Small Stories of Hope, Inspiration
Room 15 is filled with contagious laughter, challenging questions and thoughtful silences. Ideas float everywhere, reshaped and recycled by students’ minds. Lines of poetry mix with algebra equations, and sounds of moving pencils combine with the soft rhythm of turning pages.
Most of all, Room 15 is filled with the lives of students who become lifelong learners. I am their companion, guiding a journey that requires hard work, taking risks and personal responsibility. We arrive at our destinations together, knowing more than we ever imagined possible.
Inside Room 15, I create dynamic learning communities, but challenging questions lurk outside my door. In what ways should teachers be held accountable? In what ways should students be held accountable? For teachers, curricular standards, meaningful review procedures and professional portfolios are effective solutions. For students, curricular standards aligned with assessment tools are also effective solutions. For both teachers and students, inspiring a renewed work ethic, characterized by excellence and responsibility, is essential. Even though a work ethic cannot be legislated, it can be encouraged if mediocrity is not an acceptable standard.
Teachers and students are in a pivotal position to help effect change in our country. We can be examples of excellence.
Of course, change does not occur overnight. Classrooms must be safe and supportive learning communities before students take risks leading to excellence.
During my first year of teaching, I was blessed with a student named Nathan. He hated writing. I knew this because his writer’s notebook was filled with comments like, “I hate writing. This is stupid. You can’t make me write.” Of course this kind of behavior was inspiring. I liked the gleam in Nathan’s eyes and he became a marked man.
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For a long time, we didn’t make much progress. Then, one day, everything changed. I was sitting with a group of students conferencing about their poetry. Nathan walked over to the group and shoved a crumpled piece of paper in my face. He commanded, “Read this.”
I stopped what I was doing and read his poem silently. After reading the poem, I looked up at Nathan. We both had a few tears waiting to fall, but we also wore wide grins across our faces.
Suddenly, reality hit me. This was middle school. Gushing like this was a certain recipe for disaster. My mind started racing, trying to think of a way to avoid the demise of Nathan’s social life. But it wasn’t necessary. The class started clapping. Their clapping led to a celebration of hooting and hollering. I’ll never forget that moment. Nathan found his voice as a writer, and our class became a community.
It was a tiny moment, lasting about four minutes, but think about this: All of us carry tiny school stories in our hearts. Even though we are teaching during a time of challenging headlines, there is so much power in our school stories. Let’s begin sharing our stories and creating a collection, a collection of magical moments that fill our communities with the strength of hope and inspiration.
