I’ve been staying in my 11am MWF classroom for 30 minutes or so after class to do some work, collect my thoughts, and planning the rest of the work day. Today, I got to see what the open space could become: a space for more personal engagement with students who want help.
Two students who were particularly flummoxed during class stayed after for 30 minutes to discuss their first essays and possible revisions. Topics we covered included:
1. Thesis statements
2. Claims
3. Suitable evidence
4. Development of that evidence
5. Using CTRL – F or CMND – F to search a text
6. The way I evaluate organization
7. The way I evaluate a paper’s ethos
These students wanted to learn. I had to be humble enough not to skip any steps with them and reward their extra effort by explaining as simply as I could the things they could do to improve as writers.
God was in that room. We left with a stronger rapport. They knew I cared. I knew they did too. God was merciful.