My MEL Experiences

• Student/Teacher Relationship: In High School, we had to participate in an art or music class for a least a semester. I never found myself artistic. Mr. Graham showed me that everyone has a creative side. He encouraged me to produce my best work throughout ceramics senior year and his attitude and relationship towards all of his students’ led to my love for the course. At the end of the semester, he entered one of my works into a local art show and I ended up winning first place. The teacher/student relationship can lead to either success or a struggle. Now, we still keep in contact and our friends on facebook. Mr. Graham showed me that I am an artist; I just needed the right guidance and relationship to bring it out and let it bloom.

• Autonomy: During sophomore year in high school, Mr. Hamel, my favorite English teacher, gave us the assignment of compiling all of writing works together into a book for a final grade. He did not tell us how it had to be done or what order they needed to be placed or even how each page and cover appeared, instead he gave us choices. Choices encouraged us to work the way we wanted which gave us the “want” to make the best book we could. Our two choices was to either compile all of our stories or work together in a group and find the best story from each student in the class under the specific titles we had, which were seven (Superhero, Midnight, Curses, Trips, etc). I then choice to work solo and place all my stories in order from what they were written. Choices allow students to find the working style they excel at to produce their best work almost effortlessly.

• Hands-On: Science is often-times hands-on anyhow, but I remember the time Mrs. Benoit took us outside and put us in a circle in the high school parking lot and elected one student to be the nucleus, this student stood in the middle of the circle. We then were assigned to either be positively charged (protons), or negatively charged (neutrons). The protons ran around the circle at a fast pace whereas the neutrons were lazy and just stood still. The protons and neutrons then formed new groups and separated. This showed the growth process of cells. I mean, she could have just drawn the process on the board and had us sit and observe, but most of us still remember this process because of the interaction that took place. Throughout the years we got used to Mrs. Benoit’s hands-on approach and were excited to know how each piece actually worked after reading for homework.

• Connections: Mr. Hamel always found a way to connect our assignments to something fun and exciting. His lessons usually related back to what interested us at the moment whether it is a relationship, a sports team, a movie, a fight we may have just encountered with our parents, etc. I’ll never forget when he came in one day dressed in baggy jeans and white t-shirt with a gold chain and a hat turned to the side. He turned on his CD player and began to rap along with the beat. His rap was focus on these two kids who really, really liked each other, but their parents didn’t get along because one was rich and lived on the “good” side of town and the other lived in the ghetto. Eventually, the guy killed himself because he couldn’t live without the rich girl whom he loved and always would. This was his way of connecting us to Romeo and Juliet. All of us paid attention because it seemed like it was happening right now and was something that would happen. If he began the lesson by telling us we were going to read about something that was written in the late 1500s, none of us would be interested, but how he incorporated the “new” we got interested because we could relate. He showed that reading Shakespeare could actually be fun!

•Helping Students Succeed: Mrs. Gagnon (G) was both my math teacher and my soccer coach. She was very hard on all of her students and team members. If you were late to class, you went to the office and if you were late to practice, you stayed later. Time was an important concept to her. Being on time, meant you respected her. She may have been tough and unruly at times, but through her harsh lessons, she taught us how to be better individuals. If you respected her, she’d respect you. She was the type of person that at first you would be afraid to ask her a question, but at the end of the quarter or the season, you’d be joking and laughing. Over the four years she coached and taught me, she became a friend and made me a better more respectful person. Help comes out of the woodwork, even if you don’t know it’s there, it’s blind at times, like miracles.