Teaching has given me the good fortune to meet many influential teachers over the last few years. One of my favorites was meeting and talking to Donald Graves. Donald Graves was a leader in the reforming of writing. His books stand out as beacons of light as a way to instruct young writers. His work changed the teaching of writing and empowered generations of teachers and writers. He is partially responsible for my courage to undertake this project. He was a joy to be around and always gave you the feeling that you had something to contribute. As a new teacher, it was refreshing to be considered and even when my ideas might have been off he was kind about redirecting my thoughts. He came to Montview because a former graduate assistant of his was now teaching at Montview. He was in town for a conference and came to Montview to spend the day. He spent time with all of us but was interested in my science curriculum and the writing that was coming out of it.
At the time he was working with the University of Miami (Ohio) on a science magazine for children. The magazine was called Dragonfly and he asked if I might be interested as a teacher. Of course and I would look forward to seeing it and using it in my classroom. He was writing the initial lead article for the premier issue. It was supposed to come out in a few months and he just made a note of it. I didn’t think much of it and was just waiting for it to hit the streets. A couple of weeks later I got an envelope from him. I was expecting a copy of the magazine but it was too early. When I opened it, there was the article he was writing and had a note attached asking me to look it over and give my thoughts. I was floored at someone of that stature in teaching to be asking me for an opinion and ideas. I read it over and found it to be a fantastic article on getting students to use science as a way to express themselves in writing. I was terrified but I made a couple of minor suggestions and mailed it back. When the magazine came out he did incorporate one of my ideas.
I learned the lesson of humility in the strongest possible terms. It also gave me permission to ask others for ideas and that I didn’t have to be the last and final authority on everything in my classroom. It opened up learning as a collaboration between students and the teacher. I have held that belief and philosophy ever since.