Matthew M. Johnson

My New First Day Lesson 

I was asked the other day about how I was feeling about the upcoming year, and my response surprised even me, though it also captured a notion that has been growing in my mind for some time: I am the most optimistic I’ve ever felt coming into a new school year. Why? At no point in my 20 years in the classroom have the interests of my students, the preferences of the job market, and the wider societal discussion of what matters all aligned so clearly and closely with the skills I teach. To understand that, let’s think about the last 20 years.

Two decades ago, my English major in college was often the punchline of jokes. Even then, English and other humanities majors were already in serious decline, and my friends—all of whom were in fields like engineering, medical sciences, or business—often poked fun at me for choosing such an antiquated path. It was almost like I had picked up churning my own butter or wearing a top hat. 

Of course, my friends and colleagues were simply repeating the prevailing wisdom of the era. Since the dawn of this new millennium, there have been constant impassioned calls for an increased emphasis on science and technology and coding education while very few voices argued very loudly for the value of the humanities. The text was that the future would be a STEM one; the subtext was that humanities majors were reserved for those who didn’t want to be a part of that glistening, mechanized future (or be employed in it). 

The results of this approach were highly predictable. Majors like my English major were already passé when I declared in 2003, but today they are nearing extinction. Take my alma mater, the University of Michigan. Since 2003, English majors have decreased an additional 70% and Communications majors have decreased by 92%. At the same time, Biophysics, Applied Statistics, and Computer Science have increased by 771%, 580%, and 513%, respectively. 

I should say that this is not meant as a criticism of those who promote or pursue a science and technology path. The world needs brilliant, thoughtful computer engineers, statisticians, and medical researchers, but it also needs brilliant, thoughtful historians, anthropologists, and yes, readers and writers in a number of fields. 

It needs balance, which brings me to why I feel so optimistic about the school year to come. A side effect of the world suddenly filling with the inhuman voice and impossible speed of Gen AI has been a lot of discussion concerning the value of the humanities (and surprising new job opportunities for humanities majors). One way to think about these shifts is that even the most ardent AI evangelists acknowledge the need for a human in the loop, and who better to fill that role than someone who has studied the humanities. 

Further, younger workers are increasingly drawn to work that relies on the skills commonly taught in English language arts classes. Recent polls found that more than half of Gen Z respondents said they would like to be influencers and more than three-quarters said they want to be entrepreneurs. Some may roll their eyes at how seemingly unlikely success in the influencer/entrepreneur paths is, but when looking at the world right now, the interest in those jobs actually makes a lot of sense. At their core, the role of both influencers and entrepreneurs is to offer unique, fresh perspectives and voices. Those are two things that Gen AI—which is designed to make predictions based on common patterns—is poorly suited to do. Our English Language Arts classes, on the other hand, are all about helping students to cultivate unique perspectives and clear, fresh voices. Hence my optimism. 

A way that I’m thinking about it (which I first heard from a teacher at my school) is that much like the photograph’s ability to capture reality led to dramatically more interest in perspective in visual art, it seems like the ability of large language models’ to mimic speech and thought is seemingly leading to more interest in unique and uniquely human voices and perspectives.

And so this year I plan to lean into discussion of perspective and voice from the very first day. Here is my lesson plan for doing that:

My New First Day Lesson

The Context 

I’ve long had students write the story of their names on the first day. I do this because I want to establish from the start that my class is one where they will share their stories. Further, when students share their name stories, it also makes it easier for me and their classmates to remember their names (as stories make things easier to remember) and it ensures that my first interaction with students isn’t me mispronouncing their names or calling them by the wrong names during role.

The lesson below keeps that core idea and builds on it by introducing the discussion of perspective and voice that I want at the center of my classes all year. Also a big thanks to Timm Freitas of the Garden of English course for AP Lit and Lang teachers, whose first day lesson for AP Lang classes inspired the approach I take in this lesson. 

The Why  

I want students to see how their voices and perspectives can be enhanced by thoughtfully listening to others, learning specific tools and language moves, and more consciously leaning into the voice and style they already possess. 

The Lesson

  1. The lesson begins by telling students that we will start the year with them telling their story. We will do this because their story, starting with the meaning connected to their names, will matter in this class. The telling of their name stories also comes with some advantages: It takes the place of the dull role call, it makes their names easier for all to remember, and it helps avoid the common but poor first impression that comes when a student’s first interaction with a teacher is a mispronounced or incorrect name. Here are the directions I give them and here is a link to all of the slides: 
A slide with the title "Name Story" that says the following: The first thing we will write is the story of our names to share with the class. Please write the story of your name in whatever way makes the most sense to tell the story. It could be the story of how you got your name, what your name means, why you changed your name, how you feel about your name, why you want to change your name, or anything else that has to do with your name. When writing, please triple-space this. There is also a quote from Romeo and Juliet: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” accompanied by a picture of a rose.
  1. In previous years, my students shared their name stories directly after writing them. This time though, students will be asked to put the stories aside for a moment and answer the following question with a tablemate. 
A brown slide with the heading: "A Quick Question." The text of the slide is: "Please put your name story away for a moment and answer the following question with your table group: What is the point of an English language arts class?" It is accompanied with a drawing of hands holding an open book.

Once students discuss this question with a table partner, the whole class will then discuss it while the teacher writes the answers down on the board. 

  1. After the class discusses the answers, the teacher will add something additional to the list, if it hasn’t been mentioned:
A brown slide with the heading: "My Compass." The text of the slide is: "One of the guiding forces behind my class is the belief that an English language arts class should help you to build, cultivate, and clarify your perspective and voice. Let’s dig into what that means... " It is accompanied with a drawing of a compass.

And here is roughly what I plan to say around it:

For me, a central job of an ELA class is to build, cultivate, and clarify your perspective and voice. What is interesting about both your perspective and voice is that they are wholly unique in the history of the world. No one who has ever lived has seen things or said things exactly as you do. Quite literally, you have thoughts and say things every day that are unique in the history of the world. At the same time, your perspective and voice are in a sense not yours at all. They are a mash up of the perspectives and voices that surround you and came before you. The way we develop our perspectives and voices is by listening to those around us and bringing in bits and pieces from their perspectives and voices that help us to better understand and express ourselves. You can think about both perspective and voice as a giant tapestry stitched with the language and ideas of those you’ve encountered. One of my core goals in this class is for you to encounter new perspectives and voices that will help you to further build and refine your perspectives and voices. Today, we are going to play with that with your language stories before sharing them with the class.

  1. The teacher will then tell students that seeing how others do something can help us to get new ideas for how to do it too. The class will then look at name stories from two noted authors, Sandra Cisneros and Nate Marshall. As they do that, the students’ job is to look for things to add to their writing. Here are the name stories:
A brown slide with the heading: "Name Story #1." The text of the slide is an excerpt from a Nate Marshall story called "My Name is My Name." Here it is: "One of my favorite family stories is the one about how I got my name. I was supposed to be named Armstead Semaj Marshall. Armstead is (was?) the name of my grandfather and my great grandfather. Semaj is my father’s (and his father’s) name backwards. That was supposed to be my name until my grandmother intervened. My grandparents were divorced and as the story goes my grandma said “There are one too many Armsteads in the world. If his name is Armstead I won’t babysit.” …So as the story goes I didn’t become Armstead Semaj and the compromise was that Armstead became my middle name and instead I got the name Nathaniel as a first name in honor of one of my mother’s cousins who passed before I was born. There’s a picture my mom has of me as a little boy sitting with my grandfather and my great grandfather. Sometimes in the family that picture has been referred to as “all the Armsteads.” Both of the other Armsteads called me by my middle name. Maybe as a protest or maybe as a way of showing love. Maybe as a way of pointing out our special and particular connection as men in a family with very few men. Likely the reason was some combination of these reasons. Maybe it was just a good way to keep forgetting.”
A brown slide with the heading: "Name Story #2." The text of the slide is an excerpt from a Sandra Cisneros Book called The House on Mango Street. Here it is: "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing…. …At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister’s name Magdalena–which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least- -can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza. I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.”
  1. Next, the teacher will ask the students to do four short revisions, each lasting no longer than a few minutes, of their name stories: one aimed at improving the content, two aimed at improving the style (through adding metaphors/similes and parallel structure), and a final one that invites them to really lean into their own voices. 
A brown slide with the heading: "Your Name Story Revised Part 1" The text of the slide is: "Please revise your name story by taking inspiration from the content of the other stories. Please add one or more of the following: 1. Write about a name you were supposed to have but didn’t get. 2. Write about someone who had your name before you. 3. Write about someone who calls you something that is not your given name. 4. Write about any controvery/disagreements/strong feelings surrounding your name. 5. Write about how others react to your name or say it (potentially wrong). 6. Compare what your name means in different languages or locations by using this stem: “In _____ my name means_____. In _____ my name means _____. 7. Add anything else that the name stories made you think of that would add to your story."
A brown slide with the heading: "Your Name Story Revised Part 2" The text of the slide is: "Please revise your name story by taking inspiration from the style of the other stories. Please try to add the following: A metaphor or simile that compares something about your name to something something the audience will understand. Also, the best metaphors/similes are those that are personal to the author. “It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings, songs like sobbing….” “They say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth.”
A brown slide with the heading: "Your Name Story Revised Part 3." The text of the slide is: Please revise your name story by taking inspiration from the style of the other stories. Please try to add the following: Purposeful repetition of a word or phrase: “Maybe as a protest or maybe as a way of showing love. Maybe as a way of pointing out our special and particular connection as men in a family with very few men. Likely the reason was some combination of these reasons. Maybe it was just a good way to keep forgetting.” “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings”
A brown slide with the heading: "Your Name Story Revised Part 4." The text of the slide is: "You already have a unique, interesting voice and perspective. Please revise your name story by bringing in more of YOU. Here are some ways you can do that: Bring in funny personal stories/details about you that connect to your name: “Anybody who went to elementary school with me might remember me signing all my papers Nathaniel A. Marshall.” Bring in your personality by adding asides and opinions: “[My name is] not quite as thick as sister’s name Magdalena–which is uglier than mine.” Use your imagination to give yourself a new name: “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.”
  1. To end, students will have a few minutes to select the parts of their name stories they wish to share and polish them up. 
A brown slide with the heading: "Let's Share" The text of the slide is: "We will be sharing our Name Stories in a couple minutes. You can share as much or as little as you wish. You have two minutes to revise and polish the section that you wish to share. " It is accompanied with a drawing of a hand writing a squiggly line with a quill.

My plan is to have all the students turn them in, so I can use them to take role. Just 7-8 students will share them each day, which will allow students to really take them in.

Next Steps

The Fresh Start Effect means that the lessons and ideas we present very early in the year have a potentially stronger impact than pretty much everything else. That is why, against the backdrop of everything going on right now, I plan to lead with perspective and voice and then to continue talking about them and the students’ idiolects pretty much every day after. But more on that to come next week.

Until then, thanks for reading and yours in teaching,

Matt

Two Reading Suggestions

For those looking to dig deeper, here are two articles that got me thinking about human voice and perspective this week:

How We Speak Has Gotten Extravagant. Literally. by John McWhorter

Feedback: Human or Not by John Warner

Matt

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