Language Arts Student of the Year: 2017
On the first day of school, there was new student in Honors English. I did not know then that this soft-spoken, long-braided new kid with the sparkling blue eyes would later earn the Homeric nickname Enduring Kennedy, the Arm-Wrestling Goddess of Dirty Converse and She Who Goes the Extra Mile...usually on a bike. (The part about the Converse was hers.) This year the Language Arts Spotlight shines on Kennedy Taintor.
As part of the first-day assignment, I had the students write about themselves and ask me their questions. Kennedy wrote, “I am the type of reader who stays up until 3:00 A.M. reading a book and then wakes up at 6:00 to read again.” So far so good, for an Honors English student. Then, her question for me: “Are you the type of teacher who teases students….?” Uh-oh. She went on: “Don’t tease me or anyone else in a mean way because that bugs me.” Duly noted. She also included the sentence “I am a VERY hard worker.” Mm-hmm, I thought at the time, we shall see….”
By the beginning of second term, the new kid had already distinguished herself in multiple ways, one being her meticulous and exquisitely legible printing, which I had plenty of opportunity to appreciate as we plowed through novel responses, journals, and essays. Kennedy’s writing was so easy-to-read that I sometimes wondered how she was seemingly able to type and print her in-class responses in such an attractive font when so many of her classmates (raised in a world where most “writing” is done with only thumbs) suffered headache-inducing dysgraphia (Cough: Braden, Cough: Ethan). I began to think of her manuscript as the Kennedy Font, and I wished more of her classmates would use it.
Her third-term paper on the leadership style of Odysseus was not only the longest, most in-depth, most precisely researched of all that were turned in, but she was also one of the only students who dared to just say it: Odysseus wasn’t a very good leader. Although we referred to him repeatedly as a hero during our study of The Odyssey, Kennedy was not afraid to take issue with tradition. She stated her case clearly and defended it powerfully. Her writing was memorable, and her hard work was paying off.
Recently, I assigned Kennedy to read a poem aloud to the class. “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver reminds us to pay attention because life goes by in a blur. I remind students it isn’t mere existence that makes you special. It’s what you DO with that blur of your life, so you should do something! Pursue it with passion and ambition, whatever it is. “Dream big! Work hard!” I’ve written that on a lot of final papers in the past couple weeks, but I didn’t need to write it on Kennedy’s because she already knew…and she told me so on that first day of school.
Indeed, you are a hard worker, young lady! And even though I didn’t always have time to say it, I did notice, and I appreciate all your extremely legible, precisely researched, and thoughtfully complete work. I’m glad the new kid ended up in my class this year!
As part of the first-day assignment, I had the students write about themselves and ask me their questions. Kennedy wrote, “I am the type of reader who stays up until 3:00 A.M. reading a book and then wakes up at 6:00 to read again.” So far so good, for an Honors English student. Then, her question for me: “Are you the type of teacher who teases students….?” Uh-oh. She went on: “Don’t tease me or anyone else in a mean way because that bugs me.” Duly noted. She also included the sentence “I am a VERY hard worker.” Mm-hmm, I thought at the time, we shall see….”
By the beginning of second term, the new kid had already distinguished herself in multiple ways, one being her meticulous and exquisitely legible printing, which I had plenty of opportunity to appreciate as we plowed through novel responses, journals, and essays. Kennedy’s writing was so easy-to-read that I sometimes wondered how she was seemingly able to type and print her in-class responses in such an attractive font when so many of her classmates (raised in a world where most “writing” is done with only thumbs) suffered headache-inducing dysgraphia (Cough: Braden, Cough: Ethan). I began to think of her manuscript as the Kennedy Font, and I wished more of her classmates would use it.
Her third-term paper on the leadership style of Odysseus was not only the longest, most in-depth, most precisely researched of all that were turned in, but she was also one of the only students who dared to just say it: Odysseus wasn’t a very good leader. Although we referred to him repeatedly as a hero during our study of The Odyssey, Kennedy was not afraid to take issue with tradition. She stated her case clearly and defended it powerfully. Her writing was memorable, and her hard work was paying off.
Recently, I assigned Kennedy to read a poem aloud to the class. “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver reminds us to pay attention because life goes by in a blur. I remind students it isn’t mere existence that makes you special. It’s what you DO with that blur of your life, so you should do something! Pursue it with passion and ambition, whatever it is. “Dream big! Work hard!” I’ve written that on a lot of final papers in the past couple weeks, but I didn’t need to write it on Kennedy’s because she already knew…and she told me so on that first day of school.
Indeed, you are a hard worker, young lady! And even though I didn’t always have time to say it, I did notice, and I appreciate all your extremely legible, precisely researched, and thoughtfully complete work. I’m glad the new kid ended up in my class this year!
posted by MRT at 8:00 PM
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