![]() How, then, would I translate this understanding of ownership and connection with writing to characters in literature? Why, I would use multiple genres, of course. This was it – this is the connection that I wanted my students to form between themselves and texts, but this also raised a question. My own pattern of thought was poured into the essay this was a piece of writing that I could use in a real-life situation, or I could at least transfer this newly-honed skill of communicating specific directions to aid someone who was struggling with a task. These were my sandwich-making directions, so this was my essay written in my voice. I was able to connect to this piece of writing because I felt an ownership over it. When I wrote these simple sandwich instructions, I was able to categorize my thoughts. It was a different genre, but it was not just the genre that affected my preference of this piece. The difference between this piece of writing and others suddenly became evident. This was a different genre of essay all together. This essay left a mark, but why? Well, this was no five-paragraph essay, nor was it an essay in which I felt compelled to spew out information that I had been told and retained. What was it that made this assignment so distinctive to me? I compared it to the other assignments I wrote in high school – countless five-paragraph essays with the same outline. How would I create a meaningful and memorable experience for students in a high school English classroom? Moreover, how could I more deeply engage my students with the experiences of the people or characters that they read about in literature? I thought about peanut butter and jelly. ![]() However, this presented another challenge. What I decided by looking closely at these types of experiences was how I would like to approach teaching my own students. Experiencing something versus hearing about something, as I had surmised from my own experiences, created a deeper and more thorough understanding of writing, language, and literature. With these memories fresh in my mind, I knew that I wanted to make my classroom a place for student/learner-centered activities. Hilarity ensued – as well as a big mess – but after that calamity-filled display, I was able to apply the words I was writing to real life situations and really think about the order and manner of description in my writing. I remember creating a video in my public speaking class that had to illustrate the 5 points of an introduction, and I remember writing an essay in which we had to describe the process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and having our teacher exemplify the importance of accurate description by following the exact instruction from our essays. ![]() I remember taking an active role in my learning in physics class when we used the Van de Graff generator, which made our hair stand on end, to learn about generating an electrostatic current and the flow of electricity. Then, I think about the things that most affected my learning in high school. ![]() ![]() The idea behind this type of instruction, or at least it seemed to me, was simple: memorize. I remember being in classes that followed a “traditional” style of instruction – teachers lecturing to students about the steps needed to solve a math problem, the literary elements in a piece of fiction, or the proper terms to use when labeling the parts of a cell. Part of what informs my understanding of high school students is the mentality that I had when I was a high school student. When I think about improving my own teaching practice, the first thing that comes to my mind is what I consider to be the most important aspect of educational critical thought: the students. ![]()
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