I feel most successful in the classroom when my students and I are creating. Many of our creations come in the form of ideas. These ideas are often related to people reexamining themselves and/or the world around them. 

One requirement of the Language Autobiographies that my students recently completed was that students develop larger ideas about language in their lives or language in the world. Here are a random assortment quotes that stood out to me as I read the student papers:

I view Language as an obstacle that everyone has to face. – Amy

There were some changes I had to make to my tongue. – Joy

A piece of me is now missing; the piece of me that was myself. – Kaboni

It’s like you either have to become part of the oppression or stay ignorant to society. – Symone

In my mind, there were things that I wanted to say to her but my mouth stayed shut.  – Lisa

For as long as I can remember, I have been in a battle with Language. For most of my life Language has won. – Marcus

You can go here or here to see full Language Autobiographies and the Digital Stories that go along with them. Feel free to comment on the student blogs…