independence

(disclaimer: this is way "inside baseball" stuff that may only be remotely interesting, at best, to other teachers.)



i have started taking courses for a new program, and i'm lucky to be taking a course with mary ehrenworth and a course with lucy caulkins. i really decided to start a new program when i took a course last year with sheridan blau. i was thinking about it, and i realized how important it is to challenge and tighten my theory and practice. we talked with sheridan a lot about reader response, but i also remember how sharp he was about really distilling what it is we read, how important it is to be honest and critical and clear about what we thinks and what they think and why.

i just remember thinking a lot about the things that he brought up in class and how it really helped me bring new things in my thinking right into my classroom. i think it really inspired us to start setting our framework for what we're teaching and why we're teaching, and my big thing at the end of last year was to help us set out some clear and consistent goals for our students. in my new class, one of my classmates asked me, "so why are you doing this? is it like some sort of professional development?"

i guess that's exactly what it is. i feel like when we separate our education and our experience that it means we've lost something. i know that sometimes the theory at universities can feel far from my 100 students on the ground, but i also know that they can come up with some of the purest, most important methods in universities away from the pull of department bureaucracy.

this year, my class with lucy is getting me to think about a lot of things in my pattern and philosophy of teaching. in the past, i've worked hard towards developing reading strategies that mirror what real strong readers do when they're reading. and i've worked towards developing writing and revision strategies that mirror what real strong writers do. i think it's so important that we make writing and reading really relevant to how and why we really read. still, it's hard to so closely mirror the independence and choice that are there for real writers in the real world.

so, i've been working through this a lot in lucy's class. the other day she was really strong about getting back to the core principles of writing workshop. it was her george h.w. moment. ("i know writing workshop. i am friends with writing workshop. you, sir, are no writing workshop!) and i know what she means. in some sense, i think, the writing workshop has been so co-opted by being the system, what has become commonplace in workshop is not really workshop at all. and in some other ways i've written in class about how i've been co-opted and inside the system without seeing it. it's hard to see which way is which sometimes.

i've been working a lot with my student teacher to understand exactly what are the principles that support my classroom teaching and learning to make sure that the thigns that we teach are in line with the principles. so, the big thing i'm thinking about is how do we balance independence and choice? and, still, how do we make sure that the students are getting the core skills and competencies that they need? there's no doubt that studetns are more engaged and more invested when they have opportunity and choice. there's also no doubt that they will learn to perform (in the short term) specific skills and strategies when they are taught explicitly and applied directly.

so, what is the balance? where is the balance? i'm thinking the largest balance is by affording choice for projects, and trying to provide consistent small groups that can teach into specific strategies and skills. i feel worried, though, that right now i'm caught right in between both and neither is getting done. i don't wnat to flash on one and feel better. i want to feel like i'm doing better than both, altogether.