Meredith Newlin - Captured Fireflies

Captured Fireflies

Truths, Mistakes, and Other Gifts of Being an English Teacher

Meredith Newlin

For Emily, and for all teachers who strive to create a new thing, a new attitude, a new hunger

and for Eleanor, Oscar, and Catherinemy world

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at printing time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the author. The information contained within this book is strictly for informative purposes. If you wish to apply ideas contained in this book, you take full responsibility for your actions. The strategies and opinions described within this book are the authors personal thoughts. They are not intended to be a definitive authority on any topic.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Cover Design 2017 by Jessica Perkins Moncla

Author Photograph by Catherine Guerrero

Published by Realscolena Publishing

Durham, North Carolina

Copyright 2017 Meredith Newlin

All rights reserved.

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1979527071

ISBN-13: 1979527075

LCCN: 2017917567

BISAC: Language Arts & Disciplines / Study & Teaching

For Emily, and for all teachers who strive to create a new thing, a new attitude, a new hunger

And for Eleanor, Oscar, and Catherinemy world

Like Captured Fireflies

In her classroom our speculations ranged the world.

She aroused us to book waving discussions.

Every morning we came to her carrying new truths, new facts,

new ideas

Cupped and sheltered in our hands like captured fireflies.

When she went away a sadness came over us,

But the light did not go out.

She left her signature upon us

The literature of the teacher who writes on childrens minds.

Ive had many teachers who taught us soon forgotten things,

But only a few like her who created in me a new thing, a new attitude, a new hunger.

I suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned manuscript of that teacher.

What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person.

John Steinbeck (1955)

CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
How I Got Here in the First Place
The Nightmare and the Dream Seat
Be a Learner as Much as You Are a Teacher
Surviving the Honeymoon Period (We Cant Romanticize This Job)
Listen to Your Students (And They Will Listen to You)
Why We Cant Compare Ourselves to Other Teachers
Fail to Plan; Plan to Fail
Dealing with Teenagers Today (Does Anyone Really Know How?)
Your Reputation Will Precede You (And You Have to Learn Not to Care)
Building and Maintaining Appropriate Teacher-Student Relationships
Surviving the Bureaucracy of Education
The Necessity of Bread and Circuses (Sometimes Let Them Eat Dessert First)
Movies and Cheat Sheets: The Right Way and the Wrong Way
Mountains of Majesty: Getting through the Papers to Grade
When the Going Gets Tough... You Know the Rest
Have a Life and an Identity Outside of School Teachers Can Make a Difference ( And a Decent Living)
A Letter to You
A Letter to Current United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
Suggested Reading

preface

Y OU KNOW THAT DREAM where youre standing in front of a full class of students and youre wearing nothing but your underwear? In my fourth year of teaching, that dream nearly became a reality, although Im not sure if that kind of mortifying dream would have been worse than what really happened.

It was a regular Tuesday in November, just three days before my thirty-second birthday. My afternoon class of twelfth graders was getting ready to start act 2 of Macbeth . They say if you say Macbeth three times, its bad luck. Maybe thats why it happened.

It would take one student, Jacob, two minutes to say two sentences from the play, and his time was one of the fastest in the class. Jacob, who had pensive, deep brown eyes, was one of the kindest students Id ever taught. He also had autism and loved playing the trumpet.

Thank you for the lesson! he would say at the end of each day. He had been in my freshman class my second year of teaching. It had been an honors class. Now, three years later, he was in my senior class. It was not an honors class.

It was a class where the dynamic was veryIm rubbing my chin to try to find the precise word and will settle on interesting . My principal had delicately told me during an observation early in the school year that I might be walking a fine line. He had always been very supportive and appeared to see only the best in me. So it took me awhile to realize that he didnt really mean that phrase as a compliment. At the time, I thought he meant it was a skill that I had. After all, to walk a fine line would be like walking a tightrope, right? Which took talent, patience, and precision, didnt it? So wasnt walking a fine line a good thing? I neglected to realize that walking a tightrope increased ones chances of falling far and falling hard.