the workshop teachers, Elizabeth, asking how our work would translate
into something positive for her students. Liz raised this question several
times in the course of the meetings, both orally and in her written reflec-
tions, and I always felt inadequate trying to answer her. I didn’t know if sit-
ting together for so many hours talking about specific pieces of writing
would translate into something positive for her students. What meaning
would these teachers make of the workshops, and what would they take
back to their classrooms?
I did notice that as the sessions progressed, Liz became very involved
with our discussions. At one point, she wrote about one effect these ses-
sions were having on her:
[It may be] off the subject, but I’m aware of how alive I feel when
I am part of a conversation [or] discussion about language—I like
to be reminded about possibilities and options—offering the
child options—seeing possibilities in writing. There doesn’t have
to be a definitive answer—sodifferent from when I wasa student.
[emphasis in original]Liz seemed torn between her sense of responsibility to her students
and her enjoyment of our work. She deeply believed that if she was not
in class with students, she should be doing something that clearly would
benefit them. In retrospect, I suspect that in the high-stakes, outcome-
based world of education and professional development, I heard Liz’s very
real and very serious question—“How will my students benefit from
this?”—and felt insecure about what I really believed. Though I shared
my thoughts with that group, I was not confident.
I’ve spent the last several years engaging many more teachers in reg-
ular sessions devoted to collaboratively looking at pieces of student work.
I better understand the value of that activity and the protocol we use.
In short, I’ve come to believe that the protocol encourages a sense of
wonder: about children, writing, teaching, curriculum, assessment, and
more. And, like Jane Smiley’s narrator in A Thousand Acres, I’ve found
value in wondering because “there was wondering to be done, not
because there were answers to be found.”
238 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind