The Books I Have Taught series is a personal reflection on the books I have taught in my classes. Their experiences often reveal interesting truths, not about the themes necessarily, but more about the outcomes and interactions I had with my students and the various paths it led me down. I hope you enjoy my reflection on the books that I have taught.
This book is unique from all the other entries in this series because I never finished it. I actually only taught the first four chapters, and while that seems odd to teach such a short section of a novel my reason was simply, I was only there for a short time. It was on my second placement for my teaching degree that I taught a class of all girl year eights, and my mentor teacher was doing this book. I taught the first four chapters, and she continued on. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd was an interesting read for the four chapters that I did. From a teaching perspective I enjoyed being able to use the maps that were up in class to point to the location of the setting. This reflection will be a bit different from the others, because again, I only engaged with a short part of this novel. What I will reflect on, though, was my experience in teaching a novel for the first time. There were lots of learning experiences, such as how draining it is on your voice to read twenty odd pages aloud to a class and also for myself having to slow myself down as my mentor teacher mentioned that my speech was too quick. I also encountered my first act of serious rebellion from a student. I had two students who were talking while I was reading. They were asked to stop, then warned then warned some more and eventually I noticed they were not stopping so I asked on to move and they refused. I was not prepared for that, honestly, I was a bit stuck, good thing my mentor teacher stepped in. It was a good moment though, for in my following years I encountered far more rebellion than talking in class while I was reading, ever had a student bark at you? Refuse to stop squirting water on other students? Refuse to leave despite being told to or not leave when asked to stay? All encounters I would come across, but this moment helped because it caused me to consider my options more and be aware that plenty of students’ rebel. There was much I learnt from the six weeks I was at the school and much I encountered that I did not know how to encounter. For example, I had a well-meaning student at that time who was overly friendly, but a little inappropriate considering I am a male teacher and she a young girl, so my mentor teacher had a chat with her, just to gently remind her that there are boundaries in place. The next time I saw this student she stopped me in the middle of a busy hallway and when she began to speak, burst into tears. I was stuck, everyone was looking wondering what I did and I frantically glanced over to my mentor teacher who was in her office and she sighed, coming to my rescue and consoling the girl who had thought she had upset me.
I don’t remember much of The Secret Life of Bees but I do remember the young girl who left her home and encountered new realities to her life and perhaps that is the link in my rambling here. That was an opening to experience what would eventually become mundane. I do not know if I would teach the text again, I probably would have to finish it first, but when I think about on the brief moments, I spent teaching it, I am reminded of the moment I first realised what life as a teacher was actually like.
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