Fortunately for myself, and I hope for the session participants, I managed to find some answers in the lunch session preparation sessions Ms. Benner had with me. 

QUESTION 1: CHANGE
In response to the first question, Has how we teaching writing changed all that much? I found that many teachers still don’t teach writing workshop a la Nanci Atwell and Luci Calkins. When I left my writing workshop classroom (having facilitated writing workshops at that point for 3 years at 5-6th grade level) to become an instructional technology specialist, I knew that the work I was doing as a writing workshop facilitator/teacher was powerful for myself and my students. But the work I could do in the field of Instructional Technology was even more powerful, especially as a writer who sought to use technology.

Simply, the digital tools just did not exist. It is too early for me to say whether digital tools available to us now, tools that I feel very comfortable with, are being used systematically across school districts in Texas and the Nation. But in my informal conversations with Reading/English Language Arts Directors, the answer is a resounding “NO.” There just isn’t time for this kind of heartfelt, hard work that empowers and engages children in the writing workshop I modelled for teachers in Cotulla, Texas. And, since there is so little of that writing workshop approach going on, I suspect that the use of digital tools to achieve the new ideals of writing workshop for teachers and students just does not exist either.

The need for teaching writing a la Nanci Atwell is an urgent need for our Democracy, and learning to do so with digital tools even more so. Over at Borderland in his blog entry “We are in Deep Doo Doo,” Doug quotes some interesting conversations about the destruction of schools. I couldn’t agree more with the points Lois Weiner makes, especially the one that it isn’t in the best interests of the elite to dumb-down our education system. There’s a reason for not embracing writing workshop, developing teachers and students to be independent thinkers and writers, a reason for not fostering collaboration:

Writing for social action, or social justice, is incredibly powerful. Limiting our ability to do that by making it impossible to facilitate writing workshop makes me fearful for the future.

One of my favorite aspects of the Heart of Texas Writing Project technology session that took place this past Saturday was a roomful of individuals committed to supporting writing across the curriculum, pushing back against attitudes focused on scripting the teaching of anything and everything. Even in the session Diana and I facilitated, the alignment of curriculum–to the exclusion of writing workshop–came up. So, is writing workshop alive and well in today’s schools?

The answer remains, “No.” This makes the way I taught writing 15 years ago as revolutionary now as then. And, that frightens me. It frightens me because though many give lip-service to the writing workshop, nothing really has changed in education. We’ve spent more time talking about change than actually doing it as a system.

My second question, “Has the way I taught writing workshop kept up with the way writing should be taught today?” really was an expression of hope. I wanted to find out as I read various authors on the teaching of writing that writing workshop HAD changed dramatically to reflect new, rich media and tools. The fact is, it hasn’t. And, I’ve noticed a division in the ranks of writing teachers. 

The division in the ranks is between what appears to be Abydos (New Jersey Writing Project) and the National Writing Project. Perhaps, division isn’t the right word. A fork in the road? I’m not sure how to describe them. 

The Abydos Staff Development Program has some great reading materials…I’m looking forward to participating in their longer session (12-14 days) this summer. My goal is simple. To re-discover my writing teacher roots, as well as take a fresh look at the teaching of writing through the use of technology. As a certified teacher, it is my hope that by immersing myself in how writing is taught now, I will be able to blend technology in later.

The work of the National Writing Project, in contrast, is terrific. Everywhere I look online, people I chat with, the National Writing Project is referenced. It’s evident that something is going on. The question I have to ask, though, is pretty simple. How do Abydos and the National Writing Project intersect?

QUESTION #3 – FRAUD
One of my favorite passages in Robert Quinn’s books (can’t remember whether it’s Deep Change or Building the Bridge as You Walk Upon It) is when Quinn is having a conversation with another researcher. At some point, the researcher shares his worry that he will be found to be a fraud, that all his work and effort that is celebrated will be seen as flawed in some way, and he’ll be discovered in a negative way.

It is a feeling I identified with as I prepared to share my insights and experience on writing workshop, how technology might be used to facilitate that. I am an administrator who can now say he has spent more time facilitating professional learning opportunities about using technology in education than teaching writing and using technology within the classroom. Would someone call me out in the session and challenge me?

The answer is NO. While a part of me wonders if one or two of the teachers wondered what a technology director was doing presenting at a writing conference, for the most part, they were lost in the simple realization that they were not facilitating writing workshops as they knew they could be done. And, that was with the technology pieces put aside. I hope that at the end of the day, the technology pieces shared made a difference for them, enabled them to rediscover the writing workshop as I did looking back.

More importantly, as I remember the video of The Matrix I included in the presentation, it’s not about bending the spoon, but about yourself and your perspective. In revisiting writing workshop–which was a core part of my identity as a young teacher of writing, 20 years ago–I honestly feel I had the opportunity to experience the wisdom of Lao Tzu’s quote at the start of this blog entry.