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| One of my MANY Writer's Notebooks |
Last week, the hashtag #whyIwrite was trending on Twitter in honor of National Day of Writing (October 20th). People were sharing their personal reasons for writing and why they see writing as a valuable experience in their classrooms. My story begins in 3rd grade...
If it is even possible, imagine a nerdier version of the current me, a 7-year-old that wanted nothing more than to read "The Boxcar Children" and become a country music singer with her two friends. Yep, read that last line again. A country music singer. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but that was my life goal (well, and to become Miss USA). I had a teacher that probably realized I couldn't sing to save my life, dancing wasn't my strong point either, but encouraged my friends and I to write our songs. Furthermore, she let us perform them for the class all the time. Like, every day. At one point, we even created "dance partners" by tracing our own bodies on poster paper, decorating them, and cutting them out to use. That amazing lady never mentioned how ridiculous it was, nor smirked at our choice of lyrics (losing love at 7 is hard, man). She encouraged an abundance of creativity and showmanship, and I loved her class for it.
Fast forward to high school where I joined the newspaper staff. I wrote what I still believe to be a phenomenal piece about how to be the best benchwarmer you could be. I laughed. My parents laughed. My basketball coach did not laugh. I enjoyed writing for the newspaper because it was fun and exciting. I never associated it with creative writing, though, and I still don't understand why.
Besides newspaper, my high school career consisted of critical writing with very little creativity. Lots of essays, reports, regurgitation of researched information. I considered writing to be a very technical process.
And then I participated in National Writing Project two years ago. If you are ever looking for a Professional Development opportunity that will rejuvenate your sense of purpose, NWP is it. I found my love for writing and fun again, while learning that creative and critical writing are not two very opposite ends of a spectrum, but actually work hand-in-hand in a classroom. I learned how to take information or stories, and present them in new, fun, challenging, creative formats, and how to model that for my students.
Students need more opportunities to express themselves constructively during the school day. With my Writer's Notebook, my students are learning problem-solving, collaboration, organization, how to ask questions/wonder, and it helps foster a sense of self-worth.
I write in my classroom because I believe critical writing can be creative and my students needs to see that. I teach persistence through a blank page in a Writer's Notebook, waiting to be filled with thoughts, stories, and doodles that represent how my students see themselves. My kiddos write to show they matter.
#whyIwrite
Love and Sparkle,
Love and Sparkle,
Come back for the next installments of this series: Writer's Notebook: Part 2 - Organization, Grading, and other Teacher-ish Questions and Writer's Notebook: Part 3 - Ideas, Student Examples, and What I Would Do Differently.
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