Friday, February 01, 2008

ONE YEAR WITH AN ENGLISH TEACHER

Day 89, January 31, 2008

Today during a spirited discussion in one of the 9th grade classes, two boys started speaking at once. One of them immediately stopped and said to the other one, "Oh, sorry. You go ahead." To some this might seem inconsequential, but to me it was momentous. I've worked all year to teach the kids how to have a dignified, humane discussion, and today, in that short statement by my student, I saw the beginnings of fruition.

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In an 8th grade class, I noticed one girl staring directly at a classmate who was speaking. She was positively riveted on the boy as he shared his thoughts about Our Town. If he had looked at her then, he would have thought, "Wow, she really cares about what I'm saying." That girl’s attentiveness was another good example of how to behave in a dignified discussion. After class, I complimented her enthusiastically.

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It's hard to believe how passionately Johnny has been participating in our recent discussions of Great Expectations. He comes to class with some of the most detailed notes I've seen, and he's constantly jumping into the discussion to either support or disagree with his classmates. Right now, he's behaving like a very serious junior or senior high literature student (not like a frolicsome, blasé 9th grader -- which has been his general reputation.)

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