Student Voices · Be Quiet and Let Them Speak

Hi, this is Mrs. Martinez, the high school English teacher who somehow ended up teaching a room full of 11-year-olds "codes" for analyzing literature and writing like high schoolers. Maybe even better.

Now, calling them codes wasn't exactly my plan. But the kids decided that's what they were, and suddenly we had a secret language. They had the inside scoop on how scholars think, talk, and write. I saw my opening and thought, Well...we're going with this.

That's what I loved about 6th graders.

They were still wonderfully quirky and real. Still innocent enough to be goofy, eager to please, laugh at ridiculous things, and blurt out an idea before worrying whether it sounded "smart." They weren't nearly as self-conscious as my high schoolers. They would take a chance, get it completely wrong, laugh, listen to somebody else, and try again.

And that was my in.

Their quirkiness became the perfect recipe for a wonderfully wild learning environment, one where thinking hard and having fun somehow belonged in the same room. We had fun.

Once I realized how special that was, I held onto it for dear life. I wanted to protect the wonderful weirdness of being 11 for as long as I possibly could.

Because somewhere inside all that silliness, they were becoming scholars.

They just didn't know it yet. Through games and fun conversations, they created a world of their own that was safe to be ourselves.

Mrs. Martinez

One year on

They came back to tell her themselves.

Here they are, speaking in code, haha, sharing their thoughts on how their learning of simple systems has supported their work as 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th graders coming to visit my last year at their elementary school in 2023.

Visiting seventh graders Room E-5, 2023 4 min 08

Or hear each of them on their own.

Her writing program has made me realize what writing actually means.

I was really ahead of most people, because a lot of people in their elementary schools didn't get access to this knowledge.

I wrote a magnificent T-Bear, and my friends said it was absolutely amazing.

She helped me break down my topic sentence, my background, my evidence, and my analysis.

Most teachers only teach it in seventh grade, but a start in sixth grade really helped me out.

As time went on, I learned to use the 2K more efficiently in my essays.

Academic language is like transition words, helping you add more of a flow to your writing.

It's really boosted my grade up, after my teacher saying that I write strong paragraphs.

Hopefully I use your strategies all the way to college.

Further on

The same systems, in high school.

Several of them describe using the codes in ninth grade, before their classmates were taught them.

She's helped me just know that I have a meaning, and my words actually have meaning to them.

Right when I got into seventh grade, I was ahead of everybody in my English classes.

Academic language helped me form opinions and thoughts by making it sound more sophisticated and trustworthy.

Says Means Matters is a really simple way to say what something means and why it is significant.

I was really struggling with reading comprehension. When she taught us T-Bear, I could write essays easily.

Every time I write a T-Bear, it gives a stronger base and makes me feel more confident in my writing.

The things that you taught me in sixth grade, I still use now.

Wait. These are sixth graders? They wrote those analyses?

Every piece below is real student work from Room E-5, dated, unedited, and printed in the book. Open each one in order. The distance between the first and the last is about eight months of daily practice.

Baseline, no framework yet

Read the fable and tell me what the author wants you to understand.

SW #25 · July 2019 · age 11

Prompt → Read the fable and tell me what the author wants you to understand.

There was a tortoise and the hare. The hare was making fun of the tortoise, so the tortoise got mad and said, "Let's have a race." The race began, and the hare was so fast that he took a nap for about 4 hours. The tortoise walked for 4 hours, and then the hare woke up. The hare was shocked that the tortoise had won.

What to noticeA retelling. Accurate, and entirely summary. Nothing here says what the fable means or why it matters.

The same fable, after TBEAR

Write an analysis paragraph of the life lesson the author wants to relay, citing evidence, using the TBEAR structure.

Class model paragraph · Room E-5

Prompt → Write an analysis paragraph of the life lesson the author wants to relay, citing evidence, using the TBEAR structure.

Perseverance is what wins. An example of this in the fable The Hare and the Tortoise by Aesop was when the Tortoise demonstrated the tenacity to keep going. As the fable states, "...the Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the pace where the Hare was sleeping." (para 2) This means that no matter how slow you may be, you should not give up. This is significant because it demonstrates that when you put your mind to something and have a clear goal, nothing can stop you. Although the tortoise was slow, he proved that the race isn't always for the swift.

What to noticeSame fable. Same age. A claim, cited evidence, an explanation of meaning, a reason it matters, and a restatement.

First weeks of sixth grade

Analyze this quote by Maya Angelou and explain its significance.

Alex F. · August 7, 2018 · age 11

Prompt → Analyze this quote by Maya Angelou and explain its significance.

According to Maya Angelou, "Nothing will work unless you do." She is saying no good things can come from not trying. Maya Angelou suggests that you must work so you can succeed. Maya Angelou recognizes the importance of doing your all.

What to noticeAlex is the student who opened the year with "This is stupid! I don't know why we have to learn this." Four sentences in, he is already citing and paraphrasing.

Same student, ten years on

Looking back.

Alexander F. · 10th grade · 2022-23

Prompt → Looking back.

Going into my sophomore year, I can validate that I still use Mrs. Martinez's teachings regularly, and all through my middle school and my freshman year, I was asked if I would like to get moved to honors because the concepts they teach you in 7th to 9th grade I had already learned in my 6th grade class from Mrs. Martinez.

What to noticeThe catalyst for the whole book, reporting back from high school.

What eleven can sound like

Analyze "I Have Only Just a Minute" by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays.

Evelyn M. · 6th grade, 2022-23 · written in 8th grade

Prompt → Analyze "I Have Only Just a Minute" by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays.

Even though it seems like we have a large amount of time, those who take it for granted will find themselves wishing they took advantage of the time they were given. In the poem, I Have Only Just a Minute, by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, he explains that a short minute holds a significant amount of value and potential. While some may see time as a never-ending thing, the ones who maximize every minute gain more experience within the same span of time. According to Dr. Mays, "But it's up to me to use it. I will suffer if I lose it" (Lines 5 and 6), to maintain the most of someone's time lies within the individual themselves. The importance in terms of this quote is to motivate his audience to live with intention and goals in life because allowing time to pass by freely will only close doors to vast growth and experiences.

What to noticeThis is the moment most readers stop and ask the question this website was built around. These are sixth graders?

The writing final

One essay, start to finish, by an eleven-year-old.

Nothing below is corrected, tightened, or shortened.

Olivia W.

Instructor: Mrs. Martinez

Writing Final: Grown in E-5

June12, 2023

Writing Prompt: Research a life quote that is telling of how you have grown as a student this year. Explain what it means to you and why it’s significant for your continued growth in the coming years.

In Olivia’s own voice

Press play to listen. Each word lights up as Olivia reads.

Download Olivia’s recording

“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what is within us.” In room E-5, Mrs. Martinez has taught us about our growth and life after high school and college. She has taught many wonderful lessons and important lectures about how we have grown over the past year. Do not worry about the past or future; worry about yourself now.

Despite the fact that we grow many times in our life, we grow in one way to make us a better person. An example of this is in the quote by Ralph W. Emerson. He talks about how we should not care about what happened in the past. We should only care about how we treat others and how we will be affecting others as well. Author Ralph W. Emerson notes, “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what is within us,” and this reflects on my time in E-5 by how different people we were in 5th grade. Mrs. Martinez has taught us how important it is to grow and live uncomfortably rather than live comfortably and never grow. The quote demonstrates how we look within ourselves, or we should not worry about what lies ahead or what was left behind us. We have to watch ourselves right now, in the moment. Emerson suggests that we should never worry about if something happened in the past or worry about how our life will be in the future; all we need to worry about is ourselves. How we look at ourselves is not on the same level as the past or future. It is above that.

Finally, never worry about how you were in the past. Worry about yourself right now. In room E-5, Mrs. Martinez has taught us about growth and life after high school and college. She has taught many wonderful lessons and important lectures about how we have grown over the past year. What this year has meant to me is: What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what is within us.

What to noticeA sixth grader, eleven years old, closing her final by folding the quote back into her own sentence. This is the assignment that makes the case for the whole book: the prompt asked for research, meaning, and forward significance, and she answered all three.

Years later

The same students, reporting back from high school.

Written between four and six years after they left sixth grade, unprompted and unedited.

TBEAR has helped me be able to write all that's on my mind and making it make sense to the readers. Because of TBEAR and the method you taught us, I am able to write essays and prompts without any struggle or writer's block.

Adrian W. 6th grade 2018-19, writing in 10th grade 2022-23

TBEAR and SMM has helped me greatly throughout my high school English classes as well as my chemistry class. TBEAR has made me achieve many goals in writing that I thought I would never conquer.

Anthony W. 6th grade 2018-19, writing in 12th grade 2024-25

Out of all the teachers I had experience with, none of them went into as much depth into writing as Mrs. Martinez did. Seeing how quick and easy it was to write made me realize how much I've grown. I still use what Mrs. Martinez has taught me to this very day.

Ashley C. 6th grade 2018-19, writing in 10th grade 2023

One poem, two generations

A valedictorian was asked why she invited her sixth-grade teacher to her graduation.

Her answer was the Time poem, taught to Catherine as a child by her own mother, Ana.

A page of a student analysis, typed and dated — A student analysis, exactly as it was handed in

"I don't remember your explanation. I remember Cameron explaining the poem to me."

It was not the teacher's words that stayed. It was the conversation between two students, an exchange that was never in the lesson plan and that the teacher barely noticed at the time.

Twenty years later, another sixth grader analyzed the same poem in the same classroom. Both of their reflections are in the book, printed side by side.

Teachers rarely witness the full impact of the conversations taking place among their students. We may never know which discussion, which question, or which peer explanation becomes the moment that changes the course of a child's life.

They were eleven.

They came back to tell her themselves.

The same systems, in high school.

One essay, start to finish, by an eleven-year-old.

The same students, reporting back from high school.

A valedictorian was asked why she invited her sixth-grade teacher to her graduation.

The Framework