NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Brian Brillhart is the Allen Samuels CDJR Teacher of the Month for December. He teaches English at Hutchinson Middle School-7.
"A strong 7th grade writer, I think, is somebody who has all the tools that they want to express themselves well," Brillhart said. "I mean, if that means a good vocabulary, so they're not limited by, you know, just pulling from a certain catalog of words, if they have grammar that allows them to express themselves clearly. I guess the goal would be just that they can say what they're thinking, what they're feeling, in exactly the way that they want to, in a way that can be understood by people so that they don't feel like they're ever misunderstood."
Brillhart notes that it isn't easy for some students to express themselves.
"We've made the basics of writing a starting point for each of the last few years, because we've seen the need for a focus on that, because students are so limited in their expression, especially in writing," Brillhart said. "That's kind of a first things first, and I think, you know, that that's probably not unique, even at the elementary level, but yeah, I would say that whether they're conscious of it or not, we see limitations, certainly, in the way that they're able to express themselves and would like for them to feel more freedom."
It's also important to know that meaning is shared and it changes over time.
"I've been around just long enough to know which way the wind blows, but I've told students several times this year, I wish I'd kept a dictionary of sorts, cataloging some of these, these terms in their vocabulary that seem to be so fleeting," Brillhart said. "They come and go, and words that they have, you know, they have their own nuanced, personalized meaning for, but then you ask somebody seated next to them, they might say something completely different. They have a well for communication with their peers or for other purposes on social media, whatever, but in terms of academics and being able to express themselves in a wide, a wide variety of settings, there's room for that."
Brillhart's class received Pizza Hut pizza and ice cream from Braum's to commemorate his award.