In one way, I feel completely at odds when reflecting upon my own literacy as it relates to my being a future teacher. By no means was I a super motivated smart kid in grades K-12; in fact, I was painfully below-average to average except in reading. I didn’t even write well, although I think I may have been able to if I gave a damn. But even with that said, I still had a serious literacy nut inside of me. I still strove to want to understand words and learn new ones. I just didn’t choose the classroom to display these accomplishments. I think my academic ennui was caused by a seemingly never ending stream of dull, miserable teachers.
The Conflict
interested student ßà lukewarm teachers
vs.
motivated teacher ßà disinterested student
But lo and behold, I started having fantastic teachers in college. In particular, during my undergraduate years I had several classes with Professor Goldberg: composition, critical thinking, creative writing, and Jewish studies, all of which required a lot of writing. In addition, he also exposed his students to a wide variety of some really good writers, and by encouraging multiple drafts of our writing efforts, he pushed us to not only create a coherent and appropriate essay, he also begged us to be really eloquent while doing so. I really liked that approach and it creatively challenged me. Truth be told, I don’t know how many students bothered to rise to the occasion or if Professor Goldberg’s approach is even the way to go. But I would like to think that I could teach like that and see good come of it.
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