Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—REMEMBERING OUR OWN EXPERIENCES

Stacey Cotten “was the kind of student who did just enough to get by.” Susan Soitiriades

was “once in their shoes.” Jennifer Bambino “hated teachers because they were control-

ling.” Lynda Costello-Herrera remembers being called “spic.” Stephanie Hunte remem-

bers when “I was the new kid and I was scared.” Other new teachers have spoken about

being placed in special education classes because of learning disabilities, having eating

disorders as adolescents, or being tracked into slow classes because they were second-

language learners.

Questions to Consider:

1. Which of the school experiences described in this section are most like yours? Whose
   experience was most different? Explain.


2. Make two lists: (a) What I liked about secondary school. (b) What I did not like about
   secondary school. How would your current list differ from a list you would have made
   as a teenager? Why?
   3.Write a biographical essay, “How My Experiences as a Student Will Shape My Work as
   a Teacher.”

SECTION D: TEACHING STORIES 1

Teaching Stories(1997) is the title of a book by a San Francisco, California, middle school
teacher named Judy Logan. It is one of my favorite books about teaching, and I highly recom-
mend it. Judy is committed to a student-centered, project-based approach to teaching social
studies and literature, and she is not afraid to develop personal relationships with her stu-
dents or to “rock the boat.” Her students create history quilts and write poetry to celebrate
the past, to draw connections between historical events and the experience of their own
families, and to demonstrate their understanding of content material. They create class ritu-
als that define membership in their tribe. They go on camping trips to build their sense of
community.
Judy tries to maximize student participation in governing the classroom and the projects.
She writes, “If I control the content, I try to let them control the form. If I control the form, I
try to let students control the content” of projects (p. 17). She wants all of her students to be
able to see themselves “mirrored in the content of the curriculum” (p. 18).
Some of my teacher education students have found her more unorthodox projects a little
unnerving. Judy developed an activity she calls “Stealing Stories” where her students read
and discuss stories about taking something that does not belong to you. Judy believes that
sharing these and their own stories gives students a chance to “cultivate wisdom” about
themselves and others and is far more effective for developing values than humiliating or
punishing them for breaking rules.
My favorite story from her book is about a rite-of-passage project Judy calls “Angela’s Rit-
ual.” A seventh-grade girl named Angela asked Judy to organize a menstruation ceremony to
commemorate her first period. The ritual was held at Angela’s home and included her par-
ents, friends, and teachers. When we discuss this story, most of the students in my pre-
service class shout “Never!” They will never do anything like this; it is too risky, it is not
“school-related,” and it would jeopardize their careers.
I try to focus class discussion on the significance of the project rather than the profes-
sional risk. I usually ask the women in the class if they would be willing to share with the

48 CHAPTER 2