At basketball coaching clinics, one mantra that I heard that has stuck with me is, “You get what you emphasize.” In a lecture on sermon delivery that I watched last year, the professor talked about the fact that your audience will not likely remember everything that you say, so you’ve got to have a clear understanding of what it is you absolutely want them to remember and plan for how to make it memorable. He also said that what most of his students remember from his lectures is what he is most passionate about.
For students in our classrooms, the same is true. They will not remember every text we teach, every writing strategy provided, every literary term used to shed light on meaning. However, they will remember certain things. When they walk out of your classroom this spring, they will remember what you have emphasized, what you have repeated, and what has raised your level of instructional intensity (for better or worse).
The final Invitation to Write for this school year asks you to reflect on this. What is it your students will remember from being in your classroom? What have you emphasized, through words and actions? What have you made a priority to teach them, whether about life or literary pursuits? What do you most hope that they learn?
This will be the final invitation to write for this school year. Let’s look to end strong. The danger this time of the year is to be too busy to reflect, or too busy to be purposeful. Take this invitation to write as an invitation to think, to share, and to inspire your peers. Submit your work via email to shannondykstra@gmail.com.
As always, thank you for your words.
Shannon Dykstra
ICTE Online Content Editor
