PhyreBards

I have honors kids in the class I go to on a regular basis. They sit. They listen. They absorb everything my teacher tells them. When I talk, they absorb everything I tell them. They accept challenging topics and when asked to ask questions, one boy on the right-hand side of the room will ask an intellectual question that requires more detail than we intended for the subject.

But they don't talk. They don't discuss. They don't volunteer to read things. I think it's partly a habit they've learned from years of honors classes. Mr. Meacham said it's because they're scared of being wrong. And that makes them scared to discuss and scared to ask questions, for fear of being seen as stupid.

BUT today I went to Techniques of Writing class. (This group of kids will be in MY class next semester for English 2 CP.) Now they talked. They talked and talked and talked. They asked questions (not on topic, necessarily). They made comments (also not on topic). But they spoke their minds. I learned much more about the students in that class listening to them talk than I've learned about my honors kids over the last month. And I like it.