6th Grade Buddies; 7th Grade English

Today I met with Marcella and Norman to talk about the nascent 2/3+6 buddy program, and how to give it stronger legs. Right now 6th grade students are working with the 2nd graders in Temescal Creek on a volunteer basis, reading to and with, and being read to, once a week. Our conversation focused on two parts: the pragmatic and the philosophical. On the former, we talked about arranging the logistics, the impact of giving time to this compared to other curricular elements, when and how the planning needed to happen, how to manage conflicts, and other program-management aspects. On the latter, we talked about some possible goals for the 6th grade students, focusing on three draft topics; 1) developing empathy and understanding of younger students, 2) developing the self-esteem and self-confidence that comes from being seen as highly capable, and 3) developing leadership understanding and awareness. We also talked about how to make the program effective without being a major curricular initiative; how to establish it as an integral part of how the 6th grade program is meeting the needs of students; and how preparation for middle school and high school must go beyond the academic and into the social and emotional lives of students.

Last week I observed in a 7th grade English class. The students are reading "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, a powerful book of short vignettes about the growing adolescent identity of a young Latina from a first-person perspective. In a previous class, Emma had tasked the students with creating dramatic interpretations of one of the vignettes, which she then filmed. This class began by watching and writing in response to four different video clips of the same vignette, and then a discussion about those choices, and how they influenced the viewer's experience and understanding of the text. Later, Emma displayed a piece of original writing that she had done in the style of Cisneros, and asked students to critique it based on Cisneros' use of imagery, metaphor, personification, and other rhetorical devices, as well as diction and word choice. The period ended with extended time for students to consult with each other and peer-edit their own vignettes, or begin working on new ones.