This week was mostly general house-keeping and drills to ensure classroom management (how do we walk/talk in the hall; how do we enter class; how do we start class; how do we exit the classroom; how do we get a pencil; etc., etc.) Still, I managed to get my introductory lesson in, which is a letter I wrote to my students:
August 17, 2009
--------- Middle School
-----------------
Louisville, KY -----
Dear 2009-10 T.T. Knight Seventh Graders:
Welcome aboard! I’m very pleased to introduce myself to you as your new language arts teacher for the upcoming school year. I know you’re probably wondering who I am – if I’m nice or mean, lax or strict, fair or unfair and if I’ll be able to make learning fun. Hopefully, as we get to know one another, you’ll see that I’m going to work hard to be the best teacher I can be – and ask that you’ll work just as hard at being the best students you can be.
First and foremost: I love to read and write. The whole reason why I became a language arts teacher is because I am absolutely crazy about the written word. I find that language can unlock doors to the soul; it can unite us in a common humanity with people we’ve never even met before. Books, magazines, websites and the newspaper can take us places we’ve never been. Through reading whole worlds are opened up and the imagination is set ablaze with new creative ideas. That’s also what I love most about writing: you can let your imagination run like a wild fire. When I am able to express myself clearly through writing, I feel like a heavy weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Writing is a great stress reliever once you feel confident enough to do it regularly.
When I was your age I wrote in a diary and hid it all over my house. My step-sister, Suzie, and I used to make a game out of trying to find each other’s diaries. One time she found mine and used it to blackmail me; I had to buy her ten dollars worth of candy to get it back. My favorite books at that time were The Diary of Anne Frank, Johnny Tremain, The Pigman, The Outsiders, and anything by Roald Dahl or Laura Ingles Wilder. I also liked books by Christopher Pike. Since then I’ve read more young adult fiction, and I really like books by Walter Dean Meyers and Jerry Spinelli. If you have any good recommendations, let me know. I trust my students’ taste in reading!
My hope for this year is that you will all come to appreciate reading and writing as much as I do. Maybe some of you do already. Maybe some of you are still a little unsure about these activities. I hope you will have the courage to take risks. It’s only by taking risks that we ever improve. For me to start teaching was a risk. How did I know the kids would actually listen to me? Who the heck was I to be telling them how to write? But the more I taught, the better teacher I became. My students actually teach me all the time. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from you this year as well.
I’m looking forward to hearing who you are. Here’s to a great school year!
Best,
Ms. Yost
We discussed the letter, formal writing, formal letter format, anecdotes, transitions, and italics. The students then wrote formal letters back to me. From these letters I'll jot down what each student is struggling with (apostrophe use, sentence structure, paragraph development, clarity, etc.), and use this information to create my future lessons.
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