Interview with Michael Mannix

Interview with Michael Mannix

by Lynette Brown

How would you describe your summer institute and how do you think it will influence your teaching when you return to school in the fall?

The summer institute was so many things: a chance to work with dedicated, thoughtful teachers, an immersion in a wide range of literacy experiences, and, overall, an experience that not only constantly challenged my thinking but also equipped me with the tools, ideas, and networks to continue to examine my practice and leave no stone unturned. The institute ran for three weeks, six or so hours a day, but it somehow never

lost momentum. The days blended together, and the parts — everything from theoretical readings to lunches that felt like unofficial seminars— combined into a cohesive whole. It was a total immersion in teaching. Missing a day would have been like skipping an episode of a favorite television show.

I started re-imagining my classroom even before the institute officially began. In Teaching for Joy and Justice, a required pre-institute reading, Linda Christensen argues that community building is a necessary complement to the academic environment in the classroom, not a frivolous, optional add-on that happens for a few days in the start of the school year. The institute itself was an enactment of these ideas. PhilWP — and I find this to be rare in my most professional development settings— practiced what it preached. And it went even further. Even the notion of community-building as an absolute good was challenged. We discussed the notion of “Communities of histories, ideas, are silenced, perhaps not intentionally, but silenced nonetheless. Since being exposed to this idea, I’ve been re-examining the texts I teach and how I teach them, the discussions we have and how we do —or don’t — have them.

Part of the work in the summer institute is to think about collaborating with colleagues, would you describe some potential collaborations that grown out of your work this summer institute?

PhilWP was a gold mine for ideas and events to help me collaborate deliberately and productively with colleagues. So far as a teacher I’ve collaborated with colleagues on professional development only informally— sharing a book, talking for a few minutes at lunch —and to me that’s always what collaboration meant. My experience at PhilWP has expanded this notion.

In the institute, we read about how one form of collaborative, inquiry, is not just some nebulous attitude, but a systematic and intentional process that grows when it’s practiced and done collectively. We participated in activities that contributed to our understanding of what’s called an inquiry stance, and one of those activities — the collaborative inquiry — is an easily-replicable, practical, and community-building activity that I’d like to try at my school. I’d also like to invite teachers to the many events sponsored by and associated with PhilWP throughout the year. I think most of my weekends through the winter are filled with PhilWP events or events I learned about from other PhilWP participants.

Very often, summer study, conversation, and/or collaboration among members of the Summer Institute lead to innovative opportunities for personal/professional writing. How has your work in the Summer Institute inspired your writing?

It’s hard to believe that I’ve taught for five years and not once, until the last few weeks, reflected in writing. There was actually a time during our Writing Marathon where, if we weren’t in the Penn Anthropology Museum, I would have sprinted to my legal pad to get down my thoughts. That was a new feeling for me.

Writing on paper, revising in my head, researching to investigate my assumptions or half-formed notions, and getting feedback from participants, were all critical steps in writing, and they all led me to intentionally think about my teaching and beliefs.

I know that the audiences that PhilWP offered — Google Plus, magazines with portfolio pieces, discussions — as well as the structured time were what really motivated me to write. I know I need to continue to seek audiences to hear and critique my writing as well as set aside some time to write regularly, even if it’s only once a week.