Developing Writing Teachers

Book: Developing writing teachers: Practical ways for teacher-writers to transform their classroom practice Author: Terry Locke Publisher: Routledge, 2015 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Terry Locke's book, Developing writing teachers, has much to offer those who are interested in writing and the teaching of writing. Teachers, pre-service teachers and those who provide professional development for teachers (e.g., teacher educators) are offered practical activities, framed by theory, to inform writing pedagogy. The book is underpinned by a belief that teachers with experience as writers can learn to be better teachers of writing. Locke explains that the book was inspired by several 'prompts': the way that students' writing performance seems to lag behind reading performance; the National Writing Project that began in the US; his own experiences of writing and the 'terror of the blank page' (see pp. ix-x). As Locke argues, the book is aimed at developing teachers' dispositions to write, so that 'they can truly experience what it means to write one's self, including one's professional self, into being' (p. x). I loved the ambiguity of the book's title, making me think about teachers who write and teachers of writing. Locke calls this the book's 'dual preoccupation' (p. x). As an academic, who loves writing and writes a lot, I decided that the book might be useful to read, especially since I work in the literacy area within teacher education. And I wasn't disappointed. Right from the preface, I felt that Locke was in tune with his readers. He emphasised that the book was not one to read in a single sitting; but, rather, it was better as a 'travelling companion with whom you can take up conversations about writing and the teaching of writing as time in your busy life allows' (p. xi). That is my type of book! I didn't read the book in one sitting, but I kept returning to it as I could. And I can see that I will return to sections of it in the future, when I need to consider or re-consider one of Locke's very helpful ideas or some of the examples that he included. The book made me think about myself as a writer. And that came with the dawning realisation that, whenever I write, I write a very limited range of text types. These include academic pieces such as journal articles, book chapters and even whole books, editorials and book reviews. Even though I consider myself a capable writer, I'm not sure that my expertise extends to all forms of writing. Locke offered ways of developing writing skills in 'new' ways of writing. And he includes activities and reflections to facilitate that process. The book has two sections. In Part I, Locke considers what it means to take up the identity of 'writer'. The chapters in this section of the book allowed me to think about myself as a writer. I was enthralled by some of the pieces of writing that were included as examples. As Locke explained, the book 'shares stories about teachers who have assumed new identities as writers' (p. xi) and it shares examples of teachers' writing. Both inclusions encourage readers to think 'yes, I could do that too!' In this part of the book, the practical activities offer opportunities to 'be' a writer, to experience writing and to reflect on writing experiences. I particularly enjoyed Locke's discussion of pamphlet writing. Because I love the way that pamphlets incorporate multimodal ways of making meaning, including linguistic, visual and spatial elements, I often ask my students--pre-service teachers--to consider how they might use the pamphlet as a text in their classrooms. I get them to examine and read pamphlets; I ask them to design a pamphlet and to write/compose the text, considering the different meaning making systems that they might use. …