Real World Connections

For each unit of study in my English classes, I embed varying constellations of experience and opportunities that cultivate connections between my students and the world beyond our classroom walls. Though these experiences are difficult to bundle or encapsulate, they represent my perpetual effort to make learning meaningful and visible for the students with whom I work.

When my students read What is the What, the story of a Sudanese refugee, I invite Franco Majok, one of the Sudanese Lost Boys who now lives in Massachusetts, to speak with my classes. Franco and I have built a relationship over the years, and I am continually inspired by my students’ responses to his visits, during which he attributes his own survival to his ability to read, which allowed him to decode street signs and flee his eviscerated village. Each time he visits, a number of students volunteer to fundraise for his Village to Village program, which rebuilds schools in South Sudan.

I have encouraged similar connections with other text-based units. I have brought students to a fundraiser to have their copies of The Kite Runner signed by author Khaled Hosseini, and I’ve encouraged successful Twitter-based dialogue between my students and speculative fiction author Margaret Atwood. In this case, tapping into this global connectivity allowed my students to engage in meaningful exchanges with the writers they’ve come to admire.

In recent years, I have researched and reflected on the value of homework and adapted the rhythm of my course experiences to encourage ongoing connections. For example, I have eliminated compliance-based assignments and released what I call Alternative Homework assignments. These tasks are completely voluntary, and encourage students to make textual or content connections via interdisciplinary endeavors: photography portfolios, fine art, culinary creations, found poetry, and so forth. The results reflect my students’ efforts to construct their own continuums between themselves and their studies.

I have been fortunate to explore and study in many other countries over the years, and travel has provided me with an array of enriching and enlightening experiences. Recently, I’ve been involved in Norton’s Global Education initiative and I am currently preparing to lead a service learning trip to the Dominican Republic next year. I am hopeful that I can share with my students the same sense of meaningful discovery that had affected me so profoundly in my youth.

Though I endeavor to model and cultivate connections between my students and the world around them, I also recognize that to sustain these connections, students need to take command of the process. As educators, we hope that this connectivity transcends the constraints of formal schooling. -TK