What do you remember your teachers saying or commenting on about your writing?
You would think that it would have a simple answer. It was asked at a workshop I attended today as something we were supposed to think about quickly and jot down a list of responses. Only, I didn't have a list of responses. I didn't have any responses. It is very odd for me to not have a response to something because that's what I do. I respond to things. Everything. Now here I am almost six hours after the workshop is over still trying to think about responses to complete my list in my writer's notebook.
The only thing I can come up with is that once when I was in second grade, my teacher told me that I spelled the word 'whistle' wrong in a sentence in front of the whole class. Although, it was a problem because it was one of our spelling words that week. Clearly, I didn't learn my studying skills until after second grade.
All of those years of school and that is the only memory I have of a teacher responding to my writing. Which is a problem for a few reasons: 1) I don't ever remember writing as a child (or the memory was so bad I blocked it out...which I'm not ruling out. I had an incident in second grade when I wore some kind of strapless bra under my shirt. I don't know why I did that or where I even got it. I'm 100% sure it was my moms. Of course we had to change clothes for gym and it came off without me knowing because I didn't have the necessities to fill it out at the time. Needless to say someone other than me found it. It's a miracle after that I remember anything from second grade.) 2) It makes me understand what I need to do as a teacher of writing
As a teacher, I couldn't possible begin to understand student writing until I myself became a writer. It's not that I was never a writer (although sometimes my second grade memories tell me different). I was just never discovered. No one ever tapped into that part of me as a child. And man, would I love to hear what I had to say back then!
See, that's what Katherine Bomer does when you go to one of her workshops. She, who has been one of my most valued mentors for teaching writing for the past four years, makes you think. I don't ever remember writing for myself, or others, until she started coaching me, coming all the way from Texas and spending time in my classroom modeling with my students. Through that and attending her workshops, I began to understand the process and understand what it means to be a writer...that feeling deep within your soul that urges you to constantly see the world though different eyes and forces you to respond...respond to everything like your life depends on it.
Professional books by Katherine I recommend:
Writing a Life: Teaching Memoir to Sharpen Insight, Shape Meaning--and Triumph Over Tests
Hidden Gems: Naming and Teaching from the Brilliance in Every Student's Writing (I am so excited to get this book..It comes out on March 25th)
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