Tie that Red String around Your Finger: This is Something to Remember!

With budget cuts and consolidations taking place, English teachers are forced to have well over 100 students, sometimes even close to 150 students.  If you are unsure of how to react to that number, let me tell you: overwhelmed!  Sure, teachers are granted the opportunity to have many more students (than usual) touch their lives within a single year, but are teachers able to touch the lives of all of their students like they should?  As it is, a teacher's time is thin, and the more students that are added, the less time teachers will have to properly devote to each student.  

You may be wondering why I am specifically targeting English teachers.  Well, I am an English teacher, so I'm speaking from experience, but I also know that English teachers assess student writing more often, and differently, than other content area teachers.  Writing in English class isn't just about providing an accurate account of something or a solid analysis.  It's also about finding your own style as a writer and developing a strong voice, which is all done through experimentation.  In order to develop as a writer, you need to practice -  often.  English teachers who have well over 100 students  have to provide quick and thoughtful feedback -  often - so that their students progress as writers.  It's no wonder many English teachers feel overwhelmed; they are have to treat their students' writing like objects on an assembly line.

So, what's the cure?  Well, duh!  Reduce class size! I know, I know.  That is wishful thinking, isn't it? Well, what do English teachers who suffer from large class sizes do in the meantime?

The answer is simple: namaste.  For some, that is a familiar term that you may have heard during a yoga session.  The word namaste simply means a spiritual greeting.  Christopher Cotton reminds his teacher readers to take a deep breath, relax, and properly greet each student's writing before they begin assessing it in his essay "Namaste: A Spiritual Approach to Grading".  Cotton says, "With grading, the trick is to acquire that attitude that makes it energy-producing."  Before he assesses his students' essays, he says namaste, and with that he bows to each student and is thus able to give them the genuine attention they deserve.  It's easy to overlook and forget that is what our students need from us, a genuine response.  We can't treat them like objects on an assembly line, even if we are pressed for time.  We must remember - and here is where you should put a red string on your finger and remember this - that it is an honor and a privileged to read the words of our students.  When they write to us, many times they are baring their souls, telling a story they have never told before, and our response to what they shared can be life changing.  So, fellow English teachers, when you are feeling bogged down with far too many papers to assess and not enough time to assess them, take a moment to breathe and remind yourself to be thankful - your students have invited you into their private worlds.  Learn from your students and empower them by simply giving them the genuine attention they deserve.  I promise you will gain just as much knowledge from doing so as your students will, and it will definitely make grading your stack of essays much more enjoyable.