went well. It was not what I had planned, but it went well over all.
The beginning of the school year was rough because of
GoMyAccess. The district mandated that I use the tool, and I think it had
some merit. But it also interfered with how I teach writing. I
guess, like anything new, it will take some time to incorporate it into my
curriculum.
Persuasion and critical thinking are the focus of my
teaching. My belief is that if you want a student to write a better
persuasive paper, you must teach the child to be better at persuading.
You must teach him how to find something intelligent to say. As luck
would have it, this year's prompt for the DSTP was persuasive. The scores
looked good, and I would like to take credit for that, but I DO NOT. I
will not get into why I feel that way, but I am please and proud of the
students for their performance.
The year ended abruptly for me. In the beginning of
the year, I had great plans for the final presentation. I thought that we would have been much
farther in our study of blues to hip-hop.
Instead, the GoMyAccess writing took up more time than I ever imagined. And I am sure that is a good
thing. Plus, as the time allotted
for the unit changed, I focused more on research and writing, making sure that
no one would be able to question how the unit covered the required DSTP
material. The result was a more
in-depth study of the blues, poets of the Harlem Renaissance, and Malcolm
X. The downside is I was not able
to follow through on the planned hip-hop performance.
I did want to comment on my Malcolm X unit. After I
finished showing the movie and discussing the events in his life, I started to
question where I was going with the unit.
I showed some of the movie last year, but this year I showed it all
(minus inappropriate scenes). I
thought studying the story of his life would show the background behind his
dramatic speeches and statements.
I wanted to show the reason for the passion, not just the idea that one
should act passionately. I still
feel showing the movie was useful.
But a student brought up a good point. He said that we could have just studied his speaking style
and left out all the religious stuff that was in the movie. In a way, I agree. But in another way, as literature and
biographical study, I found studying his story fascinating. Maybe the focus was not all writing,
but I am glad they got the opportunity to study this controversial man and the
turbulent times he lived through. I guess I feel like it is something they should know about,
just as I have learned about him.
When it comes time to study speech making next year, I
will reflect on the lessons from this year. But, I will say that I recorded some great speeches. For a few minutes, each student had the
opportunity to persuade the class through words, music, and pictures. Some speeches were quite moving. Now, whether watching Malcolm X helped
create that passion is debatable.
I will think about this more next year.
Did I accomplish everything I set out to do this
year? Sure. If your child showed up prepared to
listen and work, he learned more about the art of communication. His writing would have grown as well
has his outlook on life. There are
test scores that the district works hard to produce to prove that I, in fact,
did my job. But being an artist
using the medium of children, I know by feel that I did what I was supposed
to. The impact will differ from
child to child, and it might not even be felt for years to come, but I know I
made an impact on each of my students.
In the beginning of the year, the mountain looks so big. Now that I am on top, I look forward to
climbing a new one next year.
I hope you have found all of this communication
useful. I worked very hard to keep
you informed of, not only your child’s grades, but what I am shooting for in
each lesson and why I feel what I am teaching the children is important. Who knows? Maybe I even made you think about a few new things this
year. Trust me, I hope I did.
