A Writer's Notebook, Day Five-Hundred-And-Twenty

Today was the last day of the PBPF and was a wonderful final day.  This morning's workshop we went through odes from everyone in class, which was quite a feat, considering we have been splitting our time up between two groups, but having one final chance for everyone to be workshopped made for an incredible last class, and as a teacher I see the power of making everyone feel included in the last session.  Everyone is invested in the class, because they have work on the table, and no one is disappointed or left out.  Honestly, I really admire so much of how Major Jackson runs a class.  He is very subtle, as I kay have said, but I am beginning to unpack the power of certain minor things he did in class, not only in terms of his ability to directly inspire students to do their best work, but also the way he makes the environment of the classroom nurturing and safe.  Honestly, some of the work that I handed in was truly difficult and personal material, and I saw similar work from other students.

One very small thing that I believe made a huge difference was that he gave every student a chance to read there work in each class.  While we did not all have our work critiqued daily, being able to share new work each class was more than just inclusive.  I think it also provided us a chance to become much more familiar with each others' work so we could offer better critiques.  I also believe it helped us to become a closer and more cohesive group.

All of this is aside from what he actually did to directly teach, which was also incredibly insightful.  As a writer, I found it really challenging in the most positive and inspiring way, and I know I haven't yet gotten all that I will out of what I learned this week.

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