My teaching has changed because I am also a writer. When I first started teaching, I didn’t relate my experiences as a writer to what my students were doing. I was too busy trying to act like a teacher; I certainly didn’t want to be viewed as a fellow writer who struggles with writing, too.
But over the years, I have become much more willing to relate my experiences to the difficult tasks that engage my students. I have noticed how hard I work on every poem, article, etc., that I am writing; however, my hard work is not always represented in the finished product. This observation applies just as much, if not more so, to student writers. This awareness has changed the ways that I assess student writing. I try to find ways to grade which honor the hard work that students put into their writing.
Rob Wallace
West Virginia State University
Institute, West Virginia
21 years of teaching