Teaching Writing Teachers Writing: Difficulty, Exploration, and
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W197 CCC 61:2 / DECEMBER 2009 E. Shelley Reid Teaching Writing Teachers Writing: Difficulty, Exploration, and Critical Reflection As they prepare to teach writing, new teachers should respond to writing assignments that we deliberately design to be difficult, exploratory, or critically reflective, so that they may better develop flexibility and engagement as learners, teachers, and theorists in the field of writing instruction. It was, ironically, the very process of writing and then revising this essay which ultimately led me to my [essay’s] conclusion about how writing should best be taught. —Kori 1 Most of us who teach writing teachers would be delighted to read a stu- dent comment like Kori’s, suggesting as it does that writing and reflecting on what one writes are productive core activities for writing teachers. After all, one of the few widely-agreed-upon elements of writing teacher education is that writing teachers should be asked to write as part of their professional development. Ann Lieberman and Diane R. Wood note that “providing op- portunities for teachers to write and share their writing in groups” is central to the National Writing Project, while “the opportunity to write . . .” is the first expectation listed in the CCCC position statement on the preparation of writ- ing teachers. Our goals extend beyond the notion that writing teachers should demonstrate high competency in their field. Lil Brannon and Gordon Pradl
