Lori Pyles who spoke on The Freedom Writers Foundation had such an amazing story to tell. First of all, there was the inside scoop of The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell, especially concerning the storyline of the Freedom Writers movie. I think any future English (or current English teacher) has this hope/wish/dream that they will make as big of an impact as Gruwell did. I watched that movie just thinking, 'Wow, if only I could do something like that.' While, the pessimist in me thinks that it is never going to happen, Lori Pyles personal story exemplifies the idea that everyone is capable of evoking change and being important in their students' lives. The emotion and dedication she displayed throughout her presentation just really highlighted to me that teaching really is a two-way street. Her students depended on her in so many ways, but in a way she depended on them, they became her story.
As a future teacher, her stories of the detention center just really brought to light the issues that students are facing today. It made me think about all those students in the regular classroom suffering through the same things as her student. How as teachers can we help keep students "out of the system?" When I think of students who are abused, who parents are AWOL and who are just struggling to make it day to day, it makes me worried. Worried that I won't be able to do enough or be enough. How do you know that you are? It just seems to me that the lines of being a teacher are often so blurred. We are supposed to keep students at this professional distance, yet we are given many of the same responsibilities as parents. I just hope I live up to the expectations and standards that all those great teachers have placed before us.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Changing Roles
Myer's article, "Changing our Minds: Negotiating English and Literacy," offers a multitude of historical information explaining the ever-changing and never-changing roles of a teacher. One of the things that I found really interesting about this article was when it discussed the role of a teacher as a moral role model. I think nowadays it is very much assumed that teachers will have some moral influence of their students, and therefore, they must conduct themselves in a professional and meaningful way in and out of their classrooms. Teachers are expected to teach students to respect, manage time, be held accountable, etc. And while in many respects this just falls into the expectations of a successful student, the difference seems to be the expectations of a teacher. According to Myers, before men, specifically, (but, also women) got jobs outside of the home, many moral lessons were taught to students while they were at home with their parents. But, because men left the home to join the workforce, they were not constantly around anymore to teach their children these moral lessons so the responsibility fell onto teachers.
I feel like this is even more prevalent today. Many parents are working more than one job to sustain a family in this economy. Many students are from single-parent households. And there are so many instances where students are just not getting any moral upbringing from their home life. While in some perspectives, it is fantastic that a teacher can help shape a student in that way, it is also a tremendous responsibility for a teacher to have. And this tremendous responsibility often comes with higher expectations for a teacher's lifestyle in and out of the classroom.
I feel like this is even more prevalent today. Many parents are working more than one job to sustain a family in this economy. Many students are from single-parent households. And there are so many instances where students are just not getting any moral upbringing from their home life. While in some perspectives, it is fantastic that a teacher can help shape a student in that way, it is also a tremendous responsibility for a teacher to have. And this tremendous responsibility often comes with higher expectations for a teacher's lifestyle in and out of the classroom.
En Medias Res...
In Nancie Atwell's book In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning, I found the emphasis on teacher-individual student conferences very interesting. Atwell writes: "Conferences with individuals are more important...[t]eachers should invest their energies in conferring." As a student, especially in high school, but even now in college, I find that I really value when the teacher offers the time for individual consultation. The idea that someone who has other students and responsibilities has taken out the time for me is a great symbol of the dedication they have for my education.
However, my initial interpretation of what a teacher-student conference would entail does not quite match up with what Atwell suggests. I thought that both the teacher and the student would go over the writing together, but Atwell suggests that the conferences should be "short," that teachers should not "write on students' writing" and that teachers should not "look at or read students' writing during the conferences." What Atwell's idea for a conference seems to suggest is that the focus should not be on the teacher's evaluation of the work, but of the student's own evaluation of his or her work. This responsibility shift is not only somewhat relieving as a future teacher, but even more so as a current student. To be heard in the classroom when one is a student is an important thing, and Atwell's idea for conferences seems to allow that.
I also like the "Rules for a Workshop" section in Atwell's book. My favorite thing about it is the advice to throw nothing away. As a person who enjoys writing, I am one of those people who is constantly writing little blips of story lines and ideas that run through my head. While most of the time they are just random files saved on my computer or scattered pages in my notebook, every once in a while they come in handy for a plot twist to something I am in the process of writing or as a springboard to get me started. So I completely agree with Atwell when she says" Save everything...you never know when or where you might want to use it."
However, my initial interpretation of what a teacher-student conference would entail does not quite match up with what Atwell suggests. I thought that both the teacher and the student would go over the writing together, but Atwell suggests that the conferences should be "short," that teachers should not "write on students' writing" and that teachers should not "look at or read students' writing during the conferences." What Atwell's idea for a conference seems to suggest is that the focus should not be on the teacher's evaluation of the work, but of the student's own evaluation of his or her work. This responsibility shift is not only somewhat relieving as a future teacher, but even more so as a current student. To be heard in the classroom when one is a student is an important thing, and Atwell's idea for conferences seems to allow that.
I also like the "Rules for a Workshop" section in Atwell's book. My favorite thing about it is the advice to throw nothing away. As a person who enjoys writing, I am one of those people who is constantly writing little blips of story lines and ideas that run through my head. While most of the time they are just random files saved on my computer or scattered pages in my notebook, every once in a while they come in handy for a plot twist to something I am in the process of writing or as a springboard to get me started. So I completely agree with Atwell when she says" Save everything...you never know when or where you might want to use it."
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