Thoughts on Hilary's Case

Practicing
Teachers

• What are the key lessons you
learned from Hillary’s case?
Hilary’s case reaffirmed my belief that student’s
must first find connections to a text before they can learn anything meaningful
from it. I work at an expeditionary learning school, which works to build units
around engaging themes and relevant topics.  Hilary’s case is a great example of the kinds of things I
hope to do in my classroom.
• How do you teach “the classics”
in your classroom?  Since I’m only
five weeks into teaching, I’ve yet to work with a classic, although Hilary’s
case study provides me with some great ideas of how I’d like to approach them
someday.  I know for sure that I
want to first help the students to build connections with the book before we
even open the first page.
• What are the benefits and
potential drawbacks of your approach? 
I see only benefits in allowing students
to create connections with literature. 

• Is your approach to teaching
literature culturally responsive? In what ways?
 As of now, I don’t incorporate
enough culturally responsive discussions/themes/reflections in my
classroom.  I want to talk more
about the serious, real issues in their lives.  I want them to discuss what they’re up against. 
• What instructional changes are
you now considering?  I need to
allow more time in my classroom for student discussion.  I work hard to develop lessons around
engaging themes that are relevant to my students lives, but I don’t give them
enough time to flesh out their thoughts and opinions because I’m nervous that discussions
will get out of hand (since they usually do).  I know this is simply a reflection of my inability to
conduct the conversations in an effective way—it’s something I’m working on.