Some Worrying, "Thank Yous" from Students

I received 25 notes from students thanking me for being their teacher. Last week was "American Educator Week." As part of the festivities, students selected any teacher who had a positive impact on their life from any point in their K-12 experience and wrote a letter thanking them for their work. The school then mailed or distributed these letters to the teacher to whom they were addressed.

Some students said they really had no teacher who positively effected them and wrote letters expressing that unfortunate sentiment. Others had to work really hard to come up with a name. Sadly, one student's comment that I was "the only teacher who has impacted [her] in a positive way" was echoed in various ways in many of the 25 letters I received from a mix of this year's and last year's students.

Obviously, I am pleased that at least some of my students think I did something good for them, but I'm a little bummed that there weren't any phrases like, "I've had a lot of good teachers, but I wanted to thank you especially." Here is a sampling of the norm:

• "You showed that you cared . . . I don't think any other teacher would have done that."
• "Your teaching skills, in my book, are the very best that any teacher has offered me."
• "I never thought I would like an English class until I came here."
• "All my English teachers have been messed up but you." (This from the writer of the "Spangmanglish" post letter)
• "Honestly, you're the only teacher that [sic] listened to me. When I talk to you, it helps, even over the little things."
• "I just wanted to say thank you for making 4th period the only thing to look forward to."
• "When I was given the assignment to write a letter to a teacher I appreciated, the only person I could think of was you."

On the positive side, I also got back some validation that high expectations pay off:

• "Although the work you gave us was overwhelming, I appreciate that you did it. I honestly believe my writing skill have gotten better since I passed your class."
• "You inspired me to like English and to do my best. You taught me the skills I needed to succeed in my writing."
• "Thank you for teaching me how to look deeper into all sorts of writing and how to order my thoughts."
• "Thank you for teaching me new things and for being so strict about turning things in."
• "You helped me realize that high school isn't a joke."

Lastly, I am posting an unsolicited note I received from a student. This was not part of the AEW assignment, she told me she "just wanted to thank me." (click on the letter to enlarge it)

(A final note: I wrote individualized letters back to all the students who wrote me and thanked them for making my day a little brighter. Oh, and I didn't comment on their grammar, punctuation, or spelling.)

My Room

The student council made door decorations for the four veterans who teach at our school. Here's a shot of me in front of my classroom door and a couple of shots of the interior of my classroom.

Sorry, no snarky remarks this time.

My First Content Challenge by a Parent!

Two things:

1) I opened up another blog. It is a dumping ground for some of my writing and can be accessed at http://krhysvoices.blogspot.com/. It is really more of a loose web journal of under-polished thoughts that would normally have faded away, unrecorded.

2) I received my first content challenge. I had heard this kind of thing happens; it is discussed in teacher education seminars. I've also read some cases that have made national news (Kansas comes to mind). I must admit that I was excited when I received this e-mail and eager to put together and send a reply. Although the communication string is rather lengthy, I am pasting it in its entirety below. If you haven't dropped by in a while, you can zoom past it to see some less involved posts.

E-MAIL #1:
Dear Mr. Rice,
I'm not the kind of person to complain, but...Why would you choose for a ninth grade English assignment Nickelback's "Rockstar", a song that contains language that needs to be censored? I'm guessing you chose it because it was popular, you felt the students would be familiar with it, and that might make the lesson more effective. But I believe the attitude and language in "Rockstar" are not acceptable, even when censored, and need not be used to educate high school students. There are millions of other acceptable song to choose from.

I have told M__________ that she will not need to complete this assignment using the song "Rockstar". I would ask that you 1) provide M_____ with a more suitable alternative assignment, 2) allow her additional time to complete the alternative assignment, and 3) do not penalize her for not submitting this assignment ("Rockstar") by the original deadline.

I would also ask that in the future you be more considerate when selecting material for your classes. Judging from this assignment, and a few others that seem to be on the negative side, e.g., "Flowers", "The Scarlett Ibis", I believe you may have become desensitized to drugs, language, violence, death, etc., maybe as a result of your experiences in the military. There is a virtually unlimited number of stories, songs, poems, books, videos, photographs, etc. that are positive and educational, and many of which are even popular among today's high school students.

Thanks very much for your efforts, and for your patience and extra attention you've given to M_____.

Best regards,
J_____
REPLY TO E-MAIL #1:Dear J______,
Thank you for your letter regarding my selection of musical and literary selections. I appreciate your concern and especially appreciate your cogent and articulate arguments. I will address each in turn and let you know where we are headed in the future concerning literature.

I will gladly allow M______ to complete an alternate assignment and will not penalize her for handing it in after the deadline. In addition, I will consider my musical choices more carefully.

I did vacillate on my choice of "Rockstar" but ended up using it because I hear students sing it so often and the censored version is ubiquitous on several of the local popular radio stations. I wanted to students to understand what they were hearing and how this popular piece connected to a subject they often find so dry and unappealing. The song's verbal irony, being a rock star is not all its cracked up to be, helped make my final decision since the song does not advocate the lifestyle, but rather points out its emptiness and self-destructive nature.

The freshman English team chose the short story "Flowers" by Alice Walker, because it is an excellent example of compact storytelling and is easy and quick to read. Its dark subject matter was never a concern, and indeed, it seems to help students understand that they are part of the recurring theme of innocence being transformed to an informed adulthood.

I selected "The Scarlet Ibis" from the approved 9th grade English text book because it was of reasonable length and contained many of the elements I want them to be able to identify. Furthermore, Hurst's powerful language emphasizes the universal human condition of growing up with the paradox of love and hate inextricably intertwined and makes for excellent and meaningful discussions.

The next story we will read is also from the 9th grade text and is called "Brothers are the Same." It is a story of a rite of passage of a Masai boy who is required to kill a lion to prove his manhood and to win the affection of a girl in his village. Based on the tenor of your concerns, I do not feel this particular selection will be a problem. In any case, I'd like to send a copy of the 9th grade literature book home with M_____ so you can take a look at its contents and let me know what you would object to M_____ reading.

We will probably study "Romeo and Juliet" next semester and I intend to have them read Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" as well. My emergency lesson plan is a study of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado." These stories have dark, violent, and some sexual elements so please let me know if you would like me put together alternate studies for M_____.

In addition, Our culminating publication is a collection of student stories about their lives. I ask students to write about an event or time that fundamentally changed who they are. We will publish it before the end of the school year. This may also be of concern to you since many of the stories students submit are honest, open, and often harrowing. Please take a look at last year's publication at (webaddress) You can select either the Microsoft Word version or the Rich Text File version if you do not have Office loaded on your machine. Read my introduction to the anthology to get an idea of what I wanted out of the publication.

I will try to call you this week or next to discuss your concerns in more detail.

Thank you again for your involvement in M______'s education, I wish all parents were as committed,

Mr. Rice
E-MAIL #2:
Thanks very much, Mr. Rice, for your response. I appreciate all the information. I know that M______ is a unique student, and I'm very grateful that you are doing so much, and even going out of your way, to help her. Unfortunately, literature is probably my weakest subject. I was never a good reader, and, sadly, I've read only a few books in my life. So I'm not very familiar with stories of the four titles you mentioned ("Brothers are the Same", "Romeo and Juliet", "Fahrenheit 451", "Cask of Amontillado").

I don't necessarily object to violence, or to sexual content, or to language, as long as it's not used gratuitously or in a way that is likely to promote misconduct (or discourage proper conduct), especially among our youth. Although I haven't read those four works, I don't think they compare to Nickelback's "Rockstar". Your titles are literature; "Rockstar" isn't.

I disagree with your assessment of "Rockstar". I think it clearly does advocate the lifestyle (it is full of "I want..."), and I see/hear nothing that points out "emptiness" or "self-destructive nature". If my interpretation is a misinterpretation, then it could easily be misinterpreted by 14-year-olds, which is my main concern.

I'll trust that you'll choose appropriate material, and I'll try my best not to interfere. I have no doubt that you can educate M______ in the English language much better than I can. (I'm also learning a great deal from studying with her!)

Although I want very much to be a part of M_____'s education, I really have no choice. I must define virtually every word for her, and that makes the study time very long and tedious for both of us. But I can see improvements every day, and that's most important. You definitely get credit for that, and, again, I am very grateful.

J_______
REPLY TO E-MAIL #2:J_____,
You are welcome. I wish I could give you academic credit for all your work. Your eagerness to engage in discussion of the subject matter is exactly what I hope for in the students and I really appreciate that, despite the hard work, you are modeling that for M____. They need to know how to defend a position using evidence and logic and to understand that civil discourse between intelligent people, including disagreement at times, is both healthy and productive.

I want to give dedicated students like M_____more of my individual time and energy. As part of my program to help those in need, I am instituting a voluntary Tuesday afternoon study and tutoring session . This is in addition to my regular availability to provide less formal assistance. The first session will be on Tuesday, 20 November at 1:30 PM. Students who attend will get credit as long as they focus and engage in the activities and, since it is a voluntary, after-school function, I can send unengaged or disruptive students out of the classroom.

There's no time like the present to start reading! You can read "Brothers are the Same" and, "The Cask of Amontillado" in less than an hour for each. They are in the literature text I sent home. "Romeo and Juliet" is also in the text, but drama needs to be performed so check out the Franco Zeffirelli version (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet_%281968_film%29). It is the authorized film adaptation some of our teachers use to accompany the reading.

Have a great day,
Mr. Rice

Young Professionals

I took a couple of pictures of my white board after all five classes had completed, one after the other, a silent response exercise. For these exercises, I write a prompt, usually a question, or two on the white board. The prompt must be able to generate something more than a short comment but not require an essay to answer. I have enough area for four students to write comfortably side-by-side so I put four dry erase markers on the white board tray.

I then ask for silence (reinforced by the promise of "cool points" or erasure of added class time) and tell students that anyone of them may come up to the board and respond to either or both prompts in writing. I have very little trouble with talking and many students are eager to write on the board. When complete, the student responses are then used to stimulate discussion, look for common themes, and identify critical differences.


In this case, my prompts were an anticipatory exercise designed to get them thinking about why it might be important to learn how to write well and for different audiences. As part of the follow-on lesson, I explain that how we present ourselves in writing is as important as how we present ourselves physically. The care with which we dress ourselves, clean ourselves, apply our makeup, and coif our hair has a direct analog with the way we construct essays, craft sentences, and choose just the right words for the occasion.

Most of the responses for this go-round are thoughtful and mature; some are odd, but interesting to contemplate. I think these guys have potential.

Another Note

A student shyly handed me this note on Monday, about a half an hour after the last bell. It made it another good day.

Spangmanglelish

Check this note out. I picked it up from one of my students this week. She was supposed to be annotating James Hurst's "The Scarlet Ibis" as we read it in class but instead was writing this carefully crafted masterpiece. I asked her to put it away once; she did, but then took it out again in time for my next roll by so I carried it off. I deciphered it but, like Dante, or Homer, there are many ways one could shade a translation of this piece. I'd like to see how you, dear readers, might translate it.

All-Star Parents

I met the boy's parents: graceful and well-spoken mother and tall, articulate father. Their questions were valid and designed to find the truth behind their son's contention that I was too demanding.

The interview began with polite introductions. I had not expected the father to be there but he was, and filling the little blue office chair crammed against the counselor's bookshelf. Both Mother and Father looked clearly into my eyes, except when Father introduced himself, lowering his voice as he said his name and quickly averting his gaze. He seemed almost relieved when I simply stated my name and told them I was pleased to meet them.

We discussed their son. Their questions were clear and logical. Mother asked if, given my military background, I might be a little harsher than other teachers. I conceded that her's was a reasonable question and characterized myself as the third-hardest teacher out of the four primary freshman English teachers and explained my program and their son's progress. In these situations, I find it best to simply speak to the facts as I see them and not comment on my assumptions of a child's psychological condition or motivations.

After some discussion, Father told me he felt I was doing exactly what I needed to do and his son was simply failing to do the work. We discussed the athletic coaches' program for failing students (who can't play in games) which includes sitting on the sidelines and doing bookwork while the rest of the team practices. Father told me his son didn't deserve to wear the jersey or be with his teammates for any activity, including physical conditioning, if he was unable to meet his obligations in the classroom. He assured me, clearly and succinctly, that he would pull his son from sports if little man continued to slack in the classroom.

The man and his wife have class, and not because they agreed with me. They have class because they are thoughtful and rational advocates for their child and because they refused to play the fame card (and as I cruise articles, I'm finding out this guy, also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has rock-star status up there with Michael Jordan among b-ball fans both hard-core and casual) .

Some days are really good days.