Write FOR Them

Being a teacher is truly a beautiful thing.  I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it is to go to work every day and never even feel like you are working.  C.S. Lewis once said, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's thinking of yourself less."  Let me just tell you, I have never been more humbled in all of my life.  There is no time to think about yourself when you have over a hundred young people looking up to you.  I think of my students all the time.  I pray for them all the time.  I want their success more than my own.

Last week, I shared a story with my kids.  The story was one of friendship and loss.  It was about the life changing power of having someone believe in you.  The story was my very own.  It was about the loss of my best friend, Caroline.  Sharing my story, I bonded with my kids on a whole new level.  I saw tears in their eyes as I read about the friendship that ultimately led me to becoming a teacher.  I then told my students about the power of writing and the power of believing in one another.  It really hits home to them when you make things up close and personal.  The students begin to see you as a real person, and they begin to open up in ways you could never imagine.

One student shared with me a story about his best friend who survived a car accident but was never the same again.  One student went home that night and wrote a story about a best friend who left her behind for a new best friend and asked me in private to read it. 

Reflecting on the power of stories (particularly the stories that are a part of me), I decided that sharing one story wasn't good enough.  While running 16 miles, I connected the dots of my life in my head.  I spent most of my life chasing after a dental degree (not to mention, I have a dental family) so I know more about dentistry than the average person.  So, how could that knowledge benefit my students?

Easy.  Last week, several of my classes began writing thrillers.  They read Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" so I wanted them to mimic the suspenseful style by writing thrillers of their own.  They were to pay attention to syntax and incorporate vocabulary words into their thrillers.  Well, my connection came when I remembered that I wrote a dental thriller in college.  I pulled up the thriller and added my kids' vocabulary words to the story.  All this week, thanks to my aunt, my classes are learning about text features and dentistry.  Friday, we will read my dental thriller, and I will come to class dressed as a dentist.  They get to decide on their own who they think is the murderer using clues from the text.  Bam, there's a lesson on textual evidence.

I am an idealist.  Sometimes ideas work out a lot better in my head than they do in reality.  But, so far this week, my kids have responded incredibly well to the dental theme.  They have been so curious about all the supplies I have brought in.  My 7th period kiddos were arguing about who got to keep whatever supplies was leftover from the day.  Let me assure you that it was nothing worth keeping.  But, the fact that they wanted the supplies showed me that they had some special connection to it.

Not to mention, before I walked into 7th period, one of my first period kids walked past the classroom and told the students that they were going to have so much fun in class.

I cannot wait for Friday.  I hope the rest of the week will blow their little minds (in a good way)!  If it does, I have already got some tricks up my sleeve for next week. :)