The Personal Connections Urban Students Need
"When students engage with texts allowing them to recognize aspects of their own plight in the lives of characters, they can be extended an invitation to release and relieve (Hill, 2009)" (Taylor, 2018).
Student lived realities outside of school challenge them every day in the classroom. "Teachers and students bear scars from suffering in various forms. The reality is that many external factors, such as socioeconomic status and racism, are all working against students." (Taylor, 2018). It's up to us as future educators to unpack these experiences and use them as a tool to release the hidden but impactful information inside our students. These lived realities in our students provide opportunity for them to open up and curb the way they seen education. If we continue to let standardized rubrics and traditional lesson plans drive our teaching, it will be detrimental to our students achievement. I know from past experience, I have felt more confident about my writing when I'm reflecting on my life or something I've done. Why? Probably because I feel like I know what I'm talking about or I have a personal connection in which I can relate to like no other person can. - Can you recall any paper or reflection you wrote that had that personal connection?
- What was it like?
- How did you feel after it was completed?
- How can you provide your personal connection to your students through literacy?
Below is a great video from Ted Talks.
Dr. Keith Mayes talks about the power of the black experience in the classroom
It's a little lengthy!
Using literacy as a tool, we strive to create a response in the reader's mind. "Such conversations will not spontaneously occur without the inclusion of texts that students find meaningful." (Taylor, 2018) It is up to us as teacher to go out and create that magic. The magic is compelling material that allows students to reflect, draw conclusions, and probe questions.
"Do we want them writing for the rubric, or do we want them to write for themselves and for us and for all those who hunger for the human experience melded with language?" (Wilson, pg. 3)
- Do you think traditional literacy lessons (one with no cultural or personal connection) hurt the foundations of the rhetorical heart of writing?
Resources
Taylor, K. (2018) Rewriting John Henry: Using Texts to Interrogate Personal Trauma. 1-3
Wilson, M. (2006) Why I Won't be Using Rubrics to Respond to Students' Writing. 1-6
Great post, Doug. I wanted to respond to your question about if traditional literacy lessons hurt the foundations of the rhetorical heart of writing. I think that we have to merge the traditional literacy lessons we grew up learning with the cultural and personal connections of our students. I think in order for students to fully be able to learn and grow as scholars, we have to allow them to connect with what they are teaching. I do think it is still important to have the students use their creativity in the classroom, but I think we also have to when it comes to creating lessons for them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response Tori. I agree with your comment on how we have to let them connect with what they are teaching for them to grow as scholars. Like you said, merging our traditional lessons with the cultural and personal connections of our students is just the beginning. It's going to take many experiences I know for myself to get used to teaching along with always adapting to our students.
DeleteI like that your post emphasizes students' outside experiences! I think that it's so important for us as educators to acknowledge that students home lives are just as valuable as their school persona. Traditional literacy lessons don't take this into account. Maja Wilson's article on the drawbacks of using traditional rubrics highlights this. She discusses how writing rubrics provide generic feedback. This type of generalized feedback prevents students from receiving constructive criticism that will enable them to become better writers. I like the idea of shifting our standards so that they’re more individualized to the particular student. For example, a rubric in a traditional setting might include criteria for writing a paper. However, what if the student would rather utilize spoken word in the assignment? This is an equally valid way of demonstrating their understanding of what they've learned. The goal of our literacy lessons shouldn't be to teach students how to follow a specific rubric in order to receive As. Instead, it should inspire an active dialogue on both sides. The main way to do this is by incorporating cultural and personal connections. I subbed in a third grade class last week. The students had a writing prompt on parks. Many of the students complained that they didn't know what to write about or that they never went to the park. I told them that they didn't have to be restricted to thinking about parks in the traditional sense. They had a map at the back of the class with national parks listed. I encouraged them to use this to talk about a park that they'd like to visit and what they imagined it would be like. Additionally, I wrote a few lines about one of my favorite parks, Disneyland, on the board. I wanted them to see that the prompt didn't have to be boring, that they could individualize it. I also thought it was important that I give them an example. If we expect them to have open, honest dialogue, it must start with us.
ReplyDeleteGreat response Addy! I enjoyed your example of the spoken word being just as meaningful of an understanding. The goal like you said is to have active dialogue on both sides of the conversation. Starting with the personal connection and a cultural connection is a great way to uncover the hidden information among our students. In order for us to get that personal connection it does start with us!
DeleteGreat post Doug! I like how you said "It's up to us as future educators to unpack these experiences and use them as a tool to release the hidden but impactful information inside our students. These lived realities in our students provide opportunity for them to open up and curb the way they seen education." I think it is really important for us as teachers to make our students feel safe like Dr. Taylor said in her article. It is difficult for anyone to open up about internal trauma, and making sure our students feel safe to do so is the first step in this process. One way to do this might be to write and share something personal about you to your students. Show them that you can somehow relate to them, and show them that writing about a struggle is a good thing. When you do that, you also can't critique their writing. When students are opening up, you should encourage writing and all writing styles, without a rubric. Rubrics are necessary in certain contexts, but personal writing should not be contained by a rubric.
ReplyDeleteWill, I also felt the importance of Dr. Taylor's point about making students feel safe: "Much work relies on teachers making safe spaces for students to feel comfortable in sharing aspects of themselves and are affirmed, consoled, and strengthened through text selection" (pg. 464). I agree that this will take a lot of work, but the benefits will far outweigh any amount of work. While reading Dr. Taylor's piece, I was reminded of my own narrative that we turned in a few weeks ago. I had a traumatic experience as a teen, and felt that it and I was ignored. I felt that school wasn't a safe place to feel or go through traumatic hurt or loss. I learned, through writing my narrative, that I want to create that safety for my students. I know that writing can be an amazing outlet for processing and obviously reading can be cathartic as well. I hope to curate relatable and complex texts & paired writing experiences to allow space for processing of any kind.
DeleteThank you Will and Priscilla! We have to make sure safe spaces are available to our students. Without these we want find out what our students are capable of becoming. Like both of you said, it will take a lot of work, but it will be rewarding during the process. I know I have learned this semester that personal writing can mean a great deal to the writer when its in a supportive environment.
DeleteDoug, wonderful blog, I was able to really connect to this one.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a college paper years ago, about a professor at the time that was a role model and mentor. We must have been doing peer reviews because somehow I was encouraged to share it with my cohort and the professor it was about. I could not believe that my writing was worthy of being shared and was amazed by the honor. When I read it to the group of about 20 cohort members, it brought everyone to tears. I never knew that my writing, words, could be that impactful. There is a time “all students were able to see aspects of themselves in texts, they would be reassured that they are valued” (Taylor, 264). My paper was speaking from the heart about a person that had made a connection and valued.