It has been a while since I fully explored my school’s website; therefore, I didn’t realize my esteemed colleague, Barbara Rosenblit, had her speech in response to her presentation of the prestigious Covenant Award in November 2004 posted.

She’s a remarkable woman and a master teacher. In the short time I’ve worked with her, I have already learned a great deal. The best thing about Barbara is that she sees herself as inexpert — constantly learning. She once told me she likes to be, in her words, “the dumbest person” in the room, because she feels that is when she learns the most. In truth, she is the kind of person who learns from everyone, and she does not place her learning above that of others. She candidly told me, for example, that she took an idea from a new teacher and totally altered the way she teaches double-period classes. Many teachers in her position might take the stance that there is nothing they can learn from new teachers.

If you are an educator and like to “imagine” how great our educational system could be if people like Barbara were in charge of making policy, you can read her speech.

A Washington Post story (via MSNBC) explains that time-constraints and lack of choice are killing reading for pleasure in America’s high schools.

I think we have all been asked to read a book we didn’t really like, but I think we have all also been exposed to literature we might not otherwise have read (and therefore, enjoyed) had we not been required to read it for school. I do think students need more choice, but there is that sticky problem of standardized tests, curriculum mandates, and, perhaps most importantly, time.

Jim Burke has some great ideas for incorporating personal reading into the curriculum. I plan to do so in my Oral and Written Communications classes (provided I do teach them) next year, but I freely admit I won’t have time to do it in American Literature. I have required students to read at least one personal book per semester in the past, often with surprising results. Students picked books that should have been in the curriculum, but for time. They often stretched themselves and tested their limits. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if many of them remember that as the best part of the class.

If I only had more time. I barely touched the 20th century in American literature this year, which is not a travesty I plan to repeat next year. Therefore, I’ll be even more crunched. I think we picked some really good books for our curriculum. I wish we could read it all! All in all, the students seem fairly happy with the reading selections. Frankly, most of my students are readers, anyway, so they can make time for personal reading that interests them. I do worry about those that do not read. There are worlds upon worlds out there, and I would hate to think that English teachers, the very people charged with opening the doors to those worlds, are actually closing them instead.

Not that I have to deal with this in my current teaching position, but yes, I too have been pressured to change grades (bypass registration with BugMeNot). While I’m not proud of it, I have done it. Sometimes, I wasn’t given a choice. I’m not sure I would have lowered a student’s grade as a discipline issue, but when I taught at a rough school with no parental or administrative support, grades were the only (rather small amount) leverage I had, and I admit I used them. I called them participation grades. Perhaps that sort of thing is more acceptable than taking a grade a student earned and lowering it, but I still think the firing of the teacher was too extreme. This is a move that will impact Neace’s career. He may find it difficult to procure future employment. Please understand, I am not saying I think Neace made a good decision in lowering the grade, but he shouldn’t have been fired for it. I wonder what the system’s policy is on participation grading? I ought to know, as I worked there. Maybe that’s all I need to say…

I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink,
I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink.
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink.
No, no, no.
I’m so tired I don’t know what to do.
I’m so tired my mind is set on you.
I wonder should I call you but I know what you’d do.
You’d say I’m putting you on.
But it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm.
You know I can’t sleep, I can’t stop my brain
You know it’s three weeks, I’m going insane.
You know I’d give you everything I’ve got
For a little peace of mind.
I’m so tired, I’m feeling so upset
Although I’m so tired I’ll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh.
He was such a stupid git.

Who was that? I hate it when other people channel my blog. I gave a presentation at work tonight. On the plus side, it was well-received. Everyone keeps talking about all the work I do. As opposed to what? I thought that was my job. I have had jobs that involved more paper-pushing. I hate that kind of thing. I hate involving myself in any way with student records.

On the way to work this morning I was thinking about my two-year tenure as a middle school teacher. Those of you that can do that job, I admire you. You are few in number. I am so glad it’s behind me. Even if I had to teach pronoun/antecedent agreement every day in high school, it would be worth it to stay out of middle school. When I think back on my own middle school days, I recall them as the most traumatic period of my life. I wouldn’t go back for all the world. No wonder the kids are impossible at that age.

I keep looking at the calendar. I am doing the end-of-year-teacher-freakout dance right now. Do you know I just reached the 20th century in American Lit.? We are hitting the most major of major points, and that is all. Don’t even get me started on how much I need to do with 9th grade.

I wish I knew for sure what I was teaching next year. I have some tweaking to do, whatever it is. I can’t spend three weeks on summer reading ever again, that’s for sure.

I read my students an article from a National Council of Teachers of English publication called English Journal about how perilous teaching English is. We all have our favorite books. Maybe even that book that made us want to teach. I cannot truthfully say that is true for me. I loved literature, period. I didn’t have one book that made teaching English a done deal. That was due to my high school English teacher. After I started teaching, I read The Great Gatsby, and it became that one book. The book. The one I hold the others up to. The benchmark. Ever since then, it makes me nervous to teach it. And this year, I thought, why not share that with the kids?

Fellow readers, if you were an English teacher (or even if you are one, Jennifer and Dana) which book would/does make you nervous to teach? Why?

I feel like Linda Richman. I might even be getting all verklempt.