Lindsay Masin

Dr. Thomas

TEAC 803

25 April 2019

Promoting Engagement in the Secondary English Classroom:

When both teacher and student discover, “this is who I am”

“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation
to be one.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Why are we doing this? Is this good enough? Miss, is this right? Is this for a grade? Is

this formative or summative? Does this look good? All of these questions can be heard within the

50-minute time frame of any classroom. As educators, how do we best answer these questions

each day? Or better yet, how do we help students answer these questions for themselves? Each

student that walks into the classroom is an individual and has unique strengths and needs.

Promoting engagement in the secondary English classroom through play, acknowledging

students’ intrinsic motivations, and honoring individuality, will enable students to move on from

those initial questions of assessment and quality, and explore with a sense of freedom curiosity

and autonomy. Ultimately, obtaining a better sense of self.

INITIAL BELIEFS AND UNDERSTANDING

I can remember, very vividly, the many times I received a grade back from a teacher on

an assignment that I worked really hard on, to only be disappointed with the letter in red at the

top of the page. Grades are synonymous with success, and for someone like me, who places a lot

of pressure on high achievement; grades are the most important thing. I have seen this same
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pattern reflected in both my AP and 10A students during my student teaching experience at

Lincoln North Star high school. Grades are a preoccupation for most, no matter the level or

standards. In Thinking in Education, Matthew Lipman discusses the importance of creating a

classroom of critical, creative, and caring thinking in order to make clear and good judgments.

These judgments influence the criteria set by the teacher along with input from the students to

hopefully avoid instances like my own where the effort was not reflected in the final grade.

Often times student’s effort and passion about assignments and classwork can vary based

on how the student views the particular activity effects or connects to their life outside of school.

More than likely students are just completing the coursework for a grade and to fulfill a

requirement. “Miss. Is this formative?” “Miss, is this for a grade?” How do we as teachers

combat that and inspire students to complete work that they can be proud of despite the grade or

criteria set for them? Lipman states, “Students would think better if they could be provided with

conditions that would encourage the application of their thinking to the world in which they

lived” (208). The connection between course content and the world students come from is a

constant balance for educators, particularly those concerned with fulfilling Common Core

Standards and requirements. How do we make those requirements and standards tools for

students to connect to their world and provide an opportunity for learning? Acknowledging that

students have lives and interests outside of the classroom is the first step. Applying those

interests into the curriculum comes second.

Once students are connected to the coursework, it’s even more important to ensure that

the criteria and grading related to that work reflect the student’s effort and commitment. With

Lipman’s ideas about self-corrective critical thinking, the classroom becomes a community in

which students learn from each other and the evaluations and judgments become more routine
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and less daunting for students to receive. When students learn how to be self-corrective, they

“begin looking for and correcting each other’s methods and procedures” (Lipman 219). What I

like about Lipman’s ideas about judgment and criteria is the fact that the procedure of receiving

feedback becomes normalized and students learn how to both receive and give effective and

helpful feedback. This practice then establishes a way for students to positively collaborate with

their peers, express their ideas, and monitor their own growth in the course. Autonomy becomes

a crucial element in engagement. When students lack ownership of their learning, engagement

falls and motivation plummets.

In the past, when I felt disappointed about the grades I received, it was often because the

grade was accompanied with little feedback, and I felt as if there was only one chance to try and

that was it. Using Lipman’s ideas of critical and creative thinking allows students the

opportunities to try and try again; to look for different solutions if their first, second, or even

third idea didn’t work as planned. It’s important to show students that making mistakes allows

not only an opportunity to learn, but those mistakes are often where the best answers arise.

During my student teaching experience at Lincoln North Star high school, I found that students

of all levels benefit from the opportunities to revisit their work. Students in 10A, which is

English 10-Alternate Texts, for students reading anywhere from third to fifth grade level, this

revision process is crucial because most of the work is completed just to get the task done and

receive the grade. Students are used to working quickly and worrying less about quality because

of their low sense of autonomy and achievement. Similarly, students in AP Lang/Comp work

quickly because they assume a skill level and don’t set aside enough time to revise of

contemplate. Both classes, when given the chance to reflect, and revise, benefit from the
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autonomy when generated by the student in conversation with the teacher and their peers about

their work. There is less of a sense of one and done, and more of a focus on try, and try again.

Aside from Lipman’s ideas of criteria and connection to curriculum, I am interested in

the idea of Maieutic Thinking. As a perspective English Language Arts teacher as well as a

theater instructor, Maieutic Thinking or, ‘intellectual midwifery” is something that is key to

empowering my students to make choices in the classroom and on the stage. Lipman states that

those who teach using Maieutic thinking “elicit the best thinking possible from one’s charges”

(252). As a theater director, my goal is to help actors make informed choices on stage without

providing the answers or simply dictating directions. This requires the ability to ask questions

that elicit thoughts in the actor to construct the answer that is right for them. When applying this

to the classroom, in teaching literature, it is important to remember that each student may

interpret a text differently, and the questions I ask as a teacher can lead them towards finding the

answer that makes the most sense for their interpretation; “think[ing] caringly about the creative

thinking of [my] students”(Lipman 252).

Lipman provides ideas about critical, creative, and caring thinking that empower students

and encourage creativity, while honoring their own individuality. As teachers, the criteria and

judgments we make should reflect the critical and creative work students pursue, instead of

simply fulfilling requirements and standards. In his text, Curriculum as Conversation, Arthur

Applebee states that, “no matter institutional constraints or requirements, it’s still up to the

teacher to elicit engaging conversation” (50). We want students to be engaged in a dialogue

about their learning and to be able to work through ideas with their peers in an effective way.

When students acknowledge and can align their identity as learners, that is when growth begins.

EXPERIENCES AND KNOWLEDGE GAINED

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As I started my teaching experiences this fall with practicum at Lincoln East high school,

much of my teaching experience had been in a theatrical setting or substitute teaching for

elementary courses with Chicago Public Schools. I was hesitant that I would not be able to

transfer my skills as a theater instructor into an English classroom setting and lose much of my

identity in the process. I struggled in practicum to bring the two halves of myself together in a

way that felt authentic and approachable in the classroom. If I wanted students to be engaged and

motivated to participate in the coursework I designed, I needed to feel engaged and motivated

myself. I wasn’t feeling that. I felt like I was playing the role of ‘teacher’ and checking off the

boxes of required phrases and classroom management techniques. By the end of my practicum

experience in December of 2018, I felt discouraged. I was able to connect with students and

establish relationships, but I wasn’t excited or even slightly engaged by the coursework I was

providing for my English 10D students. I didn’t feel like myself and was concerned that I never

would feel whole in the classroom.

I began some research for ways to combine my two worlds together and found that my

theatrical and improvisational selves could and should serve as useful instructional tools. Having

the validation of research helped me to realize that who I am, and what I bring to the table is a set

of unique skills that will establish my English and Dramatic classrooms as places of play,

exploration, and support. The questions of, “Is this right?”, “Does this look good?”, and “Is this

for a grade?”, could melt away when we work together as a classroom community to explore,

and play, instead of striving for a specific grade.

While teaching AP Lang/Comp this semester, we focused on different forms of argument

as one of our units of writing. I was excited to teach the unit about satire, and while teaching this

unit, I was able to witness how the explorations allowed students the opportunity to play and try
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things out on their own without the fear of something having to be done a certain way. Teaching

satire in a way that was about creation and play, rather than finding the right answer, pushed

students to consider creativity before the grade. Similarly, in 10A, our final project for the Drama

unit was to design different production elements for our ideal version of Macbeth by William

Shakespeare. Imagination took the lead role, supported by knowledge of dramatic elements and

the story, and students thrived in connecting their knowledge with their imagination, rather than

finding the right answer on a final test. Providing assessment in this way honors all different

types of learners in a single classroom, because one right answer is not the expectation. “Our

curricular choices say who counts and who doesn’t- whose stories are important and whose

aren’t,” argues Linda Christensen in her book, Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the

Language Arts Classroom (155). By asking students to explore instead of answer correctly, the

discoveries made as learners last much longer than just the assignment, and a sense of self is

created.

The same goes for the teacher. When building lessons based on play and exploration,

more of the self as teacher comes through, rather than just the teacher as self. Christensen goes

on to say, “It’s a foolish culture that entrusts the education of its children to corporate textbooks

that teach students the same way that industrial farmers plant corn” (164). Discoveries and true

learning can only occur when we are constantly evolving and changing our curricular choices in

response to our students. The same techniques and strategies that worked for students ten years

ago might not be successful today, and by assuming that we can stay the same, we are ignoring

the needs and strengths of our students.

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Acknowledging our students’ needs means also considering their intrinsic motivations.

Students of all backgrounds have different motivations and connections for the work we do in

the classroom. In their article, Heightening Awareness about the Importance of Using

Multicultural Literature, Susan Colby and Anna Lyon state, “Students need to be able to make

connections between literature and their everyday lives. Children need to receive affirmation of

themselves and their culture through literature” (24). By providing opportunities for students to

see themselves reflected in the classroom through literature choices, autonomy and choice,

motivation and engagement will rise. Doing so, acknowledges student interests outside of the

classroom to incorporate into curriculum design ties into student motivation as well as teacher

motivation, which encourages development of identity. As I try to balance both my identities in

the English classroom, research suggests that my improvisational knowledge cannot be ignored,

and in fact, when I do actively ignore it, I become less engaging and motivational as an

instructor. In her article, Saying “Yes, and” to Collaborative Prewriting: How Improvisational

Theater Ignites Creativity and Discovery in Student Writing, Lauren Esposito states, “Less often,

though, our students are invited to brainstorm in more dynamic, collaborative ways that get them

out of their seats and speaking, acting and moving with others in an environment that fosters

spontaneity, inquiry, and creativity” (42). Using my creativity will help spark creativity in my

students. Ignoring my sense of play and spontaneity sends the message to my students that I

don’t see that as a valuable trait to possess. I want my classroom to be a space of trial and error,

exploration, and “Yes, and”.

I am not suggesting that every student will walk out of my classroom at the end of a

semester feeling like an improviser. Rather, I am asking that my students take a risk to try

something new, step out of their comfort zone, and learn on their feet. That’s the only way we
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will all collectively feel most like ourselves. It may feel like stepping outside of your comfort

zone is moving away from your true identity, but it is a great way to lead you back to yourself.

Melissa Talhelm agrees in her article, Second City Teacher Training: Applying Improvisational

Theater Techniques to the Classroom, she suggests that, “Negating what [students] bring into the

room is the same as telling [them] they have nothing to offer” (17). How lucky we are to be in a

collaborative space each day for our profession, exploring and trying new things with our

students. If we ignore what they bring as we walk through the doors each morning, we miss out

on all the fun.

EVOLUTION OF UNDERSTANDING

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paolo Freire states, “Students are critical co-investigators

in dialogue with the teacher” (81). Student identity can only be supported when their voices and

ideas are acknowledged in the learning process. One of the biggest lessons I learned throughout

my improv training was to acknowledge the information your partner gives you as a gift and

expand on it to make something even more beautiful. Our students are not just our students but

co-collaborators and co-creators of their education. I have the honor of accepting the gifts they

bring to me each morning and making something beautiful with them by the end of the class, the

day, or even the school year.

As I look forward to what I hope to be a lively, and varying career in Education, not one

vision lacks the presence of student involvement and creativity. Especially thinking forward to a

theatrical education career, student innovation and imagination are at the forefront of any and all

endeavors. But how does this ideal situation come to life? I have learned, through my student

teaching experiences, that some of our best interests, ideas, and care, don’t play out as we had

planned. And thankfully so. Growth, innovation and change come out of those tough experiences

when we are brought back to reality as educators. How do we inspire our students to be
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individuals while still achieving state standards, requirements, and testing scores? Christensen

argues that, “The classroom can be a safe place for students to not only talk back, but to affirm

their right to a place in the world” (28). By encouraging and supporting students’ identity in the

classroom, educators are validating that it’s a safe place to share and explore, while still striving

to meet requirements. It would be impossible to expect students to do well on any standardized

test without making the benefits explicit and tying the outcomes to their goals as humans.

SURFACING QUESTIONS
As my educator identity continues to blend with each of my other identities, I am left

pondering many questions for future exploration:

-How do we help those who might need more help than we are able to provide in one
class period?

-How do we best serve all learners, all the time, even in classrooms when differentiation

- Play and imagination go out in order to meet standards, guidelines. How do we gain that
back in secondary education?

Our joy as educators is to embrace to role of a continual learner, and as Paulo Freire states,

“Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention…hopeful inquiry” (72). How

exciting to be embarking on this journey of lifelong learning, in collaboration with our students,

constantly searching for hopeful and joyful inquiry.

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Works Cited

Applebee, Arthur N. Curriculum as Conversation. University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Christensen, Linda. Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom.

Rethinking Schools Publication, 2009.

Colby, Susan A., and Anna F. Lyon. Heightening Awareness about the Importance of Using

Multicultural Literature. Multicultural Education, vol. 11, no. 3, 2004, pp. 24–28. ERIC,

eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ783082.

Esposito, Lauren. Saying “Yes, and” to collaborative prewriting: How improvisational theater

ignites creativity and discovery in student writing. National Council of Teachers of

English, Vol. 105 (5). 42-47. 2016.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The Continuum International Publishing Group, 1970.

Lippman, Matthew. Thinking in Education. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life. Harper and

Brothers publishers, 1960.

Talhelm, Melissa. Second City Teacher Training: Applying improvisational theater techniques to

the classroom. National Council of Teachers of English, Vol. 104 (5). 15-20. 2015.