Learning Keeps Us Young, While Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors Grow Our Humanity

Henry Ford said, "anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."  My lifelong love of learning and struggling with the hard questions, the challenging tasks, and the analytical pieces of the world combining with humanity fascinates me and keeps my mind young.  Part of my learning brought me to Rudine Sims Bishop's metaphor concerning the need for diverse books.  If you have not heard or read her metaphor, please allow me to introduce her with this clip:

These two quotes that reflect my values led me to spend about three and a half hours in the car during a vacation day this week.  When I received an email from Framingham State University the week before vacation announcing that Clint Smith would be speaking, I texted two of my best friends the screenshot and said, "I already got us tickets. Can you make it?" Enthusiastically, one could. I'd seen Clint Smith at #NCTE19 Baltimore along with Elizabeth Acevedo, viewed his TED Talks and YouTube clips, and my department ordered Counting Descent for some classes. Still, I was drawn to the opportunity to attend the Olivia A. Davidson Voices of Color Lecture Series: Clint Smith, "History Reconsidered."

Attending this lecture (along with my best friend and fellow English teacher), Clint Smith focused heavily on the generational oppression and repression of people of color through purposeful acts, often instituted through government systems.

Applying terms such as positionality, which asks "how does your identity fit into a topic that you're studying?" and implications, which asks "how are your decisions different based on your identity?", Smith provided a foundation for understanding with the ease of an educator in a room of educators and students.

Clint Smith III

Filtering poems in with meaning and emphasis, Smith gracefully addressed the concepts of American exceptionalism and national and individual identity. Citing historical examples that confirm some "stories" are emphasized. In contrast, others are oppressed, Smith challenged educators and students alike to read primary source documents and learn multiple histories to gain an understanding of story versus truth and the impact on "contemporary inequality."

This approach to studying stressed the crucial significance of the ability to "hold a set of complicated truths at once."  For example, Thomas Jefferson was both a founding father and leader in American democracy while also being a slaveholder.  Both of these statements are historically accurate, but the challenge is to accept that reality.  Smith later stated that "an understanding of history can lead to a different type of empathy," and noted "the power of proximity to shape empathy." 

These statements emphasized educators' responsibility to provide balanced learning opportunities to students, not to tell students what to think or believe. This love of a fundamental truth that many educators honor daily is the basis of classrooms across the country. Provide learning opportunities and watch students grow.

Clint Smith III--February 19, 2020

While sharing his poetry and stories of his family and their history, Clint Smith's talent, insights, and affection for humanity were apparent.  His work and research provide readers, educators, and students alike opportunities to learn multiple perspectives and think for themselves.

In short, Clint Smith provides mirrors for some, windows for others, and sliding glass doors for those cultivating their mind and humanity to walk through.



(This lecture was part of Framingham State University's Arts and Ideas series, which runs through April 2020.)

The American Tapestry: Individualism and Community in John Steinbeck's East of Eden and my Classroom

Comprised of individuals, families, stories, and legacies from across the world and nation, American is essentially a tapestry.  Each of us, or our family from a broader sense, is a segment woven into the American story, or the American Dream if you will.  This metaphorical understanding inspired a final project for my American Literature juniors.


Over the last eight years, I've taught John Steinbeck's East of Eden. In truth, it was one of my very favorite novels in high school.  Steinbeck's

claim that every story could be boiled down to good versus evil resonated with my teenage mind.  I love teaching this novel and frequently quote it throughout the year without faltering on exact words.  In short, it is one of my books that I actually get to teach.

Over the years, projects have varied and include analytical journals, literary analysis essays, annotations, presentations about character growth, to name a few.  There is so much in the text thematically and symbolically with archetypes in seemingly every chapter that it never seemed possible to address all the crucial components without a formal writing piece.  But then, something happened.  Last year's students did not love the novel in the same way as years before.

My best friend and I co-plan American lit together, and both of us noticed a deflation in passion and a struggle in our students to complete the lengthy text with enthusiasm and passion.  We considered removing the novel for the 2019-2020 school year.  Both of us, lovers of the work, decided to give the novel one more shot.

This year, regularly scheduling in-class reading time aided student engagement in the text. If they read some in class, they are far more likely to continue reading it at home.  Read alouds of significant sections (Chapter 8, where students meet Cathy Ames and, of course, Lee's birth story) drew wavering readers back into the learning community.  Discussions were plentiful, both table groups and whole class, which further assisted students as they developed reading stamina.  In terms of writing, analytical journals contributed to our students' more profound understanding of themes and symbols.  Close reading activities ensured a firm grasp of character motivation and growth.  Still, we hesitated in pushing forward a more conventional literary analysis essay to conclude the unit.  Our students had worked so hard and improved a good deal in a relatively short time.  So, we asked ourselves the most important skills we wanted our students to show.

We established in no particular order:

• a quality thesis statement including a counterclaim
• identification and defense of textual evidence
• articulation of character motivation, values, and growth
• development/tracing of themes/symbols from the text
• analysis of the work and a reflection on their own learning 

East of Eden traditionally falls in our American Dream / Re-creation of self unit, and that got me thinking.  If we are all part of this American story, how is that any different than classroom tapestries my students made in middle school?  My students took strips of paper, wrote their names, drew symbols they believed reflected them at that time using colors that meant something to them.  Students shared their tapestry strip, and we hung them up, weaving them together.  It was always a sweet way to start the year, and during years when I was totally on-point, we'd end the year un-weaving the strips as our learning community said goodbye.  It was moving, symbolic, and reflected how much better we were together than individually.

That's how I see East of Eden. Adam Trask is nothing without Lee.  Ask my students. Lee is the man. Cathy Ames is one of the greatest villains written in American literature, but without Cal Trask, she would not necessarily meet her match.  My co-planning friend is always ready for a risk.  If I want to try something, she trusts me that it will be successful, or we will fix it.  I feel the same way about her ideas.  We are better together.  Just like our students. Just like our characters.  

 Now we needed to turn this idea into a reality.  The assignment and accompanying rubric for the tapestry strip, including presentation, was created as was the grading criteria for the written reflection.  Students randomly selected characters.  They could trade after everyone chose a character.  They then dove into the text searching for details, focus quotes, evidence of growth, symbolic or thematic value. Evaluating the model character strip we made (John Steinbeck--he is in his own book after all), students commented on my work, kindly thank goodness.

They drafted their strip before being given a 3-foot section of register tape. (Side note: Yes, I have a part-time and summer job at a women's clothing boutique, and the store's owner immediately said I could take a couple rolls of register tape for my students even if she was likely confused about what I was doing!).  The toughest part was "laminating" the strips to prevent tears.  Masking tape is not forgiving if you made a mistake!  Students crafted their final tapestry strip and wrote an analytical reflection answering the prompt:

• How/Why is your character an integral part of the American tapestry that East of Eden represents?

The final piece of this project was students sharing the tapestry strips, hanging them from a dowel, and weaving them together.  If the first student presented Abra Bacon, for example, they shared details, quotes, and articulated why Abra is an integral part of the tapestry.  I assisted that student in hanging Abra's strip, and that student sat to the side for the next presentation and then aided the next student in hanging Charles Trask's strip, for example.  An unplanned side effect of this was the kindness and pride my students showed in their peers' work.  It was adorable to watch them help each other and occasionally hysterical when declarations of "someone else needs to go before we can hang this; otherwise, Cyrus' dog is going to be covered, and the dog is too important to hide." 

In short, focusing on an American tapestry reflected in East of Eden, our classroom community became stronger.  The tapestry hangs in the back of my room.  Students glance at it from time to time, and it makes me smile.  They read a rigorous text, analyzed, discussed, and gained deep insight into what motivates human beings, but in the end, determined that all of us are integral parts of America's tapestry.  Who knows?  Maybe they already know we are all individually integral parts of the world and that when we bind together, we are stronger and better for it.

Annotation Fatigue? Try this!

Skilled readers actually engage with a text.  What

does an engaged reader look like as an adult?  This question led me to notice that it does not look like it did in my classroom for the most part.

As an English teacher, I personally purchase EVERY text I teach (even if I only teach it once).  Why?  It's simplistic, but it's because I write in my margins. I underline quotes, I trace character development, I annotate for symbols and archetypes. I do all of these things, and some of you might think that I do those things because I am an English teacher, but that's not true. Junior and senior year in high school me did the same thing.  College me certainly did the same

thing. In truth, if I am going to use a text for a writing task or if I just totally love a book, I write all over it.

Taught a book ten times?  It doesn't matter, I still write all over it. It keeps me honest in my insights, but it also gives me access to the author's layers of genius that I may have missed the other nine times.

This is what English teachers want for their students.  This is what I want for my students. But my students can't write in their books unless they buy new copies, which is

not reasonable for public school students.  So, as educators, we try to replicate that spontaneous and irreplaceable moment of "I love this line so much that I need to underline it with an exclamation point in the margin."

We do that through quote analysis, we do that through sticky notes, we do that through think-pair-shares, and turn-and-talks. But it is never really the same moment of "YES! I love this!" because it requires stepping outside of the text to document it.  At NCTE19 in Baltimore, I attended multiple

sessions addressing student engagement in literacy.  Having trailed Penny Kittle via Twitter and through her work 180 Days co-written with Kelly Gallagher, I was familiar with the concept of one-pagers. I'd even tried it a bit last year.  Still, after NCTE19, my colleague and friend, who co-plans American Literature with me and I decided: we're doing this.

In an attempt to alleviate annotation fatigue, we required three illustrated double-pagers in their composition notebooks.  Students were required to select a theme or focus like character growth or symbolism and develop a focus point. They

also needed to include a minimum number of quotes (usually landing in the 3-5 range).

We questioned how our students would respond to this new approach.  To us, it seemed like more work than annotating with sticky notes and would undoubtedly be more time-consuming.  I confessed to my students that their first two-page spread focusing on either Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises or A Farewell to Arms was a risk. It was a calculated risk, but it could fail.  I promised that if it failed that I would somehow fix it.  How?  I had no idea, and if it worked for Penny, I figured it must be a genius alternative

expression for literary engagement and annotation.  (I confess that I fangirl Penny's work.)

What I (and my co-planning colleague) discovered was that students preferred the illustrated two-page spreads over the alternatives that we had used previously.  As you can see by their examples, some are artistically brilliant, while others who claimed to lack artistic skill managed to convey an insight that they attributed to the required connection between words and imagery.

I asked the following questions, and here are my students' responses:

1) Was this a lot of work? How long did it take? Answers from an hour to three were common.

2) Given this took longer, is it "too much" for an assignment that is not a final?  "No, I'd rather do this any day." "It was a lot, but I  got more out of the reading this way." "I actually preferred this, which is weird because it's more time-consuming."

3) How did you keep track of the quotes you wanted to use for that chunk of reading when you didn't know what you wanted you illustrated two-pager to be about? "I wrote quotes I liked on a page in my notebook." "I stuck a sticky near the quotes I liked, but I didn't write on it. I just did it so I could find it."

4) Do you want to do this again with another book club option?  YES!!!!

This was convincing though not wholly enough for me to know this was the best option to alleviate annotation fatigue.  What did I need to know that it was the best option?

I needed to witness their discussion in book clubs to confirm that the merging of the creative side with the analytical side was effective and reflected a higher level of engagement than alternative annotation methods provided.

Having reviewed the illustrated two-page spreads individually, I sat in on book club discussions.  Students proudly shared their insights into character and theme seemingly without realizing they were doing so.  Colors were no longer used to make the pieces look better. Instead, colors connected to character growth, theme, or symbolism individual students decided to trace throughout their chosen text.

Their depth of insights and level of engagement during book clubs was significantly higher than I anticipated when I took this "risk."  In fact, it was no risk at all.  It turns out that by being intimidated by the illustrated two-page spreads last year and sticking with what I knew, I was unintentionally holding my students' analysis back and limiting their level of engagement while intending to do the exact opposite!

Does this mean my students will never sticky note again?  No.


Does this mean my students find every significant detail, symbol, or quote as they read?  No.


But it does mean that my students felt a sense of ownership and pride in their insights that increased their levels of engagement during their reading, and that is the point!

Below are a few more student exemplars from my students.