I have immensely enjoyed teaching writing this year and getting to know my students even more through this gateway to their thoughts and ideas.
Looking through their personal narratives this morning, I came across a student's work that made me laugh out loud. He's a serious kid in the classroom, bright and blunt. He complies with every task even though for many of them I can tell he'd rather be doing just about anything else. From just the short time I've known him, I can tell he's a bigger picture kid and his narrative proves why. A few years ago his father had to go on strike and ended up losing his job. The family had to move in with the grandparents and my student attests that the experience was horrendous. I braced myself for the worst and read this:
They are the kind of people that only eat food if it is organic, gluten free, grain free etc. It's not a bad thing to eat heatlhy, but this was a little extreme. Their pantry is full of food that starving children wouldn't eat. That's not all of it. They practically forced me to read old books for fun, and if I read for a half hour, she'd make me gross snacks and have us paint rocks.
I can completely see how this wouldn't be ideal to a upper elementary/middle school boy, yet still his frankness made me smile. The rest of his essay explains how he is ultimately quite grateful to his grandparents and to have family in general.
If I had to write a personal narrative on my growing culture and how it's defined and shaped -- how could I not include these remarkable individuals who teach me every day?
Looking through their personal narratives this morning, I came across a student's work that made me laugh out loud. He's a serious kid in the classroom, bright and blunt. He complies with every task even though for many of them I can tell he'd rather be doing just about anything else. From just the short time I've known him, I can tell he's a bigger picture kid and his narrative proves why. A few years ago his father had to go on strike and ended up losing his job. The family had to move in with the grandparents and my student attests that the experience was horrendous. I braced myself for the worst and read this:
They are the kind of people that only eat food if it is organic, gluten free, grain free etc. It's not a bad thing to eat heatlhy, but this was a little extreme. Their pantry is full of food that starving children wouldn't eat. That's not all of it. They practically forced me to read old books for fun, and if I read for a half hour, she'd make me gross snacks and have us paint rocks.
I can completely see how this wouldn't be ideal to a upper elementary/middle school boy, yet still his frankness made me smile. The rest of his essay explains how he is ultimately quite grateful to his grandparents and to have family in general.
If I had to write a personal narrative on my growing culture and how it's defined and shaped -- how could I not include these remarkable individuals who teach me every day?
No comments:
Post a Comment