Your Words Have Power

In the Literature class I teach, I try to engage the students, in discussions about what happens in the stories we read, in ways which will challenge them and which will help them to engage in critical thinking.  I ask the students why characters in stories do what they do.  I ask them to explain characters' motivations.  I ask them to support their opinions with examples from the text.

At one point, as a way of both trying to encourage them, to inspire them, and to help explain to them why they need to cite instances in the story to substantiate their viewpoints, as an analogy I referenced how lawyers persuasively support their own cases.  A few days earlier, I had told them that I had been an attorney, so I reminded them that I used to be a lawyer.  I explained to them that in court, attorneys tell the judge how the attorneys think the case should turn out.  I told them that judges then say to lawyers, "Counsel, where's your evidence?"  I next said that just as judges ask lawyers where their evidence is, so too would I be asking them where their evidence is for believing why characters act the way they do.  During that same explication, I expressed to them a long-term view of them I hold.  I shared with them how I honestly believe that some of them truly are capable of becoming lawyers one day. 

A few weeks later, I was talking with an older sibling of one of my Literature students.  She told me that all of a sudden, her younger sister has started saying that she's going to become a lawyer!  I asked her when her younger sister started saying that she's going to be a lawyer.  She said that her younger sister started saying so within the last month, which meant since school has started.  Perhaps at least one student has been listening while I've been teaching... 

Teaching Highlights in September

Although I've already shared the most significant moments during my experience as an LV (Lasallian Volunteer) from September, I thought I'd share my otherwise most notable moments as an LV from September.  They are as follows.

I decided to do a project where my kids and I would collectively write a letter to a friend of mine who served with me as a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) in Morocco, and who's still serving there as a PCV.  As I was explaining how to write the letter, I explained to the kids why it's good to ask questions when writing a letter.  I explain that people often like being asked questions because it shows you think you have something to learn from them.  I added that it also can reflect humility. 

We wrote the letter to her.  We told her some things about where the school is in Chicago.  We shared with her some of the things the students are learning.  We asked her some questions about her life in Morocco.  A few days later, we got back a response from her.  With her letter, she helped me to teach the kids how to organize a letter, when to start new paragraphs in a letter, and how to start and end a letter.

At my request, she included some pictures of her and her husband in Morocco.  She attached a picture of herself on a hike.  She attached a couple of pictures of dishes of Moroccan food.  She included a photo of her husband with members of their host family.  The Moroccan girls had their heads covered with headscarves.  When the class was looking at this photo, I heard some of the students murmuring.

I explained, "The girls and the women in Morocco always have their heads covered."

"Why?" one girl asked.

"Their religion tells them to do that," I responded.

"That sucks," she said.

I replied, "Can you find a better way to express how you feel about that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, try starting your sentence with 'I,'" I suggested.

"I..." she began, and then trailed off.

I re-approached the question from a different starting point.  "Well, would you want to be expected to do that?"

"No."

Refusing to tell her the exact words to say, I asked, "So, what would your sentence sound like?"

"Oh," she said.  "I wouldn't want to have to do that."

"That sounds much better," I told her.

***

On another day, I enjoyed seeing that same girl use her time well.  During afternoon homeroom, students are writing down their homework for the day, and are otherwise getting ready to leave the school for the day.  After she had finished getting ready to leave for the day, other students were still preparing to leave.  As they were gathering their things, she started using the time to sweep up the classroom.  She hadn't been asked to do so, but just took the initiative to use her time well.

***

We read a couple of short stories in Literature Class in September.  In one of them, called "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto, a boy in seventh grade pretends to speak French in front of everyone in French class to try to impress a girl he likes.  The French teacher knows he can't speak French.  Yet after class, the girl compliments him on his French as the teacher is standing there.  He hopes that the teacher won't expose him as a fraud, thinking that he'll do anything that the teacher wants, having learned his lesson not to bluff like he had done.  In the end, the teacher does not let the girl know.

We talked about the theme of the short story.  We discussed that one should be honest and that God always wants us to tell us the truth.  I added that even though you might not do something as well as you'd like, you should learn from your mistakes, and that next time you can do it better.  As I was saying those words in front of the class, feeling like I didn't know how to teach, that I was often making mistakes as I taught, I wondered, "For whom is this lesson being given?"  

My Own Words As My Guide

I wrote my last blog entry about being flexible.  I explained how one must be open to what one is asked to do, even if it is something about which one knows nothing.  I suggested that even if you're convinced that you're inexperienced, you should embrace what you're requested to do.

The very next day after I wrote that blog post, I was called out on my own words.  The Director of Student Life at school came to my desk in my classroom.  He told me that he would like me to think about co-coaching basketball this winter.

In my honest opinion, I am hardly the person best suited to this task, a conclusion with which, I am fairly certain, many people would agree.  However, I have been asked to co-coach basketball this year.  Therefore, I will be coaching basketball.