Birds of a Feather Flock Together- Teaching English as a Way of Life
Jocelynne Braddock
Linda Conway once said, “It is not what is poured into a student that counts but what is planted.” As a your child’s high school English teacher, my goal is not to act as a mother bird, regurgitating facts and figures and expecting my students to fly, it is my job to give them the tools necessary to be able to soar. As an educator, I am not on a pedestal above my students, but an equal. By cultivating a sense of pride and intrinsic motivation, we will collaborate as a team (or flock if you will) and accomplish the writing and reading skills necessary to leave the classroom’s nest for the big world of future effective communication and personal expression.
My Teaching Philosophy:
Writing can inspire, generate personal voice, and provide an outlet for the student in a sometimes unwelcoming world. That is why my classroom and assignments are entirely student oriented, with student publishing of paramount importance. Student writing, regardless of being published in the local/ school newspaper, for the class, or otherwise creates personal meaning for the student in the form of what I dub as “the 3 reals”. Student publishing bridges the identification of real audiences with real genres, and creates a real purpose for polished work. As Susan and Stephen Tchudi state in The English Language Arts Handbook, “The best language learning occurs when students attempt actual communication and see how real listeners/ readers react. Meaningful writing tasks bridge the cognitive demands of school and the issues of students’ cultures and personalities (87).”
Projects such as impromptu journal assignments, poetry, narratives, long term and short term portfolio work, mixed media projects, imitation pieces, among many others all give students the opportunity and confidence to express themselves, while still succeeding in teaching the writing process outside of the (often times boring) expository essay. My aim is to meet the state and district standards in fun and creative ways. I believe students learn best when they are in a comfortable environment that is group oriented, collaborative, and welcoming. I take the guided learning approach, where anything unfamiliar is modeled with plenty of examples, and where my students are given the resources necessary either with classroom materials, my personal time, or in their own personal portfolio they can access when feeling lost. I continually make myself available to my students outside of class. The best teachers take their profession outside of the allotted class period, make themselves available for students on their time, and go above and beyond the curriculum. Teaching doesn’t end once the class period is over, my door is always open during lunch, and after school, and I constantly make it a point to make myself available to any student who needs help.
Expanding the Dimensions of Literacy:
Teaching is as much a learning process for me as it is for my students, and in the classroom, my strategy begins with the pupil, rather than a drab lesson plan. With the advent of technology and the ever expanding dimensions of literacy, I realize the same methods used one year might not apply the next and am willing to progress with the times in my classroom. I refuse to take the easy route in grading, rubrics, or otherwise. Teaching isn’t a stagnant job but a morphing, changing, and progress-oriented task. Using internet recourses and unique ways of exploring language are the best methods of expanding literacy in the classroom. There are “multiple paths to the same destination” the end path being, coherent student writing after personalized effective revision. Acting as a guide and facilitator, giving students multiple models for revising and processing composition, and expanding on what they already know are in the end, most effective.
Modern advancements have made literature comprehension an issue in lieu of the ease of access of Sparknotes and internet sources that summarize stories for students without any real engagement; providing a crutch in terms of critical thinking and the empowerment of seeking information from a valid source for one’s self. I refuse to allow my students to fall into a generation that trusts quick snip-its of information from anywhere just to pass the test. I provide unique reading material outside of what is required, and give assignments that engage the student’s ability to critically evaluate a text, make comparisons to their personal experience, and test their understanding of themes, symbols, and connections of events in context with history and the present surrounding world. Students are given research assignments that involve not just the computer lab but the library, and advance to understand literature coherently through reading, interpretation, and response.
Methods for Teaching Grammar:
Grammar, the very sound of the word and its implication makes most shutter, especially students. Personally I am not a prescriptive grammarian, I teach grammar in context. Grammar to me isn’t a series of red marks and confusing terms meant to discourage, grammar is taught as a tool for utilization of coherence in communication illustrated for the student as an important division per genre/audience outside of the English classroom. I recognize that my student body will be diverse and may be bilingual, with a spectrum of different dialects to consider. I gladly cater to these individuals, and tackle the issue of racist grammar instruction with a variety of code-switching activities. The prescriptivism grammar approach is ineffective overall and grammar needs to be taught in context and utilized just as much as the term simile needs to be understood.
Process Oriented Learning in the Classroom:
I run a process based classroom, where students are given opportunities for choice in what sort of assignments they plan on tackling. Students are held personally accountable for their responsibilities to complete the assignments they choose. I am a big facilitator of genre oriented assignments where the audience is understood, and students can collaborate, peer edit, and engage with multiple perspectives and copies of their work. It is not about the final outcome, it is about the process taken to achieve that outcome. I grade not with red frustrating penned letters A-E, but feedback to achieve the right direction in student productivity. Student conferencing, comments, and multiple turn ins are encouraged. Establishing a higher order concern, lower order concern rubric in accordance with providing positive and direct guidance in a “best practices” format, succeeds in creating a comfortable shared learning atmosphere that frees students from “right” or “wrong” red letter pen dictatorship.
Concluding Statements:
Overall, I believe it is my responsibility as a writing teacher to provide a positive welcoming metacognitive atmosphere for writing and reading. I strive to never give up on a student in a teaching style that is both conducive to the individual, and collaborative in a productive/ process based environment. Understanding and responding to literature coherently is a skill that is important in every subject and will follow the student in the real world for the rest of their lives. As Christa Lough says, “my goals for my students are limitless”. I refuse to take the path of least resistance, and as a future English teacher, I will allow my students to embrace their personal strengths that lay within, and be individuals who are opinionated critical thinkers, not baby birds fed regurgitated information. My aim is to inspire, strengthen, and grow with my students and give them the tools necessary to be successful interpreters and writers for future academia and life.