So far, being in a writing workshop has been an incredible experience. I am in an Amherst Writers and Artists workshop. The group meets online every Thursday evening for three hours. Continue reading “What works?” and “What stays with you?”
Category Archives: Humanities
Creative Writing As a Lens for Exploring My Creative Practice
For my tenure self-study, I will focus on my own creative writing practice. This year, I am specializing in the teaching of English/Language Arts rather than Humanities as a whole. This means I am designing new curriculum and a major focus of the year for me is the teaching of writing, both expository and creative writing. Continue reading Creative Writing As a Lens for Exploring My Creative Practice
The Problems of Unexamined Normative Assumptions
Essential Questions:
- How do we teach students to see historical events through multiple perspectives?
- How does changing the “voice” of the class materials challenge stereotypes about non-Western civilizations and cultures?
- How do we teach students to value the achievements of civilizations that are not their (or our) own or that have traditionally been seen through a deficit lens?
- How can highlighting examples of interactions between oppressed and dominant groups throughout history reveal injustices that affect our students’ lives?
Continue reading The Problems of Unexamined Normative Assumptions
In the Pit: On Writing and Revision
The goal of my self study is to refocus my creative practice by completing work on two screenplay rewrites and to start production on a personal documentary film. While the rewrites have been going well, I won’t be able to do any work on the documentary due to unforeseen travel restrictions.
Staying Relevant
As a teacher with almost 30 years on the job, I worry that I will “fall behind”. I am concerned that my habits, practices, and perspectives are no longer relevant/effective. Students are now swimming in a different sea. Understandings of race, gender and privilege have all evolved and in some way been transformed. Social media has changed not only how students communicate, but also how they interact with the world. Since I’m not retiring soon, I have to find ways to avoid becoming the faculty dinosaur while at the same time preserving some of the reasons why I chose to become a teacher. Continue reading Staying Relevant
Allow for the Transformation
When I went into this self study, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do: I would carve out time for myself to write more during the year, attend to and nurture the writer in me that seemed on a distant but parallel path to my teacher-self. Running on what seemed like two parallel lines, these two selves rarely seemed to touch. In the end, while I didn’t actually end up writing, I discovered more points of convergence between teacher Jane and writer Jane than I had thought possible. Continue reading Allow for the Transformation
Driving with Headlights
The writer E. L Doctorow famously said, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” As a writer who studied under E.L Doctorow in graduate school, those word meant a lot to me. At their heart, they are about uncertainty, finding your way by seeing only part of the road ahead. They connect with my own writing process since I often uncover and unearth understandings of my characters and plot along the way. These words also promise an inviting possibility — that on my journey through the world, I can continuously discover my path. Continue reading Driving with Headlights
What’s affecting how children learn?
Three years ago my first graders failed to make it through the entire sequence of first grade skills by June. At the time, I assumed that it was a one off–a particular group of children who needed more time than the school year offered us. The following year, I experienced the same thing and then again the year after that. With a trend of three years, it began to become clear that something else was going on. Continue reading What’s affecting how children learn?
Self Portraits of an English Teacher
I’m thinking a lot these days about a recurring project my son did in kindergarten. Every month, they drew a new self-portrait. With a small hand mirror and colored pencils in front of him, my son paused, observed, and drew what he saw. The drawings became more detailed over time, capturing things like skin tone, expression, clothing, and when looked at together they tell a kind of narrative: who my son was at a particular moment and who he was becoming, over time. Continue reading Self Portraits of an English Teacher
Global Shift
The news ruined my curriculum planning.
My plan was to continue our medieval Humanities studies by learning more about Feudalism and Christianity in Europe for the remainder of the second quarter. Then, after Winter Break, we would dive in to the origins of Islam and study the Middle East. But the news of the bombings in France could not be ignored. Continue reading Global Shift
Why Go Out?
The middle school is out this week. Everyone. While it is eerily quiet in the building, there is a constant stream of photos posting to the middle school trips twitter page attesting to the rich experiences and full days of the students in each grade. Continue reading Why Go Out?
The Joy in Terror
A Collaboration for Social Innovation
The eighth grade social justice project “Choosing to Participate” is a cornerstone of the eighth grade humanities curriculum. Through this project students study those who have stood up for justice by becoming/being active citizens themselves. Continue reading A Collaboration for Social Innovation
Be the Change
Sometimes the best way to start a story is at the end. While yesterday’s Middle School Social Justice Teach-In was a celebration and affirmation of the committed work that has engaged our eighth graders for the past six months, our closing assembly provided us with an opportunity to reconnect with former eighth graders who continue to be deeply engaged in social justice work in the high school. Continue reading Be the Change