in

Mandarin they know they can say in

English and go to the

bathroom type of situation.

And we find that happens I hear so many

stories from teachers who take kids on

foreign exchange programs like in the

summer time and they're like they're so

worried about kid a or kid b because

they've never heard him speak the

language they're like how are they gonna

be able to function cuz yeah we're good

in Madrid or we're good in Paris because

a lot of people speak English there but

when we go to the countryside.

And we go to some of those smaller towns

where English might not be as prevalent

how are they gonna communicate and then

they get surprised that the kid can

actually use their French their Mandarin

their German or whatever language it is

because now they know they have no other

choice and so I found that very very

interesting and a little bit more

forgiving for myself during that time.

And so looking for ways like you said for

ways for them to demonstrate

comprehension because and without using

necessarily verbal production because

there are three things that usually for

me at least in my brain you tell me if

it's different in yours.

That why they're not using the language

number one for me the first and biggest

one is confidence they have the

vocabulary they have the structure they

have the language in their head but they

don't have the confidence they're afraid

to make mistakes and so they don't they

don't use it that's the

number one one for me.

The second one is they just don't have

the vocabulary to be able to say what

they want to say or at least they think

they don't cuz I always tell my kids you

know whether I taught middle school or

high school you do not have the

vocabulary to speak at the same level you

speak in English so if you have an eighth

grade brain you can't speak French or

German or Mandarin or Spanish as an

eighth grader you have to speak it as a

kindergartner and that's hard for them to

make that that change there.

And then the third and it's the rarest of

them is the apathetic kid the kid who

just isn't paying attention isn't trying

and doesn't want to that's the smallest

percentage like less than two or 3% in my

experience but that's also a possibility

in my job is to find out which of those

three things is the reason and then each

one of those has a

different solution to the problem.

Yeah, but sometimes also

that's it's the kids personality.

I have one of the best pieces of advice I

was given by a mentor teacher is when

you're having a problem with a student.

Go see that student in

somebody else's class.

That way you can see how they're being

handled whether it's you what all those

kinds of things are and I have a couple

students that I connect with their other

teachers and they're the exact same way

in their math class in

their English class in art.

They just aren't a student that.

Is vocal, you know very vocal and

learning that about a student also is

very helpful because then you know again,

it's not me, you know, they don't hate

me. They're not being apathetic. This is

just their personality and coming up with

stuff for people in that situation who

are quiet naturally

to show what they know.

Is hard for somebody like me who is

extremely vocal and talk out loud about

everything so those are hurdles and to

think about once I realized, oh, it's

their personality as well.

You know, I find something that works for

that child by speaking

with that child individually.

For example, like we have a signal in my

class when when students aren't

understanding they, you know, do this

like timeout signal and they're supposed

to start doing that symbol when they see

somebody else doing that symbol so that

there are a lot of people doing that

symbol and I'm I'm aware.

Well, you know that quiet kid or that

self-conscious kid does not want to start

that or want to be seen doing that. So

talking with them and coming up with

something totally different like,

alright, if you if you're not

understanding and you don't want to do

this, I need you to like.

I'm stretching right now because you

know, I'm tired or or whatever something

a normal movement that kids do, but

knowing the quiet child's doing it.

They don't understand and they need help

with with something like that.

I also will. I have one child who I have

her write down. She has all her

questions. She has a little piece of

paper that hands me either when they're

working on individual stuff or on the way

out that she wants clarification on, but

she just couldn't bring herself to.

To ask that or you know to speak up.

And so that's, you know, another way, you

know, to get them to have that visible

eye knowing whether that they don't

understand because a lot of those kids

that are silent like that won't even make the eye contact with you.

So can't rely on that. And again, it's

just making that connection with the kid

in a different way and then letting them

be, I guess, because that's their

personality and finding a way when it's

not a whole class thing to connect with

that child to make sure they've understood.

Absolutely, absolutely. You know, you

brought up a couple of things that I want

to talk about. I, you know, you talked

about that the personality and because

it's been so far removed from my first

four years of teaching where I taught at

that 80% Asian school, I had completely

forgot about the personality thing

because most of the kids at that school

that I taught at were

fresh off the plane Chinese.

So they came from mainland China. China

does what a lot of European college

countries do where they pigeonhole kids

based on their elementary school years in

the track that they go into. And so these

kids were not in the college track in

China and the parents wanted them to be in the college track.

So the intent was send them to the United

States, get them into college in the

United States and then bring them home

when they were finished. So I had a lot

of those kids like that. And so they came

from communist China. So a lot of kids,

they're not the kind to raise their hand.

They're very quiet because giving their

opinion was not permitted in China. They

were not allowed to give their actual

permission. They could only answer

factual questions. Well, I'm not asking factual questions.

It's not in a language class. That's not

what we're talking about. It's not, you

know, is this true or false? You know,

that type of thing is, you know,

Shakespeare, an American writer or a

British writer, you know, an English

writer. You know, we're not asking those

types of questions. So a lot of the

questions were opinion and they were not

forthright in that. So yes, I had

completely forgot about that. That's shy.

And I don't know why I also forgot

because that's me. I'm into that.

I'm introvert naturally. I use all my

extravertness at school and I completely

crash after school because

it's not my normal personality.

I love what you say about using the

natural gesture for kids who are shy

about expressing. They don't know for me

because I was not a I'm always running

around teaching. I'm not always seeing

that corner of the class

or that corner of the class.

The timeout signal never worked for me

because it was a silent signal. And so if

my back had to be turned to that section

of the classroom for two or three

minutes, that was two or three minutes

where those kids were not understanding.

And it was a problematic thing for me.

And it was, you know, they're getting

further lost. So I have them stomp.

So they stomp with their feet because no

matter where I am in the classroom

teaching or pointing or pausing or

wherever I am, I can hear that. And I

like you when one person stomps,

everybody stomps so that, you

know, no one feels isolated.

But there's still those shy kids who

don't want to be that first one. So I

love that natural

gestures that you're doing.

One of the things I have done and I

learned this, I want to say.

I don't know. I don't know how I learned

this from. I want to say it's Carol Gob.

I want to say it's Carol

Gob. But maybe it wasn't.

Maybe it wasn't. Is to make a triangle of

colors. So we take construction paper or

cardstock and they make a little

pyramilla like a they take a strip and

they fold it in three ways

and they make a triangle.

One side of the triangle is red. One is

yellow. One is green. And they keep it on

their desk and they let me know by the

color of their desk. So it's another

silent way. And other kids may not

necessarily notice when a kid changes his

triangle to a yellower.

I'm starting to get confused or a red is

stop. I am now totally confused. But it's

another silent way of doing that to help

them let you know that they don't

understand without that verbalization

because they just might not be.

They might be understanding everything.

And we've talked about those other

things. The personality, the confidence,

the lack of vocabulary and apathy. But

they just might not have had enough

language to be able to

produce and vocalize yet.

The average kid learns to start speaking

their words. What about 18 months to two

years around there. But some kids are

earlier bloomers and some

kids are later bloomers.

Kids who are autistic usually start

talking about three or four. It's a lot

later than that. And that doesn't mean

that they aren't understanding or they

don't have the intelligence level. It's

just that they are not

ready to produce those words.

Which we also have to take into account.

That's one of the big failures I find

with traditional teaching is they expect

them to start speaking day one.

We just learn hello and goodbye and my

name is. Now turn to your partner on day

one and ask those questions. And you're

putting that input in there. You're

forcing them to do that input right away

when they're not ready at

all for that type of thing.

And whatever they're doing is just rope

parroting anyway. And it's not really any

language acquisition. And what we learn

when we study second language

acquisition. That's not the way. Because

we don't have our kids do that when we

learn teaching their native language.

We never have them. You're 18 months.

Turn to your playpen partner and start

conversing with each other. It's a whole

different thing. And once we understand

that second language acquisition theory.

We change our practices to be more

conducive to how the brain operates.

You know I try to use a lot of total

participation techniques. So that even

the silent person can express. For

example I started this during COVID

because I could not pay attention to all

the kids on the screen.

And what I was teaching. So I you know

the year that we were hybrid I sent them

home with these packets. And they had all

these cards. And so when I was asking a

question. They would hold up the card.

Based on their answer. So things like

it's true for me. It's not true for me.

True false. I agree. I don't agree. And

when we came back to the classroom. I

kept it. And I made. First I gave each

kid an envelope with their own cards. But

you know that this is

middle school. So nobody.

Nobody had whatever card they needed. So

then I had school volunteers make the

cards and laminate them for me. And I

have a class set. And we pass them out

when we need them. And everybody can hold

up a card. And you don't have to hold it

up real high over your head. You can hold

it like in front of your chest. You know

it doesn't have to let people see it. So

I use a lot of total participation

techniques like that.

For kids to be able to express

themselves. Show me they understand. And

I also have those hanging around my room.

So that they see them can use them. Or we

move. You know. If it's true for you.

Then you go over under this sign. If it's

not true for you. You go over here. If

it's sometimes true for you. You stand in

the middle. And they don't have to say

anything. But they're

showing me they understand.

By their movement. You know and showing

me that visible. That you know they can

express. What they

understand without actually.

You know producing language.

I love that. Absolutely. And there is

something similar that I do. But it's I

don't do it. I never thought to do it

with the regular class period. And I

don't know who I learned this from. So I

apologize. Who I learned this from.

But during when we read novels I have.

Interjection cards. That they can put

like yes or. What a shame or. Brilliant

or whatever. So I pass these out to kids

and their job is to find a place. Where

their card will

logically fit in the story.

And so then they do that. And I have you

know a class set like you said and every

kid is a different one. On the back of

the card is the translation so they know

what it is. They don't have to worry

about that aspect of it.

But then they have to interject it and

put the card up and then shout it out at

the same time. So they have to say the

thing and helps them learn those

interjection type of rejoinder type.

Vocabulary that makes things sound more

natural and more native like to actually

put these kind of things in there. It

really works well in like class like

German has a lot of.

Expressions that don't have translations

to them in English. They're kind of

feelings that that go with it there. We

call them particles in German. They

don't. They're not a. They have like

hundreds of words of translation because

they're used in so

many different contexts.

But you got to use them. You can't it

can't explain them. And so this these

kinds of things help that get that thing.

And I know other languages have those

kinds of things as well.

And it really does help them. But I never

thought about doing that in the classroom

on a regular basis that they can find

ways to interject those in. That's an

awesome awesome idea and pairing off that

idea. One of the things that I do and I

do this with two types

of kids in particular.

The ones that I suspect are being

apathetic versus otherwise why they're

being silent and my kids who have trouble

paying attention and that may be ADHD

kids or it may be just kids who are on

that border and they're not really ADHD

but they're just having trouble staying

focused is I will look for three to five

words that I know I'm

going to use that day in class.

And I assign that word to them and I give

them a sticky note. I used to use I have

them. I don't give them out anymore. The

little clickers like the little counter

clickers. But the kids would always just

click them to get to certain numbers and

they would not be really.

So they're like I want to get to nine

hundred ninety nine. So they'd be

clicking click click click click click

trying to get to nine nine nine all the

way across. So I stopped using the

clickers. I still have them but I stopped

using that. But I give them a sticky note

and tell them to mark a hashtag.

Hashmark for every time they hear me use

that word. And I if I'm in doing past

tense versus present tense I'll have one

kid listen for the past tense form of the

verb and one kid listen for

the present tense of the verb.

And I do this for twofold. Number one if

they have to listen for one word then

they're listening for all the words

because they have they can't just listen

for the one word they have to listen to

everything. And it also helps me. I don't

it's it doesn't have to be 100 percent

accurate. You know they're not going to

be 100 percent accurate with it. But at

least it gives me an idea at the end of

my teaching day at the end of the class

how well I hit that particular word.

And sometimes I'll see a great way to

have that silent kid. You know if they've

understood what's happening. You know if

you ask this ask the silent student to

tally how many times somebody expresses

an opinion or somebody disagrees and you

know that's a way for

them to show they understand.

I've always given it to to the ADHD kid

to do something like that. But now I'm

thinking this would be a great task as

well for the silent student to see if

they are comprehending what we are doing

or learning or

acquiring in class that day.

And another idea that I have that I got

and I got this from Carmen Andrews who

teaches in Vegas. I talked with her for

many years. Amazing teacher. And I don't

know if she originated it or she got it

from somewhere else but I'll say that's

who I got it from is the

pencil game that I like to do.

And I like this game because it's it's

hard and it's not hard for the the

immediate reason like it's not asking

hard questions but it's it's it's

tricking the brain. You have to work

backwards from way the

brain normally thinks to do it.

So after anything it could be you know

conversation that you had with some kids

about a topic. It could be after a story.

It could be after a reading. It could be

after a novel chapter. It doesn't matter

whatever you did in class because it's

very versatile and it

requires no prep whatsoever.

You ask you have kids go in pairs and

there is an object. I was taught with a

pencil but it can be any object between

them. It doesn't matter. It's got to be

one between each pair and you ask true

and false questions.

And this is how I can kind of assess if

that silent kid was understanding or not

based on I can look at that kid and watch

them play the game. Now how why it's

tricky is because just a true and false

they've got a 50 50 chance.

But what makes it tricky is the kids want

to grab the object when it's true.

But no we ask you only grab the object

when it's false so they have to go

against the intuitive is because you want

to grab it when it's true but we want to

grab it when it's false

so not when it's true.

So and the scoring goes like this kid if

you have it when it's true if you have

the object in your hand when it's true

minus one point if you have the object in

your hand when it's false plus one point

if you don't have the object in your hand

you didn't gain or lose points at all.

And it's really funny because I love this

game for a couple of reasons one I can

see the silent kid and how they're

comprehending by watching it so each

round that I asked these questions I can

look at a different silent kid and see

how they're comprehending if they're

comprehending right to the kids who

usually are the underdogs the slower

processors end up winning this game.

Because they are out there to grab the

object so quickly where the top kid

always wants to grab the object so

quickly and they end up losing points

that way because they grab it when it's

true and so it makes those underdog kids

a little bit feel empowered that way.

I like that twist so I like that twist

I've had to like count down so that the

kids not grabbing it before anybody else

I've had to you know count down backwards

you know so that the processors have time

to think and answer yeah but I've never

thought about doing it the

other way that's interesting.

That's interesting and so it was it was

it's a really fun game it's quick no prep

and it's a formative you know informal

formative assessment that you can see

right away that I really like doing and

it's quickly and I when I used to have

desks I used to call

this the most deadly game.

Because they would put the pencil between

the two desks and the problem was it

really was the deadly game so you have to

give them really big warnings because

they go for grab the pencil there'd be

that gap between two desks and when they

lean over the fingers would get pinched

so I used to tell them to push your desk

together so they touch and then put the

pencil there because it really was it

turned out to be like the deadly the

deadly game for that game.

And so I was like I'm going to do that now I don't have desk so I don't have to

worry about that we just my kids like to

send the floor and do it and play and one

kids I have a no button someone a kid

gave me this no button and so they like

to that's what one pair of kids always

goes and grabs that no button that's

their object so they go no that's when

they they've grabbed it whoever pressed

the button they like to have fun with

that game because they like hearing that

word no because it says no like seven

different ways depending on

when you press the button.

They have fun that with that one I need a

yes button to go along with it.

Whenever the kids asked me though for

something like, can we have a movie day

today I press the button. No.

That's great. That's great. It worked

really well with middle school kids.

So we've kind of been talking about this,

but low pressure comprehension checks is

there any other techniques that you use

to check if they're understanding that

are those low pressure for those kids who

who are nervous or you know like their

personality or they

just don't feel confident.

You know, when things were free during

COVID or post COVID you know a lot of

programs where I used plickers a lot I'm

not sure if you were

familiar with plickers.

I've heard of them.

Each kid has a each kid has a card and no

kids card looks the same and you can't

tell how people are answering it's how

they hold the card, whether they're

choosing like the answer a is correct or

answer B is correct, you just you can't tell and you can't look at it.

You can't tell and you can't look at

anybody else's card and cheat.

But now it's not free and you can only

ask three questions. And it's just more

work so kind of, you know, given on that,

you know, but you've got you've got your

exit tickets your journal entries.

Your journals, you know, you don't have

to grade every kid's you

just don't tell them that.

But you look at the kids that you need to

look at and for me, it's those quiet kids

I grabbed first and, you know, are did

they understand the question and answer

the question correctly or did they do

their exit tickets to the understand

their exit ticket correctly and I've

given up doing passwords as well.

At the door instead. Now I'm asking

questions and usually the questions I you

know, I have it printed out and there's

like a yes no or there's some choices.

And as the kids come in, I'm asking the

question and I can tell for those silent

kids, do they understand what what that

question is or how to answer it and it's

always based on, you know, whatever we're

talking about at that time, whatever.

The topic it is, you know, maybe it's,

you know, what they like to do.

And it also helps me figure out what, you

know, what I learned from the kids, you

know, what what is their aspects of their

personality I get to that couple of

second of interaction with them and to

piggyback off of that I've given students

a packet with every kid's name in boxes.

And during the class, they write down in

English anything they've learned about

those students. And again, I don't need

to look at everybody's I just pull the

packets of the kid who's silent and check

to see, did they understand what happened

today, you know, in

the discussion or the,

you know, the special student the star

student did they understand what that

student answered or how they answered and

they just answer in English right they

write down Oh, I learned that Joe loves

baseball he doesn't like to play it but

he likes to watch it.

And I know that they were, you know, fun,

following along understanding, and I

asked all of students to try to come up

with something for every student by the

end of the the wrong quarters, and then I

collect them and again I use that mostly

for the silent students or the kids

who are not being dissipate or you think

they're being apathetic but they're not

as them a way to demonstrate that they

understand what's going on and they are

acquiring but they're just

not being vocal about it.

Absolutely.

And what I used to do, it started in

COVID like you. I use Flipgrid.

Unlike you, where you could see the kids,

our kids were not required to have their

cameras on. So a lot of kids didn't so I

had no, I was talking to black boxes I

was that's all I was

doing I had no indications.

I don't, I don't think they had all those

emojis that they now have where they can

do thumbs up and thumbs down. I don't

think they had it because zoom was so new

back then you know I don't think they had

all those different things where I could

say give me a thumbs up

or give me a thumbs down.

So I used Flipgrid as my exit ticket.

And unfortunately Flipgrid is no longer

available it's the Microsoft killed it.

Padlets come a long way

and I do Padlet a lot.

And I use another system that I use for

everything called formative.com.

I use it for go formative right yeah it

used to be go formative they changed it

just a formative, and I use it for

everything, my journals my everything

that we do in the classroom, everything

except for quick rights it's the only

thing that doesn't go in there, their

warm ups go in there their

exit tickets go in there,

they can do video responses or just audio

responses, they can do text responses it

could be drag and drop it could be

matching all different

kinds of things are in there.

So I use that for everything.

And I do that because I can attach a

standard and then I can look at a student

and see which standards they're getting

and which ones are not, which my

gradebook doesn't really do very well, so

I can do it that way so I switched over

to that using the video.

But what I liked about this two foot

things it helped me learn their names and

horrible with names on anybody even my

friends, they know that I can't remember

their own names I'm staring them in the

face and I can't remember their own names

it's something I don't know my brain does

not work with names and

they know when I pause or like.

Patricia, they'll say the name because

they know that's what I'm looking for and

I can't, it just doesn't come out.

So help me learn the kids names because

normally tell the kids if I learn your

name before December it's because you

were in trouble a lot,

because I really wouldn't and it.

And if they change their hair, because I

don't know what it is I attach names to

hairstyles. So if you change your hair

got a major haircut.

And I'm lost I have no idea who you are

anymore and it was really difficult when

I touch the Asian kids because most the

Asian girls for just long black hair and

they didn't do anything different with it

they didn't braid it or put it in

pigtails or ponytails or anything else it

was just long straight black hair and so

it was really difficult for me to be able

to remember the Asian name the names of

my Asian kids not because they were Asian

that wasn't the problem it was just

because I use hairstyle and their

hairstyle didn't very very much.

So Flipgrid helped me with that but also

it helped me with my silent kids and all

my kids because I would ask them to tell

me three things they

learned that day in class.

So that really told me whether or not

they understood or if it was a

conversation day and we had a question

like how many sloths would fit in your

bedroom and they'd have to answer that

question we already answered it in class.

I asked every kid that question we talked

about it we laughed you know one kid says

only one I'm like you have a really small

bedroom goes no it's a really fat sloth

so you know it was just kind of funny how

they would all interpret it and then you

have the math kids who are you know doing

all the square meters and trying to

figure out exactly how many sloths would

fit in there to get an exact it's a

really funny question but then the kids

would answer that afterwards in the

target language and I love it too because

normally I would only

do a speaking assessment.

You know two speaking assessments a

grading period so I really only really

was listening to them and really focusing

to give them some kind of assessment

twice well now I was doing this two or

three times a week having them answer

question the target language so I was

getting so many more samples that I was

getting a much better evaluation of their

ability to speak and I used to have them

do video because I wanted to make sure they weren't really

because they always go why can't I just

do audio you're just listening I go I

need to see that you're not reading off

of a piece of paper and I can tell when

you're looking they go well I using a

teleprompter I'm like I can still tell

because you don't know how to use a

teleprompter your eyes are going from

side to side to side to side to side to

side to side and I know right away that

you're reading off something when you do

that you know teleprompter is a skill

it's not just reading off the screen it's

you know you've got it's a skill that you

use to do that because news is a skill and you're not reading off the screen.

I'm going to do that because newscasters

do it you don't see their eyes go from

side to side to side to side to side. So

it was a really great way for me to get a

better feeling for kids and how well they

spoke because even walking around the

room when they're speaking it's really

hard to focus in on one kid and get

enough of a sample to where you feel like

you've got a feeling for that kid and

what their ability is

in the output there.

That was another way

that I used to do it,

and I still do it now,

except I just do it with formative.com.

Padlet's another great way to do that

with giving those videos in there.

The one feature that I miss,

and Padlet might have this with Flipgrid,

was being able to respond

to other people's videos.

They do have that now, yeah, they do.

Okay, that's awesome.

That's one thing I like about Flipgrid.

I used to say, you

gotta record your video,

and I need you to respond

to three other kids' videos.

So I made them listen

to at least three other,

and they had to respond and say something