Week 80: Writing Week

Last week was a writing week in the library, where I asked all of my students to write summaries of the books we have been reading. Each class has its own book and we read 5-10 pages during their weekly library session. At the beginning of term I promised myself I would take advantage of the fact that I am not required to teach to a test or even to stick to a curriculum. As most of my co-workers see it, if I am speaking English, I am doing my job, regardless of the validity in that it gives me an immense amount of freedom. This allows me to focus on the areas that students are struggling with as well as go at their pace. Last week we were roughly half way through the classes respective books and the term,  so I thought it would be a good time to gauge how much the kids were retaining.  As I graded the papers, I was disheartened to see that the retention was lower then I anticipated and felt defensive of my lesson plans, feeling at a loss for how I could do things differently.

This week, as we went back to reading as a class, discussing, and acting out each page my energy and motivation has been renewed. I realized that last week I was looking for a gold star from my students. I wanted their paper’s to tell me that my hard work was paying off and that I wasn’t the only one learning in the library every day. However, I was looking for validation in the wrong place. As much as it made me frustrated and sad last week, the lesson I had for the kids was too challenging and that was my fault not theirs. When the kids eagerly raised their hands to read the next page this week, I got my validation and reassurance that even if I can’t measure what I am doing every day in the library, I am doing something and I will keep trying and retrying.