Her school is very different from Cottonwood Creek, but Margo doesn't let it matter. She has high expectations for her students, no matter what. When it's time for the day to begin, the visiting teachers melt into the background as Rector and her students get down to work. The students will break into their book clubs to talk about books they've chosen to read and then spend time polishing stories they started before the holiday break. The lab teachers crouch down to hear the children's book clubs.
Pens move rapidly across the paper as they take notes, but the students ignore the hovering adults.
During writing time, Rector teaches her class what it means to revise their stories. The visiting teachers circulate and help out as Rector's students set to work editing and polishing their stories about the births of siblings, family travels, visits to the dentist, and other hallmarks of childhood. When the morning concludes, Hutchins asks the teachers to take 20 minutes to write down their observations and questions for Rector. Later, after lunch, the teachers gather in the conference room of a Denver office building to talk about what they've seen. Dilg shares her experience of writing mystery stories with her students.