I'm spending this hazy, hot, and humid morning with two dozen teachers who are practicing the art of teaching writing by writing. The Lake Michigan Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project, is in its ninth year of bring together educators who have one common goal: improving the teaching of writing in their schools.
Today's session began with "sacred writing," time devoted to putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). The LMWPers can respond to a prompt ("What are the things your mother wants from you?") or write whatever is on their mind. In a few minutes, we'll stop writing and participate in a teaching demonstration. Each teacher presents one of these 90-minute lessons on writing in the classroom, then receives constructive criticism from his or her LMWP peers.
What really makes the LMWP and NWP special, however, is the time granted to teachers to pursue their own writing. In addition to discussing what works in the classroom, these educators spend much of their afternoon drafting short stories, poems, memoirs and, in my case, a diatribe or two. LMWP teachers teach writing because they are writers.
It's too bad no one in the local media - even though they've been invited - has taken the time to sit in on one of these sessions. They might begin to understand what dedicated education professionals do during their three months off: think, write, discuss, share, collaborate, reflect, and push themselves to become better teachers who help students become better thinkers and writers.
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