One of my favourite educational bloggers, George Couros, blogged today, “It is easy to say “go do this’, but much more powerful when we are able to say, ‘Let’s do this together.'”
His post was about leadership (primarily in a school administrative sense), but the comment also expresses what I want with our Writing 12 class. Although I may be a more experienced a writer, I am not and should not be the only source of learning in our class. I can help you improve as a writer through feedback and practice. Reading mentor texts can teach you the expectations of particular genres, as well as what works (or doesn’t) for readers like you. Your peers’ comments on your writing let you know how readers respond; talking to the other writers in our class also helps you learn different tips and tricks.
All of our experiences as writers and readers, no matter what level we are at, help us and others become better writers … but in order to be useful, these experiences need to be shared and explored.
I am not the sole source of knowledge (I don’t think any teacher in any subject is, but that is a topic for a different post). I can guide you on the journey, and I can help you determine the areas you can focus on to become a better writer – but so can each of your peers in different ways. In addition, each of you have something to teach me about writing (and about leading a writing community instead of teaching a writing class as well).
I know that for some of you, this class is odd – it’s not the way most classes (even mine) are taught. Some of you may prefer a more traditional classroom because you’re used to it. However, to improve as a writer, you need to develop and refine your sense of who you are as a writer. To do that, you need to learn from and teach the writers around you. All of them.
I want our class to be a true community of writers – and I have some ideas about how to take grading (although not feedback) out of the picture to a certain extent – because I love learning from and with you. We all have strengths and areas for growth as writers, so let’s share them.
Learning is a communal activity. Developing ourselves as writers should be no less.
