ReinvetingEnglish

The contact zone is exactly what the seventh graders I work with might need to be inspired to write. I hope I someday get the opportunity to find out. The reading of fiction and nonfiction texts which address social issues would have meaning for them that reaches beyond the classroom. The notion of schools being a place for human development, beyond rote academic tasks has been around for centuries, but the new obsession with standardized testing has squashed these noble goals for many teachers. In my future classroom, I will aspire to create units that have contact zone themes while adhering to core standards in the process. They do not have to be mutually exclusive.
The quote that we are all hyphenated Americans might be my opening line for such a unit. It makes the point succinctly and dramatically. Also, the note written by the Columbine shooters would be an excellent piece to discuss and write about a utopian school culture in which those boys would have been healed by their community. A question of what kind of school communities we can build in order to prevent the emotional pain of future school shooters. These kinds of units allow students to take ownership of their thinking and writing. Rather than scold Cliff for his headphones, I would say, "let's study the lyrics of Cliff's song as poetry and explore the merit of them as a piece of writing.". Rather than constant scolding and repression, I want to fold my students' social realities into the curriculum. We can still demand rigor in writing and reading skills while opening the hearts and minds of the generation that will someday lead us.