Celebrate This Week: Personal Process and Paths

Every weekend I show up here to celebrate and reflect on the week. Thank you Ruth Ayers for creating the space to share with others who do the same. Taking the time to stop and reflect matters. Reading the reflections of others on similar journeys bolsters and instigates more reflection. Thanks to all who share their celebrations.  You add to mine.

We spent some messy and difficult moments this week trying to figure out how to build sound arguments. Connecting and sorting ideas and evidence can be confusing and frustrating. We worked hard at looking at it one way and then another. Pieces are coming together at different rates.  All are trying to clear a road that is their own. Here’s one: an improved version of my teaching.

And another quite different journey to understanding.

And  others struggle to clear a way, to make sense of the evidence, to prove what they believe.

I celebrate my students’ persistence. Their willingness to work alongside me, to find a way in this work. I celebrate post-its, highlighters and my iPhone camera. These tools allow us to sort, select, and reexamine. I celebrate my students’ ability to change their direction and have courage to make their own path.

This week I celebrate writing and reading that is personal and sometimes buried deep; protected in a place where no one sees. My last conference on Friday was with a reluctant writer and reader. I asked him what was good about writing. He said, after a very long pause, poetry.  Wow I had no idea. I asked him what was his favorite book ever. He shrugged and mentioned Smile and Sisters. Hmm. Poetry and graphic novels. I used to hesitate giving students novels in verse. I thought students just zip through them with little understanding. But this tweet made me reconsider the entire genre and its possibility.

Rding graphic novels is a great entry point for #reluctantreaders that can lead to books written in verse and series books #bproots #elachat

— Dana and Sonja (@LitLearnAct) February 13, 2015

Of course. It’s easy entry. Few words on a page. A gentle way to pull at the reader in bits that don’t tire. Words on the page that can be taken in deeply providing space and energy to do so.

We’ve been reading Locomotion, So, I asked. Do you like our shared reading work? His eyes lit up. Bingo. The world of novels in verse and my current read (on the right) came to mind. Maybe this is a path for him.

 

Paths to learning and growth are personal. There is no one way, no magic ticket. I’m lucky I have the opportunity to venture down different roads with students and teachers everyday. Here are some paths I wandered down this morning: writing from Elizabeth, reading from Nora, homework from Pernille; and book love from Carrie.

Happy weekend!

NCTE14: Two Tips and an Unexpected Aha

There were so many great sessions at NCTE14, the toughest part was choosing which one to attend. The panel discussion on Reluctant Readers Overcoming Shame chaired by Justin Stygles was one that called to me. Initially, it spoke to what I know to be true with my readers.

The reflections on their own learning experiences were personal, revealing and in some ways startling. The power of teachers words was at the core of each panelists’ presentation.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt (One for the Murphys and Fish in a Tree) shared pieces of her growing up and teaching life. She was that snarky-make-me-do-it kind of student. She didn’t fit the mold. It took a middle school teacher to “see” and her strengths to help her get past her shame and grow. As a teacher, Lynda, found ways to reach “those” students . One way she let kids know she “saw them”  was by giving them a business card with space to write a personal message. Something quick and easy, but also thick and durable: a real keepsake for a student needing acknowledgement. I love this idea and plan to get a stash of cards printed up.

Liesl Shurtliff (Rump) shared the importance of listening to students and respecting their choice in books. She highlighted the need to be careful about what we teachers say is a “great” book. Imagine sharing a book we “love” and students for whatever reason don’t love it. What does that imply?

Give kids validation with what they like to read, even if they don't like what you like. Liesl Shurtliff #ncte14

— Out Girl (@twitsout) November 21, 2014

Teacher’s words can lift up or put down and possibly, inadvertently shame a student. I walked away with this important reminder. Thoughts about good teachers being in touch with their inner student also tugged at my heart.

This led me to think a little more about myself as a student. I’ve thought on this before, but never really named it. I wasn’t the struggler. I wasn’t the super star. I was the one who followed the rules and tried not to get noticed.  You know that kid. The hider. For students like me, school was a place where I was invisible. It took leaving the school world, age, and mentors who saw me and asked more of me before I managed to step out and grow. Imagine, what if a teacher had seen me sooner.

Those kids, the hiders, make up a pretty big portion of my students. Their names are ringing in my head.

You can’t help but notice the strugglers and the stars. But the hiders, the quiet ones, are easy to ignore. I admit it: I”m guilty. And oh what a very big and unexpected aha.

When I walked out of the session on shame I had two things in hand. The bigger thing took days to get to. Today I celebrate the brave teachers who shared at NCTE14, the time to think about their message, and a space to reflect and grow in.