As a middle school writing teacher, I often times think like my students would. After reading these pieces, I pondered, "What would my babies do now?" The answer came immediately to my mind that a laugh closely followed. They would rate them. In a world where you can left swipe humans and give a thumbs up or frowny face to a short bit of writing, evaluation is everywhere.
Unfortunately, I couldn't pick a favorite because two of these texts spoke to me on such deep but different levels. So, I will start with those.
The introduction to Teaching for Joy and Justice was one of my first ranking pieces of the three. I am a Spanish Asian (Spanasian, if you will) women raised by a single mother in the lower half of middle class. In school, I was very lonely. Not in the way one might imagine when you hear the word lonely. I had friends. I had great friends who made me feel loved and valued. I also had teachers who made me aspire to do more than my mother. But as a student, I was alone. My education was dictated by the military so I learned from a young age that white men in a uniform were powerful. I learned that white men gave us the beginning of a great nation. I became very patriotic as a result, but never understood where my people were during all of this history and literature. Where were the Asians? Where were the Latinos? I finally got my answer in middle school. My people 'stole jobs from Americans'. My people had laws that prevented them from coming to America. And still today, my people are fighting a wall that will divide our new home from our roots. I had found my people, but they were the oppressed. As a teacher, I cannot let that happen. So when Linda Christensen said, "The books we choose to bring into the classroom say a lot about what we think is important, whose stories get told, whose voices are heard, whose are marginalized." They were many things she said that resonated with me (Lack of skills doesn't equal lack of intelligence. Fixing students is erasing their language and culture. Too often rigor is memorization.) but this topic speaks to my soul. (Sorry, Annie Dillard.) I look forward to reading the rest of this text to find ways that I can change the narrative of my classroom to include the lives of my students.
Tied for first was "The Operating Manual". As a performer, I feel that imagination is so important. But I found myself guilty not too long of ago of just reading instructions and manuals. I had stopped reading for exercise. I had stopped reading fiction. I had turned into an adult. It wasn't until I got a job at the local theater and found myself lots of free time that I picked up a book again and it felt amazing. This article forced me to ask myself many questions. Am I killing imagination in my classroom? What traditions am I forcing on my kids? What mindsets am I instilling in their brains? Do they promote creation? Or do they encourage being 'comfortable"? With all of these questions, I found myself uncomfortable and challenge. I will and must do better.
Lastly, and surprisingly, was The Writing Life. As this was framed in a narrative way, I was certain I would enjoy it the most. However, I was mistake. I found myself asking more questions, pondering about Annie and thinking about the adverbs the author used that I couldn't fully enjoy it. I felt it was incomplete. Of course, it was as this was just a excerpt. I think this is why it ranked so low on my student-inspired list of texts to read.
If all the texts we will read this semester will inspire this much questioning and challenging, I have a long road ahead of me and so do my students.
