“Non-Magical Thinking…” A response

    I would like to briefly address the principal’s position that Janet Emig mentions in her article “Non-Magical Thinking: Presenting Writing Developmentally in Schools.” This principal passed a note to the teacher leading a writing workshop that said “I’ll come back when you are teaching.” We see this as the attitude of a behind-the-times administrator, but when I was involved in my first writing workshop, the “I’ll come back when you’re teaching” attitude was subscribed to by most of us workshop participants, at least for the first two months. I think that we were so overwhelmed by the fluidity and flexibility of the workshop that it felt like frustration and lack of teaching to us. Part of the frustration was due, I think, to the fact that the sessions were too short and two far apart to get enough done. The other aspect that frustrated us was that we were attending highly structured class before and after the workshop session. This is just my personal, one time experience, but I think that for me it is good to realize that my high school students will be in the same boat if and when I choose to do a writing workshop with them. They will have highly structured classes before and after my English time with them, and the fifty minutes we have together will not be enough to easily get in the swing of things. I do know, however, that it does work and that being aware of the difficulties is half the battle.