This is a stunning reflection on how your students and you made meaning together in a brilliantly built culminating project. Moving, meaningful, resonant. It was so rich and diverse in its insights about children, teaching, writing, and life that I struggle to land on a “most important” aspect. One lesson that feels especially urgent and universal for all of us as educators:
“To be cynical or hopeful: making that choice so often is really tiring as a teacher. I turn back to the student’s project. ‘You just have to look for it.’ This student ends this section of their project with an invitation to choose that latter door once more.”
Thank you for your devotion to child and craft. Truly grateful.
I love and admire how you create community within the classroom and have them get a sense of community outside too. This is also very important for me.
In middle school, we look through everything through the lens of “herd behavior.” When is it necessary to follow the herd? When is it not? We look at all our texts from that lens and at the end their final question is about that and every year I am astounded and fit to burst with hope!
There are days I have left wondering if all the cynical teachers are right! But I, and I share this with my students, I wouldn’t be back if I didn’t love. Love to teach them. Love to see them grow. Love to learn. And have hope.
I do respectfully disagree with your conclusion about phones not having an impact on mental health(and focus etc.) and it’s not necessarily because I feel I am right/you are wrong, but we have different sets of data. Your current AP students would have been in middle school 5 or 6 years ago?
I had those kids.
What I am seeing now is very different. These are not those kids. If that makes sense?
BUT. Hope. Reading your words I have hope that maybe maybe in 4 or 5 years when they become AP lit students (or even the ones who don’t?) will grow and change for the better when it comes to what I am seeing, the isolation and concrete thinking, that’s related to use of phones.
I love that lens of "the herd"! (Definitely might steal it a few times in the upcoming year.)
As far as the phones, it is not that I'm not concerned about them—it is just that recently, in my view, the discussion has got ahead of the skis as well as the empirical data (thanks in large part to hype-machines like Haidt). Especially around the idea of valuing friendship, as for me it is very clear that students still very much do.
(But agree, also, that respectful disagreement on this issue is 100% a place we can sit with so much unknown still!)
This is a stunning reflection on how your students and you made meaning together in a brilliantly built culminating project. Moving, meaningful, resonant. It was so rich and diverse in its insights about children, teaching, writing, and life that I struggle to land on a “most important” aspect. One lesson that feels especially urgent and universal for all of us as educators:
“To be cynical or hopeful: making that choice so often is really tiring as a teacher. I turn back to the student’s project. ‘You just have to look for it.’ This student ends this section of their project with an invitation to choose that latter door once more.”
Thank you for your devotion to child and craft. Truly grateful.
I love and admire how you create community within the classroom and have them get a sense of community outside too. This is also very important for me.
In middle school, we look through everything through the lens of “herd behavior.” When is it necessary to follow the herd? When is it not? We look at all our texts from that lens and at the end their final question is about that and every year I am astounded and fit to burst with hope!
There are days I have left wondering if all the cynical teachers are right! But I, and I share this with my students, I wouldn’t be back if I didn’t love. Love to teach them. Love to see them grow. Love to learn. And have hope.
I do respectfully disagree with your conclusion about phones not having an impact on mental health(and focus etc.) and it’s not necessarily because I feel I am right/you are wrong, but we have different sets of data. Your current AP students would have been in middle school 5 or 6 years ago?
I had those kids.
What I am seeing now is very different. These are not those kids. If that makes sense?
BUT. Hope. Reading your words I have hope that maybe maybe in 4 or 5 years when they become AP lit students (or even the ones who don’t?) will grow and change for the better when it comes to what I am seeing, the isolation and concrete thinking, that’s related to use of phones.
Hope. Or get out of the classroom! 😂
I love that lens of "the herd"! (Definitely might steal it a few times in the upcoming year.)
As far as the phones, it is not that I'm not concerned about them—it is just that recently, in my view, the discussion has got ahead of the skis as well as the empirical data (thanks in large part to hype-machines like Haidt). Especially around the idea of valuing friendship, as for me it is very clear that students still very much do.
(But agree, also, that respectful disagreement on this issue is 100% a place we can sit with so much unknown still!)
Appreciate this note!
Such a beautiful piece, thank you.
Tears...(I'm that dog, too!) Thanks, Marcus.
Your students are brilliant :)