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GCC in 2033

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For this last week of GCC’s Write 6X6 challenge, the suggested prompt was to write about where we see GCC 5 or 10 years from now – a “vision,” if you will. This prompt brought up another vision I had almost 10 years ago – one that changed my life in profound ways.

Before anyone gets excited, I am a scientist. I don’t suffer tales of the paranormal gladly. I had a vision about 10 years ago that absolutely came true, but plenty of my other visions did not. For example, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Radio City Rockette. But I digress . . .

The day of my vision started by walking my daughter Taylor to her first day in a new job at a Manhattan advertising agency. A few months earlier, Taylor took an uncharacteristic leap and packed up to move to the Big Apple. Tears filled my eyes as we hugged a block away from her office, lest any of her new colleagues see mommy walking her to work.

After we parted, I decided to take a stroll on the High Line, a public park built on a historic, elevated rail line. Full of public art and flora and fauna (okay, birds and squirrels) right next to the life-sounds of the city, walking the High Line makes for a brain buzzy with introspection. I thought about Taylor’s exciting new career — and the one I was currently enduring as an assistant research professor.

View on the High Line

Right there on the High Line somewhere between 26th Street and the 10th Avenue crossing, the thought flashed, “I want to teach at a community college!” I then spent the next hour or so going over in my mind how such a position would feed my soul. (Yep, I said soul – this scientist has one, too.) This wasn’t the first time I considered community college teaching, but it was this one particular vision that spurred me to action.

I had one eensy problem. The leadership in my then-department had a policy: If you apply for another position, you must resign in order to receive a recommendation. You know where this is going. I quit my full-time job. With benefits. And a retirement plan. To become an adjunct. If my mother were alive to see it, she would have muttered, “Mary, Mary, Mary . . .”

Shortly after my decision to leap out into the CC job market, the net in the form of an adjunct gig at GCC magically appeared. (Did I really just write about magic?) More adjunct opportunities came from SCC and NAU. I even returned to ASU to lecture for a couple years before I landed in the residential position I am in now. My point is it’s been a long road to get here, but I have never been happier and more fulfilled at work.

My vision of GCC in the next 10 years is that we continue to grow in our vibrancy and remain as wonderfully student-centered as I believe we are today. My vision includes a faculty who feel valued and energized. There’s a wonderful book entitled, If You Don’t Feed the Teachers, They Eat the Students. My hope for GCC is that all faculty feel fed so that they may be fully present for students.

Five years elapsed between my initial vision and inking my employment papers with GCC, but every minute of the struggle to get here was worth it. Whatever we do collectively to move GCC forward over the next 10 years is worth every bead of sweat if it helps our students to live out their own visions of the lives they want as well.

 

May GCC be as vibrant as this mural on the High Line!

The post GCC in 2033 appeared first on My Love of Learning.

Write6x6

The Other DEI… Diversity in Examining Ideas

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The Other DEI… Diversity in Examining Ideas

There is the need for civil dialogue on the complex and controversial issues of our time.  It should be one of the tasks of higher education to illuminate the path toward such a goal.  This quest, however, is fraught with danger in that there are some who would rather shut down dialogue and debate rather than engage in rational intellectual interchange.  The examination of ideas and perspectives different from one’s own can be disorienting.  I often remind students to embrace the cognitive dissonance they may at times experience as they learn new philosophical ideas, rather than simply run from it.  Even if one does not change their views on a given topic, the challenge of working through the intellectual discomfort of foreign ideas can lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the views which they hold.  I hope all would resonate with the words found in the Arizona Revised Statutes when they state:

“It is not the proper role of an institution of higher education to shield individuals from speech protected by the first amendment, including, without limitation, ideas and opinions that may be unwelcome, disagreeable or deeply offensive.”

Toward this end of promoting free exchange in the marketplace of ideas, the GCC Philosophy and Religious Studies Department along with the GCC Philosophy Club continues to sponsor its bi-annual panel discussions—God & Truth; Critical Dialogues.  These events allow a spectrum of speakers to engage significant and, sometimes, controversial topics in an atmosphere of mutual respect and reasoned engagement.  The issues discussed run the gamut from religious issues such as the meaning of life and God and morality to the political and cultural issues of transgenderism and religious rights and civil rights.

Our recent Critical Dialogues panel was titled “Religion and the Public Square: Scope and Limits of the First Amendment” and, as the title indicates, dealt with the extent of religious speech and expression in light of other recognized rights. 

We are already planning our next Critical Dialogues panel discussion set for October and we are planning to tackle one of the most contentious issues in our culture—Abortion.  Dealing with a topic which is prone to sloganeering and emotion is challenging and we are hopeful of examining the philosophical and legal aspects of this debate from different perspectives.  And, as always, we will be seeking to model to our students, staff, and community how to have a serious and substantive conversation in an engaging and civil manner. 

I wrote a piece for the 6×6 blog series back in February 2020 (before Covid!)—Celebrating the Value of Free Speech!—and I ended that piece with the following words which still seem apropos:

The Need for Vigilance

The culture of free expression and civil disagreement is healthy at Glendale Community College. This is partly a function of the laws enshrined in the Arizona statutes as well as the legal precedents handed down in defense of the Maricopa County Community College District.  For example, in a 2010 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—Rodriquez v. Maricopa County Community College District—these powerful words are found:

“Without the right to stand against society’s most strongly-held convictions, the marketplace of ideas would decline into a boutique of the banal, as the urge to censor is greatest where debate is most disquieting and orthodoxy most entrenched.  The right to provoke, offend and shock lies at the core of the First Amendment. This is particularly so on college campuses.”  

Laws and legal precedent are necessary but not sufficient.  There is always the need for vigilance.  There must continue to be a firm commitment to freedom on the part of individuals who inhabit our institutions of higher learning.  As Alan Charles Kors and Harvey A. Silverglate remind us, “Freedom dies in the heart and will before it dies in the law.”  It is for this reason that institutions like Glendale Community College with their commitment to the free exchange of ideas ought to be celebrated and emulated.

 
Write6x6

The keys to student success!

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The New Nursing Student 

Dr. Ingrid Simkins

A recipe for success:

Set your long term goals to a year of completion 2023-2024.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl add:

1 c. positive attitude: This may at times be on backorder, but if you search you will find it. 

1 tsp teamwork: Success tastes the same achieved all alone or in tandem with your peers.

1 TBSP motivation: Remembering why you are here and your dreams helps!

1 c. time management: An essential item in the nursing school/life process. Measure accurately!

1 oz of hope

Stir until well blended. Cover and set in a warm place allowing for Success to rise for 2 years. Bake and serve at pinning. Enjoy!

The new Graduate Nurse

Dr. Mary Resler

Congratulations! As a new graduate nurse you have successfully completed a nursing program and have completed your NCLEX exam. This may seem like the end of the road for education but it is not. Nurses are lifelong learners! Success is keeping current on evidence based practices. Success is participating in policy change. Success is improving your patient outcomes. Success is maintaining your license. Success looks different as a lifelong learner then it does for a nursing student. 

Many new graduate nurses measure success by completing a difficult patient assignment. They measure success by the years they have worked. They measure success by working on a specialty unit. They measure success by catching a medication error. They measure success by favorable patient satisfaction scores. True success as a lifelong learner or new graduate nurse is to never be complacent in your knowledge. Always push yourself to learn by asking questions and continuing in your education. Knowledge is of no use if you do not use it. 

The new Nurse Educator

Dr. Grace Paul

Students have jumped over hoops, taken several exams, sacrificed participating in several occasions, and spent several hours pondering and even working in a hospital environment to know if this is indeed what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They know what their career goal is, and now they are in our classrooms. 

HCC Henderson Association of Nursing Students - Home | Facebook

Once they are in our classroom, they are our responsibility. While there may be several factors connected to student success like age, gender, previous experiences, GPA, etc, these are all non-modifiable factors that we as educators, can do nothing about. What we have in our hands to help these students succeed are the modifiable factors – factors that we as educators can help make a difference in these students’ lives, and allow our students to be successful in their chosen careers. 

There are several modifiable factors that we can use to our advantage for student success. One such factor is responsiveness.  Responsiveness is responding to a student. This can be in the classroom during class. A slight nod, a smile, a positive gesture, direct eye contact or a positive note sent to the student are all ways by which the student feels safe and positive about themselves. Smiling eases the students and makes it easier for students to come forward with questions and be communicative. 

Cartoon boy with positive attitude N28 free image download

As the new nurse educator figures out how things work in the new environment, the curriculum, and the work culture, students are usually quick to recognize that the instructor is new. But the timely response, open communication, a smiling and respectful attitude, and humor in the classroom, makes a huge difference as to how the students accept and respond to the instructor. 

The responsiveness of the instructor makes the students feel loved and cared for, knowing that they are the priority for the instructor. Keep the classroom space non-judgmental, which helps students to focus on the learning. This creates a trusting relationship between the students and the teacher, contributing immensely to the success of the class as a whole and the individual student. 

Responsiveness is also important when corrections have to be made. When a student makes a mistake, and when the mistake is recognized and acknowledged,  use the situation as a learning opportunity. Do not make it punitive. If the student does not learn from the mistake, then it is an opportunity lost. It is important for the educator to provide resources to correct the mistake. 

Corequisite remediation showing signs of success in NC - EducationNC

Another important tool for responsiveness is remediation. Remediation is a powerful tool when it comes to improving test results. It is helpful for the instructor and the student to go through the test, and look for a pattern, and to understand the reasoning behind the right and wrong answers. It is helpful for the student to bring another student to these meetings, as students tend to learn better from their peers rather than from the instructor. 

To summarize, student success is a commitment from the student as well as the educator. There are modifiable and non-modifiable factors when it comes to student success. Responsiveness is one such tool that will help to promote trust, and therefore a positive relationship, which  will help promote student success. 

 
Boundaries, Write6x6

Teaching Boundaries, Part II – Time

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Picture if you will: I’m wearing a pencil skirt and pumps, and I am dragging a luggage cart behind me. I’m bobbing and weaving through corridors to get to my destination. Am I a flight attendant? No, I am a first-year fourth-grade teacher circa 1986, and the luggage cart is full of books and papers. The destination? Home, where I will grade papers and write lesson plans. All weekend.

I wish I could say that so much has changed since then. But I constantly find myself needing to set time boundaries around my teaching. Case in point just a few years ago when I was teaching fully online for the first time: My husband would be stunned to come home to a completely dark house, save the beam of light from my home office door. Day would turn into night without me leaving my desk.

Maybe you’ve never had days like these. Maybe you have figured out the secret. Maybe it’s just me who has to remind myself to find work-life balance, but I don’t think so. Teachers are reporting increasingly higher levels of stress, and feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day is a definite stressor.

In the early years of our marriage, my husband would suggest that it was all a matter of “time management.” (It really is a miracle we’re still married.) But then years later when I was a professional development specialist, I encouraged a group of teachers to take two minutes out of the day periodically to breathe with their students. One teacher snapped back, “I don’t have two minutes to breathe!”

Yes, the words “time management” almost escaped my lips. But, it’s really not about time management, rather it’s boundary management. It’s deciding what I want my life to be like, and the structures that need to be in place in order for that life to happen. It’s reflecting on what is important and acknowledging that I can’t please everyone. It’s accepting that good is most often good enough.

One boundary I put up a few years ago is letting students know I am unavailable on nights and weekends. This is more of an issue with online students who have a vision that I’m chained to my computer at all hours, waiting for their burning questions. I make a big show of this in a regular Friday e-mail reminding students that I am unplugging for the weekend and perhaps sharing any fun activities I might have planned.

Not only does this put up the stiff-arm for weekend meetings, but I believe it is good modeling for students. After all, our students are watching us closely. What do I want them to see? Someone ever-available-but-frazzled or someone who practices healthy self-care? Even if I have to fake it sometimes, I choose the latter. And my students know and accept my boundaries. One of my stats students remarked in a mid-term survey this semester: “You seem to have a great work/life balance and an overall positive attitude and I really like that.” A student in another class wrote, “I enjoy the weekend reminders and hearing about how you are unplugging for the weekend.”

Beyond just telling students I don’t work on nights and weekends, I have to actually follow through with this plan. This is challenging because there is always something else that can be done to make my class run better. My work could eat up every hour of my day if I let it, and the line has to be drawn somewhere. So 6pm at night and the weekend are boundaries I set for work. Now, I do break a boundary occasionally, but  my boundaries serve a purpose of (mostly) keeping my over-work tendencies in check.

Because I have set boundaries for work, there are times when I make people wait. I disappoint people every now and then. I definitely don’t accomplish all that I want. I drop the many balls I’m juggling with regularity, but somehow the world keeps spinning and my students keep learning, and that’s what will keep me teaching.

The post Teaching Boundaries, Part II – Time appeared first on My Love of Learning.

Boundaries, Write6x6

Teaching Boundaries, Part II – Time

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Picture if you will: I’m wearing a pencil skirt and pumps, and I am dragging a luggage cart behind me. I’m bobbing and weaving through corridors to get to my destination. Am I a flight attendant? No, I am a first-year fourth-grade teacher circa 1986, and the luggage cart is full of books and papers. The destination? Home, where I will grade papers and write lesson plans. All weekend.

I wish I could say that so much has changed since then. But I constantly find myself needing to set time boundaries around my teaching. Case in point just a few years ago when I was teaching fully online for the first time: My husband would be stunned to come home to a completely dark house, save the beam of light from my home office door. Day would turn into night without me leaving my desk.

Maybe you’ve never had days like these. Maybe you have figured out the secret. Maybe it’s just me who has to remind myself to find work-life balance, but I don’t think so. Teachers are reporting increasingly higher levels of stress, and feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day is a definite stressor.

In the early years of our marriage, my husband would suggest that it was all a matter of “time management.” (It really is a miracle we’re still married.) But then years later when I was a professional development specialist, I encouraged a group of teachers to take two minutes out of the day periodically to breathe with their students. One teacher snapped back, “I don’t have two minutes to breathe!”

Yes, the words “time management” almost escaped my lips. But, it’s really not about time management, rather it’s boundary management. It’s deciding what I want my life to be like, and the structures that need to be in place in order for that life to happen. It’s reflecting on what is important and acknowledging that I can’t please everyone. It’s accepting that good is most often good enough.

One boundary I put up a few years ago is letting students know I am unavailable on nights and weekends. This is more of an issue with online students who have a vision that I’m chained to my computer at all hours, waiting for their burning questions. I make a big show of this in a regular Friday e-mail reminding students that I am unplugging for the weekend and perhaps sharing any fun activities I might have planned.

Not only does this put up the stiff-arm for weekend meetings, but I believe it is good modeling for students. After all, our students are watching us closely. What do I want them to see? Someone ever-available-but-frazzled or someone who practices healthy self-care? Even if I have to fake it sometimes, I choose the latter. And my students know and accept my boundaries. One of my stats students remarked in a mid-term survey this semester: “You seem to have a great work/life balance and an overall positive attitude and I really like that.” A student in another class wrote, “I enjoy the weekend reminders and hearing about how you are unplugging for the weekend.”

Beyond just telling students I don’t work on nights and weekends, I have to actually follow through with this plan. This is challenging because there is always something else that can be done to make my class run better. My work could eat up every hour of my day if I let it, and the line has to be drawn somewhere. So 6pm at night and the weekend are boundaries I set for work. Now, I do break a boundary occasionally, but  my boundaries serve a purpose of (mostly) keeping my over-work tendencies in check.

Because I have set boundaries for work, there are times when I make people wait. I disappoint people every now and then. I definitely don’t accomplish all that I want. I drop the many balls I’m juggling with regularity, but somehow the world keeps spinning and my students keep learning, and that’s what will keep me teaching.

The post Teaching Boundaries, Part II – Time appeared first on My Love of Learning.

Boundaries, Write6x6

Teaching Boundaries, Part II – Time

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Picture if you will: I’m wearing a pencil skirt and high heels, and I am dragging a luggage cart behind me. I’m bobbing and weaving through corridors to get to my destination. Am I a flight attendant? No, I am a first-year fourth-grade teacher circa 1986, and the luggage cart is full of books and papers. The destination? Home, where I will grade papers and write lesson plans. All weekend.

I wish I could say that so much has changed since then. But I constantly find myself needing to set time boundaries around my teaching. Case in point just a few years ago when I was teaching fully online for the first time: My husband would be stunned to come home to a completely dark house, save the beam of light from my home office door. Day would turn into night, and I wouldn’t have left the office to turn on the lights in the house.

Maybe you’ve never had days like those. Maybe you have figured out the secret. Maybe it’s just me who has to remind myself to find work-life balance, but I don’t think so. Teachers are reporting increasingly higher levels of stress, and feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day is a definite stressor.

In the early years of our marriage, my husband would suggest that it was all a matter of “time management.” (It really is a miracle we’re still married.) But then years later when I was a professional development specialist, I suggested to a group of teachers that they take two minutes out of the day periodically to breathe with their students. One teacher snapped back, “I don’t have two minutes to breathe!”

Yes, the words “time management” almost escaped my lips. But, it’s really not about time management, but rather it’s boundary management. It’s deciding what I want my life to be like, and the structures that need to be in place in order for that life to happen. It’s deciding what is important and acknowledging that I can’t please everyone. It’s accepting that good is most often good enough.

One boundary I put up a few years ago is letting students know I am unavailable on nights and weekends. This is more of an issue with online students who have a vision that I’m chained to my computer at all hours, waiting for their burning questions. I make a big show of this in a regular Friday e-mail reminding students that I am unplugging for the weekend and perhaps sharing any fun plans I might have.

Not only does that put up the stiff-arm for weekend meetings, but I believe it is good modeling for our students. After all, our students are watching us closely. What do I want them to see? Someone ever-available-but-frazzled or someone who practices healthy self-care? Even if I have to fake it sometimes, I choose the latter. And my students know and accept my boundaries. One of my stats students remarked in a mid-term survey this semester: “You seem to have a great work/life balance.” A student in another class wrote, “I enjoy the weekend reminders and hearing about how you are unplugging for the weekend.”

Beyond just telling students I don’t work on nights and weekends, I have to actually follow through with this plan. This is challenging because there is always something else that can be done to make my class run better. My work could eat up every hour of my day if I let it, and the line has to be drawn somewhere. So 6pm at night and the weekend is the boundary I set for work. Now, I do break that boundary occasionally, but it serves a purpose of mostly keeping my over-work tendencies in check.

Because I have set boundaries for work, there are times when I make people wait. I disappoint people every now and then. I definitely don’t accomplish all that I want. I drop the many balls I’m juggling with regularity, but somehow the world keeps spinning and my students keep learning, and that’s what will keep me teaching.

The post Teaching Boundaries, Part II – Time appeared first on My Love of Learning.

Write6x6

Embracing Diversity

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The New Nursing Student 

Dr. Ingrid Simkins

As we always discuss the first day of nursing school, your first responsibility is to know yourself! Recognize your biases and leave them at the door. If you can’t acknowledge each person for their unique self, other career options are available. You need to treat every person as if they are your most adored member of your family and care for them as you would wish them to be cared for. None of us will be a diversity expert or culturally competent across all cultures, but we all have the capacity to be sensitive to each individual and their needs.

My name is Diversity (a poem)

Dr. Grace Paul

My Name is Diversity

I come in various forms

I come in various shapes

With unique physical attributes

Doesn’t matter, accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

My gender is male, female, either, neither or fluid

I am a gay, lesbian, straight, bi, pan, or asexual

I am a veteran, differently abled, young or old

Doesn’t matter, accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

I come from one race, or a mixture of races

My ethnicity is varied, from any part of the world

Native to the land, or an immigrant

Doesn’t matter, accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

My culture, my food, my customs

My religion, my language, my rituals

Rich, poor, lower, middle, or upper class

Doesn’t matter, accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

Take the time to know me

I am awesome and beautiful

Just the way I am

With uniqueness abound!

Talk to me, listen to me

Look at me, and include me

Respect me for what I am

Because, I am who I am!

I may look and sound different to you

But we can learn from each other

I am not a statistic

To represent diversity

Or inclusion

But an individual no matter

With so much to offer

I matter! Accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

When you accept me for who I am

There is empathy in the world

Prejudices are removed

There is more tolerance

And therefore, less violence

Accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

There is peace, love and understanding

Inspiration, Motivation and Hope

Better decision making all around

A better world for all of us

Do accept me for who I am!

Because I am who I am!

I am understood

I am valued

I am cherished

I am embraced

Because

I am ubiquitous

Because I am who I am!

And my name is Diversity!

 
Write6x6

Just a Girl in Senior English

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I dreaded my College Composition course in the fall of 1981. Not because I hated writing, but rather because of the teacher I was assigned – Mr. Luther Stewart. Mr. Stewart had a reputation at Scottsdale High School which included failing my brother in Freshman English. He was not to be trifled with. (And yes, he would hate that dangling preposition.)

Rumor was that Mr. Stewart had, at one point, been a lawyer but left it all to become a teacher. He looked more teacherly than lawyerly, with a largish bald head and over-sized glasses that magnified his glaring eyes. He didn’t smile much.

My own knowledge of Mr. Stewart stretched back to the first day of sophomore Advanced English, and he was my assigned teacher then. During the previous year, I had been on a Rumspringa of sorts from my regular academic persona. I discovered boys and drinking. I almost failed Algebra. I got kicked out of a class once, and I made my family very nervous. “What happened to Mary?” they all asked.

On that first day of sophomore year, Mr. Stewart passed out a chunky list of required reading, which consisted of no less than 25 classic texts. My then-14-year-old self balked and quickly retreated to a “regular” English class for the rest of the year.

Fast-forward to senior year, and Mr. Stewart was again on my slate of classes. This time, there was nowhere to run, and I resigned myself to being in his class. I entered Mr. Stewart’s room with a great deal of shame and a definite lack of belief in myself.

The regular assignment in his class was a weekly essay, and he allowed us to choose topics that were personally meaningful. I remember one such essay I wrote: “A Girl Should Make Her Prom Dress Instead of Buying One.” Let’s unpack this title for a moment. I am a “girl” in the 80’s. My pressing topic is prom dresses, and above that I am hell-bent on sewing my own.

I was a pom-pom girl. My path set out by my parents was to become a wife and mother (in that exact order). Nobody took me seriously, and I didn’t either. Enter Mr. Stewart. Our College Composition class was full of lively discussion, although the boys in the class were most vocal. On more than one occasion, Mr. Stewart would stomp his foot, raise his hand in the air, and exclaim, “Form follows the function of a reasoning mind!” We had debates in class such as “What is truth?” He taught us the art and science of argumentation.

As each week progressed, Mr. Stewart would provide detailed feedback on my essays, and his red pen was all over my papers. But deep down, I knew that level of feedback meant he cared and that I had something to offer. I felt like more than just a girl to be cast aside. My voice mattered.

With each essay, his ice melted, his encouragement ramped up, and I started to look forward to the weekly challenge of impressing him. Towards the end of the school year, he wrote the following feedback on one of my essays: “Sounds like you – a high compliment!” Today, I have these words on a sticky note on my desk, and I believe that praise is why I love writing today. And, it’s why, as a teacher, I want to hear and honor the voices of all my students.

The post Just a Girl in Senior English appeared first on My Love of Learning.

Write6x6

Just a Girl in Senior English

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I dreaded my College Composition course in the fall of 1981. Not because I hated writing, but rather because of the teacher I was assigned – Mr. Luther Stewart. Mr. Stewart had a reputation at Scottsdale High School which included failing my brother in Freshman English. He was not to be trifled with. (And yes, he would hate that dangling preposition.)

Rumor was that Mr. Stewart had, at one point, been a lawyer but left it all to become a teacher. He looked more teacherly than lawyerly, with a largish bald head and over-sized glasses that magnified his glaring eyes. He didn’t smile much.

My own knowledge of Mr. Stewart stretched back to the first day of sophomore Advanced English, and he was my assigned teacher then. During the previous year, I had been on a Rumspringa of sorts from my regular academic persona. I discovered boys and drinking. I almost failed Algebra. I got kicked out of a class once, and I made my family very nervous. “What happened to Mary?” they all asked.

On that first day of sophomore year, Mr. Stewart passed out a chunky list of required reading, which consisted of no less than 25 classic texts. My then-14-year-old self balked and quickly retreated to a “regular” English class for the rest of the year.

Fast-forward to senior year, and Mr. Stewart was again on my slate of classes. This time, there was nowhere to run, and I resigned myself to being in his class. I entered Mr. Stewart’s room with a great deal of shame and a definite lack of belief in myself.

The regular assignment in his class was a weekly essay, and he allowed us to choose topics that were personally meaningful. I remember one such essay I wrote: “A Girl Should Make Her Prom Dress Instead of Buying One.” Let’s unpack this title for a moment. I am a “girl” in the 80’s. My pressing topic is prom dresses, and above that I am hell-bent on sewing my own.

I was a pom-pom girl. My path set out by my parents was to become a wife and mother (in that exact order). Nobody took me seriously, and I didn’t either. Enter Mr. Stewart. Our College Composition class was full of lively discussion, although the boys in the class were most vocal. On more than one occasion, Mr. Stewart would stomp his foot, raise his hand in the air, and exclaim, “Form follows the function of a reasoning mind!” We had debates in class such as “What is truth?” He taught us the art and science of argumentation.

As each week progressed, Mr. Stewart would provide detailed feedback on my essays, and his red pen was all over my papers. But deep down, I knew that level of feedback meant he cared and that I had something to offer. I felt like more than just a girl to be cast aside. My voice mattered.

With each essay, his ice melted, his encouragement ramped up, and I started to look forward to the weekly challenge of impressing him. Towards the end of the school year, he wrote the following feedback on one of my essays: “Sounds like you – a high compliment!” Today, I have these words on a sticky note on my desk, and I believe that praise is why I love writing today. And, it’s why, as a teacher, I want to hear and honor the voices of all my students.

The post Just a Girl in Senior English appeared first on My Love of Learning.

Write6x6

Just a Girl in Senior English

Leave a comment

I dreaded my College Composition course in the fall of 1981. Not because I hated writing, but rather because of the teacher I was assigned – Mr. Luther Stewart. Mr. Stewart had a reputation at Scottsdale High School which included failing my brother in Freshman English. He was not to be trifled with. (And yes, he would hate that dangling preposition.)

Rumor was that Mr. Stewart had, at one point, been a lawyer but left it all to become a teacher. He looked more teacherly than lawyerly, with a largish bald head and over-sized glasses that magnified his glaring eyes. He didn’t smile much.

My own knowledge of Mr. Stewart stretched back to the first day of sophomore Advanced English, and he was my assigned teacher then. During the previous year, I had been on a Rumspringa of sorts from my regular academic persona. I discovered boys and drinking. I almost failed Algebra. I got kicked out of a class once, and I made my family very nervous. “What happened to Mary?” they all asked.

On that first day of sophomore year, Mr. Stewart passed out a chunky list of required reading, which consisted of no less than 25 classic texts. My then-14-year-old self balked and quickly retreated to a “regular” English class for the rest of the year.

Fast-forward to senior year, and Mr. Stewart was again on my slate of classes. This time, there was nowhere to run, and I resigned myself to being in his class. I entered Mr. Stewart’s room with a great deal of shame and a definite lack of belief in myself.

The regular assignment in his class was a weekly essay, and he allowed us to choose topics that were personally meaningful. I remember one such essay I wrote: “A Girl Should Make Her Prom Dress Instead of Buying One.” Let’s unpack this title for a moment. I am a “girl” in the 80’s. My pressing topic is prom dresses, and above that I am hell-bent on sewing my own.

I was a pom-pom girl. My path set out by my parents was to become a wife and mother (in that exact order). Nobody took me seriously, and I didn’t either. Enter Mr. Stewart. Our College Composition class was full of lively discussion, although the boys in the class were most vocal. On more than one occasion, Mr. Stewart would stomp his foot, raise his hand in the air, and exclaim, “Form follows the function of a reasoning mind!” We had debates in class such as “What is truth?” He taught us the art and science of argumentation.

As each week progressed, Mr. Stewart would provide detailed feedback on my essays, and his red pen was all over my papers. But deep down, I knew that level of feedback meant he cared and that I had something to offer. I felt like more than just a girl to be cast aside. My voice mattered.

With each essay, his ice melted, his encouragement ramped up, and I started to look forward to the weekly challenge of impressing him. Towards the end of the school year, he wrote the following feedback on one of my essays: “Sounds like you – a high compliment!” Today, I have these words on a sticky note on my desk, and I believe that praise is why I love writing today. And, it’s why, as a teacher, I want to hear and honor the voices of all my students.

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