Class Letters: Instilling Intangible Lessons through Letters - Softcover

Lopez, Claire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 193831428X ISBN 13: 9781938314285

Verlag: She Writes Press, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

In an attempt to reach her students on a more personal level, Anne English, single mom and high school English teacher, begins writing them letters and asking for honest responses. Taking place over one full school year, Class Letters reveals how letter-writing can lead to deep, and unlikely, connections. ;

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Claire Chilton Lopez is writer, blogger, and former high school English teacher. She has written two novels, several spiritual fables, and a number of poems. The inspiration for her novel, Class Letters, originated during her years of teaching and her desire to encourage other teachers to connect with their students through the power of letters. Claire enjoys travel, reading, and riding motorcycles. She lives with her husband and two dogs.

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"Class Letters . . . is about the importance of establishing relationships with students and teaching them the importance of being a person of character."

--Rudolph Lopez Jr., Ed. D

"Claire makes all the points that need to be made. It's simple. It's real. It's human. Opening a child's mind begins with opening a child's heart."

--Lily Eskelsen, NEA Vice President

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Class Letters

By Claire Lopez

She Writes Press

Copyright © 2013 Claire Lopez
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-938314-28-5

CHAPTER 1

With the preliminary class information out of the way—the rules andprocedures, the dos and don'ts—Anne outlined the curriculum for theyear. "As you may or may not know," she smiled, "English IV isBritish lit. We'll go through the literature book chronologically,beginning with Beowulf and ending with Pygmalion, by GeorgeBernard Shaw. And, like every year in English, we'll do a researchpaper along the way."

A hand in the back.

"What's chrono-

whatever?"

"Chronologically means we'll read it in sequence according to thetime period in which it happened. Chronos is Greek for time. Doesanyone know what etymology means?"

Blank stares everywhere.

"The etymology of a word refers to its root, prefix, and suffix. It helpsyou understand where a word comes from and its original meaning.Knowing the etymology of a word could help you dissect a word enoughto understand the denotation, or dictionary definition, even if you'venever seen or heard the word before."

Anne wrote the following words on the board: chronometer,chronic, synchronicity.

"Can anyone guess what these words mean?"

Another hand.

"Is a chronometer a time meter?"

"Very good—it measures time. What about chronic?"

"It's some badass weed, Miss," joked Ray, a Hispanic boy in theback row.

"I've heard that," Anne smiled. "What happens when you havea chronic disease or condition?"

"Isn't it when you have something that lasts for a long time?"asked Tiffany, a perky blonde in the front row.

"Yes, that's right. Good. Now, if I told you that the prefix syn- meanswith or together, what do you think synchronicity mightmean?"

Tiffany raised her hand, "Something that happens at the same timeas something else?"

"Right! We'll learn more about etymology as we go through theyear. Like I said, it's a very handy thing to know. There are even timeswhen I come across a word that I don't know, but if I know a piece of it,like the prefix or root, I can at least get an idea of the meaning. ThenI usually get the rest from context clues. Now I want to explain yournovel project. Each semester, I want you to read a novel outside of classthat you choose on your own."

"What? I hate to read! I don't like reading nothing I have to read, so Iknow I don't wanna read extra stuff," said Ray.

"The good thing about this assignment is that you get to choose. Youcan read something from the Twilight series or a Harry Potter book. Itcan be one hundred pages or one thousand, and can be by any authoryou choose."

"It don't matter, Miss. I still hate to read. Do we have to?"

"Well, it's a test grade, and if you don't do it, you'll have a zero.A zero for a test grade almost guarantees you'll fail the six weeks.But it's ultimately up to you. Now, does anyone want to share what theydid over the summer?"

"But, Miss, about the book thing," began Ray, "I don't know whatto get or anything. And I was banned from the library last year 'cause thatlibrary lady hates me."

"I can help you choose something, and I can also talk to Mrs.Boyle to see about letting you check out a book for my class. Besides,you might actually like it."

As she turned her back to grab a stack of papers, she heard,"Pssst. You don't have to really read it, fool. Just look it up on theInternet. She'll never know."

Two of Anne's pet peeves were cheating and apathy, and thissuggestion of using the Internet covered both. She would rather get onehundred mediocre honest projects than one stupendous dishonest one.She knew that reading was beneficial, fun, and a good escape. And,sadly, she was sure at least a few of her students could use a wholesomeescape from their home life. Unfortunately, trying to convince a roomfull of teenagers was a difficult proposition. Rather than address thecovert op during class, she wanted to sit on it for a while and determine adifferent tack. Besides, she was angry and needed time to think of anappropriate course of action.

Anne holed up in the teacher workroom during her conferenceperiod, sipping a diet cola and getting off her feet for the first time thatday. The first day of school—the first week or two, really—wasexhausting, especially after summer break. Her vacation days weregenerally unstructured. She might work in the yard, swim, go out tothe nature center, or ride her motorcycle, and her summer attire wasalways comfortable: shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flops. Some days she wasup at 7:00 a.m. to pull weeds before the heat of the day descended;some days she'd sleep until ten. Getting back into a regular scheduleand school-appropriate attire was always a shock to her system.

"How are your classes?" asked Debra Carson, an algebra teacher.

"So far, so good. Just grabbing a little caffeine boost to get throughthe rest of the day," said Anne, raising the can. "Yours?"

"Pretty good, but it's just the first day. They're always good on thefirst day. Making it through next week will be more of a challenge."

"True. Just out of curiosity, do you think many kids around herecheat?"

"Cheat? Do I think many kids cheat? I think all kids cheat. Areyou kidding? None of these kids is willing to work on their own."

"None? Really? I think there are plenty of kids who want to dotheir own work," said Anne.

"Maybe that's the case in English classes, but not in math. It's alljust a cat-and-mouse game to see how many different ways they canfind to cheat and how many we can actually catch 'em at."

"Isn't that just a little bit cynical?" teased Anne.

"Cynical? Nope, it's reality. I've been here thirty-five years, andtrust me, they all cheat, the little shits. Well, have a great day!"

"Uh, yeah. See ya," said Anne. She knew Debra's reputation as amalcontent, but still hoped that Debra's attitude wasn't thepervasive one among the faculty.

Anne pondered her options about the potential cheating issue whilestirring spaghetti sauce that night before dinner. Was there a game theycould play or maybe a children's book that would get the message across?She didn't want to simply lecture the kids on the virtue of honesty. Shewanted to do something that would bring the lesson home and makethem think. She thought of her own children—her seventeen-year-olddaughter, Maggie, and Richard, who was fourteen. She knew that shetalked to her own children about such things, but how many of her students'parents did likewise? As a parent, what would she want a teacher tosay to them? She knew she walked a fine line between being an instructorand taking on a more parental role—something that occasionally causedresentment with parents. Nevertheless, she felt a sense of urgency—mostof these kids would be completely on their own in less than a year.

"What helps you internalize something you need to know?" she askedher children at dinner.

"Money," answered Richard quickly.

"How does that help?"

"I'll do just about anything for cold, hard cash, Mom," grinnedRichard.

"Okay, but what about with my students? I can't pay all of themto learn something!"

"I like it when you write me letters, Mom. It's something I can readover again if I need to, and something I can look at and think about,"Maggie said.

"Great idea, Maggie. I like writing you letters; it gives me a chanceto say what I really want to say, because I can think about it...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: She Writes Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 193831428X
• ISBN 13: 9781938314285
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 396
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar