Authentic Teacher-Annotated Texts

"You writin' in the book really helped me a lot!"

One of my approximately 16-year-old Black male students said this to me today as we were beginning class. He borrowed a book from our class library last week. Apparently, it was a book in which I annotated quite frequently. I didn't realize that I placed my annotated edition out for them to borrow. When Sean (pseudonym) said this to me, however, he gave me insight into how best he and others may learn.

As English teachers, we show our students how to annotate including how to organize their annotations. Of course, we provide examples on the screen or may even distribute examples we've prepared. But this wasn't that. I wrote in the book for my own personal reasons.

Actual personal annotations from The Soloist by Steve Lopez

Sean got me to thinking. Annotations on a cold read where a student is reading a text independently and not in preparation for our traditional interrogation of the text? I think he may have given me, because I know you've already been illuminated, some insight into literary practices that could be helpful for struggling teenage readers.

1. Create authentic teacher-annotated versions of short texts (i.e. newspaper clippings or poems) in addition to making non-annotated versions available. Note: this would NOT be for the purpose of showing students how to annotate text, per se, as this was not my purpose in the example above.

2.  Make teacher-annotated books available in the class libraries and indicate that they are annotated. I'm going to have to figure that one out because I love my books and the notes I've taken in them. {insert Black thinking emoji and a hmmmmm thought cloud...no lightbulbs yet}

3.  Create an atmosphere where students, and in this case a Black male student, feel comfortable:
a--borrowing the books that are for them, as books, in my opinion, should be 'please touch and take'
     Note: He saw, he asked, he took...no problem
b--letting you know that they are reading and enjoying the book, and
     Note: He approached me, unsolicited
c--letting you know how they are thriving with the book
     Note: He approached me, unsolicited

Just how do you a, b, and c?
1.  Allow them to borrow the books. If you don't want to lend them, don't display them.
2.  Allow them to approach you. Let's stop with the feigned, "I feel threatened" stuff. Sean wants to tell you about the book he's reading.
3.  If you really care about them, they'll know it and neither a, b, nor c, will be an issue. If you don't care about them, they'll know that too. Thing is, students, especially today, have this funny little way of showing you how they feel about you. Just sayin...

I'm not perfect, I'm striving. I'm also still learning everyday that teaching is not a simple algorithm!

Who is American?

That's the question one of my night students asked as he and the class reflected on something we'd just read in The Soloist by Steve Lopez. In one of the chapters, Lopez compares his writing as a journalist for the Philadelphia Inquirer here on the east coast with his writing for the LA Times out on the west coast. The difference, he writes, was that some of the unsavory, bigoted emails he'd receive here on the east coast would tell him to "go back to Puerto Rico" while some on the west coast would read, "go back to Mexico." Where have we heard this refrain before? This racist refrain to "go back to where you came from"??Hmmm....{insert thinking emoji while feigning legitimate confusion}

....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019

The encore came in grand style with a racist rally a few days later where his subservient, obsequious, fawning followers broke out into a "random" chant, "send her back!" The her being U.S. citizen and duly elected Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. The her being one of the early (February 27, 2019) co-sponsors of H.R. 1327, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act. Yup, that's her! (By the way, the only 2 "nay" votes in the Senate came from Republicans, and 11 of the 12 "nay" votes in the House came from Republicans, just in case you were wondering)

So in light of what we read in the book and in light of what we're experiencing here in America, my student asked, "Who [really] is American?"

Good question.

A Note on Leadership

There is something to be said of the brand of organizational leadership that motivates the masses to want to perform, to take initiative, to go the extra mile, to back up and not buck the head, to want to stay, to recruit others to come, and to have a genuine connectedness and strong like for the one steering the ship. 

This type of leadership has been and appreciates where the followers are, encourages the people to become better versions of themselves, doesn’t mind pitching in when needed, understands that they don’t have all of the answers, appreciates the need for a true team, and that everyone has something important to contribute to the vision and mission of the organization.

I’m not one for mots-du-jour, for phrases of the day or any of that. Servant leader(ship) is thrown around as the type of leaders those in charge often claim themselves to be. According to the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, yes there’s such a place, “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” 

I submit that the mark of a true leader is not how one identifies themselves, but how others identify them, behind their backs! It’s the chatter in group chats or at get-togethers that reflects the most genuine of sentiments. When I hear my colleagues praise principals in text messages or conversations, I know it’s real. When I hear employees laud their bosses when they’re away from the job, I know it’s real. I urge leaders everywhere to self-identify in private, because it’s most often in private where those in your charge really express their feelings about you!

Rarely is there anything more encouraging than when people bring word back to you that you are the talk of the town or at the dinner table, in a positive way. Lead by demonstration not by what comes out of your mouth. The virtue of a position or title does not a leader make. #issaboss

Never Not A Teacher

It’s the summer. The heat and humidity of the mid-Atlantic chase us to the nearest pool, beach, or water ice stand. Teachers aren’t teachers in the summer, right? It’s our time off, right? Student-free until the fall, right? Wrong!

Being a teacher is not something we just turn on and off at will, no matter how hard we try.  I can tell you from experience, being a teacher is as much a part of me as my brown skin and curly hair. It creeps up every now and then when I see a child rolling on the floor in a fit of rage in the store or when I am giving directions for someone downtown and repeat them twice to be sure. I witnessed a teacher, who is also a close friend and one of my brothas from anotha motha this past week at our church, in action!

This past week was VBS or Vacation Bible School at our church. VBS for us is a week-long event full of Bible lessons, fun, and games every summer. Add in food, crafts, and some hype and it really is quite exciting! As the evening’s activities wind down, participants are given an opportunity to recall for all of us what they remember from the lesson. One of the students was an 18-year-old young man with autism. One night as he was recalling what he remembered in class, he found himself struggling. Publically. My brother and friend, who was not this young man’s teacher, decided he would just softly shout out (is that possible?) key words or phrases from the lesson. The young man would repeat the key word or phrase and his memory would be jarred. All he needed was a word or phrase and he would recall the evening’s lesson and share it with us. This cycle continued for about 2 minutes or so; the young man struggling to recall, Andrew softly shouting a word or phrase, the young man recalling what he learned without hesitation or trepidation for the next few seconds.

I had a chance to ask my good buddy ‘Drew about it a couple of days later. I asked whether that was something he learned, supplying signal words, or whether it was just his teacher instincts. I was particularly interested if that was something he learned while working with students who have autism. He described it as his educator instincts having kicked in because he didn’t want the young man to be standing up there, stuck and embarrassed. It worked.

There are a few lessons we can learn from my friend and colleague. One, we should really get out of the business of embarrassing our students, not that this was the case with this young man. But, just in general, let’s chill. I get it. Sometimes we want to see who was really paying attention or we want to put a student on notice that we know they kept running their mouth while we were giving directions. Being stuck and embarrassed is not fun. Truth be told, that young man, or any of our students at school, could have given up and shut down. While the young man did volunteer to review the lesson, I think, his public struggle could have been the source of psychological or emotional trauma. Rebuilding that trust again could take twice as long as it took to co-construct it initially.

Another lesson we can learn is to take risks. Andrew didn’t know if his educator instincts would work. That not knowing did not stop him from trying. We have to be allowed to take academic and intellectual risks, the same risks most of us expect of our students. Fear of being wrong cannot paralyze our attempt at a strong effort. As teachers we should want to take those risks and school leaders should create a culture in schools where we can take those risks without fear of reprisal. The risk could work and if it doesn’t, okay. It didn’t work. Onward!

Maybe the most important lesson of all is that we are never not teachers, whether it’s in our formal role or in the way we go about our daily lives. We are teachers! It’s who we are! It’s what we do! Every single day we should strive to become better versions of ourselves! Who knows, you may be the next person to say something that could have a lasting impact, for better or for worse? *shrugs*