"...and Not to Yield": Explorations in English Education

During the Spring 2019 semester, I began implementing “community circles” to build classroom culture. Inspired by the work of Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie ) and his Smiles and Frowns and some readings I had some in sociocultural learning theory, I went for it. This blog will review—first—how my students responded, and then explain my process before concluding with adjustments for this coming year. STUDENT RESPONSE At the end of last semester, I provided a course survey to gauge student responses to our work. My co-teacher and I talk with our students often (as they enter the room, between classes, as we confer during workshop , their bi-weekly-or-so e-mail reflections , etc.), but this was a way for us to get some typed responses to look at. Below is our prompt and some responses The community circle gatherings were new to us this year. What were your thoughts? Should we continue them in the future? What could they be used for? i feel they are good to get to know each ot...

Being in the thick of transitioning to a workshop model can be overwhelming and tiring. My students have been working hard (often quietly and independently) and I have been working to conference with at least two students a day (who was I kidding to think I could reach upwards of five in one block?). We were settling into a routine and that terrible Specter of Perceived Rigor started looming again. So I decided to change things up. Twitter has been a great forum to gain ideas from other educators, and so many have been championing and sharing their stories of student voice and choice (such as @CRCarter313 at the elementary level). I acknowledge that I have been hanging onto control for a while (including desks in rows and silent workshop time), which is why I began the move to workshop to begin with: it’s about my students, not me. THE SHAKE-UP Last Friday, I tasked each of my classes to rearrange the room in a way that worked best for them. I have two section...