Gang Aft Agley

So, as I return to The Knights of the Mightier Pen, I’m having a Robert Burns moment. In his “To a Mouse”, Burns informs us that “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley, / An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, / For promis’d joy!”
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The Knights started strong with a handful of my middle school students picking up gauntlets to produce some entertaining writing. Then, as the weeks marched on, the weight of ordinary responsibilities seemed to grow heavier. My schemes “Gang aft agley”. I’ve not thrown down a gauntlet in months, and the last thrown gauntlet remained on the virtual ground, its challenge unanswered.

That said, my circumstances aren’t as dire as those laid about by Burns. I have joy rather than an abundance of “grief an’ pain”. The Knights of the Mightier has fallen by the wayside, but it has not been a failure. Indeed, I believe that more opportunities for the Knights may arise during the coming school year.

If the Knights make a return (and I can’t think of good reason why they shouldn’t), I do need a better plan. Without a better plan, blips tend to drop beneath my radar. Being a teacher requires paying attention to a lot of blips of varying size and priority. Often the first blips that get ignored are the completely voluntary blips, such as the Knights of the Mightier Pen.

No one asked me to try to get the Knights up and writing. It’s not really part of my job description. The Knights seemed like a worthwhile endeavor during a school year in which anti-COVID rules constrained student activities on campus.

Chief among my errors with the Knights this year? Not defining what it takes to move from page to squire to knight, et cetera. I set up the idea of promotions without ever letting the students know the criteria for earning a promotion. Rewards need to be a bit more tangible. Vague promises are seldom enough to encourage a desired behavior for long.