A couple of weeks ago I was re-reading the chapter about genre studies in The Art of Teaching Writing, New Edition (Heinemann, 1994) by Lucy Calkins. Once I was finished, I flipped to the final chapter of Lucy’s book, which is entitled “Do I Dare to Care So Much?” I was looking for inspiration. (In case you’ve never never taken a class with Lucy or haven’t heard her speak, then I’ll tell you something I’ve come to know about her over the years. She’s always inspiring, but it’s what she shares with you in the final minutes you’re with her — at the end of a semester or at the end of a week-long course — that keep you going as an educator.) The final chapter of The Art of Teaching Writing is classic Lucy Calkins. She provides you with a message that makes you feel as though you can conquer anything when it comes to the teaching of writing.
Here’s an excerpt from that final chapter I’d like you to ponder today:
I believe that when we recognize how much our teaching matters, we become activists, defending with all our might, our right to teach wisely and well.
I recently asked a teacher to explain her daily schedule to me. “I like to start every day with reading, and then move into writing,” she said. “But this year, because our scores on the citywide math exam were low, we have to do math and reading before eleven.”
“You must do this?” I said, open-mouthed. “Who said so?” Even before she could answer, I added, “Everyone in the school must teach math and reading before eleven? What if you believe it should be done differently?”
I was started to learn of the new mandate but even more startled to learn that the teacher hadn’t even questioned the policy. She didn’t like it, but she’d shrugged it off with a sigh and proceeded to revamp her schedule. As we spoke, she was intrigued by my response. “You think it’s that bad to start with reading and math?” she asked. But my point, of course, wasn’t that one schedule is better than another. My point was that our teaching matters.
We need to be able to teach according to our beliefs. If our teaching doesn’t represent our best current notions about what matters in classrooms and in life, if our teaching doesn’t represent our most cherished hypothesis about education, then how can we hold ourselves responsible for and learn from the results of our teaching? Roland Barth was wise indeed when he said, “The greatest tragedy I know is to be caught up in the position of doing something one does not want to do or does not believe in.” If that teacher wants to begin her day with reading and writing, it is tragic to imagine that she instead must follow someone else’s image of how her day should proceed.
We may not always be able to bring all of our dreams into the classroom, but we need to remember those dreams. If we want to begin our day within the intimacy of our own classroom rather than with announcements over the public address system, we need to say so. If we want to keep our students for two years so that we can know their lives and support their intentions better, we need to propose this. My point is not in the particulars of these policies. My point is that we need to hold on to our dreams. We need to hold on to them for dear life (516-17).
From The Art of Teaching Writing, New Edition, by Lucy McCormick Calkins. Copyright © 1994 by Lucy McCormick Calkins. Published by Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. All rights reserved.
What are you trying to hold on to for dear life this year? What have you advocated for in the name of your beliefs? (If you need help thinking about your beliefs, then click here to read a great post Ruth wrote on this topic.) What dreams do you have for the students whose lives you’ve been chosen to guide this year?
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I am determined to hold onto my love of the craft of teaching….I know about the mandates and the standards and the tests, but I also know that my kids will benefit the most from my own sense of investment and joy in my craft. That is what drives me to be the best teacher I can be, to read a lot and write a lot and share what I’ve learned with my kiddos.
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I am trying desperately to hold on to deadlines and the importance of deadlines. Children need deadlines because in the real world they matter and as adults, we all know it. I understand children learn at different paces. I get that. (See my math scores for all of my life). Under Common Core comes “Grading for Learning” which has a facet that many schools are adopting or considering adopting and that is the elimination of all deadlines (because teachers should not take off points on late work). Even though many teachers in my building are strongly against the elimination of deadlines, no one is doing anything about it. Where are our beliefs? How do we get students to communicate in a timely manner and succeed in the real world if there are no consequences now?
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READ AlOUD – I am working, fighting and pushing to keep reading aloud in my daily teaching. The daily is the key here! I manage it once a week but that is not working for me or the students. To really get students to hear, become involved in the story and own the words they need to listen and read daily! I am switching my schedule once again to find a way to slide in a few minutes each day to read aloud to both my 4th and 5th graders. My new approach is to have students not only listen and discuss but this week we will begin using read aloud folders to write and reflect on the text they are listening to – just as they do with their assigned reading books. We will work to identify what reading strategies we use when listening and are there different skills we use when listening to stories (or watching movies). The Big Question is ” How do I use my reading strategies in daily life?”
I will keep you posted on how this goes! Ideas and thoughts are welcome!
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Thanks for sharing the excerpt. That would have been perfect to quote in my dissertation 🙂
This year I’ve learned that sometimes it is about compromises as well. For example, a colleague and I needed to defend why workshop teaching is more individualized than some other options that were put on the table and as a result, we are able to continue to hone and fine-tune our teaching in that context rather than a complete shift. On the other hand, starting this week I ended up having to incorporate weekly stem-questions into my read aloud. I eventually realized that it was not going to work to push-back on multiple ideas that were coming at us at the same time, so I thought carefully about what was most worth fighting for. Then I moved forward by thinking about the multiple ways that I could implement the stem questions to make it at least align the most it could to my beliefs (both the way I present it to kids – practice and familiarity; the weight it has on their grade – very little; and in context with the big picture of our read aloud – a bigger emphasis and focus on the analysis and enjoyment involved).
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Thanks Stacey, my beliefs are strong & the basic tenet is that I want teachers to listen to students, to know them so well that it’s just easy to know what’s next in the learning. Whatever informs that goal is what needs to be.
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Lucy Calkins always has such wise words.
I strongly believe that children must love to read and if we provide them with lots of time to read, and read aloud lots and build a community of readers then they will love to read. If I have to change my timetable or cut out something iot is never our independent reading time.
Right now our read aloud is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” and I have them enthralled in the book, they don’t want to leave it when a chapter or 2 is finished. Love it!
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Your post rings so true! It seems with we are faced with more and more “mandates”. I know my reading instruction needs to be centered around wonderful literature that they choose to read. I am holding on to this despite what our “reading program” mandates.
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