Teaching & Reteaching 

#TeachinginNC
Why am I starting a blog? Because I need to write, speak, and think more than just in Room 114. I have a story to tell about the on-going process of learning. That's all.

My student have now finished reading, for their first and most likely only time, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and selections from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Honestly, I've lost count but probably have read Hawthorne at least a dozen times while Chaucer, is fewer, but I've studied his entire work in the original Middle English. Am I bored with these selections? Does familiarity breed contempt or endearment?

Strangely, the quality of the work, especially in Hawthorne, shines strong in multiple studies. Each re-reading forces new insights, new understanding, and new revelations. I see a word or a punctuation device, even a simple hyphen, never noticed before. In bringing the work to a classroom of diverse learners, I gain insight from those who learn differently than I. This year's juniors have artistic tendencies so I directed them toward colors, structures, and locations. The visual direction their brains focus showed Hawthorne's structuring of the novel anew. The scaffold scene, key at the beginning, middle, and end, showcases character changes and revelations even in the position of the characters' feet on ground, steps, or on a platform. The characters involved, as they touch each other physically, reveal to the reader themes of love, loyalty, betrayal, and forgiveness. Have I read this information before? Of course. Watching the words create meaning and guiding less confident readers toward understanding requires that I understand their processing methods. In doing so, my processing increases. Hawthorne's craftsmanship impresses me again, during my 2014 rereading, and excites me as I tuck another piece of knowledge in my educator's arsenal.

How can I grow tired of teaching? For every piece of knowledge or new skill I hope to transmit, my students reinforce, train, teach, and transmit so much more directly to me.  On this Saturday afternoon, while feeling confident about the completed unit on The Scarlet Letter, I'm ready now to move to my back porch and begin grading editorials my seniors wrote concerning an issue raised in The Scarlet Letter. Did the students understand Chaucer's social commentary enough to connect ideas? Did the access to digital news and opinion reports prove effective? Did they enjoy the task? Did their writing convey ideas effectively. We'll see. Even while assessing their efforts today, I'll learn more about my favorite British writer and understand the characters in the Prologue or in the Miller's Tale in a new, clever way altogether.