10th grade

If you write or teach you sometimes have to go for quite a long stretch without much feedback–good or bad–about your work.  You hope that you are having impact, that you are an influencer, but it can be hard to tell.

Today, I walked into the classroom where I teach Social Problems and the blackboard hadn’t been erased from the last class.  On it I saw an outline for a keyhole paragraph.  It was all about working dogs and dog training.

The outline was solid. I was thrilled.  I wanted to know who was writing about dogs and asked my sociology students if they knew. They recognized Kurt’s  handwriting.  He teaches 10th grade English and has no personal knowledge of dog training or working dogs.

Later, when I saw Kurt near the mailboxes, I asked him which student was writing about dogs, assuming that he was working with a single student’s assignment.

“They all are,” he said. “The entire class is writing about  working dogs.  They love this assignment. They all know so much about the subject already.  They have a lot to say.”

Tagged as: 10th grade, classroom, Composition, dog training, English assignment, feedback, influencer, working dogs

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