Student Publication and Teacher Revelation

This last week, a group of my students completed publication of Scatterbrain: A Collection of Memoirs - a book we've been working on together since mid-October. As the title suggests, it is a collection of short memoirs written by the students. Here's the description they wrote for the back cover:

"Many adults wonder what goes through a teenager’s mind. Many teenagers wonder the same thing. Scatterbrain: A Collection of Memoirs offers an insight into the elusive minds of those living in a world that is completely their own, between childhood and adulthood, wanting to make big decisions about their futures yet needing Mom’s help to shop for clothes. These memoirs show their laughter and tears, love and hate, confusion and clarity. From coping with the death of a father and battling an eating disorder to camping, fishing, and traveling with friends, the perspectives that these writers have shared are at once unique and universal. They reveal the hopes of children through the vivid memories of young adults."

We used blurb.com -- a "creative publishing service" as it's called -- to take what would otherwise have been just a 'class assignment' that got written, graded, and thrown away and make it into something with value that extends beyond the school building.

One really fascinating experience that this whole process created occurred two days after the book was finished. As a way to celebrate the beautiful work the students had done, I sent an email to our faculty and staff to tell them about the book and ask them to congratulate the kids.

The next day, a few students told me this had made them really uncomfortable. It wasn't the idea of having their work in public that bothered them (they said they didn't mind strangers or even family reading it); it was the idea of their teachers being able to read it that freaked them out. We had a class discussion about it, but no one seemed really able to pinpoint what it was about this situation that they didn't like.

That night I got an email from a student who wanted to explain things more clearly:

"We all appreciate the project, it is really cool. The issues that we had seemed to be with ourselves. I guess it's scary to put yourself out there, especially to teachers who have always been our 'superiors'. We have always been taught you are subordinate to your teachers and they are there to teach you. It seems really sad, but unfortunately it has always been that way. I think moving out of our comfort zone is something we have to do, and for some people that is a harder step than for others."

She mentions being "taught" to believe in this barrier between students and teachers -- I wonder if it's possible to pinpoint when/how that socialization process happens. I've always felt that fewer barriers is the way to help students achieve more meaningful learning (see my post about the CES School Study Tour), but I know that not everyone agrees with that view. In fact, there are some really stellar teachers here at OHS for whom those barriers seem essential to the way they craft their teaching.

The one piece of advice I had for the authors of Scatterbrain (who are all seniors preparing to go off to college) was that they should begin unlearning some of those barriers now. In college, they'll only get in the way.