Thirty Year Reflections (or plans)

A psychic once told me that I was going to write two books. I have long figured my dissertation was one. It isn’t published, but it looks like a book. I wondered for a long time what the other one would be.

While I haven’t entirely given up on the book idea, I realized that rather than wondering, I should just start writing. And one of the things I want to write about is teaching.

In Big Magic Liz Gilbert says something along the lines of, “Please don’t write a book to help me. Write the book you need to write.” Although I occasionally think that I may have something to offer that might help other teachers, what I need to write are my reflections on the last 30 years so that I can make the next 10 or so even better.

June 2017 brought to a close my 30th year of teaching. It is certainly cliche to marvel at the speedy passage of time, but that is exactly what I am doing as I write these lines. But as I aim to reflect back over those 30 years, that thing that wants to be written about right now is the notion animating my design of the coming year.

VOICE

Over the years it has struck me more than once that students often feel voiceless. They feel forced into “choices” without option. They have to come to school. They have to take English. They have to read and write whatever is assigned. They could choose otherwise, but they see the consequences as undesirable, of course. Even when they like school, they would like to have more of a “say.” I have also seen, that when they are in fact given options - within my scope I can give them freedom in choosing assignments and topics, expressing ideas, ways to think about things- creativity - when they have those options, it often confounds them. Frightens them. It is the best evidence to me of how little room for choice and creativity they find in their school day. Often it seems they have lost their collective voice. Not entirely of course. Like a chronic case of laryngitis, where you are left with a remnant of your voice that is stronger at  some times than others.

Fortunately, I think it’s curable.

As I take some time to ponder this summer about how I want year 31 to go, about what I want a day in my class to be like, I am going to keep this acronym handy:

VOICE

Value - Where is the value for students in what we are doing?

Options - Where is there room for student choice?

Inquiry - Where is there room for student inquiry?

C - The 4 Cs - Creativity, Communication, Critical Thinking, Collaboration

Empathy - How can this help students see things from different perspectives?

This is my writing plan for the next month. Thirty years. Thirty days of reflection. I’m not sure if a plan for the future counts as a reflection, but it definitely has grown out of reflecting. Maybe I’m working backwards from the end.

If I manage to stick to the plan, it would be the first time. But I am hopeful.  

(Written at my desk at home, air conditioner and fan blowing right at me. Watching the sky out my window turn from day to night. )