The Teachers Always Write

by Community of Writers, Larry Colton (Compiler)

In the eight years that Community of Writers has offered professional development training to teachers, we’ve had 950 teachers go through the program. In most cases, each of those teachers had to complete two pieces of writing during the 40-hour workshop, one a narrative non-fiction, the other fiction. This anthology is not necessarily an allstar collection of those stories…it’s just a sampling…but we think it speaks to the talent, earnestness and daring of the people entrusted with the education of our children. Community of Writers is a program that emphasizes the writing process. In the same way that you don’t lose weight by reading diet books, you learn to write – hold on to your hat – by writing. In our workshops, we provide teachers with dozens of instructional strategies for the classroom, but just as importantly, our program makes the teachers write, immersing them in the writing process. For most of them, it’s intimidating. The goal isn’t to turn these teachers into published authors…it’s to have them live the experience – to stare at a blank page, to grope for just the right word, to with a second rewrite. We want them to discover again how incredibly hard it is to write well. We want them to experience the terror of what their students feel when asked to write. Think back to your own education. Did you ever see a teacher write anything other than a lesson plan, report card, or referral to the principal? We want to reinforce the idea of teacher as model. My teaching partner in the workshop, Peter Sears, and I have read all of the stories submitted over the years. Sometimes at the end of a full day of teaching, I sit down for a one-on-one conference with a teacher to go over his/her story. There’s a good chance that my brain is a little mushy after reading so many stories in a day – in much the same way that the teacher’s focus sometimes might wander in his/her own classroom. I may have read the story too quickly, or be confused as to what it’s about or where it’s going. First drafts, even for excellent writers, are usually pretty lame. But what I always see in the teachers’ stories is the risk they’ve taken and the determination to make it better. Many times in the eight years I’ve been running this program I’ve questioned why I’m doing it and why I’m taking time from my own writing. But it is during those one-on-one editing conferences with the teachers that I answer my own question. Each teacher has taken this class, investing precious time and energy, to make himself/ herself a better teacher. I want to do what I can to help. And sometimes that means plying them with Starbucks coffee, or doughnuts, or M & M’s, or books from Borders. A reward for hard writing. In this era of school budget cuts and increased criticism of our schools, it’s easy to point a finger at the problems, e.g., weak curriculum, hidebound leadership,dwindling resources, problem learners, ineffective training, overcrowded classrooms, do-nothing legislators, or a lack of parental involvement. Sometimes it seems almost overwhelming. But one thing consistently provides us the teachers.

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2006