Key Moment Writing

Lately, I've been into Kelly Gallagher's books, and right now, I'm on Write Like This. He gives great ideas and examples for turning around writing in your classroom. You are the best writer in your classroom, he says over and over, as a way to encourage us to model writing for students. 

One idea he gives for expressive and reflective writing is Key Moment. Students brainstorm key moments from their lives and write about how these moments changed them. He recommends it as an end of the year activity, so students can choose a key moment that happened this school year. Their goal is to reflect: to look back on something and analyze its effect, not just expressing feelings about that particular moment. Since my school year just ended, and in the interest of modeling for my students, I'm going to choose my Key Moment from this school year. 

It was early December, and I put on my best, most confident dress. Today was the day of my first observation from the principal. In Ohio, the state government adopted a new system of teacher evaluations, and this was the first school year that our district fully put them in to effect. Every teacher was on edge about them and what their final "rating" would be. 

Admittedly, I was a little on edge, as I of course didn't want a low rating. But I've never met a challenge I didn't like, and this seemed like a challenge. Also, I like performing, and being observed is really just a performance - most days, I think teaching is a form of performance art too. 

So I was ready. My lesson was great, I chose my best class, and my confidence was high. I arrived at the building early, like I usually do, and made my final copies for the class today. As the copier was shooting out staples and papers, I checked my school email. And that's when my soul was crushed. There was an email from a parent accusing me of something that I did not do. It was CCed to my principal, the head principal, and the guidance counselor. My confidence went out like a deflated balloon. I did what I always do when I'm frustrated and panicked: I cried and called my mom. Then, I went to the principal, and, amidst more tears and jumbled words, we decided to move my observation to the next day, as my emotions were all over the place. 

Luckily, I had a half-day exam planning meeting in the afternoon. This also meant missing my last period Honors English class. This class had been a challenge since the first day of school. It was on the large side - 30 students - and many had made it clear that they were in Honors because their parents or a middle school teacher wanted them to be. But they did NOT want to do Honors level work. All of the students in the class were very sweet, but very talkative. Many of our class periods were spent learning how to be quiet while I was talking. It was an exhausting way to end the day. But we had started reading The Kite Runner in November, and they were really into the book and learning about the culture of Afghanistan. Still, every day felt like a struggle to keep their attention off each other. Overall, I liked their energy, but wasn't sure how they felt about me. 

So on this particularly terrible day, I missed their class. When I returned to my room at the end of the day, exhausted and ready to go home after the events of the morning, there was a note sitting on my desk. It was from my last period class. They must have heard from their peers in my morning classes that I had a bad morning, and they made me a "Feel Better" card that each student passed around and signed. They even wrote that I was, "the best English teacher ever". Was I? After the event of this morning and the challenges that their class gave me, I felt like the worst English teacher ever. For the probably 5th time that day, I teared up. 

Something had worked in that classroom during that period. I was doing something right. 

For the rest of the year, I had a great time with that class. They jumped on any new thing that I threw at them, they met everything with enthusiasm, and they gave me their best. We just needed that key moment when they could be there for me, and I could let their confidence in me give me the confidence I needed. (And final footnote and happy ending - the incident with the parent was quickly resolved.)