Switching Gears

Today is the first day of summer vacation, which means switching gears: going from the hectic fast pace of the classroom to the more leisurely days of summer; going from full-time worker to no-time worker; going from teacher to researcher-reader-writer-learner-traveler-relative-mother-wife-friend; and switching gears from sixth grade to eighth grade. Yes, eighth grade. And so my research question for the summer, what I have already begun pondering, is: How can I create a community of engaged, supportive, enthusiastic 13-year-old learners instead of having a group of apathetic, negative, eye-rolling, bored young adolescents?

I do not believe that 13 is an age predestined for unpleasantness. Therefore, my search begins with community-building. I have begun reading a book I have had on my shelf for several years now, but had yet to read: "It's Our World Too": Socially Responsive Learners in Middle School Language Arts by Beverly Busching & Betty Ann Slesigner. They advocate setting up a "democratic classroom" in which students will value and respect themselves and others, become active in their learning and in aspects of running the classroom, and in which they connect themselves, literature, and the world to become more socially responsive. The latter goal sounds much like Friere's critical literacy theory, popular in Australia. The previous goals sound very much like the Workshop approach.

I have only read two chapters so far. But I am excited by the possibility that this approach opens: empowering students to make real decisions that affect their daily lives. This sounds like just the ticket for engaging the 13-year-old mind.