“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.”
Dena Holley, Secondary English Teacher, Pontotoc High School
Often times, high school teachers face two challenges in the writing realm. Students cannot transition to college writing when they have not yet transitioned to the high school writing level. I was sorely disappointed when I saw the rough drafts of my students’ research papers. Unfortunately, I assumed they knew, as eleventh graders, how to collect sources, format outlines, and write. I thought I would be teaching them how to write annotated bibliographies, use parenthetical citations, and work on building more complex sentences and transitions.
The weekend was long and grueling, but I finally cut my losses and decided to start over…completely over. Fortunately, a wise teacher once imparted her wisdom to me in my first year of teaching. “Never keep dragging the cart forward when the wheels are broken or missing altogether.” -Juanita Head (Veteran/Mentor Teacher Okolona, MS). Monday we began with finding appropriate sources as a class. I did one, they did one, I checked it, and put the ones who got it with the ones who still needed direction. We did this all the way through the week with every step of the researching process.
Upon reflection, I do not feel behind in my plans, as I thought I would feel. The students’ reactions to my starting over helped with that. They were actually very appreciative of the extra time I took to walk them through the basics, and never complained about the extra, tedious work we were doing. In fact, it became a learning experience for all of us. I learned that nothing is wrong in starting over…and to have patience, lots of patience. My struggling students are now caught up to where they need to be. My future educator students received hands on teaching experience working with the peers that were struggling. We all learned the value of taking the time to do things right and to work as a team.
Thanks to my mentor teacher, I took the time to mend the wheels. The cart is a little bumpy, but it is moving forward with much more ease.
“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” – Frederick Douglass