I really love this post. I want to write my own reply to this – to continue the conversation, as you suggested – when my school year is over in June, and I have a bit more time to think.

My seniors’ “final exam” is to write a cover letter to their portfolio of work; the idea is that they explain how they have grown as readers and writers over the course of the year, while citing evidence from their body of work.

This post has made think that I should write a letter to my students that explains what I have learned as a teacher. I especially want to talk about what you’ve written about deadlines – how arbitrary we can be with our deadlines as teachers.