Open Doors

by Leslie Lucas, Hoggard HS

I’m so comfortable cloistered in Room 228, venturing out only when necessary.  But when I read the recent blog post by Xan Mays & Taylor Thomas entitled Making Space for Today's Poets: The Role of The Beatles, Beyonce, & Bruno in the ELA Classroom about engaging students with song lyrics, a visit to Xan’s room became necessary.  Two days later she and Florence and the Machine were shaking up my classroom.   

Students whose voices I’d never heard discussed how a buried horse symbolizes letting go of the past and how the author’s tone evolves from overwhelmed and rebellious to optimistic.  After the lesson, students volunteered to help me find song lyrics rich with imagery, metaphors, parallelism, personification, tone, and symbols that help convey the theme(s). Later, I’ll gravitate to my choices (Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Jackson Brown), but Xan showed me that I need to meet my students where they are.  And if that means I have to listen to Taylor Swift, well, I’ll make the sacrifice.  

Teaching is about sacrifice.  Giving up something. Surrendering.  Teachers like Xan who put themselves out there, sacrificing their time and energy to teach teachers ways to engage kids inspire me. I’m learning to reach out to other teachers (okay, I reached out to one, but it’s a start) instead of hiding during my planning and lunch with coats covering the door’s window and the door closed (okay, locked), excusing myself from others because, according to my INFP personality, “ [I] like spending time alone in quiet places where [I] can make sense of what is happening around [me],... lost in [my] imagination and daydreams, always drowned in the depth of [my] thoughts, fantasies, and ideas.”  Yep, that’s my goto excuse.  Funny, right? Who do I think I am? Buddha?

Still, I’d rather give up Which Wich® for Lent than to surrender all my solitude at school.  But, how about this: I’ll leave my unlocked door cracked open and venture out a little more.

Thank you, Xan, for infusing my classroom with your ideas, inspiring my kids, inspiring me, reminding me that we all need a stretch break, and helping to uncloister my little corner of the world.  Before I read the post you wrote with Taylor, I was uncomfortable attributing my name to a previous writing, but if my words could invite someone to reach out to me for encouragement as I reached out to you, it’s worth giving up the safety of anonymity.