Guests: Christine Dawson, Leah Zuidema, and Troy Hicks
Summary: This NWP Radio show brings together the authors of two co-published books on teacher-writers, Christine Dawson (The Teacher-Writer), and Troy Hicks and Leah Zuidema (Coaching Teacher-Writers). For teachers who want to start a writing group, or for site leaders who are looking for guidance in coaching the development of writing groups, this radio show details experiences and offers practical methods for support and success.
Original Date of Publication: May 11, 2017
Listen to the Show
Duration: 58 minutes
Excerpt
Christine Dawson on some of the underconsidered benefits of teacher-writing:
One of the group members, Christina, there’s a text that I share in the book that comes out of the first year of her teaching…I think it’s such a good example because she ends up writing this sort of epic poem, kind of narrative, mixed genre piece, that really allows her to explore what she was feeling about how her teaching life as a first-year teacher was really feeling consuming to her, and how she was feeling like she was battling that kind of consumption, and that fear of consumption. And that process of her writing that piece and that process of her sharing that piece and discussing it…I think did really significant work in her life, and she has credited on several occasions, how that helped her kind of create space to stay in the classroom and stay present in her students’ lives. And also just kind of keep Christina in front of herself.
Download “The Value of Teacher-Writers”
Related Resources
- Reflections on an Online Teachers Writing Group
- I Teach, (I Feel), I Write: Professional Writing with Emotion
- Becoming Your Own Expert—Teachers as Writers
Original Source: National Writing Project, https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/4660