Don't be surprised by the tension of teaching writing

From Marcy M. Taylor's article:


What Atwell says is that we no longer have to choose between process or product, expression or communication, student choice or teacher mandate, individual or society. The tension between “knowing and not knowing” that marks the potential of writing workshops for Atwell means that
our teaching can reflect a “both/and” rather than an “either/or” orientation. In perhaps the most direct statement of her revised workshop, Atwell celebrates this “both/and” perspective:

“Today I’m striving for the fluid, subtle, exhilarating balance that allows me to function in my classroom as a listener and a teller, an observer and an actor, a collaborator and a critic and a cheerleader” (21).

“Always beginning” as teachers of writing means, also, always attending to the space between the tensions—the fluid, subtle, exhilarating balance “in the middle.”