Chapter 1 of Reading, Writing, and Rising Up

The thing about sitting in a circle is that everybody is facing each other, and no one can hide. The same can be true about poetry. Poetry leaves room to tell it all or to hide, and at the start of a class I think the best thing for students are to make those first steps towards introducing themselves. Even if they all know each other from previous classes and years in school, people change and should always be given new opportunities to introduce themselves - especially at their young age. Giving students time to think about who and what the come from helps them reflect and grow on who they are as people. I think that’s a big part about teaching that Linda Christensen seems to understand well – that teachers have a responsibility not only to teach their subject, but also help the students learn about themselves.

Read-Arounds are something I definitely plan to utilize in my classroom, and even before reading this I noticed how much different discussions and classes can be when student circle-up. That’s probably how I’ll say it when I’m a teacher. On discussion days when we’re going to share our writing or talk about something we’ve read, I’ll come in and say “Alright let’s circle-up…”

One question I’ll have to ask Christensen, or anyone else who has ideas on the issue, is how person to get with your students. My original thoughts were to not tell students much at all about my personal life – as little as possible, in fact. Then I think back to my favorite, and most effective, teachers in high school. Thinking about them made me realize that I knew a fair amount about their personal lives. Christensen writes, “My willingness to share my life opens the doors for students to share theirs. I write stories about my father’s alcoholism, my poor test scores, my sister’s wayward ways, and my first marriage to an abusive man” (15). I suppose in the end it’s a judgment call, and a personal preference.