When I was a kid, I was reading novels and realized that it was something I enjoyed doing, and that I would want to write my own someday. The experience engaged me because I could envision myself doing it in the future. Having passionate English teachers throughout my life greatly supported my desire to learn authorship. The concept of writing fiction is a culmination of an author’s ideas. I have had times where I felt my ideas were and were not being heard, understood, or listened to.
These influences can be felt from teachers, parents, and even our peers. The feeling of not being heard can have strong influences on children with developing minds. That being said, how a particular child responds to these influences wildly vary because of a multitude of factors; family life, mood, background, etc. All of this is dependent of EL’s Core Principle of culture and character, which “fosters and celebrates students’ character development by building a culture in which students and staff work together to become effective learners and ethical people”(4). In a classroom with high levels of culture and character, students are will be far more inclined to share their ideas, as well as be open-minded to others. A way to foster a better culture and character is by moving towards some of the standards of Project Based Learning mentioned by Boss and Larmer. In particular, the seven Essential Project Design Elements. The purpose of these elements is, “To accomplish consistently deep and meaningful learning” (2). The elements are (1) Challenging problems, (2) sustained inquiry, (3) authenticity, (4) student voice, (5) reflection, (6) critique, and (7) public product.
In a small town like Rockbridge County, there are both pros and cons to building a culture. Many of the students may be familiar with one another and a sense of culture may already have been build amongst at least a few of them. This culture could be either good or bad for the how the students’ journeys have been up to that point. There is a chance they may not align with the environment that a teacher is trying to create, making it more difficult for them to create a strong sense of culture and character among the students.
