Memories from group 201 1: Brad King • Dave Ake • Laura Allen

Tiffany Holbert • Rhett UmphressKyle Hovanec • Kelly Shea

INVICTUS WRITERSThe

INVICTUS WRITERSThe

INVICTUS on...

THE PROCESS

THE INVICTUS WRITERS: A TALE ABOUT MY STUDENTSBy Brad: April 10, 2011

Ten months ago, I gathered a group of ten students and former students and issued a challenge: Write a book.

This wouldn’t be for class credit. They wouldn’t get paid. There would be no external rewards that came with this. They could refuse or walk away without any repercussions.

In exchange, I promised them I would teach them how writer’s groups worked and make them blueberry pancakes at my house the one or two Saturdays we’d meet each month. I wouldn’t, I promised them, run the group. This would be their experience. I would only direct them when it appeared they were going off the rails.

The Invictus Writers, as I dubbed them, would set out to answer this question, individually: Am I a writer?

I had no idea whether it would work. Students are a notoriously fickle group. They are young, full of idealism, and ill-equipped as of yet to understand that life is a daily grind. Many big projects fail in colleges because students have not yet developed the discipline to try their hardest every day.

Of course, teachers try to offset this with incentives. Some offer positive reinforcement, supplying rewards for those who achieve. Others (like me) offer a more fear-based approach to learning, creating punishments that are far worse than the actual work itself.

Whichever path the teacher decides upon, students ultimately decide whether to adhere to the Rules of Engagement making outcomes difficult to project.

In this case, I had to factor in the very real possibility that while my