I'm struck by the word trust used by Linda Rief in her book Seeking Diversity.  A student must trust that the teacher will be fair and just when dealing with the student.  Teachers must learn to trust that students have the capacity and interest to choose their own topics, that they have something important to say if given encouragement, and opportunities to say it.  Teachers need to trust that students can learn to conference and function as a support group for each other.  They can learn to be discerning listeners and to give help to their peers.  Teachers must trust that when they give up the idea that they should fill every class hour with a teacher-planned lesson, they are actually freeing their students and themselves to discover what they need to learn.

            Teachers should look at themselves as learners and writers.  We should model our own learning and writing in our classrooms.  We should tell the students that we are learning with them and that we will take risks and share - and then make time to do it!  What an impact teachers could have by simply modeling that learning is a life-long process that they should embrace, not dread.  Students have a tendency to look at school as something to get through, and then they're done and ready for the real world.  Instead, we need to help them view school as a place where they are learning to learn and there is no end to learning.

            Because learning is ongoing, I also believe that teachers should act as researchers in their classrooms.  A writing classroom is an ideal situation.  If we believe that writing is thinking, then our students' writing will reveal much information about them.  Our knowledge of students will be individualized and more meaningful than a string of numbers next to a name in a grade book.  I think teachers should develop some methods of data collection where they can record anecdotal information on individual students. The use of portfolios in the classroom could provide a good place to begin such data collection. Then they can review these records to monitor how their teaching practices reflect on the growth students are making.  Simple records can help teachers adjust and improve their teaching of writing to reflect teachers' own emerging beliefs and experiences.