Reflections and Insights on the Teaching of Writing

During the Spring Semester of 2013, three teachers joined together to co-teach an undergraduate writing process and content course for future teacher educators. The goal of this writing course was to teach undergraduate pre-service teachers how to teach writing in the PreK-8 classroom. The major question for the study was, “What happens when three RCWP Teacher Consultants co-teach an undergraduate writing methods class? What does it take to successfully co-teach a class?”  The data consisted of their individual teacher journals, the recordings of the post-class discussions, and lesson plans and class notes for the next week based on the previous week’s collaborative discussion. Holistic content analysis was followed to generate the major themes in texts.  Results include: The writing project, through the use of the writing workshop model and teachers teaching teachers, is an explicit example of this “net- like organization” in the Rhizome model which is the ultimate form of sharing power through the circulation of experience and knowledge. The giving of feedback relates to the sharing of power between the students and the instructor. Also important is that as teachers of future teachers, it is difficult to pass on some information that can only be learned in the classroom while teaching. This tacit knowledge is hidden within the experiences found in the everyday process and application of the workshop model. It can only be experienced and then reflected upon, and it is our fear that not every teacher of writing will do the necessary reflecting.