Reflections on Experiences
The day before Back to School Night of my first year as a teacher, I asked my students to write a letter to their parents about the third grade experience. Nine months later, I asked them to write a letter of advice to incoming third graders. The prompts were different, but the tasks were the nearly same: write about third grade. I wish I could tell you that this was planned back in August, but it wasn’t. The night before I had my third graders share their letters of advice with each other, I realized the uncanny similarities these two tasks had, and decided that I would pass back their September letters to see what we might uncover. It turned out to be the most satisfying, heartwarming moment I can remember.
Seventeen students sat on the rug with a writing piece from September in one hand, and a piece from June in the other. With a quick scan, it was easy to see how their writing grew over the course of the year (literally). There was drastically more writing on the page, and handwriting was neater. After a closer look, we all noticed that they now wrote with structure. In September, their sentences blended together without much rhyme or reason. Their June letters had an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each body paragraph had a topic sentence, three or more interesting details, and an ending sentence. Beyond the writing skills that they had clearly developed, they now had a myriad of memorable experiences to describe. “The best part about third grade is interviewing your family and writing a class book”. They remembered everything from the Ellis Island Role-Play, to the Native American research report. Their letters also helped me better understand my teaching style. I thought I knew my teaching philosophy when I graduated Brandeis, but I didn’t really know it until that moment on the rug.
"Third grade with Miss Joseph is the best place to be. Miss Joseph is the best teacher. She expects you to work hard. When you are in Miss Joseph's class, you don't waste a second. She never lets you give up. Miss Joseph can be silly and serious. First she is your teacher, then she is your friend."
"She is really nice and helps you do your very best, but she does expect a lot of you. Like when you're doing a math paper, she expects that you will show your work and never just write the answer to a problem."
“She is really nice and makes up fun games buy you have to work hard.”
“You have the best teacher. You have Choice Time which means you get to do whatever you want every Friday.”
“Miss Joseph expects you to work hard. I repeat, work hard!”
I could tell from the way they organized their writing, the experiences they discussed, and the looks on their faces as they each read aloud both letters, that we’d had a great year. I couldn’t have been more proud of myself and of my students at the same time. I’ve heard it said before: “You will never forget your first year.” This was certainly true for me. I will never forget those students, that year, and that exact moment on the rug.
Seventeen students sat on the rug with a writing piece from September in one hand, and a piece from June in the other. With a quick scan, it was easy to see how their writing grew over the course of the year (literally). There was drastically more writing on the page, and handwriting was neater. After a closer look, we all noticed that they now wrote with structure. In September, their sentences blended together without much rhyme or reason. Their June letters had an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each body paragraph had a topic sentence, three or more interesting details, and an ending sentence. Beyond the writing skills that they had clearly developed, they now had a myriad of memorable experiences to describe. “The best part about third grade is interviewing your family and writing a class book”. They remembered everything from the Ellis Island Role-Play, to the Native American research report. Their letters also helped me better understand my teaching style. I thought I knew my teaching philosophy when I graduated Brandeis, but I didn’t really know it until that moment on the rug.
"Third grade with Miss Joseph is the best place to be. Miss Joseph is the best teacher. She expects you to work hard. When you are in Miss Joseph's class, you don't waste a second. She never lets you give up. Miss Joseph can be silly and serious. First she is your teacher, then she is your friend."
"She is really nice and helps you do your very best, but she does expect a lot of you. Like when you're doing a math paper, she expects that you will show your work and never just write the answer to a problem."
“She is really nice and makes up fun games buy you have to work hard.”
“You have the best teacher. You have Choice Time which means you get to do whatever you want every Friday.”
“Miss Joseph expects you to work hard. I repeat, work hard!”
I could tell from the way they organized their writing, the experiences they discussed, and the looks on their faces as they each read aloud both letters, that we’d had a great year. I couldn’t have been more proud of myself and of my students at the same time. I’ve heard it said before: “You will never forget your first year.” This was certainly true for me. I will never forget those students, that year, and that exact moment on the rug.