Write Beside Them - Teacher as a Writer

One of the common themes that has come up over and over in readings and resources about writing instruction since I started delving into promising practices in writing is the teacher as a writer and the power of teachers who are passionate about writing. I have enjoyed writing with my students the last couple of years.

Naturally with a title like Write Beside Them I was expecting Kittle's book to reiterate this importance. What I was not expecting the concept of a teacher's writing being a mentor of process, rather than product. I had never thought about this distinction before, yet it makes perfect sense. The more I read her comments on this idea, the more I loved it. Teachers can focus on the process and the decisions writers make on their journey to the final product. Then students can receive mentorship on products from published authors and previous student final drafts.

One of the reasons why I think this is an important concept is because it will make being a writer alongside students more manageable for teachers. It is encouraging to know that not every piece needs to be taken to full publication, it is more about experimenting with different genres and living like a writer and pondering the craft. It is also an interesting topic in defining roles of various mentor texts.

I am glad that Kittle made me think about the purpose of my writing versus other mentor texts in my classroom. Now rather than thinking of my writing as a mentor of what a writer can do, I will think of it as more of an interactive process to invite discussion about possibilities, rather than just showing my process. I recently wrote about Google Docs being an opportunity to make my own writing process more transparent. Reading Write Beside Them will only make me a stronger teacher as it helped me to really reflect on what exactly I want to share and show about my process. This is just one more example of how Kittle's ideas will shape my teaching for a long time to come.