Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all in the writing classroom—and she’s got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In her new book The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one. In today's post adapted from the book, Colleen uses examples from her career to affirm teacher agency and response.

Over at Colleen's blog this week, she has paid tribute to her past teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week. These stories come from a place of reverence, and each one is a moment of gratitude. Take a look for yourself:

Probably the thing that mattered the most to me, and it couldn’t have been an easy thing to do, was that he seemed to be genuinely fond of us - to really like each and every one of his needy, sarcastic, angsty, teenaged students. He laughed at our antics and challenged our thinking in a way that only someone who really cares about you can.

We shared our fondness for him by torturing him. We found his car each year around the holidays and decorated it. One year we covered it in wrapping paper. The next year, when he drove it blocks away from its usual parking spot, we found it and buried it in Christmas trees. We made masks and dressed up like him – the entire class. Each strange sign of our devotion to him he handled with a shrug and a smile.

Read more of Colleen's charming, poignant teacher appreciation stories on her blog.

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In addition to being the author of The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, M. Colleen Cruz is the author of several other titles for teachers, including Independent Writing and A Quick Guide to Helping Struggling Writers, as well as the author of the young adult novel Border Crossing, a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award Finalist. Colleen was a classroom teacher in general education and inclusive settings before joining the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project where she is Senior Lead Staff Developer. Colleen presently supports schools, teachers and their students nationally and internationally as a literacy consultant.