My Once a Year, Annual (Felt in Heart, Body, and Soul) Shout-Out to Joel Barlow High School and Their Junior Year Writing Portfolios

Since 2012, I've been enamored, dazzled, and supportive of the writing curriculum in Redding, Connecticut.  Invited because of my role as the CWP-Director and with knowledge that the work began as National Writing Project work, I attest there's really nothing like it. From 1997 to 2007, I had the honor of teaching in Kentucky during the age of writing portfolios. It is what I knew, understood, cherished, and applauded. When they were going away, I left teaching.

Four years later, I found the portfolio process alive and flourishing in Connecticut - well, at least in one school district. It is a devotion of many and every year I say, "here's a district we all should be modeling our curriculum after."

It's true. I was telling Tim Huminski, the Writing Center Coordinator and teacher, that I'd love to have a Joel Barlow student just once at Fairfield University. Portfolio after portfolio I can't help but think, "Phew. These kids are getting an education. They have no idea how many years ahead they are of peers their age. I can only hope a graduate student or two can write like these kids."

It is simple. Invest in writing. Invest in professional development for teaching writing. Invest in multi-genre evaluation and beyond-state testing writing curriculum and you build thinkers, creators, doers, and idea-makers for life. You harvest magicians. I trust an educational facility that has cross-curricular, interdisciplinary writing programs and where administrators invest in writing curriculum.

I'm serious. It is night and day.

I've said for years that my seniors in KY were decades ahead of their national peers when it came to writing (only when the State invested in it). Those days are gone. Now, in CT, I can say that the students at Joel Barlow High School are years ahead of their peers in the nutmeg state. Why? Teachers are invested in building their writing capabilities. 

I continue to be in awe (and love) with what I read from student writers at the school. Yes, I choose two-days of non-stop reading of student work (5 pieces per portfolio). I also receive a tremendous amount of hope. The work is simply incredible and our National Department of Education should be invested in such assessment at the national level. 

If we truly believe in the best of all students, we'd invest in the writing programs in each state. Period. Explanation Point. End Stop.