By Jennifer Henry
Dixie Heights High School
I admire the tenacity of weeds; their resilience and defenses are worthy traits.
I had this very thought when traveling on vacation a few weeks ago.
Flanked by corn fields and energy-harnessing windmills, the highway did not offer much visual stimulation. My family of six had exhausted the shelf-life of the alphabet game, so we retired to our own devices, literally.
With the soundtrack of travel in my ears and while gazing out of the windows, I noticed something remarkable when we passed over a bridge: a singular, scraggly-haired weed sprouting from the concrete.
How is that possible? There is no earth below for the weed to take root.
Even now, I’m still befuddled.
This all got me thinking about school.
Only other teachers will understand this: you’re completely and utterly engulfed in summer mode and the teacher fire ignites.
You’re trolling through Pinterest for furniture rehabbing ideas and your research leads through a stream of consciousness to innovative teaching ideas.
You’re flipping through a magazine while in the waiting room at a dentist’s office and you stumble onto an article that would be great to teach irony. (Yes, in the interest of literacy promotion, you tuck the article in your purse.)
You’re at a landmark that is ubiquitous in textbooks and you think of how you wish your students could actually feel the palpable respect as tourists stand at the base of the statue.
It strikes when you least expect it.
Jennifer Henry
The gradual acceleration to teacher mode commences right around the 4th of July and gains momentum in the advent of August.
But it’s always there — in our DNA.
This past year school year, I taught multiple sections of a course that proved to test my wits, patience, and stamina: College and Career Readiness. Seventeen years of experience and I still felt at a loss some days.
Every teacher will understand this; I had met my match. These 12th graders — with senioritis in full effect — needed to meet benchmark in ACT English and/or reading. A tall order for them. A tall order for me. Students — as individuals — have their own stories to tell.
Above any curriculum or teaching strategy, I am most successful with my students when I make it my mission to learn from them. Each student is his/her own blueprint. Once I begin to unearth the context of their lives, their defenses come down and I see them as remarkable, like the weed that grows from concrete.
I begin to admire them. Their sometimes-abrasive demeanor translates to what I recognize as their defense mechanism.
Their “scragglies” become their greatest features.
In a week, I teach this same class again . . .times four.
I’m rested and ready.
Bring it on!
Jennifer Henry teaches AP Language and Composition and College/Career Readiness at Dixie Heights High School in the Kenton County School District. She and her husband, Ryan, along with their four children live in Independence, Kentucky. Jennifer is a National Board Certification candidate and Fulbright Scholar. She participated in the Northern Kentucky Writing Project at Northern Kentucky University in the summer of 2017, an opportunity that she credits as having “awakened her inner writer.”
Voices from the Classroom is a new feature at NKyTribune, thanks to Beechwood teacher Amanda Klare’s initiative. If you are a teacher and would like to contribute to the column, please submit it to judy@nkytrib.com
Incredible perspective, Jennifer! You have inspired me to recognize my students in this way.