Jim Gray founded the National Writing Project in California in the early 1970s as a way to gather teachers together to share best practices in the teaching of writing and to become writers themselves. He passed away in the past year. (He published a wonderful book called Teachers at the Center about the early days of the writing project).
The Voice, a publication of the NWP, recently published some wonderful reflections on Jim Gray’s impact on our network of teachers, and this retrospective included the so-called unwritten Gray’s Laws that seem very insightful.
The First Law: No one, in any way, at any time, or under any circumstances, likes criticism. |
The Sixth Law: If you become defensive, you lose. |
The Second Law: Everyone, without qualification, is starved for recognition. |
The Seventh Law: When issues are controversial, communication between opposing sides is mostly impossible. |
The Third Law: Incompetence flourishes in all fields and in all walks of life. |
The Eighth Law: The Macbeth Family Factor — It pays to consider the consequences, lest you go mad. |
The Fourth Law: No one can see ‘the truth’ unless predisposed to see it. |
The Ninth Law: The Iago Factor — There really are a lot of mean-spirited people in this world. |
The Fifth Law: No one wants to be told what to do or what to think. |
The Tenth Law: Anyone who has made up nine laws will add a tenth. |
You can read some of the stories about Jim Gray through the Bay Area Writing Project site.