Students Transform Their Own Writing by Sending Their Teachers to School

For the 2nd year in a row, students have kindly loaned us a cohort of ELA and social studies teachers for RRISD Central Texas Writing Project Open Institute. We promise to return them with enhanced writing features. Here’s how it works.

Those Who Can’t, (probably shouldn’t) Teach

Only when we write, do we understand how to support writers. Being immersed in the writing process — having to transform the chaos in my head to a publishable work of art — pushed us fully into the depths to which we must go: the time it takes, the frustration we experience, the (dare I say it?) grit required to overcome our writing failures and turn something in. Working through the process makes it all inescapably real. Writing is hard. Students need a teacher who has experienced this complexity, so they have a tested champion who can support them in overcoming the challenges writing throws down.

What the what?

To be a learner, we have to ask questions. To learn, we need to have time to explore the answers. I cannot begin to quantify how many questions I have about: teaching, writing, literacy, students, learning, the brain, memes as communication, the linguistic shifts of the word “salty.” As educators, our minds are continually asking important questions and seeking answers to help build our craft. And then we are given a litany of tasks to distract us from ever having a moment to gain new knowledge. Our craft suffers. Writing Project demands that teachers spend scholarly time seeking the answer to a question that matters to them, and provides time and support to do the work. Teacher as Learner = Vastly Improved Teacher.

Only the Lonely

Writing is lonely. Teaching is lonely. A teacher has the odd occupation of spending the majority of time surrounded by people, but is routinely segregated from peers. You close the classroom door, and it’s just you and the kids. Peer collaboration is the best way a teacher can learn new strategies and a writer can learn new skills. Writing Project gifted me a group of 30 collaborators; I learned more from those expert peers in 10 days than I could ever learn alone.

However, Yes! Virginia

Virginia needed a room of her own. We need time and space. Teachers are inundated with the needs of others. It is naïve to believe that teachers have or will make the time independently to hone their writing craft. Many English teachers dream of writing a book. Because one can dream while sleeping. To actually write the book, you need to be somewhat awake (if you have discovered away around this, please share). Teachers need non-comatose time away from distractions to practice craft and to reconnect with their identity as writers.

I’m a Model. You Know What I Mean.

Owning our identity as a writer, sharing our work with students, and modeling our process, gives students permission to see themselves as writers, comfort to share their work, and confidence to create their own writing process. Modeling the steps a writer takes gives students an authentic example they can follow, rather than an intimidating blank page.

Put Your Mask On Before Assisting Others

It can be all about you! — at least for nine days out of the year. The RRISD Central Texas Writing Project Open Institute provides teachers opportunities to practice craft, seek answers, and collaborate on best practices for students. Participation in the writing project is a valued part of the job. By offering a few days of direct focus on the well-being and personal learning of teachers, we are creating a faculty to best meet the needs of students. When our teachers of writing are writers, our students become writers, too.