Students need to know this ahead of time. And teacher cannot simply rely on expert students to inform/lead group members through the procedure.

Expectations that are made explicit.

This seems to be good advice for writing teachers too. Perhaps students will come alive as voices on the page when they're given the time and space to do so.

Back the fuck off with your methods of assessment that require students to step up to an unfamiliar and unauthentic occasion.

Perhaps we can learn from the social science method of ethnographic research and apply it to the role of assessing and evaluating a student's progress as a thinker. Teachers must have the space to get to know their students as people not just on the page but in the world.

I argue that having a life in which you are writing a lot can lead to a more meaningful life. I argue as a writing teacher that it doesn't matter what path you take, you need to build a ritual of writing into your life.

This is essentially journal writing that we're calling for, right? It doesn't matter what kind of writing it is as long as the writer has the freedom to explore and experiment without the fear of being judged.

Reflection, introspection, exploration with a protected space: Thinkers need this.

The architecture of school curriculum, the push for expediency and results, the compartmentalization of subjects and the rise of the digital tools to assist in the expression of ideas--all of this undermines the creative process.

The writer's ritual: Is it the writing teacher's role in assisting students develop a principled writing ritual?

This sounds similar to a principle of improvisation: the "yes, and..." approach in which an actor builds upon the performance of the other actors. To reject during the creative process is to refuse growth, to limit what is possible.

This requires a creator remains open to responses, and develops a keen awareness to all that is being transmitted.

This reminds me of the censor that Elbow mentions as present during the writing process. Elbow suggests that writers shoo away the censor so that all ideas--every idea--finds the page.

When we invite the censor back, we are asking h/er to go in with surgeon-like judgment and precision and remove the extraneous.

Test.