I assisted Liz Topa's honors seniors in the writing process while they worked on their college essays.  I enjoyed helping them brainstorm ideas, nudging their writing, and responding to their drafts.  Please click on the "learning links" in our WCB site to see the essays.  Thornton HS is located in Harvey, Illinois, which is a working class area and mostly African-American.  In their college essays many of the seniors chose to recount the hardships of their lives.  I was shocked to hear stories about abuse, divorce, mental problems, illness, and high mobility from several different students.  I felt a mixture of bitterness and pride to hear these excellent students share their painful stories, as well as their hopes and dreams with the invisible admission boards.  I worried that these people, who send out pictures of perfectly groomed campuses and weigh future students by numbers as well as their words, could not appreciate the problems of these students.  More than anything this semester, this event helped me decide that I would like to teach English from a social justice perspective.

I really liked working on this project with these seniors because it was both personal and authentic.  Many students worked hard writing several drafts, trying at once to sound studious and unique.  This assignment helped me become better acquainted with this great group of students, and experience first hand individual conferencing.  It was, in truth, an overwhelming task to try and help all students on their individual essays, but I think it paid off in the quality college essays these students wrote.  Liz used worksheets to get the students started brainstorming for ideas, and encouraged students to break away from the five paragraph essay format.  Unfortunately, the students have been completely indoctrinated about the five paragraph essay, and it is hard for them to think outside those usual restrictions.  In my classroom,  I hope to have students writing frequently, so it is easier for them to design their own forms to fit their goals.

I read the first two chapters of Paul Zindel's The Pigman aloud to Liz Topa's "accelerated" second year students.  The acceleration program at Thornton is intended for students who begin high school without the necessary skills to succeed in English I.  Many of these students dislike school.  I thought an interesting project would be letters about reading and books, and I chose The Pigman because it is funny, sad, true, and an excellent piece of YA literature.  Liz allowed the students to "check out" copies of the book after I finished reading the first two chapters, and tried to motivate letter-writing by offering extra credit to participating students.  Below I have copied three letters and my responses to these students.  I had hoped that the letter writing would catch on, but only one student wrote more than one letter (out of eight students writing).  Most students mentioned that they enjoyed The Pigman, so I was happy about that, and a few even mentioned other books they liked.  As a teacher, I like the letter exchange idea, but I now realize that students must be guided into writing thoughtful responses, and that I would probably get more letters if it was a requirement.  Below I have four letters that I thought were interesting.

Dear Pamela,
I like to read in my free time, too!  I thought The Giver was an excellent book, and I am glad you enjoyed it!  Do you think the world of The Giver was better or worse than our world?  Are you enjoying The Pigman?  Thanks for your letter!
YLET, Ms. Hughes

Dear Yosaf,
I'm glad to hear that you liked Sounder!  The best books are always those we can relate to with our own lives.  What parts of Sounder did you like best?  It is hard for families to stay together when times are hard.  Have you had a similar experience in your family?  YLET, Ms. Hughes

Dear Bryan,
I will pass along to Ms. Topa that you are liking The Pigman.  I think it is funny that John blows up bombs in the bathroom, too, although things like that are always funnier on TV or in books.  Sometimes it is funny when a characters does something we would _never_ be  allowed to do!  Also, books allow use to see experiences through someone else's eyes.  Thanks for your letter.  Are you still reading The Pigman?  What do you think?  YLET, Ms. Hughes