I was greatly surprised by how interesting the Take 20 video was. The diversity in the teachers and their teaching styles and emphases was impressive, as was the fact that many of them had similar overall goals in how and what they teach. Particularly helpful were the questions about what books and essays to read, and who has influenced them the most in their teaching style. This gave me a guideline of things to research to strengthen my own teaching methods.

Recurring themes seemed to be things like a need for emphasis on and attention to technology and how it has affected writing; the importance of commenting on student writing in such a way as to guide the writer and provide helpful feedback that will enable the student to grow and become more successful (instead of simply justifying a given grade or focusing only on technical errors); the need to show students that writing can be fun, and that their preconceived notions of writing are probably not entirely accurate; and the unanimous opinion that group work is both important and helpful.

I was most inspired by the fact that every single teacher was enthusiastic about his or her responses, and that ALL of them seemed to be having fun. The fact that many of them said that they still had fun was particularly encouraging (who wants to be on the starting end of a non-fun career?). They also seemed to be very open to the idea that they don’t know everything, and they are ok with that. How nice to be in a professional field where it is acceptable to be human!