Literacy wasn’t my best subject as a kid growing up. In fact, I didn’t like it. When I got to the university level, I didn’t know how to write a cohesive essay. As providence would have it, I landed a great professor in freshman English of all places. It was a miracle of sorts. I think maybe he was a bit rebellious and got bumped-down to freshmen English as a punishment. Well, my class was the benefactor of a brilliant man. He taught us to write. He took the time to critique our work. He made us better. I am forever indebted to him. I learned that I could write, and I learned that I always needed to be prepared if I didn’t want to be nervous. Not to brag, and this is amazing….on the rest of my essay tests in college, I don’t think that I ever made anything less than A. So, I went from being this below average writer to someone who was simply fearless from that point onward.
See what great teaching can do? When discussing one of my best learning experiences, I didn’t mention standardized assessments, weekly RTI probes, DRAs, or even a state curriculum (gasp). I mean the book of Job in the Bible (IMHO one of the best written pieces of text ever), was probably written by someone who didn’t even attend a public school. So what made that freshman English course so effective? My professor chose to teach us. He had high expectations of our writing. Each week, he evaluated a piece of our writing. In the margins, he gave us suggestions of things to fix. All of our work was kept in a folder portfolio. It was the personalization and timely feedback that made us better. He made us want to be better. We knew that all of his criticism was meant to make us better. And better we became.
Literacy instruction must be hands-on w/ timely feedback embedded. Students will 100% be able to see their progress if it is kept in a portfolio. If there is one thing my professor taught me, students MUST write about things which interest them. Students must be partially in charge of their own educational process and content. Writing should be an enjoyable process, and students must believe that the writing process is going to make them good writers. Self belief is so important to students. When a student internally knows they can do something, the battle has been won.
When we teach students how to write, we are providing them intellectual freedom. They are free to express themselves effectively. They don’t need anyone to speak for them. When a person can write, they are capable of publishing their own thoughts, and impacting the world with their own voice. That….is the power of education. And maybe a certain professor 30+ years ago had figured that out. I am thankful that he did.
PRO TIP: I am going to add a quick tip to the end of some of my blog posts. Today’s tip is to incorporate music into your classroom as students work individually. I really like movie sound tracks. John Williams is a great go-to as he is kind of the Beethoven of our time. Hanz Zimmer and Jerry Goldsmith are also great choices. But really, there are a lot of options out there. The Broadway version of the Lion King is exceptional. A sneaky good soundtrack is The Patriot. I also like the soundtracks from Rudy, Remember the Titans, Miracle (hockey), and McFarland. And holidays are a great time to play music. I love Christmas music – too many good options to name. The Grinch soundtrack is an awesome one. My architectural drafting teacher in high school used to let us listen to music while we worked. It was the favorite part of my day. Make your classroom a rich place for learning. Your students will love being there, and as a teacher, you will like being in that environment as well. And even better, music works parts of the brain which remain dormant otherwise.
