My students resonated most strongly to the children's reluctance to write, even though they had volunteered to be there to write. This, in turn, got the adult students to consider their own impediments to writing and the social dimensions of literacy and literate empowerment. This in turn forced the U students to see the children s creative process as something with its own intrinsic value and forced them to confront the limitations of the rule-bound, reductive conception of writing that most of them had been taught at some time was authorized writing. I found myself talking about them to my friends and my family, thinking about them when I was not in class. This to me is the true value in a collaboration like this.
College students become more well-rounded, more compassionate, less absorbed in themselves.
I cannot stress enough how important our work has been. Seeing real relationships develop and grow between the kids and ourselves was satisfying enough, but the excitement that came as the kids began to grow to be stronger, more confident writers made our efforts even more gratifying. Sure, we encountered problems, difficulties, and frustrations. But the lasting impressions is one of hope and satisfaction. To me, the most valuable lessons there are to learn are hard to teach in schools, at least in the traditional curriculum.