In her preface to The 9 Rights of Every Writer, Vicki Spandel advises that we don’t teach students to write with the goal of ensuring they meet specific academic or curriculum standards. Rather we should teach them to write as a path of discovery. Writing to think, learn, find a voice, and be original, will teach students to write well and therefore will meet any of the vacillating standards that are imposed, removed, and reimposed by third parties on a fairly regular basis during a teaching career. Educational and curricular “standards” should be floors, but they tend to become ceilings when those standards are the focus of teaching. The focus of chapter 1 is "The Right to be Reflective." Focus your comments on what you agree with, don't agree with, and how you could bring this "right" into your classroom. (As always, there is no minimum or maximum word count. All we ask is that you be brilliant, interesting and insightful.)
Post your reflections as well as two short responses to postings by cohort members. - Norm
