Genius Freak

Tis the last of the summer, a bright sunny day With the kick off of school just a few hours away You would think, having done this 30-some times before That there’d be no excitement, that it could be a bore The paper is hung and the tables are clean, I’ve picked out lots of texts we’ll ask “What does this mean?” Writing tasks have been crafted to find out what you think And each 45 minutes will go by in a blink We’ll do research and blogging, journal all through the year, But the big question, always, is Why are we here? There’s the AP exam that we tackle in May There’s the SAT, ACT, PARCC with no play Maybe grades, or the challenge, or because your mom said, But none of these get to the why in my head I do not teach English for my love of the books Or the way when we write that our handwriting looks I am here because words and the baggage they bring Tell us how to be human - do the humanest things Like to love and be brave and show up in your life, ...

As the days of June roll into July, and I have had a minute to breathe after the close of school, I sit down and write a short note to each of my graduated seniors. It’s something I started a bunch of years ago, then stopped for some reason I don’t remember (most likely laziness) But I resurrected the practice about 8 or 10 years ago. I try to finish my note-writing project by the middle of July - time to have a bit of perspective on the school year, but before they leave for college. I congratulate them on their graduation, and I thank them for all of the hard work they put into AP English, and all the contributions they made to our learning community throughout our time together. I include something memorable that they leave as a legacy to the spirit of our classroom. And I remind them that they have a fine set of tools to help them make their way in the world. Basically, I want them to know that their voice has been valued, and their presence has mattered. I hope that they have...

In my summer reading, I try to balance teacher reading and pleasure reading. Not that I don’t also find pleasure in teacher reading, but it’s not quite the same as being transported into another place and time and circumstance by the craft of a wordsmith. Of course, no educational text could teach you more than letting Toni Morrison’s Beloved wash over your eyes and ears and flow out through your soul. So there is overlap. One of the more teachery books I have read this summer is Metaphors and Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject, by Rick Wormeli.  It’s a good primer on the power of metaphors as sense-making devices. I have written about that before. Wormeli reminded me why I want to do more work with metaphor and analogy making with my classes this year. In the spirit of writing as practice, in my morning pages the other day , I played with some metaphoring myself in my writing practice this week. July 9, writing on my back patio, 12:30 ish (so not quite...

One of the books I am reading this summer is Zen Teacher: Creating Focus, Simplicity, and Tranquility in the Classroom by Dan Tricarico. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of Zen. I think because inside I always felt so crazed and chaotic, that the idea of just breathing and being seemed impossible to me.   It doesn’t feel impossible any more. I have had some impactful teachers along the way to help me make contact with that peaceful presence that we all have somewhere. Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones introduced me to the notion of writing as a zen practice. Henry Thoreau always reminds me to “live deliberately.” And countless classrooms of students have taught me how to be present in the moment. (I don’t think teaching and learning can work any other way.) Along with the idea of being present in the moment, another zen idea I love is Beginner’s Mind or Shoshin. I have been teaching for 30 years. I have probably taught 11th grade for at least 20 of...

I have learned more from my students about being a teacher, and how to be a better teacher, than I have ever learned from an administrator’s observation. Formal and informal feedback is as critical to me as a learner as it is to them. I have started to go through some of the feedback students shared on the last day this year, now that I have a couple weeks distance. The other day I jotted down a note to the effect that in teaching, we cultivate the tone of the class from the very first day. That’s why I gave up the first day standards of going over the course overview and covering the rules and regulations. The movie Dead Poets Society came out in the beginning of my teaching career (so maybe I should have realized this sooner). I remember being so taken with the scene of the students’ first day with Mr. Keating (Robin Williams). They walk away from that class thinking he is weird, and they’re not quite sure what to make of the class, but they are engaged. I try to achieve so...

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 wri...

I try to do something valuable with every one of the 180 days I have with my classes, including the very last one. I am fortunate in being able to exempt my students from final exams in June because they have taken the stressful and rigorous AP exam in May.  This year, in my AP Lang class I used an activity borrowed from the work of Dave Stuart called Pop-up Toasts. This activity allowed for a good period of reflection, some public speaking practice, and a nice wrap up for the year. More on the details of the day in another post. This was my toast to the year: Yesterday I stopped at Costco in Brick to get cookies, and strawberries for Renee, so that we could break bread together today. If you are familiar with the Costco parking lot, you know that venturing from car to entrance is a little like playing Frogger, and being the frog. You have to dodge and dart your way across the screen trying to avoid being squished by a truck, or an alligator, barreling along and paying no min...

Each quarter, my students write a personal essay in response to some occasion - it can be anything that happens (assuming proper classroom discretion). Given that requirement, we call them occasional papers, and they must be shared orally with the class. I also contribute to the anthology of shared occasions. This one is from late May. I wrote part of it at the desk in my room, and part in my classroom at school. Things I Have Learned From Trees By the time I traversed the path from my driveway to my back door, 6 or 8 of them were inextricably tangled in my hair. Those annoying scalawags that fall from oak trees in the spring - spreading pollen and baby oak trees - are everywhere. I looked up only to narrow avoid being pelted in the eye by one, and was immediately drawn into the past in a sort of reverse “That’s so Raven” moment.  Back to a day 20-some years ago when another discard from another tree spread some wisdom on me that I have carried with me since. It was the Au...

“It seems like you’re not that big on deadlines.” “What I am big on is learning. If that means we have to bend some deadlines, I’m ok with that.” I know the argument. We have to teach kids to be responsible. To manage their time. To meet deadlines, like in the real world. But learning isn’t like paying your rent on time, or renewing your driver’s license, or using a coupon before it expires.  Those things, understandably, have deadlines. And other things in their lives will teach kids how to abide by them when necessary. I have other things to teach. And learning takes as much time as it takes. Imagine if we told our toddlers, “If you aren’t up and walking by 13 months, that’s it. You get a zero on walking and we’re moving on to something else.” Deadlines, more than being instructive, are expedients for teachers. And while they may add some sense of urgency to getting an assignment done, sometimes life intervenes. Maybe somebody in the family is sick. Or m...

After a bit of a dry spell, I'm back. It's that time of the school year when every sentence in my head starts with "Next year..." Completing that sentence is a whole new way of schooling for me. I have long believed that when it comes to motivating learning, grades do more harm than good. I have often said, “When I open my own school...no grades.” I know I am not alone in this belief. And, when I face the reality of my bank account, I know I am not going to start my own school. So I have decided I am going to go as gradefree as possible next year within the system I work in now. After reading Hacking Assessment by Starr Sackstein, I think I have a framework figured out where feedback and conferencing and self-reflection take the place of grades for the most part, allowing the quarterly grade to be a more accurate reflection of students’ learning. I went into class today and, after introducing the books I’m asking my AP Lit students to read thi...

I am participating (in my own adapted way) in an online writing camp for teachers. Yesterday's activity was one that I am definitely going to borrow and modify to use in my class. Essentially it involves making a list of emotions and a list of objects, then randomly pairing an emotion with an object and crafting a simile or metaphor for the emotion using the object.  These are my quick lists. Emotions/feelings: Joy, sadness, contentment, fear, love, infatuation, gratitude, jealousy, shyness, nervousness, excitement, happiness, grief, anticipation. Objects (gathered by looking around the room I was sitting and writing in) Row boat, sprinkler, old notebook, window, martini glass, motorcycle, dandelion, stone, leaf, fountain pen, wicker chair, shopping bag, starfish, tire, fine, fence. I gave each object a number and used a random number generator on my phone to pair each emotion with an object. Some came up twice, some were unused.   I wrote as quickly as ...

Had a great afternoon today talking with teachers about teaching. It's always so inspiring and invigorating to share the room with such passion and dedication to the craft. Here's a link to the materials I brought to share, and also to the website for my classes. (It's a work in progress - there's not much there yet.) Materials Video English 235            235 Online (English 235)      If you were at the session today and you want to see some more materials, just send me an email. kmueller@centralregional.net