Show Me a Cover Story: Forays into Teaching Writing to Reluctant Writers

Ms. M? Did Chris talk to you about his story?” Mrs. Peters approached me, her face flushed with excitement.

“No,” I replied, “I have not seen him today.”

For the rest of that afternoon I wondered what this particular student could possibly have to say to me. A member of my senior writing class, he seemed to have an excuse for every late writing assignment. I just knew that I would be hearing one of them: “I fell asleep brainstorming ideas and by the time I woke up it was time to catch the bus for school;” “I had it but these guys jumped me on the bus and took my stuff and my paper was with all my stuff;” “Man, Ms. M. That was a hard assignment—I got it in class but when I got home I didn’t get it anymore;” and so the stories piled up. It seemed as though after three years of being in my English class he, and most of my students, should have known more about writing than they currently did.