Welcome to Ms. Dickson’s Class: A letter to my students

Posted on Sep 15 2009 at 9:15 AM

By Mollie Dickson

Dear Jennifer,

Welcome to 7th Grade Reading! I am so looking forward to our year together. It will be a year filled with challenges, creativity, exploration, questioning, depth, and discovery—I hope you’re ready! Now you may know me already (as Miss Jones’ student teacher), but if not, here are a few things to get you started: this is my first year as a classroom teacher, but I have taught dance and writing for many years—these are my passions; I lived in England for a year and loved traveling the world; I can be caught cheering at the top of my lungs from the 300 level seats at Blazer games (I’m sure it won’t take you too long to figure out who my favorite player is); my six best friends all met in elementary school, and since 3rd grade, we’ve had a book club and gone on yearly backpacking trips; my favorite get-away-spot is the beach… okay, pretty much anything and everything outdoors is what I like to do. So that’s enough about me for now—you will learn more as the year progresses—but I’d love to hear about you! I invite you to write a letter back to me that expresses a few of your interests, what makes you you, your hopes and concerns for this class, and anything else about yourself you’d like to share. This can be as short and informal or as long and detailed as you like… just let it reflect your personality!

Now, a bit about the class: we will focus on developing and strengthening skills and habits of good readers. So the first step? Knowing how to seek out great literature—literature that inspires us, makes us wonder, connects us to others and the world, and gets us out and about, telling everyone what we’ve just read. Next is about understanding the big picture. Here are three essential questions that will guide us through the year: Who am I? What matters to me? What difference can I make in this world? We will explore a variety of literature (novels, short stories, poetry, news articles, song lyrics, picture books, etc.) individually, in small groups, and as a whole class that focus on these questions. We will also have ample time in class and at home for reading choice novels. That means, always come to class with a book you love and be ready to recommend great reads to each other!

Now if you know me already, you know I am a writer. Since I was young, writing has been my passion, my voice. My relationship with reading, however, has not always been a perfect one. Growing up I was an avid reader, delving into the lives and adventures of the characters, finding pure joy in curling up in a corner to get lost in the stories. Then something changed. I don’t remember the day it happened, maybe it was slowly over a year or so, but somehow my curiosity and pleasure to read disappeared—was it stolen? Forgotten? Denied? As my schoolwork piled up, more and more books were assigned for homework. “Read pages 105-220 for Wednesday,” the teacher would grumble. So I started associating reading with homework rather than play. And it only became worse as the years passed—skimming, summarizing, skipping sections—what happened?! It was not until a few years ago that I picked up My Sister’s Keeper, The Secret Life of Bees, Harry Potter, The Kite Runner… Oh that’s why I love to read! Exploring deep emotions and intense struggle, empathizing with characters and living vicariously through them, questioning, discovering, crying, celebrating, and the ‘forget-to-eat, can’t-sleep, cause-I-just-can’t-put-it-down’ days. I am so grateful to have rediscovered my passion for literature. If you have yet to find your spark or have fallen out of love with books, don’t fret. This year is your chance.

If you learn one thing in my class, I hope it is this: to love reading. Reading is the key to success and will open you to endless possibilities, both in school and in life. So here’s your first assignment: choose a piece of literature that has played an important role in your life (a favorite bedtime story, an alarming article, a poem, a novel, a comic… it can be any genre!) and write a 1-2 page reflection on why this literature has been meaningful to you. The hope is that this will reveal a bit of who you are so we can begin to build strong relationships as we become closer as a class. I will pass around a calendar tomorrow so you can sign-up for a day to present. Your presentation will include reading your selected literature (just an excerpt if it’s a novel or longer piece) and sharing your written reflection (as much as you feel comfortable). My challenge for you is to be honest and creative with your reflection (if you choose to share a poem, maybe try writing one of your own)… let us hear your story and your voice in a fresh, authentic way!

Okay, that’s all for now. I look forward to getting to know you better and hearing your stories of literature.
What a year we will share!

~Ms. Dickson

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