Loving the Lit

Okay, here's one that's not really about the students, though, of course, everything about teaching is about the students.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but if a teacher doesn't at least like the book he is teaching, if not LOVE it, the students are not likely to like it either. I survey my students each year, at the end, about the texts they read during the year, and invariably, they, as a whole, like the books I like more than the ones I don't like as much. Thus, I try to weed out texts I don't like, so that they pick up on my positive vibe over what I teach and then, hopefully, they like the book too.

Sure, there are always going to be students who don't like a text no matter how much the teacher loves it. I have a former student who still lets me know how much she hated reading A Tale of Two Cities. But, over all, I find that because I love that book so much, it is one of the top books of the year for the classes that read it.

Of course, there are texts that are required, but, for the most part, I see choosing a text for my class the same way people I used to work with in the film industry referred to working in film: "love it or leave it."

And if you don't love books, don't teach English.

Trust and Text

Perhaps this just happens to me -- perhaps I'm not writing to any other teachers here -- but I always find it awkward to have a class stare at me awaiting a right answer to a question about interpretation of a text. I understand that as a teacher I am an authority, but that doesn't mean I have the right answers. In fact, if there are any other teachers out there reading this, as you all know, there are NO right answers. How are we supposed to read Polonius in Hamlet, a baffled old man or a savvy politician? Why does Antigone suffer in the end? These are questions that have plagued academics (and students) for centuries!

Students need to trust their instincts and their reactions to the text. There are wrong answers, of course, but there are rarely any right ones when it comes to interpretation. No one knows what Shakespeare or Sophocles intended. None of that is written down. All we have are their words, their creations. We can infer a lot, but what was meant by all of it? Who knows? I have my opinions based on my education and experience with text, but are they the RIGHT ones? Certainly not.

What we, the teachers, need to do, and what I hope I'm doing in my classes, is foster stronger interpretation skills in our students. I try to lead them through the process at first and then stop back and let them do the work. Once they get going, the results are spectacular, but it happens only once in a while. If there were some way to convey to these young adults that their opinions DO matter as long as they are grounded in the text, then perhaps they would discuss them more and learn more from each other and stop STARING AT ME!

English Teachers...Who Needs 'Em?

I received an email from a former student of mine who graduated last year. She wrote to thank me for being such a great teacher that she is finding her college English class too easy. She also had a journal assignment for said English class to write about her favorite high school class and she picked mine. She attached the journal entry so that I would read how much she liked my class. But this entry is NOT about tooting my own horn for reaching one student. This is about what she ACTUALLY learned in my class.

"When we read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, I fell in love with the text and understood it although it was difficult reading. I don’t read as much as I should, but I love to get lost in a story and when I can take a lesson from a book and apply it to my life, it makes me feel more educated."

She was in a regular English class with an average experience in reading for this generation of students. A nice girl who was always involved in class and did the work, graduating with a good grade in English, so what happened in my class? She connected with a text and it made her feel EDUCATED. She discovered something about herself in the writings of someone from nearly a century ago because literature is really about being human. Don't take my word for it. Here are her words:

"I believe English is one of the most affective subjects to teach to students because it can help someone look inside themselves and pull out ideas and thoughts they never knew they had."

We English teachers are really trying to get our students to think, to connect, to analyze the world around them. It's all well and good that they like a book, or not, but the heart of an English curriculum should be to see that what it means to be human has been written about for centuries and that we are not alone. Also, students should learn how to express themselves coherently and clearly, but that's for another entry.

Day One... Again

So, today was the first day of school for my students. As usual, I'm teaching all seniors, all day this year, by choice. I have now added AP Lit and Comp to my preps, giving me a large selection of elite students. As I know some of my former, and probably some of my current, students read this, I'm not going to complement or criticize them, though I would like to thank the young women who referred to me as "the Dickens guy" today. It's good to be the Dickens guy.

Observations: first days are weird. Students are nervous, even the seniors, about what are the teachers and classes going to be like and it's hard to get a true sense of how well they will work in class and with each other. Despite the gloominess and negativity of this blog, I remain optimistic about this year.

President Obama spoke today too, encouraging students to stay in school and work their hardest in all their subjects because what might not seem important today, may be tomorrow. No truer words have been said about education. So, let me take a moment to thank those English teachers from my high school days. Little did I know how important their lessons and their passions for literature would be to me, though I still can't stand Thomas Hardy.

Teaching is a lot like a paraphrase of a famous quote from one of my favorite Dickens novels. It is "the best of times," it is "the worst of times." Today was one of the former. See? Good to be the Dickens guy.

A Fond Farewell

Some call it graduation, but I prefer the term "commencement." It's become cliche at this point to mention that high school commencement is not really an ending, but a beginning, hence the name. It's a time when my students leave me each year to finally go off into the "real" world of college, work, or the military and put to the test all they learned in high school.

I love commencement. It's a happy occasion with tradition and honor that signifies achievement on behalf of students; students who are on the brink of adulthood. They have halcyon visions of the future they hope to achieve and experience and they will learn, with time, that it isn't what they thought it would be, but it's pretty darn good.

For five years now I have gone to commencement. I stand there in my suit and watch the cap and gowned individuals collect a piece of paper that lets them know they are free. Free to choose their own destinies. Free to follow their own paths.

I wish them all the luck in the world. I hope they use all their talents to create the world that they should have, not which is given to them.

Congratulations to the class of 2009.

Relieving Frustration

I went up to a student today and asked her if she had handed in a paper that would constitute 20% of her marking period grade. She simply replied:

"Nope. I didn't."

No surprise. No begging for clemency as the paper is not accepted after its due date. She got a zero and had no problem with that. Her grade dropped from a B+ to a D with the click of a mouse. She would now have to take my final exam. She didn't care.

That's the one thing that frustrates me still. The unabashed laziness of some students that defies most logic. People told me she probably figured the final exam is easier than doing the paper, so why bother. After all, she's going to college in the fall anyway.

I don't take it personally. I just don't understand that mentality. You work hard all year long to just give up at the end? That attitude is NOT going to fly in college and it doesn't really work for my class, but what do I have to hold her to? Her grades? They don't mean anything anymore. She's in college. They don't really take back admission.

Solutions? None, unless colleges stop admitting students early in the year and just notify them after Memorial Day, or they hold students to a full transcript review at the end of the year. So, in other words, none. Just let them do whatever they're going to do and move on. Five more class days and then on to thinking about the students of next year.

Taylor Mali Explains Teaching.

Check out this YouTube video. I think it says it all.

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=107128568335&h=f5hUZ&u=FUrqx&ref=mf