My favorite moment during class discussions–knowledge relativism

I absolutely love talking about “stuff” in class, which is why I think I so thoroughly enjoy my job as an English instructor of 11th and 12th graders.  I love hearing other peoples’ perspectives, and I especially love watching my students make connections between the literature that they are reading and the experiences that they are going through as individuals.  Even when the conversations are somewhat repetitive and predictable from one class to the next, I find myself enjoying the experience of students building knowledge for themselves based on the texts that we are reading.  

But hands down, my favorite moments during discussions are when a student finds, explains, or uses a quote, brings up an idea, or responds to my question in a way that is completely unique to my experience.  Maybe this is a bit selfish of me, but I love being able to say, “I’ve never thought of it that way before.” Or: “I’ve never had anyone approach it from that angle, and I think you might really be on to something there.”  Or even: “I have no idea how to respond to what you just said, but it was great!”  Ok, it is extremely rare that a student comment has left me speechless, but I think you likely get the idea.  

Part of a successful English classroom, to me, is establishing the comfort level of the students so that they may open themselves up to share their unique and individual knowledge and experiences.  Listening to views that are outside of a student’s experience and perhaps even outside of his/her comfort level is something that I believe is invaluable, even if it creates tension or awkwardness.   When people explain where they stand and WHY they believe what they do, it adds a layer of depth that reading and writing simply cannot accomplish on their own.