The things we put in frames

My students were polishing up drafts of their essays this week, written in response to George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm. I always ask my students to list two specific goals for each essay in the "Header" of the document. Their goals, I explain, should come from the feedback they received in response to a previous essay. This way they are always evolving as writers and that header serves as a constant reminder of a specific area for growth.

One of my students came to me looking concerned.

"Mr. McDonough, I know I need to do a better job of framing my quotations, but I just don't know what that means."

I explained that things that are important need frames so we can focus on them and appreciate their value...that nobody just wants a piece of artwork floating around their house or being nailed against the wall. Sure, refrigerators are great places for art, but quotations need to be introduced and analyzed in an essay--surrounded so that we completely understand their value.

We value the things we put in frames...we want people to notice and celebrate them. The same goes for textual evidence in your essays.

The student thanked me for the clarification and off they went.

But I continued thinking. My students learn so many things. They ask so many great questions...I wonder why we don't frame ideas...why we don't frame the brilliant moments of inspiration and the quotations my students utter during class each day.

So I changed that.

I brought in two old frames that had been kicking around my garage. They'll now be used to frame and highlight things my students are learning and wondering about throughout the rest of the year.

The first question is a change in the understanding of power and manipulation. I love that my students are learning this because it is applicable to everything they will do and be.

I love the second, however, because of the tense the student chose. They wrote "...what would happen," not "what would have happened." They are thinking not of the past, but of the future. What would China become, or be capable of becoming, if a moment in the past had changed.

I know my students will be wondering the same about their own lives and the choices they make...the memories and experiences they choose to put in frames.