Those Who Do, Can: Teachers Writing, Writers Teaching. a Sourcebook. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 397 449 CS 215 430 AUTHOR Root, Robert L., Jr.; Steinberg, Michael TITLE Those Who Do, Can: Teachers Writing, Writers Teaching. A Sourcebook. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-1860-7 PUB DATE 96 NOTE 284p. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 18607-305u: $19.95 members, $26.95 nonmembers). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) Books (010) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Creative Writing; Elementary Secondary Education; *English Instruction; English Teachers; Fiction; Grammar; Journal Writing; Poetry; Professional Development; Public Education; Second Language Learning; Summer Programs; *Writing (Composition); *Writing Instruction; Writing Laboratories; Writing Teachers; *Writing Workshops ABSTRACT Based on a series of seven summer workshops on creative writing and pedagogy, this book offers an "inside-out" approach to teaching and writing, an approach that teachers can use for personal growth and self-enrichment as well as for application and inspiration in their public school classrooms. Essays in the book are:(1) "'The Writing's for Us': Granting Ourselves Permission through Personal Narratives" (Michael Steinberg);(2) "Writing the Outdoors: From Journals to Essays" (Robert L. Root, Jr.);(3) "Of Road Kill and Community History: Exploring the Past and Present through Writing" (Stephen N. Tchudi);(4) "Making Poetry: In Search of the Delicate Balance" (Gloria Nixon-John); (5) "Shape, Sound, Form: Crafts from Which to Sing a Poem" (Anne-Marie Oomen and Ruth Nathan);(6) "What We Talk about When We Talk about Writing Fiction" (John Smolens);(7) "Courting the Notion: Anecdotal Writing for Self-Enrichment" (Alan Weber); (8) "Inviting Success: Ways into the Writer Engagement" (Paul Wolbrink);(9) "The Individual Conference in the Writing Center" (John S. Dinan); (10) "Response Groups in the Writing Center" (Michael Bacon); (11) "Creating Our Own: Writing about Literature in Expressive and Imaginative Forms"(Michael Steinberg); (12) "'Well, I Was Born in a Small Town': Popular Media in the Language Arts Classroom" (Robert L. Root, Jr.); (13) "Talking to Yourself in the Car Is Okay: A Workshop about Writing Monologues and Dialogues" (Anne-Marie Oomen); (14) "Going Where the Lightning Is: Fifteen Ways to Start Writing" (PaulWolbrink); (15) "Writing and Grammar: Bridging the Controversy" (Alan Weber); and (16) "English through the Open Door: Foreign Language in English LanguageStudy" (Marguerite Cotto). Appendixes present examples of teachers' writing, excerpts of learning and reading logs, teaching ideas, and two personal views on organizing and administrating a writing conference by teachers who are also workshop administrators. Contains35 references. (RS) Those Who 1)01 Can C\ ezp ..zr l''... ON en C:1 W A AI so 11. REPRODUCE AND U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO Mc* a Educanonal Resitarch and ImProvernnt DISSEMINATE THISMATERIAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION HAS BEENGRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) Cle 51is document has been reproducedas , wowed from the person or organization 4rn ' Led ongineting it 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in ails TO THE EDUCATIONAL document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC) Oki& OERI position or policy ...1 Al MP 2 BEST AILABLE. Those WhoDo, Can 4A.PV 3 NCTE Editorial Board: ColetteDaiute, Hazel Davis, Bobbi Gilyard, Gail Hawisher, Ron Fisher, Keith Jobe, Richard Luckert, VictorVillanueva, Jr., Karen Smith, Chair, ex officio,Dawn Boyer, ex officio Those Who Do, Can TEACHERS WRITING, WRITERS TEACHING A Sourcebook Robert L. Root, jr. Central Michigan University Michael Steinberg Michigan State University National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 National Writing Project University of California, 615 University Hall #1040, Berkeley, California 94720-1040 Manuscript Editor: Jennifer Wilson Production Editors: Michael Greer, Jamie Hutchinson Interior Design: Doug Burnett Cover Design: Loren Kirkwood NCTE Stock Number: 18607-3050 © 1996 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to providea forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teach- ing of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Those who do, can: teachers writing, writers teaching /edited by Robert L. Root, Michael Steinberg. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8141-1860-7 1. English languageRhetoricStudy and teaching. 2. Creative writingStudy and teaching. 3. English teachersTraining of. 4. Teachers' writings, American. I. Root, Robert L. II. Steinberg, Michael, 1940- .III. National Council of Teachers of English. PE1404.T49 1996 808'.042'07dc20 96-22113 CIP 6 To the teachers and writers of Traverse Bay I find already, in just a few hours' time,that I am constantly drawing parallels between what I am experiencingand feeling and what my students go through. If nothing more cameof this week than consciousness-raising, I'd say it wasworth it. Maryalice Stoneback, from a Workshop Log Most of all is the sense of beginning that Ifeel. I can write. I have much ground to cover, but it is a start.A part of me has been reconnected. I am ready to be a betterwriting teacher, and I know where to start. Kathie Johnson, from a Workshop Log A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also. ... But al that he mighte of his freendes hente, On bookes and on lernynge he it spente, And bisily gan for the soules preye Of hem that yaf hym wherwith to scoleye. .. Souninge in moral vertu was his speche, And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche. Geoffrey Chaucer, Prologue to The Canterbury Tales vii Contents Preface ix Michael Steinberg Introduction xv Robert L. Root, Jr. I. Gladly Would They Learn ... 1. "The Writing's for Us": GrantingOurselves Permission through Personal Narratives 3 Michael Steinberg 2. Writing the Outdoors: FromJournals to Essays Robert L. Root, Jr. 19 3. Of Road Kill and CommunityHistory: Exploring the Past and Present through Writing Stephen N. Tchudi 35 4. Making Poetry: In Search ofthe Delicate Balance 49 Gloria Nixon-John 5. Shape, Sound, Form: Craftsfrom Which to Sing a Poem Anne-Marie Oomen and Ruth Nathan 65 6. What We Talk About WhenWe Talk About Writing Fiction John Smolens 81 Anecdotal Writing for Self-Enrichment 7. Courting the Notion: 95 Alan Weber Writer Engagement 8. Inviting Success: Ways into 107 Paul Wolbrink II. The Writing Center: Beingand Becoming Writers 123 Introduction John S. Dinan and Michael Bacon 125 in the Writing Center 9. The Individual Conference 127 John S. Dinan 10. Response Groups in the WritingCenter 137 Michael Bacon 8 III.... And Gladly Teach 147 11. Creating Our Own: Writing aboutLiterature in Expressive and Imaginative Forms Michael Steinberg 149 12. "Well, I Was Born in a Small Town": PopularMedia in the Language Arts Classroom Robert L. Root, Jr. 161 13. Talking to Yourself in the Car Is Okay:A Workshop about Writing Monologues and Dialogues Anne-Marie Oomen 173 14. Going Where the Lightning Is: FifteenWays to Start Writing Paul Wolbrink 187 15. Writing and Grammar: Bridging the Controversy Alan Weber 199 16. English through the Open Door: ForeignLanguage in English Language Study Marguerite Cotto 211 Appendixes 219 The Writing Fair: An Anthology 219 The Learning Log: A Synthesis 235 The Teaching Sampler 241 The Workshopper's Guide 246 Writers, Teachers, and Learners: The Many Sidesof Self Tamara L. Lantz 246 Putting on a Show: The Workshopper's Guide John Kelley 250 Editors 255 Contributors 257 Acknowledgments 261 Bibliography 263 9 ix Preface Michael Steinberg Michigan State University Teachers don't have to profess writing, but they should experience it, and that experience, as any graduate of National Writing Project training will attest, is 12ft-changing. (194) Wendy Bishop Every June from 1986 to 1992, fifty to one hundredpublic school English teachers met at a small college canipus in Traverse City, on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. For six days and nights we lived in dormitory rooms, ate common meals, went to the beach, attended cook- outs and poetry n adings, and toured the surrounding area. But mostly, for that entire wee k, we wrote and talked about our writing. A typical w riting week would go like this: the first four morn- ings, we'd work in gcr.re-based writing groups, where we'd create and share our own fiction, poetry, and personal essays. Each after- noon, we'd take our works-in-progress to the writing centerfor addi- tional feedback. On the last day, like kindergartners, each group used scissors, poster board, and crayons to display the week's writing. By mid-morning, the walls were covered with teachers' poems, stories, and plays. Every year, this ritual evoked the same exhilaration and sadnessexhilaration, because the writing was so personal, so power- ful; sadness, because this liberating week was ending. Like all summer writing workshops, the Traverse Bay work- shops were a wonderfully playful interlude. As our writing center coordinator, John Dinan, once told a first-night gathering, "Teachers come to the Traverse Bay Workshop not to work, but to escape, totake a L.reak from the world of considerations, aswell as from the often pedestrian writing of that world. They come to play for a whileto play with their writing, play with other teacher-writers, and through play to be and become writers." John was right: at times during the writing week, it felt like recess on the playground. And we always left Traverse Bay feeling rejuvenated and promising each other, with the best of intentions, that we'd continue to write and spend more time with our creative selves.