Beaten into Literacy

                                    FORGIVENESS and TEACHING

            I have been teaching writing, English and Literature since I received my MFA in Fiction Writing in 1990. Some of the Universities where I have taught creative writing, composition and literature include Brooklyn College, The College of New Rochelle, Rutgers, City Lit (London), University of Texas, SMU, Oklahoma State, Columbia College Chicago, Loyola, and DePaul University. I was the Metal Works English teacher for Senn (CPS) and taught creative writing, Honors English, Journalism, AP Literature, level 4 English, at Evanston Township High School for 9 years and a long term subbing job at New Trier. 

I have coached, supported, tutored and taught any number of other writers, some adult, some children.My students have included members of a Chicago gang (Latin Kings), refugees from the Bosnian War, Haitian immigrants, African-American middle-aged women returning to get their degrees,very privileged and well-prepared students, ESL students placed in my class despite their lack of basic English, gifted and struggling students, struggling with life students, druggie students, angry students, hurt students, several Asperger students and many slacker students who may or may not have skills in English, needy students, depressed students, bi-polar students and students who changed my teaching which is all my students. What has happened in the lives of my students while they studied with me? They had babies, got married, got divorced, had a parents die, had a friend murdered, had a nervous breakdown, won competitions, lost games, plagiarized, cheated, hid in my classroom, got arrested, became emancipated minors, fell in and out of love and discovered they are writers.                                                                                                                                   

What have I learned over these many years? Unconditional love, intellectual development and forgiveness. I love my students for their anger, their rebelliousness, their pride,their grade grubbing, their indifference to grades, their kindness, their modesty, their snarkiness their happiness and depression, their thoughtfulness and their self-absorption, their fear, their intensity, their surfer/skateboarding attitude, their diligence and their ambition.                                    

Over the years I have attended an Institute on teaching AP Literature, won a grant to study Digital Storytelling, attended a class in Studying the Short Story at the University of Chicago, attended a Workshop for Teaching Poetry Out Loud, studied in Adolescent Literacy, presented at ASCD-“Integrating Creative Writing into the English Writing Curriculum.” NCTE-Whole Language Institute-Presented on Creating a Writing Culture”, IATE Conference – Willa Cather and the Memoir, IATE Conference Using Creative Writing in the English Classroom, Keynote Speaker-Literature For All of Us : Beaten into Literacy, published three novels, any number of essays, written a screenplay and wrote hundreds of pages of curriculum. I constantly seek out ways to challenge my teaching, stay abreast of current pedagogy pertaining to adolescent literacy and to read as much as possible.                                                                                                                                   

And then there is forgiveness. I accept late papers, I accept real life, I accept heartache, headache, illness and family trauma. Talk to me about what has happened, send me an e-mail or talk to me during office hours. I will do everything possible to help you succeed, triumph, excel, show up, and I will forgive you carelessness, tears, anger, disappointment and lying. Just show up so I don’t give up because I believe in you. And I want to teach you to tell your story. Understand that having two languages is a gift. So is your depression, your anger, your resentments, they are gifts if you channel them into action, into compassion, empathy and understanding. Take those set-backs, the low grades, the social snubs, the racist, sexist, biased behaviour and spin them into gold. I will support you. I will thank you for being brave enough to come to my class. I won't stereotype you because you're an athlete, a cheater geek, a musician, an immigrant, a boy or still deciding. We don't demonize or silence in my classroom. Trust the process but be sure there is a process. Don't be thoughtless, inconsiderate or unkind. 

Don't worry if you hate me. I don't actually care. I'm your teacher not your friend, mother, or peer. I have seen nearly everything, I have taught nearly everyone. I won't give up on you. I'm your teacher.