Like Laura, I was thrilled by the fantastic results Carl Lovitt described in his article Using Journals to Redefine Public and Private Domains in the Literature Classroom.  As a diligent student who annotates texts, I even wrote “Title sounds boring, but it’s really a great experiment with wonderful results” next to the article in the Table of Contents.  True story, I promise.  Then Laura knocked me back to reality, reminding us that real students put less thought into their journal entries than what socks they should wear to work.  In fact, all the articles about using writing to teach literature gave that “too good to be true” feeling.  For example, to a disappointing eulogy for a father, Bloom merely commented “A very nice tribute.”  With no further direction from Bloom, the student revised his paper, resolving “never, ever to write anything ‘nice’ again!”            Getting students to rewrite anything, let alone do it with fervor, is my greatest challenge as a writing teacher.  The twist that Bloom added, her struggling as a writer in front of them, is something I have not tried-yet.  I think I have nothing to lose.  Another important ingredient in her workshop was a feeling of a writing community in which erasing the teacher-student barrier also erased the student writer-real writer barrier.  By setting the example, and setting the bar for herself high, she raised the students’ expectations of themselves.  Similarly, Glenn’s experiment with imitation (style, tone, point of view, genre) includes a new twist that sparks enthusiasm in her students.  I loved her idea of requiring students to respond to her comments (as Professor Sample said he has tried) and write out their revision plan before they could conference with her.  This idea struck a chord with me because I spent an hour conferencing with a student recently, and the “revised” paper he submitted was exactly the same as the first draft.  Glenn’s idea puts the responsibility for revision with the student where it belongs.

            When Green’s students wrote their own texts in response to their reading, Green says in Reinventing the Literary Text that the opportunity gave students “strategies they need to ‘read like a writer’-to anticipate the reader’s response” (189).  As a writing teacher, I have always wanted my students to write like a reader-understanding what readers expect and satisfying those expectations.  Teaching literature can make students better writers while teaching writing can make them better readers by enhancing the critical thinking skills necessary for both.

            The lesson I take from these three writing teachers is that if something I am trying is not inspiring my students to create great writing, don’t give up-try something new.