Here at Ethical ELA, we pursue what is good and ethical in our practice. At the beginning of the school year there is a lot of business with setting up procedures, but let’s talk about blending the practical and the ethical. In this post, Lesley Roessing starts the conversation. Yes, we have to learn names, but we can do it in ways that honor who we are and celebrate what makes us similar and different — how rich our classroom community is and how fortunate we are to have all of these human beings together for the school year!
by Lesley Roessing
It is the beginning of school. In most classrooms teachers need to become acquainted with their students; in some classrooms—in many middle and high school classroom—students need to get to know each other. It is important to create community in any classroom, but especially in ELA classroom where students will be sharing their writings and their thoughts and ideas about readings and perhaps reading collaboratively in book clubs. Most times, the stronger the feeling of community, the deeper the discussions can go.
I have found that before people can accept and value diversity in others, they need to first see similarities. Teachers and students need to learn more than each others’ names; it vital that they learn about each other, who they are. It is important that teachers help students to forge new friendships, for each class to form an “Us,” rather than and “Us” and “Them.”
To become familiar with students as more than names and for them to become informed about each other, I have found an effective introductory activity is creating name signs for their desks. For these signs, students print their names, forming each letter into an item that tells something about themselves. An L might be a pencil and a book spine. An M can be two mountains showing a favorite vacation spot. One student’s N consisted of a collection of sports paraphernalia: a hockey stick, a golf club, and a lacrosse stick.
I first show my name sign (which I could design for “Mrs. Roessing”):
Students tell me what they can learn about me from my sign—
- I play tennis and golf.
- My husband runs with our two Aussies (and a hat).
- I went to the University of Pittsburgh and taught at Ridley and now at AASU (now known as Armstrong State University).
- at the time I made this sign, I had written 3 books—but not with a pencil although I like to handwrite my ideas.
- I am a pescetarian.
Besides now knowing my name, my students now know something about me, actually quite a lot—and the vegetarians nod and smile at me as do the tennis players and dog owners.
Before drawing their letters, students brainstorm, just like any writing. They brainstorm categories of favorites—foods, interests, activities, sports, hobbies, places, games, people, school subjects, etc. The next step is to list things they like and group or organize the topics in each category. These are the same steps as the Common Core State Standards for Informational Writing mandates, for example
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2.a Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.2.b Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
On the first days of classes teachers can be introducing writing concepts they will teach later in the year.
Next students form these items into letters. Designers may use capitals, small letters, or a combination of both. The teacher can advise students to write the names by which they want to be called.
During the time students are designing and creating their signs, classmates chat with their neighbors, sharing supplies and ideas, playing with their names and each other’s names, and communicating. When completed, the teacher asks students to look at each other’s signs and tell what they have learned about each other. They are reading and interpreting pictures—visual literacy.
It is then they notice the similarities with their fellow students. We see eight cats, six dogs, many musical instruments, sports gear, and almost everyone forms V’s, W’s, C’s, and O’s into pizza slices and pies which leads to the pepperoni versus plain cheese versus best vegetable toppings discussions. Next thing we know, adolescents are chatting with others they may have ignored most of the year.
While students are connecting through discovered similarities, they are also noticing the diverse talents of their classmates. Cailtin draws very well, Sarah has a creative sense of color and design, Benjamin meticulously measures out his letters with mathematical precision so that he doesn’t run out of room on his sign, Dave [see above] does not, and Tom thinks outside the box.
These facts, such as artistic prowess, are mentally noted by the teacher and by their classmates and will be important to know when choosing group members for future projects. I found it easy, and beneficial, to note affective traits—which students are sociable and jabber with everyone, who would rather work alone, who is interested in everyone else’s creation, who stays on task, and who are the organizers (“Let’s place sets of markers so that everyone can reach them and each group of four can share a ruler.”).
The signs will remain on the desks until teacher and students all learn each other’s names and become better acquainted. Signs then can be stored in the classroom and brought out periodically for class visitors and guest speakers, substitute teachers, and when new students join the class, inviting them all to join the classroom community.
Adapted from Roessing, L. (2012). No More “Us” and “Them”: Classroom Lessons & Activities to Promote Peer Respect. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Lesley Roessing is the Founding Director of the Coastal Savannah Writing Project and Sr. Lecturer in the College of Education, Armstrong State University, Savannah; Editor of Connections, the GCTE journal; and author of The Write to Read: Response Journals That Increase Comprehension (Corwin Press), No More “Us” and “Them”: Classroom Lessons & Activities to Promote Peer Respect (Rowman & Littlefield), Comma Quest: The Rules They Followed; The Sentences They Saved (Discover Writing), and Bridging the Gap: Reading Critically & Writing Meaningfully to Get to the Core (Rowman & Littlefield).
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!