Building Writers and Questioners

Although I hit on the fact that this book has numerous contributors, I did not give each contributor the credit they deserved in my last post, so I'm going to try and do a better job doing so in my posts from here on out. Chapter 4 of the book was written by Ruth Shagoury. In this chapter, titled, The Need to Write, the Need to Listen, she details her experience working with a student, Zerina, who had just moved from war torn Sarajevo. Understandably, Zerina was initially reluctant to share her writing with her peers, as it contained vivid and devastating memories of her life in a war zone, never knowing if she would be alive from one day to the next. However, with the continuous encouragement of Ruth Shagoury, her classroom teacher, and her peers, Zerina was finally encouraged to share this powerful writing. Through sharing this experience, the author ascertains that though she "cant' understand the horrors of war that too many children of the world now expereince, I can strengthen my resolve to build relationships with all my students - even the prickliest ones - and teach with my heart as well as my mind (pp. 40)." I thought this was a great reminder for teachers. When we get so bogged down in data, testing, evaluation, you name the numerous things we are accountable for day in and day out, we need to remember that the students, and our relationships with them, and how we use those relationships to build their academic skills, critical thinking, writing, and understanding are what is most important. Students come with an array of experiences, sometimes knowing about things one their age should not know about. But, if we do what Ruth Shagoury suggests, and teach with our hearts as well as our minds, we can help them to have control over a small part of their lives, what they do and accomplish while in our classrooms.