Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010

Darling has high standards for students

One of Judith Darling's biggest concerns is that students play the "grade game," instead of striving for excellence. In her English and cultural literacy classes at Middle Creek High School, she stresses rigorous academics and high standards.

It's a methodology Darling has maintained throughout her teaching career. Darling has taught English at Garner High School, she has taught at a charter school for the jail population, and she has taught math in a computer lab.

Today, Darling teaches English and cultural literacy at Middle Creek High School and freshman composition at N.C. State.

Q: What is the cultural literacy class about?

We discuss the media messages in our culture.

I have taught it as an elective for four years.

We don't have a textbook, and we study documentaries, advertising, film, journalism. ... It is electrifying.

There is a unit on the philosophy of perception and on censorship, and we study Plato, Descartes, and Stephen Glass and the stories he fabricated.

Q: You teach upperclassmen, who are preparing for college. What do you want them to learn from you?

Many students are playing a grade game.

They want to get an A.

I want them to think, "What must I do to be skilled and excellent?"

What I see as a college professor is that many students don't know that if you cut and paste something from the Internet, it's plagiarism.

I always wonder, "How could you come here and not know this?"

Excellence and skill are what are most important. I remind students that while they are concerned about getting a certain grade, they need to go to college with skills. I want to change the perception.

Q: Which works of literature have touched your students the most?

"All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren.

The students are very moved by the idealism, and they relate to the angst and agony Jack Burden feels.

Q: How does Advanced Placement testing affect your teaching and curriculum?

The test is the focal point of the class, but it is a good test, so I feel justified in teaching for it.

I tell my students that there are six words and three skills: Read carefully, think critically and write clearly.

Those three skills will serve you well, no matter what you do or where you go in life.

Q: Does technology play a role in your classes?

I would not want to have to teach without technology; I adore it.

My students are reading "The Catcher in the Rye," and there is a Website maintained by devotees of [author J.D.] Salinger that follows Holden through New York, and there are discussion boards about the book.

Q: What are some things you look forward to in the future?

I am looking forward to integrating more technology resources. One thing I do is assign a thousand-word paper and comment copiously on the first draft.

Technology allows me to post grammar links, and students are assigned grammar tutorials before they complete their revisions.

They do the prescriptive grammar exercises and report their scores back to me.

After all, why should I teach semicolons to everyone in the room if only a couple of people need help?

Q: What are some ways your students have surprised you?

I'm stunned when a student from ten years ago contacts me.

One student I worked hard to love, who went into a military academy, e-mailed me about five years later.

When I read it, I cried.

It is such an honor to say that you were part of their profound change, that you helped a human being develop.