Today I was privileged to take part in leading a lesson on narrative writing and it went really well. As usual I was nervous beforehand but I think when I take the stage....the teaching stage, I just have this voice in my soul telling me to give it everything I have.
The teacher wanted me to read some examples of narrative writing with the students and something that has been continually coming back to me is talking to students about WHY we are teaching them the things we are. I almost feel sometimes that we are raising up mindless students and I want my students specifically to question WHY they are learning the things they are, basically to have a questioning, critical mind and to engage with curriculum first on this level. I feel, somehow, if students understand WHY they are doing or learning something it will help them to do it with more motivation and purpose.
I asked the class why it was important to learn or write narrative paragraphs and a few of them noted the importance of being able to explain information. I also added in our discussions and wanted to explicitly state that they all had voices and it is important for all of them to utilize their voices to encourage, support and help others. They just listened on. Sometimes I wonder when teachers say things like this, if students are really listening or if it just goes in one ear and out the other, but I think it is important to repeat these important "take home" points - for students to hear them over and over again until they understand them. I know even for me, I have to hear something over and over again before I understand it and even then I still forget.
Carrying on, I explained that narrative writing allows us to write about a story from our personal experiences clearly in such a way that our readers can understand and learn from it. The students basically had to write about an experience from the past where they experienced personal growth or learned a lesson.
By God's grace, I was able to find some examples of narrative writing online that my teacher really enjoyed and related to the teaching she was doing, as the examples I found online each stated a moral or lesson that the narrator learned. As a class, we each read one of these samples and after we read each one, I tried to lead a conversation about it. The first narrative was about a person who was impulsive with his friend and ran out into the street and his friend was hit by a car, the second one about a person who was afraid of meeting people from different countries, and the last one was about sharing sacrficially. I found that each narrative allowed me to engage in deeper conversations with the students and even share about my own struggles and difficulties in my own life. From there, the students brainstormed in groups some of the stories/experiences that have happened in their own lives that they can write about and had a worksheet where they had to plan out the paragraphs they were going to write.
I found that a lot of students had problems thinking about certain things they had learned over the years and chose to use examples that we a bit more shallow or on the surface. Perhaps it is challenging for students but they also need to learn the skill of self reflection, growth, knowing how far they have come. It is such an important quality for students to have and certainly something that should also be taught in schools.
Overall I really enjoyed my time in the classroom that day.
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