That First Full Week of School
My students are incredible. But I'm glad it's the weekend.
I have committed myself to the idea of building community, and have been working hard to build it up in each of my classes. I haven’t quite gotten there with some of my plans yet, but others are coming along very nicely.
Some things that have happened, in an attempt to build community:
(1) I created a found poem with each of my classes, based on the poem Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon. My students each chose a stanza from the poem to use as a mentor text, and then chose a line that they wrote to share with the class. I plan on typing up the found poems this weekend, and then hanging them on the classroom wall.
Reality Reflection: Some classes finished with plenty of time to share the found poem, but some got interrupted by the bell. Still, I am considering each class’s contribution a found poem that deserves celebration.
(2) I decided to give my students an article about the detrimental effects of cell phones in school (edited for accessibility in a 10th grade classroom), because I didn’t want to just impose a cell phone policy on them without explaining the WHY behind it. I feel strongly that phones pull us away from each other, and that was the point I ultimately wanted to make to back up my cell phone policy this year. I tried doing this on our early-out day. The bell rang before we were able to actually have our discussion, and I ended up worried that my A-day students might have a misguided idea of how I plan to implement my no-phone policy since we couldn’t have that conversation. I was reading their annotations after class, and I applaud their critical thinking, but the key word there is “critical.” Several students felt a deep animosity towards the policy that I was introducing because they felt like I was painting phones as the sole problem in distraction, low grades, etc. It was a punch to the gut, because I realized we had missed the whole point of the lesson. After that reflection, I adjusted the way I taught that lesson for my B-day students. I made sure that we left time for discussion. The discussions were incredible, and I was thrilled to have the amount of participation that I did. And so I re-opened the discussion with my A-day students the next time I saw them. It was awkward trying to revisit a topic without the build of momentum that we’d had before, but I’m glad we did. It felt like they too cared to know that community is the driving force behind my policy, and that it’s not just some punitive tyrannical micromanagement on my part.
Reality Reflection: Teaching is learning. I have ideas that I think will be great, and then the actual implementation of the idea falls short. I was so certain that this phone article would help build the case for community and why I want phones to be kept away, but because we ran out of time, it seemed like I was moralizing at my students instead of inviting them into the conversation that I wanted to cultivate. I definitely learned upon reflection, and adjusted to re-prioritize that conversation so that the idea of community didn’t get overshadowed by a strongly-worded phone policy. It was disappointing that it didn’t go “right” the first time, but I do think part of the fun of teaching is figuring out how to make things go “right” a different time when things don’t originally go to plan.
(3) I’ve been determined to use students names at every opportunity.
Reality Reflection: I’m learning names a lot faster this year, but it’s still hard to memorize them all. Especially because I only gained access to my class rosters a couple weeks before the school year started. I’ve been brave and have tried to use names, and I have embarrassingly messed up several times. But the students correct me, and I keep trying. I think that effort has to count for something.
(4) I’ve been willing to stand awkwardly at the front of the room while waiting for students to share their thoughts, and have set the expectation early on that I want students to share and learn from each other.
Reality Reflection: Sometimes the room is just crickets, but today a student with strong social anxiety felt comfortable enough to share a thought from their annotations with the whole class. Even if nothing else worked out today, that moment made it all worth it.
(5) I’ve been trying to talk to students more, not just as a teacher, but as a human who cares about their lives.
Reality Reflection: Today I was walking around the room while students were having partner discussions about some Norman Rockwell paintings that I was using to demonstrate how close reading works, and I overheard one student trying to convince the girl sitting next to him that the girl in “The Shiner” was possessed:
“I mean, she looks crazy. Her clothes are all messed up. And the people in the principal’s office look super concerned. Plus she’s a red-head! Um, wait…”
He made eye contact with me right as I was walking past his desk, red hair and all. It made me laugh so hard, and I was delighted when they both laughed too. I don’t want to take myself too seriously. I love the feeling of building these sorts of relationships with my students, where we can all learn and laugh together.
And, I guess he has a point about redheads: We’re crazy.
I loved reading this. Thanks for sharing the happenings and your insights/reflections about them. What a great teacher you are.