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speaks directly upon the idea that writing is successful when the focus is on the author's first-hand experience. By combining such ideals with those of collaborative pedagogy, one comes up with an interesting mix of creativity and group integration that, in turn, creates an entirely new way of writing. The clearest proof that collaboration is a remarkable way to learn, however, can only be found through the experience.

As I look to the waiting faces around the room, my cold hands tremble as they clutch one of my first short stories. It's a pointless piece of fiction about god becoming so upset with the human race that he decides to take away gravity, and the world destructs, and I describe it. I sit with this piece of work in my sweating hands, read the title, "Upheaval," and begin to recite the first paragraph. I have never done anything like this before, and I feel as though I forgot to dress myself.
This was the scene on the first night of my first writing retreat. It was actually the first at my high school, started by a fellow writer and teacher, Mr. Damaso. It was held in flagstaff at a retreat camp with four cabins and a sand-volleyball court. The amenities didn't matter though; I hadn't even gone through a writing workshop before, so the experience was new.
As the last words of the last paragraph shoot from my mouth, I flip the last page to the back and look up to waiting eyes. Mr. Damaso stands up. "So?" he says, simply, "comments?" In my mind, I felt like I was bent over in the front of the room, my naked ass there for everyone to paddle at with bats and hockey sticks and golf clubs. In reality, I sat there and listened to all the reasons why my story was terrible. They let me know that it was empty of dialogue and full of clichs and hollow of character development, plot development, or any sort of setting. I should divulge that, mostly in high school but up to this day, have dealt with an annoying case of shyness. So it was painful, and it was embarrassing, but it broke through a layer of skin that was holding me back, holding my writing back. Anne Ruggles Gere states that "writing groups highlight the social dimension of writing. They provide tangible evidence that writing involves human interaction as well as solitary inception" (Howard 61). I had always written on my own, for myself and occasionally my parents or friends. The knowledge I gained on that retreat, that single retreat, however, impacted my life more than all the educational information

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