Philosophy of Teaching: Student Choice - Guest Post by Melissa A. Smith (Part II of III)

Guest post by Melissa A. Smith, AP Literature and English 11 Teacher, Lake Norman Charter High School

Melissa is in her 8th year at LNC and her 12th year of teaching overall.  She is in her 8th year at LNC and 12th year overall.  She was recently named the Lake Norman Charter School district Teacher of the Year.  You can follow her on Twitter (@MelAlterSmith). This essay was included in the Teacher of the Year portfolio.  

Philosophy of Teaching
Part II

by Melissa A. Smith

Part II of III

Belief:  I believe in student choice and the power of ownership.

Evidence:

As seen in the evidence for my first belief on the importance of feeling like a safe and valued member of a class community, offering students choice as much as possible is integral. On the first day of school, classes are given an assignment to write an Introduction Letter that tells me about them as a student, particularly an English student, as well as any personal information they would like to share with me to set ourselves up for a successful year. It saddens me to say that the majority of the letters come to me saying that they feel like they are not good at writing. They often share that their previous teachers have helped them to become better writers, but they still don’t feel like it is something they are actually good at. Most of them also say they used to like reading when they were young, but are not fans of the books they have to read for school, and therefore have lost their love for reading. This may be how they feel at the beginning of the year, and it becomes my goal to change their minds so that if they were to write the same letter the following school year, it would read quite differently. I strive to reignite their passion for reading and writing. I want them to feel confident as writers and thinkers. One of the ways I feel I accomplish these goals is through offering student choice frequently.

First off, allowing them to pick the books they want to read, and giving them the time to read them, fosters a revived interest in reading. Moreover, for one of our whole-class novels, students choose which book they want to read out of a list of options. By allowing even this small amount of personal volition of what they read means a lot to them. The same goes for papers and essay topics; students are offered options so that they can find the one that suits their knowledge of the work the best.

Even where they sit in the room itself is a choice I allow them to make. On the first day, they fill out a survey of their preferred seat: couch, swivel chair, bean bag, conference table, or standard desk. Due to the popularity of the couches, we change seats every quarter so that all students can have a chance to sit in their first choice. And no student ever sits in a choice that they rank low. Organizing a spreadsheet of their surveys and ranking their choices takes a considerable amount of time on my part, but the students appreciate being able to sit in the type of seat they feel like they would learn the best in. The swivel chairs are ideal for students who need to move and groove to help them focus, the conference table is perfect for those who like to be in a group setting, standard desks work best for students who like to spread out and have their own personal space; every type of seat has benefits when it comes to learning, and I do my best to match the seat to the learner.

When creating their student blogs, they choose designs, themes, colors, fonts, titles - all of the building blocks that go into making a web page. Their blogs truly are a reflection of their personalities and offer them an opportunity to design a space for them to publish and share their writing. They can add pictures, links, other media; there are so many options. Blogging offers students a rare opportunity to write for an authentic audience, a whole world of people beyond just me as their teacher. And yet, ironically, they feel more comfortable with blogging than writing essays. They’ve expressed that it feels more relaxed to them; the pressure of “the essay” is not weighing down on them. By taking away the stress behind writing, I found last year that the effect was actually better writing. Their blogs still had the same analytical writing, and often better, more fluid and expressive writing, than a formulaic essay. Students enjoyed the blogging experience so much that it was one of the major focuses in the student-lead professional development session for teachers. The point of the session was for students to share what they found to be quality learning experiences that they wished more of their teachers would do, and blogging was one of them. I was the first English teacher to risk having their classes blog, but after sharing my success in a department meeting and hearing from the students themselves, more teachers started having their students blog as well. Blogging allows students to feel more comfortable with writing, thus building their confidence. But blogs can’t replace essays completely. So, for the first essay, students take one of the blogs they have already written and turn it into an essay. This practice helps to alleviate stress, and helps them to hone their essay-writing skills for future papers.

In AP Literature, for their monthly poetry blog, students choose any living contemporary poet of merit. There are literally thousands to choose from. I supply them with a long list of options, and we also use a poetry database online to select a perfect poet for each student. We spend a whole day in class researching different poets (thus exposing them indirectly to a diverse group of quality poets) because students will be spending an entire year focusing on this particular poet’s works. Some students choose based on identifying with a poet’s ethnicity or religion; some choose based on similar beliefs like feminism or environmental advocacy; and others simply just like the poet’s name or their bio picture online. Regardless of the reason, the choice is completely theirs, and if they find a poet that isn’t on my list, as long as that poet is of literary merit, I simply add him or her to the list. Finding a poet that speaks to them personally increases their enjoyment of studying poetry.

Also in AP Literature, students are given options for summer reading activities that they journal about. The activities, such as going to a museum, seeing a play, attending a worship service of a different religion, taking to a grandparent about their childhood, making dinner for your family, going to an outdoor concert, etc, are all supposed to help students have new experiences and broaden their horizons. We have a great time talking about them on the first day of school, and students admit to me in their journals that they enjoy getting out and trying new things and writing about them in their journals.

By the end of the year, it is my honest belief that most students feel like they have become better readers and writers. They actually have a renewed passion for reading again and see themselves as quality writers. In filling out their anonymous course evaluations at the end of the year, I see a definite growth in their feelings about their English skills and enjoyment.

Thank you for viewing,

See Part I: Community of Learners

Part III will be posted soon.

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith (or guest blogger) and do not represent the school or district in which he works.