Being asked to perform in a room with 30 other teachers and drama experts changes the way one views artistic achievement, she adds. I became less judgmental about kids' responses to art and took more interest in seeing it the way they were seeing it. From this experience she learned it's important to participate as well as to observe. The best way to read a villanelle or sestina is to try and write one. It's also best, she deduced, to teach by example.
Kids are much more apt to take writing seriously if their teacher is doing it.
With them, I do the warm-ups and preparations and when I feel like everyone's ready to write, I sit down and start writing immediately. I'm taking a risk there. But, when they see me absolutely focused, and serious, they will usually want to try it themselves. When we ask kids to be creative, we're asking them to take tremendous risks and be vulnerable. We need to go there with them and feel what it feels to be afraid of being judged.