cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Pink Sherbet Photography
As a new teacher, it is so easy to get all-consumed with the teaching. Yet, it is important to remember that we are teaching students … we are teaching children.
Some of my students, my “little characters”, are not easy to teach. Some make me laugh, some make me cry. Yet, I enjoy working with, and teaching every one of them.
I believe in building bridges with my most alienated, challenging students. I invest significant time and effort in building trust and mutual respect. I try to find that connection, that one little thing we have in common … and I’ve learnt “that from little things, big things grow”.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m preoccupied with my teaching and learning, but today I received a powerful reminder about the foundation of my teaching practice.
A student told me her story.
It wasn’t an easy story to tell, and not an easy story to listen to. Yet, it was a first step, a little breakthrough … from which, I believe we can move forward.
Every student, every child has a story …
But as teachers, do we take the time to listen?
You are so right, and I think some teachers forget about this fact sometimes--at least in the US--because their classes are so large as are the burdens that come with it. Since you are interested in literacy, feel free to check out my new website, www.cyberwise.org. Let me know if you would like to contribute sometime!
ReplyDeleteYou might want also want to check out a cool six word memoir project done by Mr. Junius Wright's class at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD7Bh63fxUM. It's amazing, and you can get more info at http://www.smithteens.com. Here is a little more about it all...
Famous author, Earnest Hemmingway, was once asked to write a complete story in as few words as possible. His response: For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. In just six words, Hemmingway had distilled the essence of an entire story. In 2006, authors Larry Smith and Rebecca Fershleiser wondered if other writers could do the same. They began the Six-Word Memoir Project (www.smithmag.net/sixwords), and set up a website inviting anyone interested to submit their life story using only six words. Their efforts resulted in three New York Times best-seller books and numerous videos.
The concept became so popular that educators soon found ways to adapt the concept into their lesson plans. This spawned Harper-Collins to create an education program on the Six-Word website that includes Six-Minute Memoirs lesson plans and a “Six Tips to Writing Six-Word Memoirs” instructional guide (Martino, 2009).
For example, one high school Creative Writing teacher, Mr. Wright, developed successfully implemented this concept into his classroom curriculum with classroom activities and lessons that help his students hone the skills needed to independently analyze, interpret, and explain the significance of their work. Each year for the past four years he has given a class assignments to produce a “Six-Minute Memoir” video that reflects who they are or something meaningful about their lives. Unleashing the power of just a few words, the collective revelations have divulged an arresting intimacy and depth as seen through the lens of young soon-to-be adults. His assignment required not just individual discovery, but also collaboration skills that were need to create a Six-Word Memoir film that the whole class could be proud of. The disclosure of each personal and collective point of view will no doubt remain an indelible testament of an important high school experience of theirs forever.
There are other ways to apply this concept for education. For example, a 8th Grade writing class teacher asked each of her students to write a statement about what America means to them, then they made a compilation of them all and put them in a video, which she later posted on TeacherTube.com.
Additional concepts for this digital storytelling application could include key themes or character messages about an important novel or piece of literature, an important event in history, or even as a character education exercise where they had to summarize their greatest strength in six words or less.