Enacting a Restorative Writing Retreat: An Endeavor in Supporting Academic Scholarship for Faculty Members – Faculty Focus

Faculty members in higher education must produce peer-reviewed publications in order to retain their jobs and obtain tenure and promotion. Perhaps even more importantly, publishing scholarship is one of the ways faculty members can share their ideas, innovative practices, and research findings with others in the field and beyond. However, writing is typically not the central focus of most faculty members’ days in their academic careers (Mazak, 2022).  

We Need Designated Writing Time

In order to support the writing, thinking, and research work that goes into producing a manuscript that can be sent off for peer review and hopefully published, a small group of teacher education faculty members at two universities decided to craft a Restorative Writing Retreat, where we would gather for the sole purpose of working on our academic writing for three days. While some of us schedule regular writing blocks each week to work on scholarship, or even a “writing day” alone or together, the Restorative Writing Retreat was distinctive in the length of time dedicated to academic writing and the intentionality of how we would plan and use that time. This also helped us think of ourselves with a scholarly identity and develop our own academic voice, while we usually juggle many other hats and roles.

We have all been to professional development around writing and scholarship, but in the throes of everyday academic work, sometimes the practices in those trainings are hard to stay grounded in. The place, space, and time together to realistically and intentionally work on academic writing would remind us of the reasons we wanted to share our work in the first place.  

Planning the Retreat: Think of Basic Necessities

We planned the Restorative Writing Retreat on three consecutive days during the workweek at one faculty member’s home. Each faculty member was responsible for clearing their schedule of other meetings and tasks, getting childcare if necessary, and bringing all of their needed supplies. One of our spouses graciously offered to cater the event, meaning they planned, cooked, and cleaned up breakfast, snacks, and lunch all three days. Before the retreat, we organized a large table for working, equipped with power strips and good lighting, separate from the eating space. There were also other areas we could take breaks when needed or step away from our work.

The luxury of not having to think about meals and food preparation proved essential in freeing up the space in our minds to work on deep thinking and make forward progress on several projects for each of us. The food was also intentionally high in protein with lots of fresh produce, but not heavy. This served to keep our energy high while not causing sugar spikes, crashes, or lethargy when we wanted to work for a sustained period of time.  

Setting Intentions for Each Day

Over breakfast each morning, we discussed what we wanted to accomplish that day. One person had a paper that was almost ready to send off to an editor. Another needed to start digging through the literature to set up a review before diving into analyzing data she had been sitting on for years. Another person wanted to spend the first day organizing her files and planning so that the rest of the week could be dedicated to projects that were most important. Just talking about our goals and hearing that, yes, that was a good task to spend time on, was encouraging and motivating.  

Gentleness and Community

Writing in community was powerful. While we weren’t necessarily focusing on co-authored pieces with each other during the Restorative Writing Retreat, the radical act of women academics writing together (Mazak, 2022) propelled us. We mostly worked in silence, occasionally pausing to run an idea by one another or pose a question. We took breaks for snacks, a walk outside, and a hearty yet energizing lunch. At each break, we were nearly bursting at the seams to tell each other what we had worked on or thought up. Returning to work was easier when someone else also wanted to get at least one more writing session in. We each took breaks when we needed and worked at a pace that was best for us. Some days, one of us might need grace to just stop (or not even start!), and this was a space to acknowledge that we all need that sometimes.

At the end of the day, we were accountable to each other through sharing our successes and challenges regarding our writing goals. We are all in different career stages and of various faculty ranks in different fields, and we each felt we learned something by listening to one another’s experiences and sharing tips.   

Valuing Writing as Our Work

Part of what made the Restorative Writing Retreat most powerful was the intentionality behind it. One participant stated that she would never have thought to set aside time like this to work on projects that don’t seem urgent. She was surprised at how good she felt about making progress on a project that, while indeed not urgent, was important work that will contribute to her field. Clearing our schedules was certainly more manageable during the semester break when most of us weren’t teaching, but it was still difficult to remove administrative work, student advisement, service work, and mundane email checking from the front of our minds. These little tasks can distract us from even starting to write sometimes, so it was necessary to dedicate this time to our scholarly work.  

Building Your Own Retreat

There are several recommendations for creating your own Restorative Writing Retreat that we will likely take into consideration for future iterations of this event. Intentionality of time is perhaps the most important consideration, meaning the retreat is dedicated to academic writing time, no matter how it is structured. Thinking about the location and the physical space can support a variety of workspace options, such as comfortable seating, pockets of space for pairs or small groups to break off, and a virtual meeting desk set up in an isolated space in case someone does need to take a meeting. Access to good lighting sources, especially natural light, and tools such as docking stations, power strips, chargers, external monitors, keyboards, and wireless or wired mouses, should be apparent in the workspace(s). Being near an outdoor space or other natural elements can be helpful during breaks to enjoy the weather and fresh air, take a walk, or get some physical activity. Having food and break times thought about in advance minimizes the mental load needed for these logistics during the retreat, whether that is ordering food, pre-making meals, or hiring catering.

We recommend that a writing retreat be scheduled for at least two (consecutive) days, in order to allow space and time to get deeply into projects and find a good rhythm for the writing sessions.  

Clarify Ways of Work

The rapport and respect of the community of academics at the retreat matters. We all knew each other well outside of work, but this is not necessary. Even inviting faculty members who have not met could be successful if time is taken prior to the first session, even during the first meal, to get to know one another. It is essential to be clear with each other about the ways of work expected during the retreat or during each work session. Will the work sessions be silent body-double work time, semi structured, trading drafts for feedback, or something else? There is no wrong way to structure a work session, but all writers need to be clear on the expected conversation, feedback, timing, and noise levels. Writers might choose to do strict lengths of writing sessions with scheduled breaks, completely flexible work and break times, or somewhere in between. Also, each writer at the retreat does not need to follow the exact expectations, but everyone’s ways of work should be compatible with one another for the given session.

Similarly, choose how and when to set and share goals and have periodic check-ins for accountability. This can be extensive as a writers’ workshop, or straightforward as a simple “state of the day” discussion. We also recommend planning an end-of-day wind down activity, such as a walk outside. Finally, be sure to set expectations at the retreat around staying positive and encouraging with feedback towards each other and our self-talk. 

A Retreat on Campus

The Restorative Writing Retreat could be replicated on campus too, instead of in someone’s home. The same recommendations above would apply, with some additional considerations. It would be important to reserve a space that is away from most people’s offices so as to minimize disruptions and distractions. This separate visual and physical environment is essential for creating the mental space to focus on writing projects instead of the other burdens of academia. Logistics of organizing food and location would have to be coordinated by a point person, cost of food could be covered by a dean’s budget, a grant, or individual faculty members each contributing a small amount. For instance, perhaps reserving two conference rooms and an adjacent learning pod in an academic building on campus and ordering catering for two days would create a mini-retreat for faculty in your college. While we organized our Restorative Writing Retreat during a semester break, planning two consecutive days during the academic semester would also be an option. In fact, this places writing even more central to our work because it is boldly proclaiming that academic writing is the work of our careers. 

Hold Yourself and Your Writing in High Esteem

We hope this article can be a practical guide to creating your own Restorative Writing Retreat. Perhaps more importantly, this paper serves to remind you of the importance of writing as academic work. We want to affirm that your writing is essential and you are worthy of the time intentionally spent to share your ideas with the world. Please be encouraged and empowered to dedicate time and planning to your own writing.  

Laura N. Sarchet, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Niagara University in Lewiston, NY. She is an autistic self-advocate and former special education teacher who uses her experiences to raise awareness about autism and disability through research and practice. 

Michelle Ciminelli, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Niagara University in Lewiston, NY. She teaches courses in foundations of literacy, differentiated reading instruction, early childhood education, and organizing the literacy classroom. 

Sarah E. Sarchet, MSEd, is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Science and Mathematics at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology. She is pursuing a PhD in Education with a specialization in Teaching, Curriculum and Change at the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester.   

Thomastine Sarchet-Maher, EdD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Deaf Education (DDE) and Assistant Dean for International Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology. 

Reference 

Mazak, C. (2022). Making time to write: How to resist the patriarchy and take control of your academic career through writing. Morgan James Publishing.