JOANNE
PAYLING
Diary #5
Finding the Beginning of the Path
I will focus on a small success this week, instead of my continuing feeling of being overwhelmed. That will be a theme throughout this year, no doubt, and I need to reflect on the positives if panic is to be held at bay. In order to set the stage for beginning Jack London's Call of the Wild, I read his short story "To Build a Fire" to my students this past week. It is a terrific introduction to the Yukon setting and the harshness of the Far North climate. As soon as they heard the words Yukon and Klondike, they were making connections to the Klondike ice cream bar and to the Yukon SUV. I don't think many of them had been aware that these were regions in Canada! Yet the connections they made illustrated to them both climate (ice cream bars are COLD) and rough terrain (thus the need for a utility vehicle). I was watching Mosaic of Thought in action! I continued being guided by Keene and Zimmerman as I modeled making connections for words or phrases I wasn't sure about, like the definition of a "spirit thermometer." Turns out our hypothesizing on that one was right. And I do believe they liked helping me puzzle that one out.With few exceptions, my students were mesmerized by the story. As I read, my eyes connected with different students and I witnessed the eternal magic of a great story hooking them and drawing them in, deeper and deeper.
In the absence of miracles
As I read the last paragraph and they realized that there was to be no rescue for the man, that he does, in fact, freeze to death, I watched their breaths exhale and the disbelief in their faces that there was to be no happy ending to the story. It dawned on me that this might have been the first time many of these kids had heard a story in which the miracle doesn't happen, where the unrealistic rescue doesn't occur. When they broke into small groups to answer several questions about the story, they were on task and working hard. When I had them write a paragraph explaining what signs and advice the man ignored, thus causing his death, the responses were right on target. Even the slower students grasped that he was responsible for his death through his own ignorance. Even though I continue to feel inadequate to the full scope of the job of guiding these young people in the ways of literacy and growth in language arts, when I feel overwhelmed, I will think of the expressions on their faces as I read to them. I will focus on the fact that they understood the meaning behind the story, and that they were able to give examples supporting their answers from the text. The path ahead of me is long, but at least I seem to have found my way to the beginning of it.
