Student of the Month: October 2012
It is often difficult to select a first Student of the Month in a new school year. When the call for nominees went out last month, I didn’t even know all my students’ names, let alone enough about them to decide who might be deserving of this award. This early in the year, the students I usually know best are the ones I’d like to strangle because they talk too much or don’t follow instructions. But I was under the gun, so I fell back on a strategy I don’t usually use: I looked at grades.
Laura Needham had the highest percentage in all my Honors English classes, so I nominated her as the Language Arts Student of the Month even though all I really knew about her at the time was that she was quiet and that she sat at the back of the room, working hard not to draw any attention to herself. But now I have had a chance to get to know her a little through her writing, and I’ve decided I definitely made the right choice.
In her Writing Notebook, Laura calls herself a “typical girl” even though she openly admits that she loves reading. She and I seem to have similar tastes in that area, as she said that if she could only save one book, it would be Dracula. She also has plenty of opinions about the way schools are run and how students should be encouraged to ask more questions, even though she admits to wanting to be the “perfect student” and doing exactly “what the teacher wants.” She even said, “I live in constant fear of doing something wrong….” That is a fear we will work on overcoming in Honors English this year.
A member of the Utah Youth Symphony, Laura has played the violin for more than half her life, and she often competes in local competitions. If her playing is anything like her writing, I am sure she wins many of them. Asked to describe images in her home that appeal to the five senses, Laura wrote, “I see dogs. I hear barking dogs. I smell dogs. I feel dog fur.” (I was glad she stopped before she got to taste.) She has a Yorkie and a Maltese guarding her house, so you can imagine the chaos that ensues at the ring of the doorbell.
There is only one thing Laura has written so far that I don’t agree with: I don’t think she is “typical” at all. I think she is exceptional in many ways, and I am very glad that she is in my class this year.
Laura Needham had the highest percentage in all my Honors English classes, so I nominated her as the Language Arts Student of the Month even though all I really knew about her at the time was that she was quiet and that she sat at the back of the room, working hard not to draw any attention to herself. But now I have had a chance to get to know her a little through her writing, and I’ve decided I definitely made the right choice.
In her Writing Notebook, Laura calls herself a “typical girl” even though she openly admits that she loves reading. She and I seem to have similar tastes in that area, as she said that if she could only save one book, it would be Dracula. She also has plenty of opinions about the way schools are run and how students should be encouraged to ask more questions, even though she admits to wanting to be the “perfect student” and doing exactly “what the teacher wants.” She even said, “I live in constant fear of doing something wrong….” That is a fear we will work on overcoming in Honors English this year.
A member of the Utah Youth Symphony, Laura has played the violin for more than half her life, and she often competes in local competitions. If her playing is anything like her writing, I am sure she wins many of them. Asked to describe images in her home that appeal to the five senses, Laura wrote, “I see dogs. I hear barking dogs. I smell dogs. I feel dog fur.” (I was glad she stopped before she got to taste.) She has a Yorkie and a Maltese guarding her house, so you can imagine the chaos that ensues at the ring of the doorbell.
There is only one thing Laura has written so far that I don’t agree with: I don’t think she is “typical” at all. I think she is exceptional in many ways, and I am very glad that she is in my class this year.
posted by MRT at 7:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home