Writer OOO: A Look Back from Vacation Mode

It has been a beautiful summer with some brutal heat on the East coast. We have enjoyed visiting with family and friends, as well as spending time relaxing, which for me means as much reading and writing as I can fit in. As I prepare to begin another school year, I am reflecting, again, on the lessons that I learned during the past school year. Some things I already knew, but it was good to have them reinforced and articulated. Others were stumbling blocks that I had to acknowledge and will lead to changes during this coming school year. Here are my top five.

1. All of this will be on the test. Yes, I prefer to motivate my students and get them to do things for the sake of learning alone, but I have not yet managed to convince all of my students that writing and literature deserve to take over their lives and monopolize every moment when their eyes are open and to possess every dreaming moment, as well. So, since I need them to do their reading, take notes and pay attention during lecture, and actually memorize vocabulary and key terms, I will have to give tests. A bummer, but incentivizing their work more directly by giving them points for what they have learned should encourage them to study. 
2. It’s all in the syllabus. Starting out with clear expectations and sticking strictly to these expectations at the beginning of the year means that as the students reach these expectations, some loosening can happen as the year goes on. Especially important regarding late work policies—keep to deadlines at first, and students will follow them. Allow them to turn things in late at the beginning of the semester, and they will never turn things in on time. 
3. Mine is not the only voice. Listening to the students and getting to know what motivates them and what their concerns are helps to build the kind of rapport that supports mutual trust. It also means that I can begin to meet the students at their own levels and challenge them, especially by creating assignments that will interest them, speak to their strengths, and push at the areas where they could stand to grow. Of course, it does not hurt to have an idea about what they like and change some of the readings to match these interests. 
4. Never let them see you sweat. This one was given to me by a coworker, but it speaks to the ability to be flexible, remain at the front of the tour group, and accept when the unexpected happens. Since it was the first year for our school, there were a lot of surprises. Getting frustrated would not have been helpful, complaining would have been disastrous, and allowing the students to see either frustration or hear complaints would have been deadly. They did not need to know that the textbooks did not arrive on time or that the baby kept me up all night so that my zombie brain was guiding the lecture. They just needed me to be present and keep the tour going. Okay. I can do that. 
5. Ever tried. Every failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. When innovation is championed, trying new things is encouraged, logic tells us that some teaching experiments will be more successful than others. I tried some ideas out that I thought would be pretty brilliant this year. Some worked well with my students. Others were epic fails. Some could be saved with some tweaking. Some should never be spoken of again. Being honest about which worked and which did not, as well as why the successful ones worked and the fails failed means that I can learn, make changes, and hopefully have even better classes this year. 

I am excited about getting started with my students. We will have some new students, many returning, and lots of excitement ahead of us. Let the adventures begin!