Slightly out of chron. order here, but…
Donald Tinney may have been talking about high school students, but I immediately related to what he was saying. The age of the student does not really matter. His message as an English teacher is what counts: “If I am to believe that I am relevant, that my life has real value, then I must believe that my work has real meaning and value, as well. In other words, I am important. What I do matters” (143). With his straightforward style, Tinney summed up much of what I personally have come to feel about whatever teaching I do. I am a writer, as most know. Though I teach at the college level, I am not a trained teacher (unless living with my professor-parents for 16 years “trained” me by osmosis or something), but I do value the hours I spend in the classroom, and if I am any good at this profession it is precisely because I do not see myself as separate or tangential to my students’ lives. While they are in front of me for a semester, they matter to me. Often I have tried to pretend that perhaps they do not really matter to me, or that I do not really matter to them. But that usually lasts only a day—because such thinking is, in fact, a complete delusion. The best classroom is the one Tinney refers to as “filled with narrative, filled with stories” (144); beyond the personal stories are the stories we read together, allowing students “to experiment with emotions, ideas and, albeit vicariously, decisional and subsequent actions” (145).
This little essay helped me re-love the fact of narrative, our need for it—the main value of literature beyond all these cultural molding arguments that we have been reading about. I needed Tinney’s view… I think I will reread this when I get discouraged.
An amazing thing happened last week. A group of 3 freshmen presented a final project (PowerPoint) for my freshman forum class called “What’s in a Name?” Their research topic was the origins of bands’ names & song names. The audience of 20 other freshmen was rapt: this was a topic they cared about. To my complete astonishment, the trio pointed out that there were two key influences: (1) Literature and (2) Experience. Wow. Suddenly, literature looked very appealing, very accessible–to everybody. It was a miracle moment for all of the “relevant” members of the tribe. We must “accept [our] own importance as the keepers of stories” (150) and encourage students to embrace stories. As Tinney says, “your value is determined by your contributions” (150).
And now just a fast word about the Robbins piece. I was disappointed with this piece simply because it was not specific enough for my taste. I look for concrete examples to give me a deeper sense of the work being described. I do like the fact that these authors took on the “standardizing approach to teaching English” (159) with its ridiculous emphasis on “literacy” as “the ability to display a collection of discrete bits of information” (159). These enterprising teachers share how exactly they combined literacy and community building successfully. I am not too sold on the approach (seems contrived), but I like what they said about dealing proactively with parents by communicating goals. I also agree 100% with a process aspect–about having students write first before engaging in discussions. This is a key thing to remember. Every time I have reversed the process in a classroom, I wound up saying later: “Should have had ‘em write first.” Robbins writes also of middle schoolers’ need to develop “voice” and “ownership,” which are great goals in and of themselves.
