I'm Becoming One of My Students!

As we look ahead to documenting our summer in the UNCC Writing Project, we are looking at the Teacher as a Writer, a Leader, and an Inquirer.  We have divided into three groups and are instructed to brainstorm what we need to make this "documentary" happen.  What is the "stuff" we need?  Pictures?  Video?  Also, we need to discuss style ideas.

As we are instucted to do this, I wonder...
How many points?  What should it look like?  What font size? When is it due? Is this for a grade?

What If....

What if we abandoned all rules?  What if there was no lined paper?  No rubrics? No specific prompts?
What if students could read what they want? Read how they want? No left to right....no top to bottom?
Would students be able to take risks because they wouldn't be wrong?

Yes, and yesterday, as we wrote into the day, Steven Johnson visualized how creativity and ideas come to be.  With no teacher restraints, would students develop hunches?  Would they explore them?



Yes, and Lacy made us think in her presentation, "Where Words Go," about this as we explored the lined paper society pushed upon schoolchildren as we teach them to write.  It was a totally out-of-the-box way of thinking.  It was the thinking that we would love to instill in our students.

Yes, and how do our "rules" impact student creativity?

Yes, and what if we abandoned rules and gave students a trusted writing community? What if students develop bonds and trust with a few fellow classmates who reflect and give non-judgemental feedback as Cindy and Steve describe in their "Peer Writing Groups" presentation?

Yes, and what if we try something new as teachers, just as we encourage our students to do in our classrooms?

Yes, and what if...?