In our continuing efforts through the Teaching Boys Initiative at Saint David's School™, one of our visiting scholars, Dr. Ric Campbell, engages in ongoing reflective practice with our faculty. Below, Dr. Campbell shares an example of a freewriting initiative that was born from the collaboration between literature teacher Jamie MacNeille and history teacher Drew Burton, who sought to address forms of student engagement in their respective disciplines.
WRITING and THINKING:
A Learning Community Engaged in the Knowledge-Making Practices of the Disciplines
“Whoa, this freewriting is really helpful!”
The above quote by a sixth-grade literature student captures a revelatory moment; he has discovered the wealth of ideas at the end of his pen as he writes to describe what he is noticing in the novel the class is reading and discovers that what he notices leads to questions, and that those questions, in turn, lead to bigger ideas.
“All there is to thinking is seeing something noticeable, which makes you see something you weren’t noticing, which makes you see something that isn’t even visible.”[1]
Paul Connolly, founding director of the Institute for Writing and Thinking, selected this quote as the header for teacher workshop handouts on the uses of informal writing to develop better writers and thinkers across a range of academic disciplines, including history, literature, mathematics, science, and more. The quote recognizes the role that writing can play in taking one’s thinking a step further. Anyone who keeps a journal knows how this works; it is an act of what researchers in the learning sciences identify as “metacognition.”[2] Metacognition is a quality associated with “the expert learner,”[3], someone who is reflective, “strategic and self-directed”[4] when faced with a challenge.
During the 2024-2025 school year, Drew Burton (Eighth-Grade History) and Jamie MacNeille (Sixth-Grade Literature) carried out “design experiments”[5] in their classrooms, working collaboratively around a common question about how to get students to engage in the forms of analytical thinking and writing that demonstrated deep understanding in their respective disciplines.
Jamie framed the problem as a research question:
“How can I promote substantive engagement to strengthen students’ analytical discourse?”
Drew described it as building more effective forms of student-subject interactions:
“Ultimately, I wanted to determine what different types of reading and writing interventions I could use to facilitate effective discussions, to produce deep analytical thinking outcomes, and to keep boys invested in their learning.”
Reading the research on cognition and learning, Jamie and Drew were able to apply well established theories to the work of professional inquiry. Translating theory to practice and then testing those practices is the key to teacher professional development. The teacher, expert in understanding the complex learning ecology of the classroom, the particular needs of their students, and the subject matter to be learned, becomes the leader of educational innovation and change.
“…there is in the research field of education little theory which could be relied upon by the teacher without testing it. Using research means doing research.”[7]
“Early in the year, it took time for pens to get moving, and many boys struggled to see how these initial writings would shape the next phase of work. After winter break, however, one boy in class finished his final sentence as the timer beeped and exclaimed, “Whoa, this freewriting is really helpful!” By spring break, after countless freewrites, the boys had embraced the routine with far less reluctance and a stronger sense of purpose. One practice that strengthened the classroom writing culture was the ‘whip around’ routine, where boys quickly shared one new idea generated during freewriting, giving them the chance to highlight a nugget of thinking they felt was worth sharing. In doing so, they had to evaluate their own writing, while the collective sharing fueled the class’s creative energy and reinforced the value of generative writing.”
– Jamie MacNeille, Sixth Grade Literature
A key learning text in the classroom became the text of students’ thinking in response to a novel, a poem, or a primary historical source. The data that these teachers collected not only demonstrated the results that the teachers were looking for but shifted the dynamics of the classroom community. Students became leaders of their own learning, owners of the processes that define subject-area competencies, building on ideas they developed with guidance from their teachers in the form of writing prompts, pivotal questions, and high expectations for substantive thinking.
“Explaining your thoughts is an extremely important part of writing.”
“I should dig deeper into what the character is thinking.”
“Young people won’t be able to understand what is happening until they get older.”
The above are reflections from boys about a single lesson; some took away lessons as writers, others as readers, and others articulated profound insights – life lessons gleaned through careful analysis of literature.
“Boys were encouraged to take notes during discussions as a way of 'holding on' to key ideas they would use in post-discussion reflections to convey how the conversation shaped their thinking. As they prepared to write a final piece in response to The Giver, one boy was surprised to realize he could draw on his notes. To him, using his own thinking felt almost like cheating – a testament to the value he saw in his written work.”
– Jamie MacNeille, Sixth Grade Literature
“We were trying different things, we were using different strategies, and they (the students) were definitely receptive to that. I would hear them say, ‘I really liked how we did this today.’ It was a different way to get them to interact with or demonstrate their comprehension of the material. I think they became more aware that there are multiple ways in which they can approach a source, or a writing assignment, or a document, and still achieve the learning that Mr. Burton wants them to achieve. They were discovering more about their own learning preferences, how they wanted to go about accessing something, and developing a sense of their capabilities.”
– Drew Burton, Eighth Grade History
Within the space of this story, it is not possible to share the wealth of data, insights, and new practices that emerged from this year of reflective practice for Jamie, Drew, and ten other teachers. I have worked in the field of teacher professional development for over twenty years and the commitment to building a culture of reflective practice at Saint David’s School is unique and impressive. As a potentially self-sustaining model of continuous professional development, we can expect to see further evidence of students exceeding expectations in the years ahead. It is perhaps obvious but important to note that the learning communities that developed in these teachers’ classrooms are an effect of the very parallel learning community created by twelve teachers in their work together. Learning at every level is not about accumulating knowledge, but using knowledge to transform one’s identity and enhance the quality of one’s work. These closing words from Drew and Jamie say so much more.
From Jamie:
“This inquiry fundamentally changed how I understand and approach my role as a teacher. I now see myself more clearly as a facilitator of thinking, not just a transmitter of knowledge. I’ve become more intentional about designing learning experiences that prioritize exploration, expression, reflection, and ownership. I’ve also come to better appreciate the importance of process over product. I am more willing to linger in uncertainty, to model my own thinking in progress, and to invite students into that space with me.”
From Drew:
“The biggest takeaway for my practice is that low-stakes writing and discussion activities build confidence. These activities, in turn, increase authentic engagement with the material. When engagement increases, grades become less relevant – it becomes less about the boys satisfying my expectations of them and more about their investment in their thinking and learning.
“I discovered that each component of instructional discourse (reading, writing, and discussion) builds on each other, and taken together, this 'loop' produces higher-quality learning outcomes in our students.”
Notes:
[1] Maclean, N. (2020). A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. University of Chicago Press.
[2] Kuhn, D. (2022). Metacognition Matters in Many Ways. Educational Psychologist, 57(2), 73-86.
[3] Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1996). The Expert Learner: Strategic, Self-regulated, and Reflective. Instructional Science, 24(1), 1-24.
[4] Pintrich, P. R. (2002). The Role of Metacognitive Knowledge in Learning, Teaching, and Assessing. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 219-225.
[5] Cobb, P., Confrey, J., DiSessa, A., Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (2003). Design Experiments in Educational Research. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 9-13high-leverage.
[6] Rust, F. O. C. (2009). Teacher Research and the Problem of Practice. Teachers College Record, 111(8), 1882-1893
[7] Stenhouse, L. (2013). What counts as research? Curricula for Diversity in Education (pp. 293-303). Routledge