Falcon Finale: LA Student of the Year

This was my introduction of the Language Arts Student of the Year at the Falcon Finale on May 26, 2005.

In the past, when I have had the pleasure of presenting this award, I have always tried to keep my speech brief. As my students will testify, no one is more aware of the often-unbearable heat than I am (and this suit doesn’t help). But this year, despite the heat and the suit and the spotlight and all the other things here that I would usually want to escape as quickly as possible, I can’t keep it short because I have too many good things to say about this year’s language arts student of the year. He deserves the extra time.

Because our Honors English class takes place mainly in cyberspace, students have to be self-motivated and personally responsible. About half of the 60 students who signed up for the program at the beginning of the year actually followed through for the entire four terms to earn the honors credit. Many of those students will be honored here tonight, for they are among the best and the brightest Fairfield has to offer. One, however, stands out as a particularly adept student of language because he genuinely understands what it means to communicate and he strives not only to perfect his own writing and reading skills, but to help his classmates do the same.

One element of the online Honors English program is what is called a discussion board. It is a site on the Internet where students post their written reflections on topics I provide. Over the course of this year, students wrote responses to 30 discussion questions relating to the literature we were reading or various other topics of current interest. Most students dutifully posted their responses (at the last minute) and seldom bothered to pursue the activity beyond that. This year’s language arts student of the year, however, often took it upon himself to open new forums of discussion or to respond to those opened by others. During the elections last fall, he and a small handful of his classmates were able to carry on a political argument that was more civilized and educational than anything in the "professional" media. By the end of the first term, I realized that the students in the class were taking their cues from him, and I was able to step out of the discussion. He became my unofficial cyber-TA. He not only answered technical questions about how to get the computer to do things, but his posted responses to discussion questions often became the model that others would follow. And a fine model it was! He was never shy about going first, and after a while they expected it from him.

Another aspect of the online program (about which there was no small amount of griping and moaning) was the blog. It’s short for “web log,” and honors students had to write 500 words a week about a topic of their choice. Our language arts student of the year took the blog to levels I did not anticipate. His writing was not only thoughtful and incisive, but he discovered ways to post audio blogs, and he often accompanied his writing with guitar and piano music…that HE played. Also, whereas most other students were focused completely on their own work, he always read and commented on his classmates’ writing, thereby making the process truly one of communication and sharing of ideas, not just the agonizing chore that many of the students seemed to think it was.

Because he was willing to put himself out there as a model and example to his classmates….

Because he put his heart into his work, thereby making the experience richer for all of us…

Because he helped make a potentially impersonal online class an interactive and friendly experience…

And because he used his excellence as a communicator for all the right reasons….

This year’s language arts student of the year is Trey Williams.