A Learning Process That Never Ends

By: Kristi Piper
Date: December 2004

Summary: A teacher-consultant shares her experience at a professional writing retreat, where she is amazed to realize she is still doing things in her classroom that do not fit with her core philosophy.

I sat in a chair in the Hertz rental car area wondering if that smiling blonde one row over was going to Sunrise Springs as well. Does she look like a writer? I kept thinking. Then I began to wonder what, exactly, a writer looks like. Do I look like a writer? Am I a writer? I guess we'll know soon enough. Someone thought I wrote well enough approve my application for this retreat, but was I now destined to sit for four days surrounded by brilliant writers whose words shazamed from their fingertips into their laptop like bolts of lightning that create rather than destroy? Was I going to have to come up with inventive ways to miss share time and read-arounds because I hadn't been able to come up with a single word? I didn't know, but I was going anyway. I had been accepted into the National Writing Project's professional writing retreat and had no way of knowing how great an impact the experience would have on me.

Linda, the smiling blonde in the next row, was indeed a writer, who, like me was feeling a little nervous about the four days ahead of us. Within minutes we had met more participants, Amy and Margaret, and were on our way to what proved to be a glorious weekend of reading, writing, sharing, and enjoying.

I arrived with two articles underway and a mission before me: Finish them! However, within minutes of meeting my roommate, Lana, and discussing our professional lives, I had uncovered a new topic and was really excited over the prospect of writing about it.

The Inn at Sunrise Springs, New Mexico, proved to be the perfect place to write. I found myself filling pages and pages about my new topic, and my two unfinished articles were doomed to remain just that—unfinished. The words seemed to come easily, which surprised me. They weren't good, but they were on paper. It was a start. I found myself contemplating the fact that I had not done any type of prewriting, brainstorming, listing, outlining, or planning of any type. Excited, I had simply begun writing.

It dawned on me then that I require my students to do some type of prewriting. I pride myself on understanding that there is no "one size fits all" writing process. I encourage students to experiment with different types of prewriting and find what works best for them. But why have I never considered the possibility that prewriting is not always necessary? Surely there are students in my class who, like me, would prefer to just write. As a teacher, I need to free my students to use first draft writing as prewriting. After all, that is how I make my best starts. Discussion is also a powerful form of prewriting. Why then do I ask my students to make sure some of that brainstorming discussion ends up on paper? Sometimes the best way to begin is just to begin

When questions arise like Why do I require prewriting when I don't always do it myself? I like to take advantage of any opportunity to reflect on my teaching. So I rewound the portion of the writing process that I had just gone through and thought about how I would have responded had one of my students handled a writing assignment in precisely the same manner.

I had gone through the Greater Houston Area Writing Project Summer Institute three summers before and become an avid writer. I had imbibed the "student as authentic writer" philosophy, which will shape my teaching for the rest of my career. I had been trying hard to integrate it in my classroom—a learning process that, for me, will never end. Now, after three years of putting myself in my students' shoes and writing alongside them, I was amazed to find myself still doing things in my classroom that did not fit with my core philosophy.

The four-day retreat was uncovering still more techniques that needed thinking. As it unfolded around me, I continued to take what was happening here and relate it to what happens in my classroom. I listened carefully to the writing being read and was amazed at what I heard. It wasn't the writing that was so phenomenal; it was the revising. The participants were all experienced writers. Their words were an inspiration to listen to. Yet, even with such talented writers turning out such impressive drafts, the effect that each response group had on the writer's process was staggering.

Writers would share the same piece on consecutive days to an audience aware of its evolution. We all felt a sense of pride as we listened to the revised work of our colleagues. Our writing connected all of us in a very special way. We really were a community of writers, and we really were helping one another.

I couldn't help wondering why my student response groups don't have this same powerful effect. The one idea that kept reoccurring was time. We have to devote time—real time—to our writing response groups. Responding effectively and accepting response is not a "natural" behavior; it is one that has to be learned and practiced.

As adults, we were able to develop a strong sense of trust in only four days, but our students need much more time. As adults who write professionally and regularly, we thrived on receiving constructive criticism and, in turn, did not hold back in giving it as well. Our students need to be handled with kid gloves for their first attempts at writing response. Criticism, no matter how constructive, may seem overwhelming if not given sensitively and in very small doses. Appropriate responses need to be modeled and discussed regularly.

I came away from the retreat with a rejuvenated passion for writing and an intensified belief in the importance of writing response groups. Twenty writers from all over the nation had come together to share our talents and passions. We helped one another rethink our words. We didn't correct or fix; nor did we offer empty praise. We helped one another think. If we can get our students to create this same type of community through the use of writing response groups we will be going a long way in getting them to think, to really think, about their writing.