Celebrate Turn #21

Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share and celebrate events, big or small, from our week. 

Today I celebrate pencils.

Some of you may think this is an odd celebration.  I would too, if I hadn't heard Ruth's presentation at nErDcamp in Michigan this week.

I know I can never adequately summarize her presentation.  Because I was hanging on her every word, I did not take great notes.  So just let me tell you about my take-away from her session.

My teaching team has two different views on what to do when students come to class without a pencil.  Some think we are not teaching students to be responsible if we constantly give a pencil to students who come to class without one. Some teachers do not want to continuously replenish their stock of pencils because they have given students all of their supply.

Then others think, how are they supposed to do the work if they do not have a pencil.

I have always belonged to camp "give them a pencil."  Now after hearing Ruth's presentation, I still have the belief but with a different perspective.

Ruth explained that students' basic needs to be met before creativity, or specifically writing, can happen.  She showed a jar of colored pencils which represented  their many different stories, unique stories full of color which need to be written.

She then had us list behaviors we see when students do not want to write.  For example, staring out the window, fake writing, erasing everything they wrote because it was not perfect, and not having a pencil.  She wrote each one of these behaviors on a piece of tape and slowly began placing them on the jar so that we could no longer see their "stories."

Ruth then explained that these behaviors can represent an unmet need, a need we may never know about or a need we choose to ignore.

These behaviors cover up the stories which reside inside of them - the stories they may never write and we may never read.

If we can recognize this behavior, we can change our reaction.  

When we change our reaction, we give them hope.

Think about your reactions when a student does not have a pencil.  Maybe now you understand why...

Today I celebrate pencils.

Just for clarification...these are words from Ruth's presentation.  I in no way want to be given credit for them.  This post is validation and celebration that I am doing the right thing by giving students pencils.