Noticing My Reflectiveness by Erica Johnson

I had the best of intentions at the beginning of the year: for every essay, paper, and writing I assigned my College English class, I would take on the writing assignment with them.  However, when you have the same class in two different semesters, you really notice the repetitiveness of your own assignments.  Is this a reflection on the assignments I give or just a reminder that to be challenged as a writer, I don’t need to do my students’ assignments as well?

Even worse than being repetitive, I’ve noticed the lack of authenticity in the assignments I have given.  I don’t really have them delve into writing beyond what they need to do for a grade or beyond an audience in the classroom.  I’m at this point in teaching where I want to do those types of assignments, but I still struggle and feel overwhelmed in how to properly implement them.

As a teacher, I’m in a constant state of reflection, but I am always especially hyper-aware and hyper-reflective during the spring months as we tailspin into seniors leaving and final projects piling up.  I want to do better for my students, I want to be challenged more as a teacher-writer, I want to have my students write beyond a grade.

I’m not giving myself enough credit on the aspects of teaching I have been successful at this year or the effort I made to be more authentic with both my assignments and my own writing.  I had students work on argument by crafting group PSAs that matched their paper.  I had students publish their work in the hallways, giving them the chance to break out of the MLA format bubble.  I even had a former students contact me about a ‘Dear Future Me’ letter they wrote in my class that they got to read this year.

It’s nice to know that even while I still have areas to continue to grow in, that there are some aspects of being a teacher-writer that I feel I got right.


Erica Johnson has been teaching for seven years in central Arkansas and currently works with juniors and seniors at Vilonia High School.  She spent the past summer transforming her teaching philosophy at the Teaching Shakespeare Institute in Washington, D.C.  When she isn’t spending time with her dog, she is visiting with her family and their latest addition: her niece Ivey.  She can be found gathering all of her teaching resources on twitter @teachercap_e.

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