What’s Your Story?

As the first full day of the Klingenstein Summer Institute came to a close last night, I was really struggling with what to write. We did so much. We examined our personal philosophies of education aiming to ensure that what we were ultimately focused on is the learned curriculum more than the taught curriculum and how we can assess that our philosophy is being enacted. In my curriculum breakout group we started a list of many of the things we hear from students that act as roadblocks to English instruction with the hopes that we can unpack these for what is really the problem when a student says “I think we’re reading too much into this”.

After dinner we had the very simple, and yet, incredibly daunting task of sharing a personal story with a small group that would serve as our “Diversity Group” for the week. The instructions were open enough: “Please be prepared to share with your peers a personal story, a vignette that speaks to who you are. You may wish to draw from your childhood or your adult life, your life as a teacher or your life outside of school. The goal is to let the group start to get to know you as a human being. The story should be about three minutes.” However, the stories that came out were anything but simple. They were powerful, crushing, insightful, and most importantly, honest and authentic. There were tears shed, at least one hug, and a lot of silent reflection.

In the end, we thanked those who started us off in the right tone, challenging the group to be open to vulnerability in order to tell a truly revealing story. While I echo this thanks, I also walked away so grateful to the two Lead Teachers who ran the session, Don Morrison and Eder J. Williams McKnight. I believe it was due in large part to their genuine wanting to know our stories that led to such an open and powerful session. Yes, they role-modelled great community building strategies (listing group values by having participants complete the sentence “I feel safe in groups when…”), but I couldn’t help but really feel like, above all else, they genuinely just wanted to know us and for us to know each other.

As a teacher who asks students to bring their whole self to my class, and who claims to try to make learning real for my students and help them create personal meaning, I am sometimes blown away by what I hear from students and sometimes I feel like a student is holding back. Sometimes students seem so concerned with what they think I want to hear, that I almost end up telling them that I don’t care what they tell me as long as it is authentic. The truth is I care very deeply about what they tell me AND I want it to be authentic. While some things are certainly outside of a teacher’s control, I am certainly taking away an important reflection piece about making a conscious attempt to ensure that my request for my students’ stories is as authentic and honest as I hope their stories are for me.

Okay Day 2, what have you got in store for us?

3 thoughts on “What’s Your Story?

  1. What I got from your post Aaron was a great flashback to my Klingenstein experience! I remember truly being reflective on what my teaching was like for my students – all of the different learners. What do my instructions sound like and what type of classroom culture do they inform? It sounds like you’re well on your way too!

    Say hi to Don for me – his words of advice remain inspirational for me from my time at Klingenstein!

    Great post,
    garth.

    1. Thanks for the great comment, Garth. I will definitely say hi to Don. I wish I could provide a more detailed description of the day-by-day but, as you know, they are long days! Hopefully I’ll have more to report soon.

  2. That sounds like an awesome life experience you’re getting Aaron, let alone some pretty sweet PD. Keep the updates and stories coming!

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