A great example of connected reading and writing in the high school English classroom.
There is something extremely powerful going on here within both your autonomy and your ability to express the need for feedback. I do believe that “being left alone in your classroom” is possibly holding the rest of your school back more than it is holding you back. Because you have sought out feedback and made your classroom into a community of learners, you are able to see how your instructional choices have in impact on your students and any teachers who stumble upon this blog or their writing on Genius. However, my guess is that many folks in your school are not yet reading your blog or using Genius as a way of creating an authentic feedback loop for kids and adults.
I wonder if this means that without having someone observe and evaluate your progress, your story stays within the walls of your classroom. If your evaluator/observer came in and saw this lesson, I would think that he/she may better understand the connected nature of writing, and want you to help support other teachers within the building in that regard. I may be wrong about this, but I have a hard time thinking that someone who came in and saw this wouldn’t want everyone in the building doing it.
Anyway, thank you so much for your thoughtful reflection. It is inspiring to see not only great practice happening in a Language Arts classroom, but also to see just how much value you place upon the connections being made.
via What Should We Do With Our Classrooms?: An authentic audience: Lit Genius and SoundCloud.
